The Irish and America

Mass immigration to the United States was nowhere more apparent than in the immigration of the Irish between 1815 and the failure of the potato crop in 1845/1846, during which time a million Irish men and women crossed the seas to take up permanent residence in America. Adams provides a detailed account of the economic, social, and political factors underlying the early migrations; an examination of the emigrant trade and its links with American shipping interests; and a history of government policy regarding assisted and unassisted emigration. An exhaustive and engaging book.

Whether you conduct your research in person or by mail, this celebrated manual--now in its Fourth Edition--will guide you in finding your ancestors in Britain or Ireland. Noted genealogist Angus Baxter provides detailed instructions for locating records abroad and shows how easy it is to do it by mail--or on a vacation trip!

He begins with step-by-step instructions on drawing up a family tree, and explains how to use sources close at hand. The search continues by correspondence with family history societies, record offices, and other organizations listed here, before concluding with a possible--but not essential--trip to the source, Britain or Ireland.

The Fourth Edition of this classic work includes discussions of the following topics:

* The transfer of important genealogical records from Chancery Lane and St. Catherine's House to the Family Records Centre in London--most notably, civil registration records, census returns, and records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury

* The 1986, 1996, and 1998 reorganization of counties in England and Wales and the latest information on where to find local records. Where available, URLs are given for county record offices (CROs), as well as for major repositories. Phone and fax numbers, if available, are also given for CROs and other archives

* The British Library transfer of many of its collections from the Great Russell Street location (inside the British Museum) to a new facility at St. Pancras, London

* The establishment of the Irish Genealogical Project

* The 1998 amalgamation of the Public Record Office and State Paper Office into the National Archives of Ireland

In the end, Baxter demonstrates how the threads of fact can be woven into a rich and detailed family history, the ultimate goal of every searcher determined to find his family roots.

This is a study of the emigration from Northern Ireland of persons of Scottish and English descent. Chapters are devoted to the Scotch-Irish settlements in Pennsylvania, Maryland, South Carolina, and Massachusetts and include valuable lists of early pioneers. In addition, considerable space is devoted to the redoubtable settlers of Londonderry, New Hampshire.

The book's extensive appendixes contain lists of great genealogical importance, including (1) petitioners for transport from Northern Ireland (1718); (2) hometowns of Ulster families, with names of the Scotch-Irish in New England from presbytery and synod records (1691-1718); (3) members of the Charitable Irish Society in Boston (1737-1743); (4) names of fathers in the Presbyterian baptismal records in Boston (1730-1736); and (5) names of ships carrying passengers from Ireland to New England (1714-1720). Biographical information, which is to be met with throughout the volume, is rendered instantly accessible by reference to the formidable index.

New York City is the capital of Irish-America. Since the late 1600s, but especially through the 1800s, millions of Irish men, women, and children immigrated to North America, primarily through Manhattan's welcoming harbor. From 1846 to 1851 alone, the tragic years of the Irish Famine, upwards of one million persons immigrated to the U.S. and Canada, mostly through the port of New York. In due course, the Irish of New York established a thriving subculture comprised of business establishments, societies and libraries, newspapers, mostly-Catholic schools and churches, and other institutions, many of which survive to this day.

Descendants of the Irish exodus to New York will discover that this book is a publication worthy of this proud heritage. Mr. Buggy presents a comprehensive overview for anyone wishing to trace their Irish ancestors within New York City. In the process, he has incorporated recent developments in New York Irish genealogy, such as the discovery of the records of the Emigrant Savings Bank, and builds upon them with additional insight. Since the immigrant ancestor who arrived in New York represents the best chance of finding the place of origin in Ireland, helping the researcher find the place of origin of that immigrant ancestor is the central objective of this work. Toward that end, the author provides detailed information about records, resources, and strategies for achieving this objective.

Finding Your Irish Ancestors in New York City is divided into eleven chapters. Chapters One through Three introduce the record groups in New York City. Fundamental sources such as census and vital records are covered, along with underutilized record sets that can be of particular use when tracing Irish ancestors. Chapters Four through Six delve deeper into researching the Irish in New York City. There is a focus on research strategies that can be utilized when researchers encounter those genealogical brick walls. Irish people from particular counties often lived in certain parts of the city, and this is outlined in detail. Following this, twenty-one different record sets and publications are explained in detail, as they give the place of origin in Ireland for over 160,000 nineteenth-century immigrants and many hundreds of thousands more in the twentieth century.

The next three chapters focus on the Roman Catholic Church. An historical analysis outlines how and why the church is so important for Irish genealogical research. Chapter Eight, in particular, contains the most detailed listing to date of every Catholic parish that has ever existed in each of the five boroughs. All important start dates for parish registers are also included. The subsequent chapter on cemeteries lists every known Catholic, public, and non-denominational cemetery that has existed in the city. The concluding two chapters compile comprehensive lists of journal articles, websites, and other publications that will aid the researcher and provide a wider understanding of the lives of the Irish in New York City.

Given the scale of the Irish experience in New York, it is somewhat surprising that we have had to wait so long for a comprehensive guidebook on the subject. This work not only makes up for lost time but also sets a very high bar for anyone else who might choose to tackle the subject.

Emigration from Ireland to the Americas can be said to have started in earnest during the early eighteenth century. In 1718, the first successful emigration from Ireland to New England took place, laying the foundation for the large-scale settlement of colonial America by the "Scotch-Irish." While details on emigrants of the 18th century are difficult to locate, emigration lists from the late 18th century, such as the Register of Emigrants maintained in Great Britain between 1773 and 1775, have survived.

