Visiting Ireland and am wondering where to start

Hi Douglas,

Thank you very much for your message. I am delighted that you and your mother are visiting-I hope that you have a wonderful time!

A useful website for surnames is the Irish Times. They give an overview of area particular surnames were recorded in Ireland in the mid-19th century. For example, keatings:

http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/index.cfm?fuseaction=Go.&UserID=

It gives you the basic information for free however, there is a small fee to see the parish breakdown. However, most of the information they use is taken from Griffith?s Valuation. This is a property valuation that was taken in Ireland 1848-64. You can search this online, it make take a bit longer but it is free!:

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/

There is also an earlier land record where you can search for the surnames. This is the Tithe Applotment Books (1823-38) and they can be searched here:

http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/home.jsp

I notice that one of your ancestors was born in Kerry. Church records from Co. Kerry have been uploaded to http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/ free of charge. the year of birth is quite early so you may or may not be able to find the birth record depending on the parish. However, if you knew the names of any family members that remained in Kerry you may find something on them.

Also, as Patrick O? Toole was born in Clare I would definitely recommend that you visit the Local Studies Centre in Clare County Library if you are in the county. They have a brilliant county collection of resources and are very helpful so they may be able to point you in the right direction. Here is a link to their webpage:

http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/library/local-studies/locstudi1.htm

If you are going to be in Dublin at any stage of your visit I would also recommend that you call into the National Library of Ireland on Kildare St. They offer a free genealogy advice service to those who are just starting out on their family history. Here is a link to their page:

http://www.nli.ie/en/genealogy-advisory-service.aspx

Some other general websites that you may find useful are:

The National Archives of Ireland http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/

The National Library of Ireland http://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx

The National Archives UK ? genealogy search: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/

The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/family_history.htm

Family Search: www.familysearch.org

Irish Genealogy tool-kit: http://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/index.html

Family Search Links: https://www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Ireland_Genealogy_Websites?goback=.gde_3030105_member_230205486

Finally, we have added a new link to the top of our website for people who are planning on visiting in 2013. It takes you to a short web form. We would really appreciate it if you could take a moment to complete this. Thank you!

I hope that some of this is helpful. If you find out any more information on the people that you are researching, in particular with regards to parish of origin please let us know by posting on the relevant parish page. That way if we have volunteers in the area they will be able to see it and hopefully assist or advise you.

All the best,

Emma,

Genealogy Support

Thanks Emma for your valuable assistance - I will pursue some of these leads.

Just a note to any who may read this thread:  I confused the origins of Patrick O'Bryan and Patrick Toole in my originat posting.  Patrick O'Bryan was from county Clare while Patrick Toole was from county Kerry.

Cheers