Discovering Your Irish Roots: Uncover Hidden Stories and Sources with MyHeritage

Following on from the ‘Irish Ancestors – Top 5 Websites You Need To Know About’ webinar delivered in January 2024, this talk examines five more key websites. These websites, most of which are free to access, hold a wealth of information that can help to build your family tree and build a picture of their lives. We will examine the type of records held on each site and will include search hints and tips to get the most out of your research on the following websites: The National Archives, Griffith’s Valuation, The Registry of Deeds, Roots Ireland, The British Newspaper Archive.

Prior to the 20th century, the vast majority of Irish people lived in rural areas, leasing land and property from the landowners who owned large estates, some of which were thousands of acres in size. These estates, often managed by land agents, generated large amounts of records, a number of which are particularly useful for expanding the knowledge of your ancestors. If you have exhausted the civil registration and church records, these records could be very useful in providing further information about earlier generations who lived on an estate and where exactly they lived through records such as rentals, leases and estate maps. Other valuable documents within estate records include military muster rolls, correspondence, land agent notebooks, wage books, account books and emigration records, all of which have the potential to provide information about your ancestors. Following the Great Famine, many landlords fell into financial difficulty and the government established the Encumbered Estates Court which allowed for the sale of their estates. The records generated include information about tenants and their leases that often contain really valuable information to expand your family tree.

This webinar demonstrates how Eliza Watson traced her Coffey ancestry line back eight generations from southwest Wisconsin to Ireland in 1705. An amazing feat due to the lack of Irish historical records. Her success was thanks to a newfound Irish Daly relation, extensive cemetery research, and a local historian. The webinar provides creative ways to break down an Irish research brick wall.

For many of us who have Irish ancestry, the major question is 'but where in Ireland?' Like millions of other descendants of Irish emigrants, Michelle Leonard has Irish ancestors who left Ireland in the 1840s-60s and on nearly all documents she can find for them their birthplaces were given simply as 'Ireland'. In many cases traditional research is not able to narrow down exactly where in Ireland our ancestors lived and trying to trace them across the seas is often a 'needle in a haystack' endeavour. In this personal case study, Michelle will outline how she managed to identify exact locations in Ireland for her Irish lines using the power of DNA testing and will provide strategies and top tips that could help you do the same.

This webinar is a romp through the top 5 websites where you will find information on your Irish ancestors. Best of all most of them are free! This is ideal if you are at the start of your Irish ancestral research and will give you a good grounding before delving into the more obscure record sets.

The Registry of Deeds based in Dublin has been in existence since 1704 and manages the legal registration of property. Less well known is that it is also a repository for genealogical treasures such as wills, property leases and marriage agreements. People named in these records include the principal parties and also wider family members and witnesses. It is also possible to find records by location. These records are available as microfilms on the Family Search website although they are not indexed there. This webinar will cover different methods of searching within and accessing these valuable records.

There are many examples of Unknown Parentage cases in Ireland - illegal adoptees, a foundling grandparent, or simply an Irish Brick Wall. This talk explores the approach to solving these cases, the challenges faced with Irish records, and some hints & tips to overcome them using DNA.

Identify push factors to emigration (internal issues influencing emigration): Identify pull factors to emigration (external forces encouraging emigration) • Discuss factors and resources for each time period • Emigration pre-1717 • Scots-Irish (1717 - 1783) • Revolutionary War to the Famine (1783-1845) • Famine years and after • How to use to find places of origin

Known in their homeland as Ulster-Scots, these mainly Lowland Scots left their homeland and settled in Ulster during the Plantation, sometimes staying only for a few generations and then many made their way to the New World. Why did these Scots come to Ulster and why did they then subsequently leave? What were the push and pull factors? Why did Presbyterian ministers have such sway over these people? We will look at the perils they faced on their transatlantic journey and what they found when they arrived in the new world. We will examine the range of records and sources where you may find your Ulster-Scots ancestors and that can tell you more about this pioneering ethnic group that produced a number of US Presidents and millions of descendants worldwide today.