By John Grenham
Tracing Your Irish Ancestors is the undisputed “go to” book for Irish genealogy. For the first time since 2011, this distinguished book is now available in a brand new fifth edition.
As author John Grenham writes in the preface to the Fifth Edition, “A revolution in access to Irish genealogical records has taken place over the past decade. From being a laggard in providing online record transcripts, Ireland has become one of the world leaders . . . Politicians and public servants now accept that it should be as easy as possible for members of the Irish diaspora to unearth the historical detail of that connection, their family history. Publicly funded websites such as IrishGenealogy.ie, genealogy.national archives.ie, askaboutireland.ie and databases.dublincity.ie have gone about supplying the tools to make that possible . The result is that most people of Irish origin can now take their family history back to the second quarter of the nineteenth century quickly and easily and, for the most part, without payment . . . .”
Respecting the extraordinary changes in Irish genealogy since 2011, Mr. Grenham has substantially re-written Tracing Your Irish Ancestors. The Fifth Edition does retain its familiar three-part structure, combining a detailed guide for beginners with thorough descriptions of all the relevant sources and county-by-county reference lists. All the information has been expanded and updated, however, and it places online research at the center of its treatment of record sources. John Grenham has greatly expanded the reference section, and the volume as a whole has increased by 10%. The addition of an extensive index makes the book even easier to use.
Genealogical research in Ireland has always depended on records that are more fragmented, localized and difficult to access than anywhere else. The internet is changing that. More and more of these records are coming online. John Grenham has covered them all, once again marking the Fifth Edition of Tracing Your Irish Ancestors an indispensable guide to what these records are, where they are, and what they mean. Order your copy today.
About the author:
John Grenham wrote the ‘Irish Roots’ column in The Irish Times for years and ran the Irish Times Irish Ancestors website. He is a fellow of the Irish Genealogical Research Society and the Genealogical Society of Ireland, having come to professional genealogy in 1981 as one of the panel of researchers in the Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland. He features frequently in the popular TV series Who Do You Think You Are? His website is www.johngrenham.com.
