The Family Search website, run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is the world's largest collection of genealogy information, and claims to have 640 million names, to receive up to eight million hits a day and to be growing by more than one million names a month, as users submit their family records. It also provides a step-by-step guide for beginners, online maps, forms and other research tools. At www.familysearch.com
The A to Z of Irish genealogy is a comprehensive resource for Irish ancestor hunters with an e-mail newsletter and message board. After researching your family, download GenoPro free software to enable you to visualise, edit and print your family tree, or post it on the Internet with scanned photos. At www.irish-insight.com/a2z-genealogy/index.html
With more than 88,000 links, carefully organised in subject areas such as adoption, beginners, finding people, Ireland, prisons, railroads, royalty, and "Hit a Brick Wall?", Cyndi's List is well worth a visit. At www.cyndislist.com
Apparently designed for non-Irish residents, the Clans of Ireland website offers articles on Irish history, famous Irish people, a list of clans, a calendar of genealogy events and a database where amateur roots hunters can share info on their families or ask for help in their search. At www.irishclans.com/genealogy.html
Offering a free surname search, with published family histories, ireland.com lists useful links on Irish genealogy (from Chicagos's Irish families 1831-1900 and mixed-blood Native Americans, to the National Archives of Ireland Transportation Records). However, the ancestor search, which includes church records, wills and passenger lists, is not free. At www.ireland.com/ancestor
Children and teenagers interested in family research should check out the WorldGenWeb for Kids, where they can post questions, answer queries and join the mailing list. For some reason, Ireland is listed under the British Isles - go to www.rootsweb.com/wgwkids/ to complain.
The volunteer-run resource and reference website for Irish researchers provides an Irish counties index, and is looking for keen genealogists to host websites dealing with queries on particular counties. It also provides background on topics such as cemeteries, emigration, military records and the poor house. At www.irelandgenweb.com
Want to see if anyone else is researching your family? Or stuck in your research? Ask other genealogists for help at soc.genealogy.Ireland
