The Irish In Us: A Quick Primer on Irish-American Genealogy Research

In 2019, 30.4 million U.S. residents claimed ancestry tracing back to Ireland—about six times the total current population of the Emerald Isle.

The U.S. county with the largest population of Americans citing Irish heritage is Cook County, Illinois, at 438,350. Yet it is the New York “Metropolitan Statistical Area”—as described by the federal Census Bureau—that has the largest population of people claiming roots in Ireland as a “single ancestry.”

One of the first waves of transatlantic Irish immigrants to the American colonies were known as Scots-Irish, or Scotch-Irish. These people were Scots from the southern lowlands who migrated to Ireland in the early 17th century, and over a period of generations in the 1700s eventually immigrated from Ireland to America.  A majority of Scotch-Irish settled throughout the Appalachian states of Virginia south to Georgia.

In 1845, a splotchy white fungus with dubious natural origins began to appear on Irish potato crops, resulting in a three-year famine that prompted one of the first mass migrations to the United States by a single ethnicity. A bulk of these newcomers entered through the port of New York. Generations later, reference librarians at the Milstein Division of U.S. History, Local History, and Genealogy at NYPL regularly field questions from patrons researching Irish relatives.

Some tips for beginning your Irish genealogy research:

Getting Started

• Use guidebooks to Irish genealogy to get a sense of resources available and research strategies specific to Irish family history: browse the NYPL catalog for materials using the subject heading Ireland -- Genealogy -- Handbooks, manuals, etc, in addition to the subject heading Irish Americans -- Genealogy -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.
• In particular, Tracing Your Irish ancestors / 5th Edition (2019).
• Also, Finding Your Irish ancestors in New York City / Joseph Buggy (2014) is a useful guidebook.
• Check the Milstein Division homepage for upcoming public classes under the heading “Genealogy Essentials,” which periodically includes “Beginning Irish Genealogy Research at NYPL.”

Genealogy

• Irish Americans -- Genealogy
• Irish National Archives
• Civil Records online at Irish Genealogy.ie
• General Register’s Office | Irish Vital Records
• Property Records at the National Library of Ireland
• Catholic Parish Registers
• Griffith’s Valuation
• Tithe Applotment Books

Immigration

• Ireland -- Emigration and immigration
• Ireland -- Emigration and immigration -- History -- 19th century
• For example, Passengers from Ireland: Lists of Passengers Arriving at American Ports Between 1811 and 1817
• Likewise: The Famine Immigrants: Lists of Irish Immigrants Arriving at the Port of New York, 1846-1851.

Emigrant Savings Bank 

Though not exclusive to Irish depositors, the Emigrant Savings Bank was established in 1850 to chiefly serve the Irish immigrant community of New York City. The existing records can be difficult to navigate, but much of the material is digitized, and there are useful guides to finding the valuable genealogical data recorded in the archival material comprising this collection, including birthplace, dates of immigration, parents’ names, and address. See A User’s Guide to the Emigrant Savings Bank Records. A portion of the records have been indexed in Irish immigrants of the Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank by Kevin J. Rich.

Irish Newspapers 

Search the NYPL catalog by Journal Title to determine the holdings of the below newspapers. Links to digitized versions of each title are typically provided in the catalog record: 

• The Irish Times
• The Irish American
• Irish World and American Industrial Liberator
• The Gaelic American
• Irish Citizen
• Irish America
• The Irish-American Advance
• The Irish Advocate/The Advocate
• Shamrock Hibernian Chronicle
• New-York Freeman's Journal and Catholic Register
• AIS-EIRI; the magazine of Irish-America.

Alternatively, use these subject headings to browse the catalog for Irish and Irish American serials :

• Irish -- United States -- Newspapers
• Irish Americans -- Newspapers
• Irish Americans -- Periodicals

Indexes and guides to Irish newspapers:

• Information Wanted Ads I: Voices of the Irish Immigrant from Truth Teller Newspaper 1825-1844 / DeGrazia & Haberstroth;
• Irish relatives and friends : from "Information wanted" ads in the Irish-American, 1850-1871 / DeGrazia & Haberstroh;
• Irish (and German) newspaper collections online at Villanova University.

History

Be sure to check all the “Subjects” hyperlinks under the “Details” tab in each catalog record for each individual item in the NYPL catalog:

• Ireland  -- History
• Irish Americans -- History
• Irish Americans -- New York (State)
• Ireland -- History -- Famine, 1845-1852
• New York Irish History: Journal of the New York Irish History Roundtable

Reach Out to the Milstein Division at NYPL

Any questions? Reach out to reference librarians at the Milstein Division of U.S. History, Local History, and Genealogy at history@nypl.org. We will gladly answer any questions you might have, except we don’t know Who Threw the Overalls in Mrs. Murphy’s Chowder...