The work at hand, a consolidated reprint of three pamphlets by Mr. David Dobson, endeavors to shed light on some 1,000 Irish men and women and their families who emigrated to North America between roughly 1775 and 1825. Part 1, which is based on the Register of Emigrants, lists a number of former soldiers, among others, who were encouraged by the British government to settle in Canada after the Napoleonic Wars. Part 2, based on source material located in Ireland, Scotland, England, and North America, consists mostly of Irish men and women who settled in Canada, North Carolina, and the Virgin Islands. The third list of emigrants, also based on British and North American records, is more evenly distributed throughout the colonies. Each of the three groupings is arranged alphabetically by the emigrant's surname and, in the majority of cases, provides us with most of the following particulars: name, date of birth, name of ship, occupation in Ireland, reason for emigration, sometimes place of origin in Ireland, place of disembarkation in the New World, date of arrival, number of persons in the household, and the source of the information.

Emigration from Ireland to the Americas can be said to have started in earnest during the early eighteenth century. In 1718 the first successful emigration from Ireland to New England took place, laying the foundation for the large-scale settlement of colonial America by the "Scotch-Irish." (A number of groups of Irish settlers had emigrated during the seventeenth century, some of them involuntarily, to the West Indies.) Some early Irish emigrants came as indentured servants, often via ports such as Bristol and London. The scale of Irish immigration, particularly from the north of Ireland, would grow from a trickle in 1718 to a torrent in the mid-nineteenth century as a result of the Great Famine.

This present work is a consolidated reprint of two pamphlets by Mr. David Dobson that shed light on more than 1,100 Irish men and women and their families who emigrated to North America between roughly 1775 and 1825. As such, this volume adds to the list of 1,000 men and women compiled by Mr. Dobson in three earlier pamphlets in this series, which were published by Clearfield Company as Irish Emigrants in North America. Unlike the earlier collection, which was derived from a variety of Scottish and North American source records, the persons named in Irish Emigrants in North America, Parts Four and Five, were found primarily in contemporary newspapers in Canada and the United States. Each of the two lists of Irish persons is arranged alphabetically by the emigrant's surname and, in the majority of cases, provides us with most of the following particulars: name, date of birth, name of ship, occupation in Ireland, reason for emigration, sometimes place of origin in Ireland, place of disembarkation in the New World, date of arrival, number of persons in the household, and the source of the information.

Emigration from Ireland to the Americas can be said to have started in earnest during the early 18th century. In 1718 the first successful emigration from Ireland to New England occurred, which laid the foundation for the large-scale settlement of colonial America by the "Scots-Irish." The work at hand is the sixth installment (and the third volume) in a series compiled by David Dobson that documents the departure of thousands of individuals who vacated Ireland for the promise of the New World between roughly 1670 and 1830. As many as half of the immigrants referred to here disembarked at Canadian ports in Ontario, while most of the rest entered North America through New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virgina, and North Carolina.

Part Six is based mainly on archival sources in Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, and the United States, together with contemporary newspapers and journals, a few published records, and some gravestone inscriptions from both sides of the Atlantic. In the majority of cases, Mr. Dobson's transcriptions provide some or all of the following particulars: name of passenger, date of birth, name of ship, occupation in Ireland, reason for emigration, sometimes place of origin in Ireland, place of disembarkation in the New World, date of arrival, number of persons in the household, and the source of the information.

Emigration from Ireland to the Americas started in earnest during the early 18th century. In 1718 the first successful emigration from Ireland to New England occurred, laying the foundation for the large-scale settlement of colonial America by the "Scots-Irish." This work is the seventh installment (and the fourth volume) in a series compiled by Mr. David Dobson that documents the departure of thousands of individuals who left Ireland for the promise of the New World between roughly 1670 and 1830. As many as half of the immigrants referred to here disembarked at Canadian ports in Ontario, while most of the rest entered North America through New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina.

Part Seven is based mainly on archival sources in Canada, Denmark, England, Ireland, Scotland, and the U.S., together with contemporary newspapers and journals, a few published records, and some gravestone inscriptions from both sides of the Atlantic. In the majority of cases, Mr. Dobson's transcriptions provide some or all of the following: name of passenger, date of birth, name of ship, occupation in Ireland, reason for emigration, and, sometimes, place of origin in Ireland, place of disembarkation in the New World, date of arrival, number of persons in the household, and the source of the information. Here is an entry that is typical of those found in the volume:

LITTLEWOOD, ANN, from Drummond, parish of Tamlaght Finlaggan, emigrated from Londonderry to St. John, New Brunswick, on the 196 ton brig Ambassador in April 1834 [RIA].

According to some estimates as many as 100,000 Scotsmen were re-settled by the British government in the Irish Plantation of Ulster during the 17th century. After the turn of the next century, the descendants of many of these Ulster Scots, better known as the Scotch-Irish, would play a major role in diversifying the population of the British colonies and, in particular, in opening up the American frontier to European settlement.

The purpose of this diminutive bipartite book is to help persons of Scotch-Irish descent make the linkage first to Ulster and then back to Scotland. The work identifies some 1,200 Scotsmen (in two alphabetically arranged lists) who resided in Ulster between the early 1600s and the early 1700s. Many of the persons so identified were young men from Ireland--many bearing Scottish surnames--attending universities in Scotland. Still other Scots-Irish links were apprentices, ministers, merchants, weavers, teachers, or persons in flight. In a number of cases Mr. Dobson is able to provide information on the man or woman's spouse, children, local origins, landholding, and, of course, the source of the information. While there is no certainty that each of the persons identified in Scots-Irish Links or their descendants ultimately immigrated to America, undoubtedly many did or possessed kinsmen who did. It is their descendants today who will be forever indebted to Mr. Dobson for making their ancestors' origins accessible.

