Irish Genealogy Records

Find your Irish ancestors, local history and details of their lives with these links to online family history and genealogy resources.

General Genealogy Websites

• Find My Past Ireland

  Has many records for Irish family history research. Search Irish births, marriages, deaths, census, prison records, military records, migration and much more.

• Celtic Cousins

  Celtic Cousins has lots of information for researching your Irish Family History, including parish records, probate records, emigration, directories and so much more.

• Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives

  Has Cemetery Records, Church Records, Census, Census Substitutes, Emigration Records, Headstones, Land Records, Local History, Military & Constabulary, Newspaper archives, Obituaries, Photos, Vital Records, Wills and much more relating to all Irish counties.

• Ulster Historical Foundation

  Telling the story of the people of Ulster. Over 2 million records to help you trace your Irish ancestors including birth, marriage, death, census and street directories.

• Roots Ireland

  Over 19 million Irish family history records online including births, marriages, deaths, census and migration. A great site for finding your Irish ancestors.

• GENUKI Ireland

  An online directory and library of genealogy and family history resources and information for Ireland.

Archives

• National Archives of Ireland

  The National Archives holds many of the records which are relevant to Irish genealogy and local history. Although it cannot undertake research on behalf of members of the public, everyone is welcome to visit and explore the sources they hold on family and local history. Members of the public can also avail of their in-house Genealogy Service which offers a free, short personal consultation service by professional genealogists to visitors to the National Archives who are researching their family tree.

• PRONI

  The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland which has many records and archives of interest to family historians, genealogists and local historians.

Births, Marriages & Deaths and Parish Records

• Catholic Parish Registers NLI

  The National Library of Ireland (NLI) in Dublin has uploaded 373,000 digital images of Catholic parish registers to registers.nli.ie, where they can be accessed completely free of charge. Mainly covering baptisms and marriages, the records – scanned from the NLI's microfilm copies – reveal details of people across 1,086 parishes between the 1740s and 1880s.

• Roman Catholic Baptisms

  More than 7 million records from 1000 parishes across Ireland.

• Roman Catholic Marriages
• Roman Catholic Burials
• Early Irish Marriage Database

  Seeks to provide pointers to the many alternative sources beyond parish registers and civil registration records. There are currently 56,330 marriages available to search and view online.

• Irish Marriages 1771–1812

  An index to the marriages in Walker's Hibernian magazine.

  • Surnames A–J
  • Surnames K–Z
• Irish Death Notice Index

  Over 54,000 obituaries of those who died in Ireland, or deaths mentioned in Irish newspapers.

• Dublin Marriage Licenses 1638–1858

  These records cover Dublin, but also a much wider area including Wicklow, Kildare and Carlow.

Blogs

• Irish Genealogy News

  Get all the latest genealogy news from Ireland with the Irish Genealogy News blog.

• Kevin's Irish Research

  An Irish genealogy blog with many examples here of Irish records. A lot of Irish parish registers date back to the 1700s.

Burials & Cemeteries

• Irish Gravestone Records

  Search and view 70,000 of Irish Gravestone Records and memorial inscriptions for free.

• Cork Graveyards Database

  Thousands of free burial registers from many Western Cork graveyards.

Census Records

• Census of Ireland 1901 & 1911

  Search and view the census of Ireland for 1901 and 1911 completely free. All 32 counties for 1901 and 1911, searchable by all information categories, are now available on the site.

Criminals & Court Records

• Criminal Ancestor Records
• Irish Convicts to New South Wales 1788–1849

  A database containing records from many different sources.

• Irish Prison Registers 1790–1924

  Search more than 3 million records of criminals from many Irish counties.

• Irish Petty Session Court Registers

  Established in 1827, but in reality they existed for a long time before that. There are over 23 million records in this collection.

Electoral Registers

• Northern Ireland Freeholders' Records

  Contains the names of people entitled to vote, or of people who voted, at elections.

Forums

Irish family history and genealogy forums are a great way to connect with others who are researching the same names as you, and can help break down brick walls.

• RootsChat Ireland

  Probably the most active forum for Irish genealogy and family history.

• Boards.ie

  Has a dedicated genealogy forum which is active.

• CuriousFox Ireland

  For entries which apply to the whole of Ireland, one name studies, and enquiries when you have no idea which part of Ireland your surnames came from.

• Ancestry Ireland Message Board
• Irish Genealogy Roots Forum
• Belfast Genealogy Forum

History

• Irish Place Names Database

  Based on the Index to the Townlands, and Towns, Parishes and Baronies of Ireland published in 1861 after the Census of Ireland carried out in 1851. This database lists all of the villages, towns and townlands that were enumerated, as well as the Barony, Civil Parish and Poor Law Union that each was located in.

Maps

• Irish Townlands

  Based on data in OpenStreetMap, it has a list of counties in Ireland.

• Old Maps Online

  The broadest single collection of historical maps from around the world. It's free to use and view the maps and the creators describe the project 'like Google for old maps'.

Military Records

• Military Archives Ireland

  Military Archives Ireland has lots of useful information for family historians & genealogists. There is the Irish army census collection 1922, maps, plans and drawings collection and guides to offline collections.

• Great War Forum

  A very active place to discuss and find help about your military ancestors and their war experiences.

• Dublin Casualties of WWI

  A database of those who were born or lived in Dublin who are known to have died in WWI.

Newspaper Archives

• Irish Newspaper Archive

  The world's biggest online database of Irish newspapers. The archive spans the 1700s to the present.

• Irish Times Digital Archive

  A searchable database of all the articles from 1859 onwards. It's free to search but a subscription is needed to view the articles.

Occupations

• Irish Mariners

  Contains an index of nearly 25,000 Irish born merchant seamen contained in the CR10 series of index cards. All ranks and jobs at sea are covered from master to scullion. A unique feature of the CR 10 cards is that they usually contain a good photograph of the seaman.

Surname Research

• Guild of One-Name Studies

  The biggest organisation for surname research. There are thousands of surname studies available and the guild aims to bring together researchers who are interested in researching the same names.

• Surnames in Ireland

  Varieties and synonyms of surnames and Christian names in Ireland: for the guidance of registration officers and the public in searching the indexes of births, deaths, and marriages.

War Memorials

• Irish War Memorials

  Has transcriptions, surnames and memorials from all over Ireland. The databases are searchable by name, regiment, place and war. As of now the inventory includes 380 places, 798 memorials and 23,043 names.

• Presbyterian Church in Ireland Roll of Honour

  Browse the rolls of honour from all over Ireland from both World Wars.

  • Presbyterian Church in Ireland Roll of Honour 1914–1919
  • Presbyterian Church in Ireland Roll of Honour 1939–1945
• Soldiers Died in the Great War

Wills & Probate

• Irish Wills 1858–1922

  Search and view Irish wills and administrations for the years 1858–1922. Search options include name of deceased, name of beneficiary, county of death, date of death and document type. Access to the documents is free.

• PRONI Will Calendars

  A fully searchable index to the will calendar entries for the three District Probate Registries of Armagh, Belfast and Londonderry, with the facility to view the entire will calendar entry for each successful search. The database covers the period 1858–1919 and 1922–1943.