Main Search

This site now also permits a simple, initial, ready-made search of the following sites:
• The 1901 census
• The 1911 census
• Indexes to Registers of Births Deaths and Marriages
• Griffith's Valuation
• The Tithe Applotment Books
• The National Archives of Ireland Collection of Soldiers' Wills
• The records of the Bureau of Military History
• The online catalogue of the National Library of Ireland
• The US immigration records of Ellisisland.org
• The US immigration records of CastleGarden.org
• The Ireland-Australia Transportation database
• The records in National Archives of Ireland collection "Women in 20th-century Ireland – 1922-1966: sources from the Department of the Taoiseach database"
• The records of the Royal Irish Academy's Digital Humanities Observatory

Entering a forename ("John"), surname ("Murphy") and location ("Cork") in the initial search pages and clicking "Search" will take you to a page with links to the above resources that include the information you have entered. So, for example, clicking on "Search 1901 census" on the results page will open a new window or tab showing all John Murphys recorded in Co. Cork in the 1901 census.

The various sites you will be taken to all operate in their own ways. In particular, most do not search on surname variants: a list of these is provided near the top of the page to remind you that it may be necessary to search again on the external site itself.

In other words, these initial results will vary from site to site. The ready-made searches are included in order to point out what other resources are available and to help you take the first step in using them.

Wildcards

All the searches allow the use of the wild-card " * ". This takes the place of any series of letters in the search-term you enter. So, for example, entering "McEntaggert" returns 6 results, while "M*c*n*t*g*rt" (which finds Mackentaggart, MacEntaggert, McIntegert, McEntaggirt etc.) returns 398.

Keep in mind that vowels are where accents live and so are more likely to change in the records.

Advanced Search

The "More search options" link on the Simple Search homepage takes you to the Advanced Search Page. Here you can:
• limit the search to exact surname matches only
• specify spouse's name
• parent's name
• child's name
• specify precise times and places for events
• any word or phrase that occurs in a record

Again, beware of being too specific, particularly in time and place.

Simple Search: Cast The Net Wide

The aim of the main search page (http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/) is to provide a simple entry point. Beware of entering too much information. A forename and surname are generally enough. Then examine the results. The navigation links in the left-hand column allow you to narrow down these results by denomination, by event, and by decade. At the bottom of the left-hand column, you can also add in additional names to further narrow a search.

You should be aware that by default the search returns all records in which both personal names occur. In other words, if you enter "John Murphy", the search will give you all records in which a "John" and a "Murphy" (or their variants) occur in any of the name fields. So, for example, if the father's name is John and a godparent's surname is Murphy, that record will be retrieved by a search for a John Murphy. You can sort the results by relevance to show most precise matches first. You can also sort the results in simple chronological order.

The overall moral is simple: cast your net as wide as possible to begin, than systematically narrow down the results.

Surname Variants

The records physically held by this site are the church records detailed at WHAT CHURCH RECORDS ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE?
By default, the search includes all known variant spellings, with the most exact matches returned first. The basis for these variants is the surname collection produced by transcribing Kerry surnames and so may be biased, particularly when dealing with northern surnames. By default, the search also includes all variants of any forename entered.