Sources
Sources that are only relevant to one page will be found on that page.
Sources that are only relevant to one family will be found on the home page
for that family.
The icon
indicates I have a copy, either on paper or, more likely, a digital copy.
This is mainly there to remind myself what I need to buy or seek out.
National Library of Ireland.
From
here.
- In my lifetime, technology has greatly changed and enhanced
both visits to libraries
and access to remote libraries:
- Can bring tablet to library and can access my files and my website from my library desk.
- Can bring phone to library and take huge numbers of digital photos of documents, to read in detail later.
- Often on visits now, the main aim is to photograph, not to read stuff.
- Libraries in Ireland and in foreign countries publish material online, so I can research from home.
- This is all the norm for people growing up now.
But it is a wonderful dream for people like me who started researching in the 1980s.
- Irish Archives Resource
- Copac
- Combined catalog of UK and Irish libraries.
- Digital Repository of Ireland
- irishgenealogy.ie
(free)
- Parish records online
- When last checked: Dublin, Kerry, Carlow, Cork
-
There is a
plan to put all CoI parish records online here.
- GROI online
- When last checked:
- Births: 1864 to 1921
- Marriages: 1845 to 1946
- Deaths: 1871 to 1971
NLI parish records
PROI reconstruction
Projects to try to reconstruct what was burnt in 1922.
Many of the wills resources are just indexes rather than the wills themselves.
Just lists of the wills burnt in 1922.
- Ireland Probate Records
- NAI
- Ancestry
- FamilySearch
- Index to the Prerogative Wills of Ireland.
[NLI] RR.
- Index to Irish Wills,
1536-1858,
William Phillimore and Gertrude Thrift,
[NLI] RR,
[NAI] RR
- Vol 1: Ossory, Leighlin, Ferns, Kildare
- Vol 2: Cork and Ross, Cloyne
- Vol 3: Cashel and Emly, Waterford and Lismore, Killaloe and Kilfenora, Limerick, Ardfert and Aghadoe
- Vol 4: Dromore, Newry and Mourne
- Vol 5: Derry, Raphoe
- Exchequer Court of Equity Bill Books, 1674-1850.
- Dublin wills
- "Index to Dublin Wills",
Appendix to
26th report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records in Ireland, 1895.
See abbreviations.
These wills were all burnt in 1922.
- Dublin wills 1634-1858.
Wills - Actual content
Actual wills, transcripts, abstracts and summaries that survive.
GROI - General Register Office
- General Register Office
- GROI index and entries online:
- Other GROI online:
- LDS index and entries:
- Index online at
familysearch.org
(free)
- Index on microfilm in [LDS.UK]
- Index on microfilm in [DCA]
- Can get the following certs for free at
[LDS Dublin]:
- Births: 1864-1881, 1900-1913, most 1930-1932, most 1939.
- Protestant marriages: most 1845-1859.
- Marriages: 1864-1870.
- Deaths: 1864-1870.
- Can get the following certs for free at
[LDS London]:
- Land registration in Ireland
- PRA - Property Registration Authority
(formerly Land Registry)
- Registry of Deeds (since 1708)
- Historical archive - Registry of Deeds, Kings Inns, Henrietta St, Dublin.
- Does not have full deeds.
- Has short memorials (summaries) of deeds in basement as loose sheets.
Can pay to view these.
- Has transcript copies of these short memorials in (easier to access) tombstone books in research room.
Should be identical.
- Images online at
[LDS]
- I did a quick index into the LR pages:
-
Registry of Deeds Index Project
- Transcripts online. Limited coverage but very useful.
-
If indexing in LR itself is wrong (which can happen)
try using the following to find out where the deed really is:
- VO -
Valuation Office, Irish Life Centre, Abbey Street Lower.
- Valuation Lists - Can track owner/occupant of all properties from
[Griffiths Valuation]
through late 19th
- early 20th century.
- Substitute census for 1850 to 1900.
- Some VO books online at
findmypast.ie
(pay to view).
