Where can I research Irish ancestors in the United States?
Start where the records are richest: with the ancestor's life in America, before trying Ireland. The US federal census, taken every ten years with returns public up to 1950, gives household, birthplace and, from 1900, a year of immigration. Naturalization papers can name a birthplace, an arrival date and a ship. Passenger arrival lists survive from 1820. City directories, church registers, cemetery inscriptions and American death certificates fill the gaps, and a death certificate or gravestone is often the first American record to name an Irish county. FamilySearch is free and holds indexed copies of most of these sets; the National Archives holds the originals. The goal of the American search is one detail: the county, parish or townland in Ireland. Everything in Ireland gets easier once you have it.
Useful pages: Irish in USA · The Irish surnames map · Trace your Irish roots · Coming home · Irish around the world
Sources
- National Archives and Records Administration (US): passenger lists, census clues and naturalization guidance, archives.gov
- FamilySearch: record guidance for the United States, Canada, Britain and Australia, familysearch.org
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