In this much longer sequel to his earlier collection of Scots-Irish Links, Parts One & Two, David Dobson sheds more light on a segment of the 100,000 Scotsmen who were re-settled by the British government in the Irish Plantation of Ulster during the 17th century. Drawing upon primary source material in the British Museum in London, the Public Record Office and Trinity College in Dublin, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland in Belfast, as well as Scottish sources not consulted for the earlier volume, Mr. Dobson has come up with an additional 2,500 mostly Lowland Scots who re-settled in Ulster--in most instances prior to 1700. Of the many important sources consulted for Scots-Irish Links, Part Three are the Irish Patent Rolls, which contain "proof" of a Scot's denization in Ireland, a requirement for buying and eventually bequeathing land in Ireland. Most of the Scots who came to Ulster before 1640, it should be pointed out, were Episcopalians, while those that followed were overwhelmingly Presbyterian. After the turn of the next century, the descendants of many of these Ulster Scots, better known as the Scotch-Irish, would play a major role in diversifying the population of the British colonies and, in particular, in opening up the American frontier to European settlement.

As with Parts One & Two, the goal of Scots-Irish Links, 1575-1725, Part Three, is to help persons of Scotch-Irish descent make the linkage first to Ulster and then back to Scotland. Once again, university students predominate among the persons listed, followed by apprentices, ministers, merchants, weavers, teachers, or persons in flight. While most of the students are described merely by name, university, and date of attendance, in a number of cases Mr. Dobson is able to provide information on the individual's spouse, children, parents, local origins, landholding, and, of course, the source of the information. While there is no certainty that each of the persons identified in Scots-Irish Links, or their descendants, ultimately emigrated to America, undoubtedly many did or possessed kinsmen who did. This volume and its predecessors now bring those Scotch-Irish pioneers within the grasp of the researcher.

This is the third volume (fourth part) in a series compiled by Mr. Dobson to identify the Lowland Scots who migrated to the Plantation of Ulster (Northern Ireland) between 1575 and 1725--many of whose progeny may have emigrated to America. As he has for the prior books, the author here relies upon primary source material housed at the National Archives in Edinburgh, especially rent rolls, estate papers, church records, and port books. Other sources consulted include the Census of Ireland (ca. 1659), Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, and the Burgess Roll of Glasgow--different primary sources from the ones that figured in the previous books.

Typically, each listing provides the Scots-Irish person's name, occupation, place of residence, a date, and the source. In all, Mr. Dobson has come up with an additional 1,250 mostly Lowland Scots who re-settled in Ulster.

During the 18th century as many as 100,000 Scottish Lowlanders relocated to the Plantation of Ulster (Northern Ireland). Within a few generations the descendants of these Ulster Scots immigrated in substantial numbers across the Atlantic, where, as the Scotch-Irish (Scots-Irish), they made a major contribution to the settlement and development of colonial America.

This is the fourth volume (fifth part) in a series compiled by Mr. Dobson to identify the Lowland Scots who migrated to Ulster between 1575 and 1725--many of whose progeny may have immigrated to America. As he has for the prior books, the author here relies upon primary and secondary source material found in Scotland and Ireland. With one or two exceptions Mr. Dobson has extracted his findings from sources not consulted for the previous books, such as the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, the Acts of the General Assembly of Scotland, 1648-1842, the Calendar of State Papers, Ireland, Records of the General Synod of Ulster, 1691-1820, and a score of other sources. A special feature of this volume is the inclusion of a number of shipmasters from Ulster who traded with west of Scotland ports. (It is highly likely that they were residents of the port to which the ship belonged and that the skipper owned part of the vessel.)

Typically, each listing provides the Scots-Irish person's name, occupation, place of residence, a date, and the source. In all, Mr. Dobson has come up with an additional 1,700 Lowland Scots who re-settled in Ulster, and many of their progeny would travel the Atlantic.

With this volume David Dobson sets out to overcome some of the obstacles facing North Americans attempting to trace ancestors in Ireland prior to 1820. Researchers with colonial Irish ancestors must contend with the fact that no official records of arriving immigrants exist for the United States prior to 1820, nor prior to 1865 in Canada. On the other hand, if the researcher can establish that an immigrant ancestor lived in or near a certain port of entry at a particular time, he may be able to "jump" the Atlantic by utilizing the records of the very vessels known to or likely to have transported passengers from Ireland to North America between 1623 and 1850.

Modeled after a similar volume compiled by the author for Scottish vessels of this era, Ships from Ireland to Early America is an alphabetically arranged list of 1,500 vessels known to have embarked from Ireland to North America. For each vessel we learn the dates and ports of embarkation and arrival and the source of the information, and frequently the number of passengers and the name of the ship's captain. In the compilation of the volume, Dobson combed through contemporary newspapers, government records in Great Britain and North America, and a small number of published works. The author's sources are itemized and coded at the front of the volume, where the reader will also find an informative essay on the conditions of colonial transportation to North America. While Dobson makes no claims as to the comprehensiveness of this list of Irish vessels, he has nonetheless assembled another groundbreaking work on a subject of great importance to American genealogists.

This is the second volume by David Dobson to identify vessels that traveled from Ireland to North America before 1850 and were known to, or were likely to, carry passengers. Based on research in contemporary sources--particularly newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic--this work identifies an additional 1,500 ships that were involved in transporting immigrants to the U.S. or Canada.

Dr. Dobson's purpose in compiling these ship references is to help researchers overcome some of the obstacles they can face when attempting to trace Irish ancestors before 1820. The fact is that there are no official records of arriving immigrants for the U.S. prior to 1820, or for Canada prior to 1865. On the other hand, if the researcher can establish that an immigrant ancestor lived in or near a certain port of entry at a particular time, he/she may be able to "jump" the Atlantic by tapping into the records of the very vessels known to have participated in the transportation.

For each vessel cited in this book, we learn the dates and ports of embarkation and arrival, the source of the information, and frequently the number of passengers and the name of the ship's captain. The following is a representative entry: Yeoman, master John Purdon, from Cork with passengers bound for New York, arrived there 5 September 1851. [U.S. National Archives. M333.4.26.] The author's sources are itemized and coded at the front of the volume, where the reader will also find an informative essay on the conditions of colonial transportation to North America.