- Eneclann do Irish house histories research service
-
Library
of Trinity College Dublin (TCD)
- Search catalogue
- Alumni Dublinenses 1593-1860
RIA - Royal Irish Academy
- UK military
-
Irish police and military
- King James's Irish Army List, 1689,
by John D'Alton, 2nd edn, vols 1 and 2, London, 1861.
- The 1798 Rebellion: Claimants and Surrenders.
- This CD is very hard to use: No original documents. No PDFs. Only transcripts in database.
Need program to access database.
Need to install program.
Program only runs on Windows.
To run program, need CD in drive each time.
- Irish soldiers in WWI:
-
1916-23 period
- List of Anglican dioceses in the United Kingdom and Ireland
- RCB -
Library
of Representative Church Body, Churchtown, Dublin 14.
- List of what CoI parish records survive
- See
list.
- Grey - Lost in 1922.
- Green - Lost in 1922. Substitute survives.
- Irish Church Directory 1862
- Irish Church Directory 1865
- Irish Church Directory 1868
- Fasti Ecclesiae Hibernicae: The succession of the prelates and members of the cathedral bodies of Ireland
-
Clerical and Parochial Records of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, William Maziere Brady, 1863-64.
-
Church and Parish Records of the United Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross
by Rev. John Harding Cole (1903).
- Rev. James Blennerhassett Leslie
wrote histories of CoI clergy, including:
- Ardfert and Aghadoe Clergy and Parishes,
1940,
[RCB] 274.15,
[KCL] 941.96.
-
The Church of Ireland in Co Kerry,
by Janet Murphy and Eileen Chamberlain (2011).
Also here.
- catholicarchives.ie
- List of Roman Catholic dioceses in Ireland
- RC parishes
- Maynooth seminary
- Ordinations index 1795-1895, pub 1982, [NLI] Ir 37841 h15
- Catholic Directory
- Catholic Directory, 1836
- Catholic Directory, 1837
- Catholic Directory 1865
- Catholic Directory 1866
- Catholic Directory 1869
- Catholic Directory, 1872
- Catholic Directory, 1874
- Catholic Directory, 1876
- Catholic Directory, 1889
- Catholic Directory, 1900
- Catholic Directory, 1904
- Catholic Directory, 1907
- Catholic Directory, 1920
Jesuits
BL - British Library
NA.UK - National Archives (UK)
US military
Immigration and passenger lists
- The following sites (e.g. Ancestry) host user-submitted trees.
- User-submitted trees vary widely in quality.
Some are professional and document their sources. Others are amateur gibberish.
- Ancestry is probably the worst:
- Ancestry trees have many terrible features:
(a) It is hard to add background notes and sources.
(b) It is hard to document uncertainty or multiple theories.
(c) It is easy to copy other people's trees.
Bad data gets replicated again and again.
- On Ancestry, it is hard to trace the source of bad data
and get it fixed.
People copy thousands of names of a tree and walk away and never do any research
and bad data is never changed.
You contact someone to ask about the source of their data, and, if they reply, they say it was copied from another tree,
which copied from another tree, and so on.
It is often impossible to find the true source of anything.
-
In general,
I do not believe anything on Ancestry
(in user-submitted trees).
I use Ancestry as an aid to search for real sources.
- Ancestry is also full of people who:
(a) do not put an email address on their profiles,
or:
(b) have private trees.
I do not understand such people.
Do you not want to hear corrections and new information?
- WikiTree is better:
-
WikiTree
(see site)
has a better culture of documenting sources and cross-checking information.
- The lack of infinite duplication of entries really helps.
- There is still some amateur work on it though.
- Ancestry.com Inc.
(pay-to-view)
- ancestry.co.uk
- ancestry.ie
- List of Irish records
- Ireland, Births and Baptisms, 1620-1911
- Ireland, Catholic Baptisms, 1742-1881
- Ireland, Catholic Marriages, 1742-1884
- Ireland, Catholic Deaths, 1756-1881
- Church of Ireland Search Forms for Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1731-1870
- Ireland, Court of Chancery Records, 1633-1851
- Ireland, Petty Session Court Registers, 1818-1919
- Ireland, Lawrence Collection of photographs, 1870 - 1910
- ancestry.com
- ancestry.com.au
- ancestry.ca
- ancestry.fr
- RootsWeb
- genealogy.com
- myheritage.com
- Search historical records
- Theory of Family Relativity - shows how DNA matches are related.
