In Tuesday’s Irish research session, we shared the names and places associated with our Irish families and discussed a number of possible strategies. Ireland is often a ‘problem area’. Collecting as much information, even faint clues, to Irish locations is vital. This sometimes means back tracking your research or re-analyzing the records you’ve found previously.
One person in the group had lots of information as a relative has done a book on her Irish family. We were envious! But in a good way, of course.
Another is searching for information on a relative who was said to have attended university in Ireland. So far no records have been found, but a new idea was to search newspapers, for instance, the Irish newspaper collection on-line at in Find My Past.
The BCGS Library has a very good Irish research collection. This includes publications from Irish societies and researchers. As well, as many publications as possible on Irish emigrants and emigration are part of the Library. And we have a dedicated Irish resource – the Irish Lending Library too. Search our Library’s catalogues to see what we have.
We had a good look at the BCGS website’s Research Links for Ireland. Don’t forget to check the links in the UK and Northern Ireland sections too. The National Archives of the UK has good research advice and records too.
Ireland Reaching Out is certainly a favourite site. You really need to know the Irish parish your family lived in, and once you post a specific post in the parish forum area, you will likely get some help.
And we will be expanding the Links for specific places in Ireland. Cork, Past and Present, for example, was highly recommended. One BCGS member found information there in the “Places” section that clinched a relationship – providing a definitive link between Ireland and Canada. Nice! Exploring this whole site is a must if your family lived in this area.
By the way, we did discover one website had moved. The new address, once found, will be added. If you find broken links on bcgs.ca please report them to webmaster@bcgs.ca We are happy to hear from readers!