While Dobson makes no claims about the comprehensiveness of these lists, he has nonetheless assembled another groundbreaking work on a subject of great importance to American genealogists.

This is the third volume by David Dobson to identify vessels that traveled from Ireland to North America before 1850 and were known to, or were likely to, carry passengers. Based on research in contemporary sources--particularly newspapers--on both sides of the Atlantic, this work identifies an additional 1,500 ships that were involved in transporting immigrants to the U.S. or Canada. Dr. Dobson's purpose in compiling these ship references is to help researchers overcome some of the obstacles they face when attempting to trace Irish ancestors. The fact is that there are no official records of arriving immigrants for the U.S. prior to 1820, or for Canada prior to 1865. On the other hand, if the researcher can establish that an immigrant ancestor lived in or near a certain port of entry at a particular time, he/she may be able to "jump" the Atlantic by tapping into the records of the vessels known to have participated in the transportation.

For each vessel cited in this book, we learn the dates and ports of embarkation and arrival, the source of the information, and frequently the number of passengers and the name of the ship's captain. Readers will find a table of sources at the back of the volume. The following is a representative entry:

BARWELL, arrived in the York River, Virginia, during May 1752 with "tradesmen, farmers, seamstresses, mantuamakers, etc." from Ireland; master Thomas Causzar, arrived in the York River, Virginia, on 11 March 1755 with 40 servants from Dublin [VaGaz#71/220]

Between 1847 and 1852, a number of Irish small-holders, assisted by the government, emigrated from the Crown estates of Ballykileline in Co. Roscommon; Irvilloughter and Boughill in Co. Galway; Kilconcouse, Offaly; Kingwilliamstown in Cork; and Castlemaine in Co. Kerry. This present work contains a history of the emigration scheme and a list of the emigrants from each estate with the following details: name, age, occupation, family relationships, date and place of departure, date and place of arrival in the U.S., and name of ship. Most of the emigrants arrived at the port of New York, while a handful disembarked in Quebec.

This is one of the best books on Irish genealogy ever published. The first volume is a guide to preliminary research. It describes genealogical collections and indexes in all the major Irish repositories and the published indexes, catalogues, and printed sources available in Ireland and the United States. The various chapters detail the types of records that exist and where, the nature and extent of the holdings, dates of coverage, and the existence of indexes to wills and probates, birth, marriage and burial records, land, census and tax records, and church and parish records.

Volume Two is a bibliography of family histories, pedigrees, and source materials published in books and periodicals. It covers such printed works as parish, town and county histories, church records, and family histories. It also has a list of over 1,400 manuscript family histories deposited in public record offices, a survey of the microfilm holdings of various American and Irish institutions, inventories of other manuscript collections, and an index of family history articles appearing in over twenty periodicals.

The new 5^th edition print version of this book is now available! See our item #2387.

The best book ever written on Irish genealogy, this new edition of Tracing Your Irish Ancestors retains the familiar structure of previous editions but is now more useful than ever. Combining the key features of a textbook and a reference book, it describes the various steps in the research process while at the same time providing an indispensable body of source materials for immediate use.

The biggest change from previous editions is in its approach to the Internet. Online research is now an essential part of any Irish family history project, so the 4th edition serves as a directory to online records, discussing their uses and outlining research strategies. The sheer scale of the data available online makes a guide such as this all the more essential, and in the hands of a master it is indispensable.

Along with its step-by-step instructions in the location and use of traditional genealogical records, its discussion of civil records of birth, marriage, and death, as well as land records and wills, and its list of Roman Catholic parish records and source lists-Ñall expanded, updated, and indexed-Ñit is easily the most useful book in Irish genealogy.

"The most comprehensive and authoritative book on Irish genealogy available."--Heritage Quest

"Highly recommended for anyone doing Irish research.--Federation of Genealogical Societies Forum

"It is one of the most up-to-date and thorough source books for serious researchers of Irish family history."--American Reference Books Annual


About the Author
The author of many books and articles on Irish genealogy, John Grenham was the first Genealogist-in-Residence at the Dublin City Library and Archive. He is a Fellow of both The Irish Genealogical Research Society and The Genealogical Society of Ireland. Since 2009 he has written the "Irish Roots" column for The Irish Times.

This work lists about 5,150 passengers who sailed from Ireland to America in the years 1811 and 1815-16, with the following information given for each passenger: the name of the ship, date of arrival, port of departure, port of entry, and point of origin. The two lists cover 109 ships, of which 89 arrived at New York, 17 at Philadelphia, 2 at Baltimore, and 1 at New London.

The Canadian port of St. John, New Brunswick was a magnet for Irish immigration during the decade that culminated in the Great Famine. A majority of these Irish immigrants relocated to Boston or elsewhere in New England, sooner or later, in order to rejoin their family members. Since many of the aforementioned Irish arrived in Canada in a destitute or infirm condition, however, they were required to take temporary refuge in the alms and work houses, hospitals, and asylums of St. John. Many of the records of these institutions have survived, and it is owing to Mr. Johnson's ingenuity and diligence that we now have a surrogate record of these persons "missing" from the official passenger lists. In all, he has identified some 7,000 persons of Irish birth from the records of alms houses, hospitals, parish houses, etc. This is a major contribution to the literature of Irish immigration to North America.

A general account of 18th-century Ulster to America emigration, it starts with 1718 and covers the causes of the emigration and types of emigrants. Many Ulstermen are identified, particularly those conspicuous in the Revolutionary War, as well as those who were Presbyterian ministers, and others who held political positions or were in the field of education.

Published in the obscure Journal of the Irish House of Commons in 1743 as a report of a special committee appointed to look into abuses of the system of enforced emigration, these lists of about 2,000 felons and vagabonds forcibly transported from Ireland between 1735 and 1743 constitute one of the few known sources of Irish emigration to the New World in the 18th century.

