Is Genealogy Difficult and Costly?

This is a reminder for you to not be discouraged or delay your Irish ancestry genealogy research. Some years, like the mid 1700's are harder than others.

Note this from a post on a terrific website: Irish Genealogy Toolkit. They state it well as follows:

"Irish genealogy gained a reputation long ago for being a frustrating one-way street to disappointment and headache. Thankfully, calming potions and analgesics are no longer essential equipment for the amateur genealogist because family history in Ireland has entered a golden era. More and more records – many of them free – are now available online and offline."
 
I too have found that too many overstate the difficulty of Irish genealogy research or encourage you to part with large sums of money unnecessarily.
 
Be careful about the sites or folks that ask for money. I discovered today a case where a person with access to the LDS church websites was re-selling at a price what the church provides for free. Not nice that naughty person.
 
Here is the link, click here to Irish Geneaolgy Toolkit.
 
Also, I want to point out there are many other websites offering valuable help. I have listed them under the Category of "Irish Research", currently there are 21 of them. It would be great to receive your feedback if you use any of them.
 
Remember, this is a detective game. A fun one. Be thorough, be patient, and use a research log in all you do.

The links below are a few published by them in another post.
 
No matter where in the world you now call home – whether it be the Canadian Rockies, the Australian Outback, one of the world's great "emerald" cities such as Liverpool (UK) or Boston (USA), or the beautiful craggy coast of Donegal – you'll find page after page of relevant advice on this website plus the very latest information on genealogical resources in Ireland.
Here's just some of what you can expect to discover here on Irish Genealogy Toolkit:

• Advice for Irish Roots beginners, and tips for moving on with your family history quest
• Downloadable free family history forms and charts in formats used by professionals
• In-depth info about Irish civil registration and Irish census records, and how to access them
• Find out how to trace family history through Irish church records
• A selection of free family tree templates, and even old maps of Ireland

Are You Irish? Well You Dog You!

You may have learned how important the Irish were in our fight for independence from Britain. They were a tough bunch, seasoned by over 200 years of oppression in Ireland. They were willing to fight to their death. They were unwilling to relive the oppression  Ireland endured. Truly, coming to America for freedom sake meant more to our Irish Ancestors than it did to many. It was more than opportunity.

I had the opinion, before I started digging into Irish Genealogy, that researching our Irish ancestors was nearly impossible. Certainly the British conquerors did destroy many records. There were records destroyed in fires. However, the spirit of genealogy research is alive and passionately well in Ireland. It is more than a government project, the people of Ireland are searching for records and publishing them online at a feverish pace. 

One of my greatest desires is to locate our immigrant grandfather Patrick, even his parents in Ireland. The stories about him are intriguing. However little is documented and the records of his parents are not found, yet. We don't even know his mothers name.

(I am writing another blog about my Cragun research, click here to find it. )

I have been collecting online Irish Genealogy Websites  resources and listing them in a category of "Irish Research"on the right sidebar of this blog. I'll be adding to it as best I can.

Knowing what County in Ireland your ancestor was born, baptized, lived, was married, or died in is really important. Most of these links are going to help those who know the right County.
Today I added a link that takes you to a website that is proving the latest updates from Ireland Genealogy Project archives. These updates are from Counties: Donegal, Dublin, Fermanagh, Galway,Kilkenny, Tipperarry, Sligo, Waterford, and Wicklow.

I welcome you to guide me to additional sources. I'll post them gladly.

Searching Ireland

Ireland Trent Strohm

From Irish Genealogy News website: Irish genealogy research is famous for being difficult, if not impossible. This reputation isn't entirely deserved, although there can be some fundamental difficulties in discovering your Irish ancestry, particularly if you don't know where your ancestors lived. That's why I launched my website, Irish Genealogy Toolkit. It's a free online guide to Irish family history research, and it's designed to help you to find your heritage.



As both Kathleen and I seem to have Irish roots, and we are now moving to search there, I have added a section of links on Irish Research to the right sidebar of this blog.

Check back, as I find more I will update the sidebar.