Our Irish Ancestors

When did your Irish ancestors come to America? Was it during the Great Potato Famine of the mid-19th century? Was it more recent? Or was it earlier, pre-Revolutionary War? That's when mine came, in 1771. In that era the vast majority of immigrants from Ireland were Protestant Scots-Irish, or those who earlier had come from Scotland. You can read more about these Scots-Irish in an article I wrote.

I'm excited about a new publication that should be on newstands soon. "Tracing Your Irish Roots" is a culmination of the best articles on Irish genealogy published by Family Chronicle, Internet Genealogy, and the now out of print Discovering Family History. You can order it online. They're offering free shipping until Sept. 1!

Your ancestors may have come through Ellis Island. You can search records here free.

Got any interesting Irish ancestor stories to tell? I'd love to hear!