Top 5 Irish genealogy databases

Certainly there are an increasing number of online offerings being launched – sometimes it seems there are new ones appearing every day – but most are limited in scale and cater to small catchment areas. The latter tend to be free and are very, very welcome additional for genealogy in Ireland. They just don't have the scope most beginner researchers expect to see.

Most people starting their hunt for ancestors in Ireland are dismayed to find there aren't any all-encompassing Irish genealogy databases carrying a mix of census returns, civil registration indexes and a number of specialised records.

Unfortunately it remains the case that Ireland's family history records are as scattered in cyberspace as they are on the ground.

This will probably change. But for the moment, here's my selection of the top five subscription or pay-per-view Irish genealogy databases.

• Irish Origins

  Irish Origins is an excellent source for accessing the definitive version of Griffith's Primary Valuation of Ireland. It also holds a wide range of other material of interest to those researching their genealogy in Ireland, including the Irish Wills Index (1484-1858), the 1851 Dublin City Census, Irish Royal Garrison Artillery Records, Tranatlantic Migration passengers's lists 1858-1870 (from USA to Ireland and Britain), Memorials of the dead in Galway and Mayo, and many other resources.

  All records can be searched and accessed on either a 72 hour subscription or a monthly subscription (June 2010: £4.50/€5.59/$6.91 for 72 hours or £8.95/€11.12/£13.73 for one month's access).

• Irish Family History Foundation

  This site is part of the Irish Genealogical Online Record Search System (ORS), an all-Ireland genealogy initiative organised by the Irish Family History Foundation. It contains the largest online collection of parish records for the island of Ireland but it also holds civil registration records (be careful...don't pay for the latter... they are free elsewhere...see my Civil Registration pages).

  Taking the site as a whole, no records are held pre-1700 or after about 1920 but there are big differences between counties. To find out what is available for each county, check out the 'detailed sources list' through the FAQ page.

  By mid-October 2008, the birth, death and marriage records of two thirds of the counties of Ireland had been added to the database.

  While the site is freely searchable by name, date and county, individual records are available only on a pay-per-view basis. (€5 per view in June 2010)

  Tip: Before searching IFHF, make a search of IrishGenealogy.ie. Although relatively new (launched December 2009) this growing site is quickly becoming a must-view for genealogy in Ireland as it holds free records of church records (with images of original register entries) for a small number of counties.

• Ancestry

  There can't be many family historians unaware of this giant beast! However, its Irish genealogy databases collection is tiny compared with its offering for US and British resources.

  Among its offers are the records of Irish immigrants arriving in New York ports 1846-1851, Tithe applotment books, Irish flax growers, Convicts transported to Australia 1788-1868, Royal Constabulary lists and indexes to Griffith's Valuation.

  Ancestry has a number of monthly and annual subscriptions available. My own view is that because its specifically Irish genealogy databases are quite limited, its pay-per-view option is the most sensible route to take unless you are going to be researching ancestors who emigrated to the US or the UK. It really comes into its own then! (In June 2010 site doesn't show prices in Euros. Pay As You Go option of 12 views over 14 days: GB£6.95)

• Past Homes

  I'm a great fan of this site, probably because I love maps. The maps that form the Past Homes collection are the First Edition 6-inch-scale Ordnance Survey maps of Ireland.

  They were surveyed between 1829 and 1843, so pre-date Griffiths Valuation by up to 35 years and provide an unprecedented insight into 19th-century life by capturing the physical characteristics of Ireland during a period of great upheaval, hardship and mass emigration. However, the reason for their creation was rather more prosaic: taxation!

  Regardless, such a nationwide mapping survey had never previously been attempted anywhere in the world. These are extremely detailed maps of Ireland's townlands. They are also rather beautiful.

  They can be browsed online for an annual subscription (advertised in US dollars only: $25 in June 2010).

• Irish Newspaper Archives

  This site features a database of over 2 million newspaper pages from 24 publications that date back as far as 1760. With birth and marriage records, local news matters, obituaries from the Famine of 1847-1849, reports of the Irish Rebellion of 1798 or the Easter Rising of 1916, your ancestor's lives may be captured. This site is rather different to most other Irish genealogy databases. It puts our ancestors' lives into a social and political context and gives us the rich detail of historical events they lived through.

  A range of subscriptions is available from one day to one year. ((€10 for 24 hrs/€350 for one year in Oct 08)
  

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