Copied verbatim from the pages of the Journal by Frances McDonnell, these priceless lists have been brought to light for the benefit of the long-suffering researcher. As published here in this handy, indexed volume, information in the lists generally includes the name of transportee, county or city from which returns of transportation orders were obtained, date of assizes (court), reason for transportation, and occasionally the name of the ship and place of destination in the colonies. Clearly this is an historically important work and a unique source of information, and it belongs in every serious researcher's library.

This is a comprehensive survey of the Irish in all phases of their emigration, settlement, and life in North America. They are viewed under arms in the Indian wars, the Revolution, the War of 1812, and in the individual services; studied in their states as pioneers and prominent sons; studied as politicians and builders of the Republic; and studied and surveyed in multiple lists and biographies. They are analyzed as financiers, businessmen, and civil servants, and their contributions are explained in statistical analyses of their numbers in proportion to the population of America as a whole. Most important, they are treated as major figures-whether great or small-and the wonder is that a book of this size can treat so many. Hundreds upon hundreds of Irish-Americans are dealt with, from the first immigrants to Barbados in 1649 to the political refugees of the 1840s.

Except for the brief period from March 1803 to March 1806, no official registers of passengers leaving Irish ports were ever kept. The exception refers to lists contained in the so-called Hardwicke Papers, now located in the British Library, London. Altogether, some 4,500 passengers are identified in the 109 sailings recorded in the Hardwicke Papers--most cited with their all-important place of residence. Although Dublin was the most popular port of departure, the three northern ports of Belfast, Londonderry, and Newry accounted for 61% of the sailings. New York was far and away the most popular destination, with Philadelphia running a reasonable second. The Hardwicke lists, only fragments of which have ever appeared in print, as transcribed by Brian Mitchell now fill a significant gap in the records, since in many cases they will prove to be the only record of an ancestor's emigration to the U.S.

This work is the inaugural publication in a new "how-to" series. Designed to cover the basic elements of genealogical research in just four pages, the Genealogy at a Glance series gives you as much useful information in the space allotted as you'll probably ever need. Compiled by respected authorities, each Genealogy at a Glance piece is a four-page distillation of the key ingredients in a given area of genealogical research. 

So what does it do? In just four pages (which are specially laminated for heavy use) it provides an overview of the basic facts you need to know in order to begin and to proceed successfully with your research. It boils the subject down to its essence and allows you to grasp the basics of research at a glance! Literally at a glance.

In this instance, building on years of experience, Irish genealogy expert Brian Mitchell tells you succinctly about the sources used in Irish research, where to find them, and how to use them.

In a few deft sentences he provides all the basic instruction you need, focusing on key record sources and materials for further reference, and finishing with a summing up of record repositories and online sources. From emigration lists and surname histories to church registers and census records--each accompanied with important background information--he very cleverly lays out the whole of Irish genealogical research, providing what is arguably the best four pages ever written on the subject.

Designed to cover the basic elements of genealogical research in just four pages, the Genealogy at a Glance series (GAAG) gives you as much useful information in the space allotted as you'll ever need. Compiled by experts, each Genealogy at a Glance guide is a distillation of the key ingredients in a given area of genealogical research. Each one can be read at a glance and used with total confidence.

In keeping with the general format, this GAAG on Scots-Irish genealogy covers the basic facts about Scots-Irish research. Topics covered include the following:

• Scots-Irish background
• 17th-century Ulster planters
• 18th-century emigrants
• Passenger lists
• Places of origin
• Family names
• Source records
• Repositories

The term Scots-Irish refers to people who originated in Scotland and settled in the 17th century in Ireland in the nine northern counties of Ulster. Claiming economic hardship, 250,000 Scots-Irish immigrated to North America between 1717 and 1776, principally to the port of Philadelphia, then west into the Appalachian region where they became the intrepid woodsmen and pioneers of American legend. The important thing to take away here is that this guide is intended as an aid to researchers who are attempting to trace Irish ancestors who arrived in North America prior to 1800.

Rounding out the guide there are lists of books for further reading, lists of online research sources, and a list of the major repositories with Scots-Irish material. The well-known Northern-Irish author, Brian Mitchell, also wrote the GAAG on Irish genealogy research, and is perhaps best known for his book A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland.

The purpose of the Ordnance Survey of Ireland was to map the whole country at a scale of six inches to one mile, and the six-inch maps appeared between 1835 and 1846. Each map was to have been accompanied by topographical descriptions, or memoirs, for every civil parish, but this was impractical, and the idea was abandoned. However, the field officers gathered much useful data, and the notebooks in which the information was recorded are now in the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin. They cover nineteen of Ireland's thirty-two counties, though the memoirs of Antrim and Londonderry are the only ones with lists of emigrants.

These lists have been extracted, arranged under parish, and alphabetized, and they identify the emigrant's destination and his place of origin in Ireland--key pieces of information for anyone tracing his Irish ancestry. In addition, the age, town and address, year of emigration, and religious denomination are given for each emigrant. Over 3,000 emigrants are identified in this book.

These passenger lists, which cover the period of the Irish Famine and its aftermath, identify the emigrants' actual places of residence, as well as their port of departure and nationality. Essentially business records, the lists were developed from the order books of two main passenger lines operating out of Londonderry--J.& J. Cooke (1847-67) and William McCorkell & Co. (1863-71). Both sets of records provide the emigrant's name, age, and address, and the name of the ship. The Cooke lists provide the ship's destination and year of sailing, while the McCorkell lists provide the date engaged and the scheduled sailing date. Altogether 27,495 passengers are identified.

The Third Edition of Brian Mitchell's Pocket Guide to Irish Genealogy is, page for page, perhaps the best book on genealogical research in Ireland ever written.

