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Rating: 
Summary: Specifically written for the aspiring genealogist
Review: A Genealogist's Guide To Discovering Your Irish Ancestors was specifically designed and written for the aspiring genealogist seeking guidelines for determining an Irish ancestor's place of origin. Dwight Radford and Kyle Betit effectively collaborate to present sound advice for researching Irish records both domestically and overseas; basic strategies essential to successful Irish research; special advice about tracing Scots-Irish ancestors; practical advice for accessing Irish cemeteries, land, church, estate, census, and military records; how to access civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths, as well as emigration lists; sources and strategies for researching Irish ancestors who settled in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, England, Scotland, Wales, and the Caribbean, as well as timely information on Internet resources and favorite sites on the World Wide Web. Highly recommended for personal and community library genealogical research reference collections, A Genealogist's Guide To Discovering Your Irish Ancestors offers both the novice and the experienced genealogist with everything necessary to trace and record their family's Irish history.
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Summary: Strategies for records in Immigrant's new Country & Ireland
Review: Introduction includes strategies depending on what you already know about your Irish ancestry. If their townland or parish is known, you have reason to tackle Irish records now. Your family probably recently immigrated or kept excellent records. Most people need to research more records in the countries their ancestors moved to first. The authors provide strategies if you only know that your ancestors were born in Ireland and if you know the County of origin but emphasize uncovering as many records in the Country your ancestors moved to. (11 pages) 144 pages are devoted to research in the countries most Irish moved to: U. S. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain & British West Indies. U. S. chapter (39 pages) is a combination guide to American research (cemeteries, census, church, land, military, passenger lists) with comments about the Scots-Irish and Irish habits. Examples include naming place names after the place they came from Ireland and that cemeteries were often not only separate for Protestant and Catholic but also Irish-Catholic and German-Catholics. 125 pages follow for research in Ireland including chapters on: A Intro to Irish Research, Administrative Divisions and Place Names, Cemetery Records, Censuses and Name Lists, Church Records, Civil Registrations, Emigration Lists, Estate Records, Internet Resources, Inventories & Catalogs, Land Records, Military Records, Society Records, Taxation Records, Wills & Administrations. "References for Further Reading" are integrated throughout this book but they do not distinguish or annotate which are the classic works. For example, in the Sources for Given Names and Surnames, seven books are listed, including Rev. Patrick Woulfe's Irish Names and Surnames, but no mention that is was originally published in 1923 or that some consider it a classic. The listing only mentions it was reprinted in 1969 and the name of that reprinter when it would have been more helpful to list a publisher. When I didn't find IGF listed even in the "Publishers of Irish Books" section, I browsed for names of others writers who have contributed to Irish Research such as Liz Kelley Kerstens and didn't find her publications or sites mentioned. There are lot more resources for Irish Counties that could have been included. But this book is a great beginning and researchers will find the other resources over time. Long lists of addresses are also included throughout the book - most helpful to those who do not use the internet. This is an excellent book for beginner's to Irish Research since it is very challenging with scarce records. For the price, this is an excellent addition to your personal genealogy library. Many comments throughout are extremely valuable to new researchers. Advanced researchers will find enough explanations, and resources to make it a handy reference tool. The chapters are laid out logically and it is easy to find the sections of interest.
Rating:
Summary: Irish Strategies to the Point
Review: This is an excellent resource for both advanced beginners and experienced reseachers. Well organized, conversational, and very factual. Specific strategies for solving a variety of research challenges are developed and illustrated. The authors want the researcher to be able to locate the specific piece of Irish soil where the ancestor lived. Betit and Radford do not attempt to address every record type or resource, nor does this work replace the standard reference works of Mitchell, Ryan, etc. It is not Irish county specific, nor is Argentine emigration addressed. What they have done very well is present the material in such a way that can enable the serious researcher, whatever the experience level, to get arms around a complex subject. As you may surmise, I definitely recommend this book. Good luck and have fun.
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