- MyHeritage In Color.
Restores faded colours.
- Also converts black and white to colour using AI.
- Deep Nostalgia.
AI animations of pictures.
- This works best with large photo, face full on to camera, sharp edges, head clearly delineated, blank background.
- PhotoDater.
Estimate date of photo.
- Help.
Need subscription.
- Photos - Upload photos - It will automatically estimate date.
Other
Other big genealogy sites, with user-submitted trees.
France
Encyclopedia
Biography
Irish biography
- DIB -
Dictionary of Irish Biography
- Beathaisneis
(multi-volume dictionary of Irish biography, in Irish)
- Ricorso
- Thom's Irish Who's Who, 1923.
- A Dictionary of Irish Biography,
Henry Boylan
- A Compendium Of Irish Biography,
Alfred Webb, 1878.
- 100 Irish Lives,
Martin Wallace, London, 1983.
- Louis McRedmond (ed),
Modern Irish Lives: Dictionary of 20th-century Biography,
Gill and Macmillan, Dublin, 1996.
- A Biographical Dictionary of Irish Writers,
Anne M.Brady and Brian Cleeve, 1985.
17th century
18th century
19th century
- Tithe Applotment Survey, 1823-1837,
[NAI]
-
Ordnance Survey of Ireland: Letters, 1834 to 1841.
- A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland,
Samuel Lewis, 1837,
[NLI],
[NAI],
facsimile pub 1995
- Owners of Land in Ireland,
Local Government Board, 1876
-
"The Landowners of Ireland", Hussey De Burgh, 1878.
- The Great Landowners of Great Britain and Ireland
- [VO]
has text and
maps, to view on-site.
- askaboutireland.ie (free)
- text and page images and maps
-
Guide to Griffith's Valuation
-
Capital letters: 2A, 2B, .. label subdivisions within a lot, separate parcels of property held by the same individual.
-
Lower-case letters: 2a, 2b, .. indicate a single property held in common by multiple occupiers.
-
Lower-case italic letters: a, b, .. indicate buildings.
The farmer's house is a.
Cottagers' houses are b, c, ..
- Ancestry
(pay to view)
has:
- findmypast.ie (pay to view) has:
- Text online:
- For all the above, the maps need to be cross-checked to multiple plots.
Sometimes plot numbers in the map do not match the text.
- Summary
- 8 censuses from 1821 to 1891 existed but were all destroyed by 1922.
Imagine what incredible family history was lost in these.
- The censuses for 1901 and 1911 survive.
- Next one to be public will be 1926 census in 2026.
- Census online
- 1851 Dublin City Census
(between the canals only)
- This was an early CD that is very hard to use.
You have to go through a program
rather than having the data as PDF files that you can browse.
The program is old (pre-Windows XP).
- UK census, 1901
- Census of Ireland, 1911
- Beranger's pictures of ancient buildings
- Cooper's pictures of ancient buildings
- Francis Grose,
The Antiquities of Ireland, 1794.
- Daniel Grose,
The Antiquities of Ireland: A Supplement to Francis Grose,
ed. Roger Stalley, 1991.
-
Ireland in Pictures,
The Hon. John F. Finerty, Chicago, 1898.
-
Georgian mansions in Ireland
by Thomas U. Sadleir and Page L. Dickinson, 1915.
- Guide to the National Monuments of Ireland,
Peter Harbison, 1970.
-
In Ruins: The Once Great Houses of Ireland,
Simon Marsden and Duncan McLaren, 1980, revised 1997.
- A guide to Irish country houses,
Mark Bence-Jones, 1988.
2nd edn 1990.
