The Captain's Blog

Here at the Dunbrody Famine Ship Experience we often get requests to help out with family history research. Naturally, these are usually related to Irish emigration to North America - but Geanealogical research, particularly online, can throw up the same road blocks no matter where you are from. Any search: “Emigrant Records”, “Passenger Lists” and so on will throw up a bunch of paid-for sites at the top of the page. But before you start spending, try scrolling down the page and find some of the excellent resources available for free.

Here are just a few of the sites we use most often. These are specific to Ireland and North America and generally related to family history. I will get around to other places and other subjects in later posts. Click on the underlined text to go to the pages discussed.

Irish National Archives: Census Returns 1901/1911

The first Census in Ireland was taken in 1821 and every ten years from that date on. Unfortunately, the returns from 1821-91 were pulped because of a paper shortage during World War 1 and only fragments of those returns survive. However, this is a good jump-off page for Irish genealogy and has links to other sites of interest within the National Archives and elsewhere.

National Library of Ireland: Parish Registers

This holds a fairly comprehensive record - digitized and searchable online - of baptisms and marriages. Depending on the parish - city records go back further, records for parishes on the western seaboard start later - the records run from c1750 to c1880. If, like me, you are unsure of parish names and boundaries, there is an interactive map on the start page. These records are for the Catholic church only. Records for the Church of Ireland and the Presbyterian Congregation can be found on the following pages: Church of Ireland, Presbyterian Church.

US National Archives: Passenger Lists

This is the one-stop-shop for US researchers. All passenger lists from 1820 onwards are held here in some form. Mostly on microfilm for the years we would be interested in, though this is being digitized over time. Short of going to the archives in person, there is an online and postal service for ordering copies and links to these are on this page. Sections of the data that have already been digitized tend to be behind paywalls at sites such as Ancestry.com. One large tranche of passenger data is held by the Ellis Island Foundation here: New York Passenger Records - this too, short of visiting in person, involves payment.

Library and Archive Canada: Passenger Lists

This is a great paywall-free site and a comprehensive record of passengers arriving in Canada. The date-range is 1865-1922 so it may start a little late for many people doing family history research. For people of Irish ancestry there is another, sadder, database held by Canadian Archives. This is the database from the quarantine Island at Grosse Île, which records the names of people who passed through, or died there between 1832 and 1937. LAC: Immigrants at Grosse Île

Sources

A brief guide to online research for family historians and others