One way traffic

[little annie]

Is it me but the only people who seem to care in tracing their tree are off  Irish Decent, because from experience no one from Ireland ( family)  realy cares  sorry
                                                                                Little Annie

[little annie]

Also meant to put are we wasting are time

[aghadowey]

Ireland has long been a nation of emigrants so it's not surprising many people of Irish descent living in England, U.S., Canada, Australia, etc. are interested in tracing their roots. However, many people still living in Ireland are interested in the history of their family and lots of them are to be found on the Irish boards looking for more details about their relatives.

[shanew147]

I would second aghadowey's answer....

I think the difficulty is likely due to the imbalance in numbers involved. There are apparently an estimated 50 to 80 million people worldwide that claim Irish ancestry. More than 10 times the population of Ireland north and south combined today... so the proportion of people seeking ancestry from outside Ireland is probably much higher than that for people searching at home. In many cases entire families emigrated - so there's often little trace left.

I think this situation would quite different compared to other countries where the population may be more static, or the general trend is for immigration.




Shane

[anniedwyer84]

I AM from Ireland, and I have a 100% addiction to researching my family tree. Not only do I find it interesting, it has given me the chance to meet new people, and help them with their research. Researching my family tree and finding new things about my family is interesting to me...I love looking at old documents - census records, war records, etc.

So, being from Ireland...I DO care about tracing my tree...and I hope that one day, to share it with any children that I may have. And there are loads of Irish people on roots that also do care about researching their family tree!!

Annie

[KGarrad]

There's also the difference in what records are available.

We all know that tracing family in Ireland can be very, very difficult - as compared to tracing in England, Wales or Scotland.

[aghadowey]

Absolutely right, Annie, there are lots of people tracing their families here in Ireland. There are lots of historical and family history societies that have started up in the last 20 or so years and of course lots of wonderful new resources online (many of them free).

There's also the difference in what records are available.

We all know that tracing family in Ireland can be very, very difficult - as compared to tracing in England, Wales or Scotland.

It's usually people from outside Ireland that say that! Yes, we have lost most census records, some Wills and Church of Ireland registers but on the other hand there are other resources not available in the rest of the U.K. and often it's this gap in records that's made us better at using other records (land valuations, misc. church reords, etc.) to find information.

[KGarrad]

Sorry Aghadowey! No slight intended!

I simply meant that, if you are used to searching online for England/Wales/Scotland information, Ireland takes a bit of getting used to!

Comparatively little is available online?

[aghadowey]

"Comparatively little is available online?"

Sorry, wrong again.
Not only do we have 1901 and 1911 census online free (transcribed and scanned original images) but we've have online 1911 available for ages (and available offline even earlier).
Civil registration index is also free online (www.familysearch.org) as well as Griffith's Valuation (with old maps making it possible in most cases to find where a particular house would have been in mid-1800s).

Then, there are resources for various counties/areas. Northern Ireland has Will Extracts (again free) and many of them linked to the wording of the Will copied in the Will Books. Directories, etc. the list is endless- a look at Ireland Resources and the Resources for each county will show many links to graveyards, church records, etc.

I have the advantage of living in the area where most of my Irish ancestors lived and there are still local resources I haven't have a chance to thoroughly explore yet.