Tracing Your Irish Ancestors [Paperback]

John Grenham (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0717118983 | ISBN-13: 978-0717118984 | Publication Date: January 1999

This guide is designed to be of interest to those who wish to trace their ancestors in Ireland. The first section of the book covers the basic sources, those which will have the widest application for researchers who are new to the business of tracing family roots. Part two examines sources which have a narrower application, while part three is a reference guide which allows access to a range of research materials, including county by county source lists, printed family histories, occupations and Church of Ireland records.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Written by a professional Irish genealogist at the Genealogical Office in Dublin, this book is the product of more than a decade of professional research. It focuses on tracing ancestors in Ireland and, while designed for researchers at different levels of experience, its intent is to provide help even for the "hard-bitten veteran." It is organized into three parts: Part 1 addresses the most basic genealogical sources (civil, census, church, and land records); Part 2 discusses more advanced tools (wills, emigration, deeds, newspapers, directories, and the Genealogical Office in Dublin); Part 3 offers a reference guide to a wide range of more fugitive resources (county source lists, printed family histories, church records, and research services, societies, and repositories). Revised editions could profit from more readable maps, more complete and current bibliographical references, an enlarged scope that includes Irish research in the United States and Canada, and a comprehensive bibliography of published sources. Still, the book provides a good beginning as a replacement for Margaret Dickson Falley's Irish and Scotch-Irish Ancestral Research (self-published, 1962). Grenham's book is by far the best work available on Irish genealogy and is essential for individuals and institutions researching the subject. For a comprehensive collection development article on genealogy, see the reviewer's "Branching Out into Genealogy," LJ 11/1/92.--Ed.
- Judith P. Reid, Library of Congress
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

John Grenham is a professional genealogist. He was formerly attached to the Genealogical Office in Dublin and later was a project manager with the Irish Genealogical Project (IGP). --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Genealogical Pub Co (January 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0717118983
• ISBN-13: 978-0717118984
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,019,751 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The modern "bible" for Irish research., August 21, 2000

By 

Mark Howells (Puyallup, Washington State, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tracing Your Irish Ancestors 2nd edition (Paperback)

This handy paperback is the first place to start for Irish research.

Irish ancestors can be very elusive due to a variety of factors. Don't get frustrated - get educated. You CAN hunt your Emerald Isle ancestors successfully when armed with the knowledge in this book.

While covering all of the standard civil, church, census, and land records, Grenham's book also covers wills, deeds, newspapers, directories, and other less-used records. The final third of the book is a county-by-county reference guide describing extant censuses and substitutes, available local histories, monumental inscriptions and other sources for each county.

One of the outstanding features of the book is the Catholic parish maps for each county. These were drawn by the author's father and give the date of the earliest records available for each parish.

A researcher with Irish heritage must be as indefatigable and adaptable as their own Irish forebears were in order find them in the existing records. This book is one of the tools you need to start with.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good overview of Irish genealogical records, February 5, 1999

By 

Jim (Plano, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tracing Your Irish Ancestors (Paperback)

I've just begun to research my Irish ancestors and this book presents an extremely thorough list of resources available to help with this search. Not only a detailed catalog of what's available, the book also does a great job of suggesting how best to use each type of record to reach your goals.

If you are a US resident researching your Irish ancestors, there is a decent section pointing out which US records may be of assistance. The book seems written in general, though, for those who live in Ireland or are otherwise able to get there to do research. I would have found it helpful to have a little more information about what each agency is able to do by mail (or online) for those of us who can't get to Ireland!

All in all, the book was well worth the money.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars John Grenham - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors, May 6, 2002

By 

"mmeconroy" (Dublin, Ireland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tracing Your Irish Ancestors (Paperback)

I live in Ireland and I bought this book about October, 2001. It's an updated version of the 1993 book. Having looked through many books in libraries, I found this to be the ultimate guide to Irish genealogy. I have succeeded in tracing my family back to the eighteenth century from information about parish records, census records etc, as John lists them so well. It gives details of sources county by county in chronological order. The church record listing is also excellent. This is definitely the Irish genealogy bible.