Tracing your family tree
Uncovering your heritage from Ireland is fascinating and intriguing – and it just might change your life!
You’ve traced the twists and turns of your family tree and done everything you can possibly do from afar. Now is the time to come home to the place where a new chapter begins.
Genealogy isn’t just about finding out about the names connected to you and your loved ones. It's about discovering what your ancestors did, how they lived their lives, the impact they had in their local community – and how brave they were to bid farewell to these green lands all those years ago, often starting their lives over again.
These bits of information are the last pieces of a puzzle that spans lifetimes. What started with sepia-toned photographs handed down from generation to generation and searching online records, ends on the island of Ireland with a place you can call home.
The first port of call is the most natural genealogy resource you have: your family.
Did you know...
Fastnet Island, County Cork
Known as "Ireland's Teardrop" because it was the last part of Ireland that 19th-century Irish emigrants saw as they left
Nothing can prepare you for the warmth and compassion of your long-lost relatives when you make it to Ireland, recalls American-born Gerry Britt: “My tree was really only a map that led me to the people, the land, and the culture that had shaped my family for hundreds of years.
“My grandfather left Dromban over 100 years ago. But when villagers introduced me to another local they always said, ‘This is Gerry Britt, home from America.’ I can’t explain it any better than that.”
Ulster American Folk Park, County Tyrone
Ireland's genealogy resources
Just starting out on your Irish genealogy adventure? There are lots of useful resources that can help