This was previously Burke's Guide to Country Houses: Volume 1, Ireland, 1978.
- Irish Castles,
David Pritchard and Liam Blake, 1993.
- Great Irish Houses,
Irish Georgian Society, 2008.
- The Irish Country House,
by
Desmond Fitzgerald, 29th Knight of Glin
and James Peill, 2010.
- The Gate Lodges of Munster: A Gazetteer
by J.A.K. Dean (2017).
- Burke's Peerage
- The old
Burke's Peerage Ltd went out of business.
- Burke's Peerage and Gentry
are their rightful successor
- the ones who are producing new editions
of the works.
- Not to be confused with
"Burke's Peerage Partnership",
the dodgy
Harold Brooks-Baker
organisation:
- Burke's Family Index, 1976, ISBN 0-85011-022-X,
[NLI] 9292 b 20,
[GO] RR,
[RDS] REF 929.9,
[TCD] REF 929.7 L6,
[KCL] RR 929.4,
[ECL] CS 25 (76-58135-01, normally RR),
[NLS] 929/2 Biog.D.26.1.B,
[WCL] RR
Royal Descents
Early Burke's Peerage
is not very reliable. Use with caution.
Later Burke's Peerage is good.
- Burke's Peerage,
[CUL] L496.b.8.1, [NLI] 929721 b 16
- Debrett's Peerage
(see site)
- 1790 edn
- 1808 edn
- 1825 edn
- 1829 edn
- 1839 edn
online
- 1840 edn
online
- 1893 edn
online
- 1923 edn
- 1968 edn
- 1976 edn, [RDS] REF 929.2
- 1995 edn, [ECL] CS 421 (RR)
- Debrett's Baronetage
- 1815 edn,
vol.1 and
vol.2.
- 1819 edn,
vol.1 and
vol.2.
Also meant to be in
[TCD]
Early Printed Books, Off site,
68.ee.86 and 87,
but not found.
- 1824 edn,
vol.1 and
vol.2.
Also in [NLI] Offsite Special Access,
929722 d 1.
- 1828 edn, vol.2.
Also in
[TCD]
Early Printed Books, Long room,
G.ll.38 and 39.
- 1835 edn.
- 1840 edn.
- 1893 edn.
- Lodge's Peerage
- Lodge's Peerage of Ireland, 1754
- Lodge's Peerage of Ireland, 1789.
- Lodge's Peerage, 1838
- Lodge's Peerage, 1839
- 1905 edn
This is the most reliable Peerage and Baronetage.
-
The Complete Peerage (extant, extinct or dormant),
George E. Cokayne and other authors and editors
- 1st edn, 8 vols, 1887-98.
- 2nd edn, 12 vols, 1910-59.
[NLI] RR.
[TCD] Research Area, Stall 91.
[CUL] R493.30.
[ECL] CS 421 (RR).
- Republished in photo-reduced size, 6 vols, 1982 and 1984.
[GO] RR.
- The Complete Baronetage,
George E. Cokayne,
[TCD] Research Area, Stall 91,
[SOG] P/R/LST
- Vol.1 (creations 1611-1625)
- Vol.2 (creations 1625-1649)
- Vol.3 (creations 1649-1664)
- Vol.4 (creations 1665-1707)
- Vol.5 (creations 1707-1800)
Other Peerage
- Collins' Peerage of England
- 1741-50 edn
- 3rd edn, 1756.
- The Peerage of Ireland, Edward Kimber, 1768.
- Peerages of England, Scotland and Ireland, pub 1790.
- Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, Joseph Foster
- 1st edn, 1880, [NLI] 929721 f 2
- 2nd edn, 1881.
- 1882 edn vol 2.
- The Scots Peerage,
[TCD] Research Area, Stall 91,
[ECL] W X CS 421 (Scottish RR)
- New Extinct Peerage 1884-1971, Leslie G. Pine, 1972.
- Cracroft's Peerage, 2000.
Burke's Extinct Peerage and
Burke's Extinct Baronetage
are so unreliable that I am phasing them out as sources entirely.
