From parish records to tithe listings, an expert gives his top tips on hunting down your Irish ancestors through history. Derry City and Strabane genealogist shares his top tips for finding out as much as possible about your Irish ancestor using public records and archives.
There are 2,508 parishes in Ireland. You can identify the civil parishes of Ireland, and their associated townlands, at John Grenham’s Civil Index by selecting the county of interest on the map. To gain insight into the economic and social landscape of 19th century Ireland you can consult A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, published in 1837, by Samuel Lewis. Arranged in alphabetical order by parishes, towns, and villages this book can be viewed online at Library Ireland. An excellent starting point for surname research is the “surname search” option at JohnGrenham.com where you can explore the location, frequency and history of Irish surnames.
You can read the article by Brian Mitchell published in the Irish Central web site at: https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/genealogy/tracing-irish-ancestors-guide.