Teasing out the story of Irish ancestors may involve extra detective work, but it’s important not to give up hope of finding fresh leads. Not all of the nation’s records were destroyed in the fire at the Public Record Office of Ireland in Dublin in 1922.
At least half of Irish parish registers survive because priests hadn’t sent their records to the capital. The 1901 and 1911 census returns are searchable, as are indexes to wills and probate bonds. The latter has enabled Loretta Tawrance to trace her Irish family, who emigrated to