Finding Your Roots
Maeve Molloy looks at the many ways to research your family history.
 Not
everyone has the benefit of a knowledgeable grandparent or oral tradition
surrounding our family surnames: but fear not, researching the origins
of your family name is easier than ever, and the connection it provides
to your Irish ancestry is immeasurably rewarding.
With the growth of the Internet, genealogical and historical information
has become increasingly accessible, and there are a myriad of Internet
sites devoted to Irish surnames, origins, and lore.
In order to initially sort through these sites, decide whether you are
looking for information on your family name and where it came from, in
the style of our Roots column, or if you are looking for your genealogical
information (e.g. family trees, lost cousins, where your grandparents
came from).
If the information you seek is the latter, you will do best to search
genealogical sites. Some useful ones are www.genealogy.com, rootsweb.com,
and ancestry.com. If you already have some information, such as a grandparent’s
occupation or hometown, The National Archives are a great resource. These
archives, however, are so vast that it is best to approach them with as
much information as you have at hand. If you cannot visit the National
Archives in Washington, D.C., the information is available in the “digital
vault” online, and can be accessed at http://www.
archives.gov/genealogy/.
Available here are some of the most useful tools of genealogical research:
historic censuses. Generally, a census will tell you the names of family
members, their ages at a certain point in time, their state or country
of birth, their parents’ birthplaces, year of immigration (if applicable)
and much more about their lives at the time. Immigration documents and
passenger lists are also available here. Beware, however, that requesting
hard copies of any documents will cost about $25 each.
Again, the process is made simpler with access to the Internet, but if
you do not have Internet access or prefer manual research, there are resources
available in print as well. Michael O’Laughlin, a prominent Irish
researcher, commentator, and publisher, has authored numerous books on
Irish names and history. For information on your family’s name origin,
varied spellings, and history O’Laughlin’s The Book of Irish
Families, Great and Small is both a useful and accessible resource. Put
this on your bookshelf as an anthology of Irish names that you will surely
return to for reference on your family name and others. A similar book,
at about the same price of $40, is Irish Names and Surnames, by Patrick
Woulfe. Both are published by the Irish Genealogical Foundation.
If you do have Internet access, the possibilities for ancestral and
historical information on your family name are vast. Some useful online
resources include www.ireland.com/ancestors/surname
as well as www.goireland.com. Michael O’Loughlin, mentioned above,
also runs a fantastic website www.irishroots.com.
Some of the content on this site is membership-limited, though well worth
the price. Beware, however, of scams on many pay-for-info sites. Often
these sites are very expensive and give little information that cannot
be accessed elsewhere. Positive reviews and samples of roots information
are important in determining if a site is legitimate.
If you decide to visit the old country then there are useful resources available
North and South. For family history in Northern Ireland, the Public Record
Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) holds expansive and varied records
available both online and in print. Check here for church records, the
1901 Irish Census, National School records, and more. These records can
be searched online in their digitized form at www.proni.gov.uk.
Similar resources are available in the Republic through the General Register
Office. Here you can find birth and death registrations and help with
your genealogical search. However, this information is not digitized and
thus is not available online. It is fully searchable, however, at the
Register Office in Dublin. If you are planning a trip to Ireland, and
would like to research your genealogy, call +353 1-635-4423 for more information.
Other resources within Ireland are the plethora of documents available
through various preservation groups’ and societies’ archive
libraries. The Royal Irish Academy Library (www.ria.ie)
is a great example of one such archive, though little information is available
remotely: again, a visit to the library is necessary. A fully accessible
online resource is the Irish Family History Foundation, available at www.irish-roots.ie.
Here you will find links to more genealogical search-points, public records
for each county in Ireland, and much more, including a guide to searching
public records for your family’s history.
Given the long history of Ireland, very little information is guaranteed
to be accurate as it is known today mostly through folklore and oral tradition.
Thus, you may find conflicting accounts of the origins of the same name.
These may both be true, or even versions of the same root name.
Not finding the information you’re looking for? Don’t have
the time to research? Send in a suggested surname for our next Roots column!
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