- Burke's Dormant and Extinct Peerages
- Burke's Extinct and Dormant Baronetage
- Burke's Knightage, 1841 [think only contemporary Knights, not all-time list]
- Burke's Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland
- Vol 2, 1835.
- Vol 1 and vol 2, 1836.
- Vol 3 and vol 4, 1838.
- Burke's Landed Gentry, [NLI] 929725
- 1836 edn
(NOT 1838)
- 1838 edn online
- 1847 edn
- 1850 edn
- 1852 edn online
- 1858 edn online
- 1862-63 edn
- 1875 edn
- 1879 edn
- 1882 edn, [ECL] CS 425 (T68548-49)
- 1886 edn
- 1894 edn, [RDS] RR
- 1898 edn. [RDS] REF 929.72.
- 1925 edn
- 1937 edn (15th edn).
[ECL] CS 425 (K47911).
- 1952 edn, [ECL] WCS 425 (T41757)
- 18th edn, 1965-72, [NLI] RR 929725, [RDS] RR REF 929.72,
[TCD] REF 929.7,
[ECL] WCS 425 (3 vols - 67309H, 78049N, 29856X), [WCL] RR
- 19th edn (latest)
- Burke's Landed Gentry Scotland
- Burke's Landed Gentry Scotland, 2001,
[TCD] REF 929.7 A8
- Burke's Prominent Families of the USA
- Burke's Colonial Gentry
- 1st edn, 1899.
- 2nd edn, 1904.
- Libraries:
[NLI] Ir 929725,
[TCD] Research Area, Stall 91,
[ECL] RR CS 490.
- 3rd edn, 1912.
- Irish supplement of
[Burkes LG, 1937]
- 4th edn, 1958
(and here).
- Burke's Irish Family Records, 1976.
- Also considered as 5th edn of Burke's Landed Gentry of Ireland.
- Online
- Libraries:
[NLI] RR Ir 9292 b 36,
[GO] RR,
[TCD] Research Area, Stall 91,
[Dundrum Library] REF 929.72,
[KCL] RR 929.4,
[CUL] Ref.23.35 (else L496.b.17.5),
[NLS] 929/2/09415 Biog.D.26.2.B3.
Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica.
[NLI]
92905 m 1 (offsite, order in advance).
Volumes online:
- 1st series
- New series (2nd series)
- 3rd series
- 4th series
- Vol.2, 1908.
- Vol.3, 1910.
- Vol.4, 1910-11 (NOT 1912).
- Vol.5, 1912-13.
- 5th series
John O'Hart
is not very reliable.
He starts off with myths - Adam, the Deluge,
Milesius,
and so on.
The myths rather cast doubt on his work in historical periods.
Some of his early modern pedigrees may be accurate.
But everything needs to be cross-checked.
- Irish and Anglo-Irish Landed Gentry, 1884, repub 1969,
[Dundrum Library] REF 929.2.
- Irish Pedigrees
Families - Other
- Gary Boyd Roberts
(and see here)
- David Faris
- Plantagenet Ancestry of Seventeenth Century Colonists
- Frederick L. Weis
- The Magna Charta Sureties, 1215
- Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists
- Douglas Richardson
- Burke's Presidential Families of the USA
- 1st edn, 1975, ISBN 0-85011-017-3, [NLI] RR 920073,
[CUL] try 496.5.b.95.4 or R494.89,
[NLS] 973/0992 H4.83.1141
- 2nd edn, 1981,
[NLS] 973/09/92 Biog.D.13.55.B4
- American Presidential Families, Hugh Brogan and Charles Mosley,
Morris Genealogical Books, 1993, ISBN 0-7509-0582-4, [CUL] R494.89
- The Presidents:
Their Lives, Families and Great Decisions,
articles from the Saturday Evening Post ,
Funk and Wagnalls company (NY) Special Edition,
pub by Curtis Publishing Company,
Indianapolis, Indiana
- Editions in 1980, 1981, 1989, 1993.
Thom's Directory
in the
NLI.
From
NLI.
