Research Me, I'm Irish: Five Tips for Tracing Irish Ancestry

In her article, "Research Me, I'm Irish: Five Tips for Tracing Irish Ancestry," Rita Marshall gives some sound and practical advice for researching your Irish ancestors. Chief among her advice is, "Don't go to Ireland. . . . At least not yet." Like any other research, it's very hard to jump in the middle of something until you have found sufficient leads indicating you are researching in the right place. Ireland is especially difficult given the lack of early records. My own family has a line going back to Northern Ireland in the early 1700s. While the chances of documenting this immigrant ancestor in Ireland at that time period looks quite bleak, the article does give some tips on ways to narrow the field.