IrishFamilyResearch.co.uk
Golden Rules for Successful Searching
In order to get the best and most appropriate Search Results, please take a little time to read the following golden rules:
| Most Databases are searchable by Surname alone, and/or First Name.
Thus, if you do not know the first name of your ancestor, you can simply type in the Surname,
and your search results will show everyone listed with that surname in the Townland/County searched.
To narrow your search, simply include a first name (where known). |
Occasionally, pet or shortened first names were reported, so it is not unusual to find
reports of “Bella” for Isabella, or “Eliza” “Lizzie” or “Elsie” for Elizabeth
etc. Where a name has been written as "Jas", "Jos", "Hy" or "Rt" we have transcribed
these as "James" "Joseph", "Henry" and "Robert". "Jno", has been transcribed as "Jonathan" in most cases, although it could be
a pet name for "John". Some names were recorded as "Dd" or "Hh" which are most probably short for
"David" and "Hugh" but we have left this to your own judgement. Similarly, Initials were often recorded in place of first names.
Because of these inconsistencies in the original texts, we would recommend that you search by Surname alone, so as to be provided with all recorded possibilites. |
If your ancestor's surname has an apostrophe in it (for example, "O'Donnell"), please be sure to leave a
space in place of the apostrophe in the Search Box, otherwise the Search will not work. Thus if your ancestor's name
was O'Donnell, you should search for "O Donnell".
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In the case of female ancestors, please remember that they may have been recorded
under their Maiden or Married name. You should therefore search under both to
improve your chances of success.
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Please also remember that Surnames were spelt differently in the 1700's to the 1800's, so
try different spellings of the same name. The Surname "Quinn" was spelt "Quin" in the
1700's, early 1800's, so try searching all variations of the Surnames you are
interested in.
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Spelling of all names (including Surnames, First Names and Place Names)
in all Databases have been copied directly from the reports/directories in which
they appear. There are often small inconsistencies, for example, the Townland
of “Polyarnon” is sometimes spelt “Polyarron".
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In the case of Residents/Trade Directories, not only will you obtain details of
where your ancestors lived, and their occupations, but if, for example, your ancestor had a shop or trade
in a particular Townland, and advertised their trade in the Directory, details of their advertisement(s) will be
shown in your Search Results.
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