By skillfully blending case studies, maps, charts, and his own mastery of the subject, Mitchell has managed to convey the basics of Irish genealogical research in scarcely eighty pages. Following introductory chapters on the background of research on the American side, the author describes the nature and uses of all significant record sources in Ireland, including but not limited to civil and parish registers, gravestone inscriptions, wills, the Griffith's Valuation, tithe books, the 1901 and 1911 censuses, newspapers, hearth money rolls, the registry of deeds, estate records, and ordnance survey memoirs. Another important chapter explains the differences between the various administrative divisions of Ireland, knowledge of which is critical in tracking down all available records on Irish ancestors.

The Third Edition includes a chapter on "Irish Genealogy and the Internet," which discusses all the principal websites for conducting Irish research online. Mitchell has also totally overhauled the book's two concluding chapters, which cover Ireland's major genealogical record offices and heritage centers. The critical chapters furnish the addresses and phone numbers, hours of operation, contact persons, and major record holdings and databases of the organizations that are central to Irish family history.

Enriched by the author's experience as a professional geographer, genealogical researcher, and director of an Irish heritage center, the Pocket Guide to Irish Genealogy is an outstanding value!

This work tells you which Irish parish registers exist (all denominations), their starting dates, and where and how they can be located, and it links them to Griffith's Valuation of Ireland, the great survey of property holders taken between 1848 and 1864.

The civil parish, rather than the church parish, was the basic unit for the administration of records in Ireland. Most important Irish records--parish records of birth, marriage, and death, for instance, and Griffith's Valuation--are either organized along civil parish lines or, as in the case of Catholic parish records, which are organized by diocese, can be tied into civil parish records for further research.

In this book you'll find the location of churches of all denominations, including Roman Catholic, as well as the earliest date of their registers. In tabular form, in alphabetical order in each of the thirty-two counties, is the name of the civil parish; the name of the Church of Ireland parish (if different), and the earliest baptism entry in the registers; the Roman Catholic parish and the earliest baptism or marriage entry in the registers; the Presbyterian congregation and its earliest baptism entries; and, if registers of dissenting churches are extant (Quaker, Methodist, Congregationalist, Baptist, etc.), it gives the beginning of their registers. It also provides map references to Mr. Mitchell's New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland and to the maps accompanying the householders' index to Griffith's Valuation. This makes parish records and Griffith's Valuation compatible, for they can be identified by the same administrative division-- the civil parish.

Since its publication in 1986, A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland has established itself as a key resource in Irish genealogical research. Now, with the addition of maps detailing the location of Roman Catholic parishes in all thirty-two counties of Ireland and Presbyterian congregations in the nine counties of Northern Ireland, this edition moves the book to the forefront of Irish genealogical research. Also, for the first time ever, this one volume contains a complete geographical picture of the three major religious denominations in Ireland during the middle years of the 19th century.

And just what is the importance of this? Civil registration for everyone in Ireland didn't begin until 1864. Prior to that, the only records of births, marriages, and deaths were found in local parishes. Therefore, the first step in any Irish research for the first half of the 19th century and before should be to identify the religious denomination and parish of your ancestor. Although any of the Townland Indexes from 1851, 1871, or 1901 will show the location of each civil parish (which generally corresponds to the boundaries of the Church of Ireland parishes), it has been much more difficult to uncover the corresponding Catholic parish or Presbyterian congregation. Until now!

This 2nd Edition is not only invaluable for tracing your pre-1864 ancestors in church records but also for locating your post-1864 ancestor in civil records, for this volume provides descriptions and maps of the parochial and civil administrative divisions to which all major Irish record sources are linked. To aid the researcher in identifying the precise location of the administrative divisions, and thus their jurisdiction, Mr. Mitchell has drawn at least four, and sometimes five, maps for every county. The first county map depicts the civil/Church of Ireland parishes; the second shows the baronies and Church of Ireland dioceses; the third map illustrates the poor law unions and the parishes included within the probate districts serving that county; the fourth plots Roman Catholic parishes and dioceses; and the fifth locates Presbyterian congregations for the nine counties of Northern Ireland. Three maps of Ireland are also included to show the area covered by each county, diocese, and probate district. In addition, the book describes all of the major record sources of Ireland.

These maps provide the clues to the Irish origins of millions of Americans, making this atlas indispensable for tracing ancestors in Ireland.

This extremely scarce passenger list contains the names of almost 5,000 bonded passengers who arrived in Massachusetts during the four years prior to 1851. The great majority of the passengers listed in this work were of British and Irish origin, and they are identified by name, date of arrival, age, place of birth, and the name of the ship on which they sailed.

Michael J. O'Brien was the historian and chief contributor to the Journal of the American Irish Historical Society during its years of publication, 1898-1941. O'Brien's numerous articles were united by a common objective--to explode the "Scotch-Irish myth," in effect to demonstrate that the Catholic Irish were more numerous than the Ulster Irish in the early days of immigration and more prominent in the affairs of state.

O'Brien's collected articles now form a reference work of encyclopedic proportions--accessible, comprehensive, and convenient--and they touch upon the entire spectrum of colonial American history. In the 132 articles assembled here, O'Brien lists no fewer than 25,000 pioneers and settlers, his information deriving from both manuscript and printed sources. The two-volume consolidation also contains a new preface, a descriptive table of contents, and indexes.

Heritage World of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, has surveyed the gravestone inscriptions for almost 900 cemeteries across the northern part of Ireland. The great majority of these cemeteries are located in Northern Ireland, although the figure includes a substantial number from two other Ulster counties, Donegal and Monaghan, as well as several from County Louth. The survey encompasses cemeteries of all religious denominations as well as those administered by local district and borough councils. In each case, there is an exact transcript of all gravestone inscriptions, together with a simple plan of the cemetery.

Information pertaining to these cemeteries can be acquired from Heritage World either as an index, giving county, parish, person, cemetery name, date of death, and denomination, or as a full gravestone inscription. These details can be supplied for any name in a particular cemetery, parish, or county.

