Irish Genealogy Toolkit will guide you to your Irish ancestors

Thankfully, calming potions and analgesics are no longer essential equipment for the amateur genealogist because family history in Ireland has entered a golden era.

More and more records – many of them free – are now available online and offline.

So, if you've been longing to find out who your ancestors were, and how they lived, there's never been a better time to start looking.

No matter where in the world you now call home – whether it be the Canadian Rockies, the Australian Outback, one of the world's great ‘emerald’ cities such as Liverpool (UK) or Boston (USA), or the beautiful craggy coast of Donegal – you’ll find page after page of relevant advice on this website plus the very latest information on genealogical resources in Ireland.

Here's just some of what you can expect to discover here on Irish Genealogy Toolkit:

• Advice for Irish Roots beginners, and tips for moving on with your family history quest
• Downloadable free family history forms and charts in formats used by professionals
• In-depth info about Irish civil registration and Irish census records, and how to access them
• Find out how to trace family history through Irish church records
• A selection of free family tree templates , and even old maps of Ireland
• The very latest news about groups, meetings, resources, and all Irish genealogy issues
• An insight into the daily life, social customs and Christmas traditions of your ancestors
• Detailed information about Irish crafts and well-known symbols of Ireland
• Exclusive research into Irish names and how they connect us to a rich heritage
• The importance of land and property records in Irish genealogy
• The story of Irish emigration to Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and the USA.
• Tips for finding the origin of your Irish ancestry ie the townland where your ancestors lived
• How to take your family tree research further through DNA testing
• Recommendations for recording and preserving your genealogical discoveries.

Not all of these pages are yet available, but they'll appear as Irish Genealogy Toolkit develops. In the meantime, take a look around by clicking on the buttons to the left. You'll soon see this isn't just another website listing hundreds of genealogical databases (although I'll show you where to find the best), nor will it attempt to sign you up for magazine subscriptions or commissioned research.

As the site develops, you'll find all the information and contacts you need to help you to discover your heritage in Ireland. Whether you are just starting out on your family history search or you've already made some headway on your journey, Irish Genealogy Toolkit will lead you to a greater understanding of how your ancestors lived and where you come from.

Meet the ancestors

Thanks to some of the Irish genealogy sources that have become available in recent years, I've managed to trace my Irish roots back to 1723 on my maternal line and to 1806 on my paternal line. Not bad for a supposedly impossible exercise, eh?

Among the folks I've discovered is my 3 x great grandfather, Edward Doolittle, seen here at the launch of a new Wicklow lifeboat, the 'Robert T Garden', on 7th September 1866.

Born in 1812, Edward was coxswain of the lifeboat and Wicklow Harbour Master, a position later also held by some of his sons. His grand-daughter is the woman (Sydney Doyle) at the top of the page, photographed with her ten children in Bagenalstown, co Carlow, in 1909. That's my Nana on her lap.

Along my ancestral trail, I've extended my knowledge of Ireland's social and political development, picked up a bit of Latin, learned to decipher 18th and 19th century handwriting, been riled by many historical injustices, and stood and stared at the very same gentle hills and dramatic seascapes that my Irish ancestors stood and stared at. It's been a fascinating and rewarding journey – and one that hasn't ended yet.

This website is my chance to share the knowledge I've gained with others who want to discover their roots in the Emerald Isle for themselves. When relevant, I'll be using my own ancestors (I don't think they'd mind) to demonstrate certain aspects of Irish genealogy, but I'd love to hear about your ancestors, too, and how you tracked them down.