Genealogy Chat

Hi Ann, what are 'geneology folks' you refer to in the penultimate line of your advice? - thanks for advice you put on by the way. Faith

For anyone trying to find out about Irish descendants You will find it much easier if you know the county, parish and townland and religion. Griffiths valuation is a great help if you know where your ancestor was from/lived. Also the Valuation Office in Dublin for a small fee will let you see the Register of Corrections. If you find your ancestor on Griffiths you can then look at the register and where a correction is made you can get an idea when they may have died. i found this really helpful. Religion is a difficult one. All the Catholic records and in the National Library in Dublin (They are in Latin! However they are decipherable enough to find what you need without being a Latin scholar) but the others are quite a way out of town so if you know which denomination it can save you a lot of time. Parking at the office where non Catholic records are held is almost non-existent (3 spaces only so go early) In both cases, county, parish and Townland are absolutely key. Library staff are great but worth visiting the genealogy folks before you start looking anything up. It's free and they will give you lots of help in working out where to start.