This book lists all cemeteries surveyed to date by Heritage World. Arranged by county, all 900 cemeteries are listed by the civil parish in which they are located, together with their religious denomination. In brief, then, this is a guide to the 900 cemeteries surveyed in the nine counties of Antrim, Armagh, Derry, Donegal, Down, Fermanagh, Louth, Monaghan, and Tyrone, with pointers for the researcher to follow for acquiring full details of individual gravestone inscriptions.

From the time of the earliest European colonies, there were Irish settlers in the four provinces of Atlantic Canada--Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. The first Irish arrivals came to Newfoundland as seasonal fishermen; between 1785 and 1835 a sizable number settled there, traveling from Waterford, Kilkenny, Wexford, Tipperary, and east Cork to work in the fishery industry. Increased immigration of the Irish elsewhere in Atlantic Canada began in the early 1800s, peaking during and shortly after the great Irish Famine in the mid-nineteenth century. During this time, large numbers of Irish and Scots-Irish immigrants passed through the Atlantic Canada ports of St. John and Halifax and a score of lesser ports, though a great many of these immigrants soon relocated to New England.

Despite the flow of Irish through Atlantic Canada, the early records of these immigrants are fewer and less informative than those of New England and New York from the same period. Erin's Sons: Irish Arrivals in Atlantic Canada 1761Ð1853 goes a long way toward rectifying this problem. Author Terrence M. Punch has combed through a wide-ranging and disparate group of sourcesÑincluding newspaper articles and advertisements, local government documents and census records, church records, burial records, land records, military records, passenger lists, and moreÑto identify as many of these pioneers as possible and disclose where they came from in the Old Country. These sources often contain details that cannot be found in Irish records, where few census returns survived from before 1901, and where Catholic records began a generation or more after their counterparts in Atlantic Canada.

Erin's Sons not only sheds light on many of the Irish immigrants who resided in Atlantic Canada between 1761 and 1853 but also provides an invaluable tool for U.S. researchers, since many New England Irish families can trace their ancestry through Atlantic Canada.

For easy reference, a Surname Index and Ship Index are included.

Volume II of Erin's Sons covers the same time period as its predecessor and the same geographic area--the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia--and it lists an additional 7,000 Irish arrivals in Atlantic Canada before 1853.

What is remarkable about this second volume is the rich variety of information derived from hard-to-find sources such as church records of marriages and burials, cemetery records, headstone inscriptions, military description books, newspapers, poor house records, and passenger lists. The resulting body of documents is replete with human drama: shipwrecked immigrants, families in search of members, people taken ill while en route to a distant location, old soldiers fallen on hard times, tenants uprooted from their farms and shipped to Canada, and so on.

There are also lists of runaways and deserters, transported convicts, and indentured servants, which offer a vivid if sometimes bleak picture of Irish immigration to Canada.

Also included in the book are maps showing Irish ports of embarkation, an index of surnames, and an index of ships.

Volume III of Erin's Sons extends the period of coverage to 1858 and lists approximately 7,000 additional Irish-born residents of Atlantic Canada. Like the other volumes in the series, it is based on a wide variety of genealogical sources, including church records, cemetery inscriptions, marriage and burial records, newspapers, census records, and ships' passenger lists.

Scattered throughout the volume there are out-of-the-way records pertaining to rescued and quarantined passengers, deserters, and runaways; and equally obscure records of individuals who suffered from anti-Irish prejudice during the 1840s. Many entries date from the 1850s, with earlier years showing up in land records, passenger lists, and military records.

The largest groups of records included here are based on newspaper notices of marriages and deaths, regimental records, and land records. The single largest collection--newspaper notices of marriages and deaths, 1854-1858, extracted from newspapers published in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland--also contains the greatest amount of genealogical detail, including place and date of birth and death, date of emigration from Ireland, date of marriage, and names of family members. The regimental records, in particular the 97th Regiment, 1827-1853, show the dispersal of the soldiers at the end of their service and include date and place of birth, with date, place, and reason for discharge; while the land records, including some 900 petitions for grants of land in Nova Scotia, give the name of the petitioner, the date of the petition, sometimes the place of origin in Ireland, and the area of settlement in Nova Scotia.

Also included in the book are maps showing the areas of peak migration from Ireland to Atlantic Canada, an index of surnames, and an index of ships.

Citing an additional 7,000 Irish-born residents of Atlantic Canada, Volume IV of Erin's Sons: Irish Arrivals in Atlantic Canada brings the coverage of this groundbreaking work forward to 1863, the mid-point of the American Civil War. By that year, Irish immigration into Atlantic Canada had diminished almost to a trickle, as ever bigger and faster steam ships allowed immigrants to set out for the more distant factory towns of New England and various points in the American West.

The Irish-born population of Atlantic Canada peaked in the early 1860s; after that the combination of out-migration to the United States and "upper Canada," the reduction in Irish immigration, and the influx of non-Irish elements began the proportionate decline of the Irish in the population. Volume IV, therefore, rounds off the series at the turning point in the decline of the Irish-born population.

Like the other volumes in the series, Volume IV contains extracts of data from a wide range of sources, chiefly public records, newspapers, and cemetery records. Probably as much or even more than the other volumes, records of marriages and deaths and census records predominate, while there are the usual out-of-the-way records of ships' passengers, runaways, deserters, and old soldiers. Once again, the fourth volume of Erin's Sons offers a wealth of data that is generally inaccessible to the average researcher, identifying Irish-born individuals in every kind of record in which immigrants to Atlantic Canada are named.

