Tracing Your Irish Ancestors

Genealogical research in Ireland has always depended on records that are more fragmented, localised and difficult to access than anywhere else. The internet is changing that. More and more records are coming online and this book is an indispensable guide to what these records are, where they are, and what they mean. This fourth edition of Tracing Your Irish Ancestors embraces online research as an essential part of any Irish family history project. Grenham includes detailed guides to Irish online records throughout the book, discussing the idiosyncrasies of the digital versions of sources and outlining research strategies. The sheer scale of digitisation can make it both easier and more confusing to do research, and makes a guide such as this all the more essential. John Grenham's well-established and detailed guide has thorough descriptions of all the relevant sources and county-by-county reference lists - all expanded, updated and indexed to make the book easier to use than ever before

John Grenham writes the 'Irish Roots' column in The Irish Times and runs the Irish Times Irish Ancestors website. He is a fellow of The Irish Genealogical Research Society and The Genealogical Society of Ireland John came to professional genealogy in 1981, as one of the panel of researchers in the Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland. As in-house researcher for that Office in 1990-91, he was instrumental in setting up the Consultation Service, the forerunner of the current Genealogical Advisory Services in the National Library and National Archives and was a founder member of The Association of Professional Genealogists in Ireland in 1986. Among his publications are Clans and Families of Ireland (1995), Generations (1996), 'The Genealogical Office and its Records' in The Genealogical Office (1999), Grenham's Irish Recordfinder (CD-ROM) (1995-2006),Grenham's Irish Surnames (CD-ROM, 2003) and numerous articles and columns in the UK magazine Your Family Tree. His website is www.johngrenham.com.