Read on Twitter
Who Do You Think You Are? There is no better diversion, teens to oldies, than turning detective. This THREAD will list sources (for the island of Ireland). All FREE. Get in there.
First things first. Ask grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins. Get a list of surnames and places (especially townlands). NB Don’t worry about filling all search boxes. One or two gets you started. Go!
Irish Census 1901&1911. The who and where, searchable by lots of functions, including county of birth. Information rich. The House and Buildings return defines the class of house. http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/
Historical BMDs, recently updated with images of original records. Marriages from 1845-. Births and Deaths from 1864-. Have I mentioned that spelling of surnames can vary? Throw the net wide. http://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/civil-search.jsp
Griffith’s Valuation. Mid-1800s. Who lived where? The Books show, Lot by Lot, names of landowners and tenants. Toggle between original maps and satellite. See extant field boundaries. Search by Surname or Place. http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml
Valuation Revision Books for NI have been digitised by PRONI. They record the changes of tenancy and ownership from Griffith’s to 1920s. http://apps.proni.gov.uk/Val12B/Search.aspx
Ulster Covenant signed by Unionist men. Women signed the Women’s Declaration. 28 Sept 1912. Almost half a million signatures viewable. Search by name and/or place http://nidirect.gov.uk/services/search-ulster-covenant
Catholic parish register microfilms digitised by National Library of Ireland. Up to 1880. http://registers.nli.ie
Historical Maps (OS) of NI from the 1830s to present day. Some aerial imagery too. Fascinating to see the evolution (or not) of land use. http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/services/search-proni-historical-maps-viewer
Will Calendars (NI, registered in Belfast, Londonderry or Armagh). Was there a will? Limited information, but occasional gems where image of will (as entered in Will Book) is available to view. http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/information-and-services/search-archives-online/will-calendars
Will Calendars digitised by National Archives of Ireland. All-island up to 1917. The details required to search for actual wills in http://www.willcalendars.nationalarchives.ie/search/cwa/index.jsp
That’s all for now. If you have difficulty navigating any of these (some are a bit clunky), ask me.