Richard Griffith (b. Dublin 1784) had already established himself as a distinguished geologist and inspector of Irish mines when, in 1825, he was chosen to be Ireland's Boundary Surveyor. Griffith's appointment coincided with the government's determination to achieve a uniform system of land measuring and valuing for the purpose of eliminating various inequities in levying the two main forms of local taxation in Ireland, the tithe and the county cess, at the townland level. As the head of the Boundary Department of Ireland, Griffith would spend the next forty years supervising land valuation in Ireland and, in particular, the great Ordnance Survey of Irish townlands which fixed local boundaries throughout the nation. The Ordnance Survey documents, comprising over 3,000 maps and 2,300 registers, and Griffith's valuations of 1826, 1846, and 1852, were the surviving products of Griffith's efforts, and they constitute perhaps the greatest sources in all of Irish genealogy.

In recent years more Irish researchers than before have achieved a passing familiarity with Griffith's valuations. This is due in part to the publication of the valuations on microfilm and the more recent release on CD-ROM of a name index to the same. Very few people, however, know much about Griffith the man, the methodology behind the records, or, most important, how to make the best possible genealogical use of these sources. Thanks to the efforts of James Reilly, this need not be the case any longer.

The content of Richard Griffith and His Valuations of Ireland can be said to be divided into two parts. The first half of the volume treats the history and method used by Griffith and his colleagues in producing the valuations. Here Reilly explains how the surveys were conducted, how standard Irish forms of townland names were assigned, how the descriptive Ordnance Survey Memoirs were compiled, and what one can expect to find within their rich contents. In separate chapters devoted to the three valuations, Reilly describes, among other things, how the valuators assigned a value to property, how the information was publicized, and the relationship of the valuations to the new Irish Poor Laws. Facsimile illustrations of maps, memoirs and other documents from the valuations abound here as they do in the second half of the work, a discussion of Griffith's genealogical importance.

Although the Griffith's is not a census (many people regard it as a substitute for the Irish censuses lost in the Public Record Office fire of 1922), "Griffith's Primary Valuation," or simply "Griffith's Valuation," as it has come to be known, provides the following information for each tenement in each Irish townland: names of townland and occupiers, names of immediate lessors, description of tenement, acreage, valuation of land and buildings, and reference to the corresponding map from the Ordnance Survey. Given its content and its proximity to the Great Famine of the late 1840s, Griffith's Valuation has taken on great importance for genealogists. In the genealogical section of his treatise, Mr. Reilly burrows into the intricacies of the valuations, showing how an understanding of the abbreviations and shorthand used by the valuators can lead the researcher from the valuation to other Irish records and additional discoveries concerning one's ancestors. The rich appendices that follow include a glossary of key terms appearing in the valuations, dates of publication of the Ordnance Survey Memoirs, county-by-county commencement and completion dates of the tenement valuations conducted from 1846 to 1864, and an extensive inventory of the Books of Sir Richard Griffith's General Valuation of Rateable Property in Ireland.

In conclusion, thanks to Mr. Reilly's prodigious effort, no one who has ever operated in the dark with respect to the Griffith's need do so again, while anyone who consults Richard Griffith and His Valuations of Ireland is likely to come away with a far greater number of trails to follow among Irish records than he/she had ever anticipated.

It is widely known that few ship passenger lists were recorded in the decade prior to 1820 and that reliable information on immigrants of this period is almost beyond reach. Mr. Schlegel's book, however, redresses the balance to some considerable degree.

Deriving from the New York newspaper The Shamrock or Hibernian Chronicle, Passengers from Ireland includes all data published on immigrants during the entire seven-year run of the paper and presents the lists in their original format so that family groupings are readily apparent. In substance, it comprises passenger lists for the whole period 1811 to August 1817, supplying information on over 7,000 travelers.

Data provided with each passenger list include the name of the passenger (sometimes listed with his parish or county of former residence), name of the vessel, name of the ship's captain, length of journey, port of departure, port and date of arrival, and additional remarks concerning such untoward experiences on the high seas as seizure and impressment. Needless to say, such a work goes a long way toward establishing precise information on an ancestor's immigration and answers a great many questions heretofore unanswered.

This book began as Jean Stephenson's effort to validate the family tradition that her great-great-grandparents emigrated from Belfast to South Carolina under the leadership of Covenanter Presbyterian minister William Martin in 1772. The author was not only able to authenticate the crux of the story, but, in the process, to place nearly 500 Scotch-Irish families in South Carolina on the eve of the Revolutionary War.

The impetus for the colonization was the combination of exorbitant land rents in Northern Ireland, sometimes provoking violent resistance, and the offer of free land and inexpensive tools and provisions tendered by the colonial government of South Carolina. For instance, each Scottish Covenanter was entitled to 100 acres for himself and 50 acres for his spouse, and an additional 50 acres for each child brought to South Carolina. Faced with this crisis and opportunity, Reverend Martin persuaded his parishioners that they had nothing to lose by leaving Ulster, and before long he was in charge of a small fleet of vessels bound for South Carolina. This story is recounted by Ms. Stephenson from the records of the South Carolina Council Journal and tax lists, passenger lists, church histories, and other sources housed at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History.

Genealogists will want to pour over the land evidence assembled by the author from entries found in the Council Journal, namely, authorizations, survey abstracts, wills, deeds and other records which demonstrate where each family settled, or was entitled to settle. The families, which are grouped under the vessel they traveled in, are identified by the name of the household head, names of spouse and children, number of acres surveyed, county, location of the nearest body of water and the names of abutting neighbor, nd the source of the information. For the reader's convenience, there is not only an index of the persons found in the list of survey entries and a separate subject index, but also a table of spelling variants. A work of exacting scholarship, Scotch-Irish Migration to South Carolina, 1772 is a crucial source on settlement of the Palmetto State on the eve of the American Revolution.

These ships' passenger lists originally appeared in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register from 1847 to 1961. They have been excerpted in their entirety, consolidated and indexed by passenger and ship. Most of the immigrants were of British or Irish provenance, and they sailed from London, Liverpool or Bristol and landed in New York or Boston. About 18,000 persons are named in these lists.