I am visiting Ireland in September, Shannon area, is there a way to find family?

Question

Is there an Internet phone book for Ireland? I would like to find relatives, we are 3rd generation in the States.

Answer 1

Since you're third generation, there's a good chance your relatives came in through Ellis Island.  If you know the names of the relatives who came over, try the (free) database at http://www.ellisislandrecords.org/ , and you may actually be able to find out a lot about their passage and the name of the town, village, and county they came from... the records are crazy complete.

After that, what you may need to do is start from the names and info about those ancestors.  The best way to find out about people from that long ago is parish records in churches in Ireland.  They may have information about the parents, sisters, and brothers of your relatives.  Unfortunately, this can be a long process, but it's often the only thing that pays off.

Honestly, there is no easy way to find people in Ireland.  As someone else said, you'll need good family records -- I'm sorry to say that you won't find reliable information on last name alone, as there aren't many "rare" Irish last names.

Just a warning (I'm American, too) -- be very aware that Irish people are often pretty guarded about these things.  We Americans have a bad reputation for popping up in Ireland and expecting relatives to know who we are, as well as not necessarily respecting the fact that these are people with their own lives who may not really care about 4th cousins as much as we do.  Irish people sometimes have trouble understanding why we get so curious about (and then actively seek) our relatives in other countries, and we're often teased for it.  That's not to say you shouldn't do research, but just make sure to be resepectful of people's privacy.  I would try writing a letter or sending an email rather than calling.  Irish people in general are incredibly nice, this is just kind of a pet peeve of theirs.

Answer 2

Well there are many ways to find family depends on if you have there full names maybe even a general area they live in.

Many ways are avalible on the internet but as you know nothing is free!!! i would try to do a yahoo people search or maybe an email search, there is also a site called whitepages.com!!  With so many people using the internet these days many many people have email addresses!! I hope you find who you are looking for and have good trip!!

Answer 3

No there is none. You can get a regular phonebook of the area the shannon area is the 061 area it is a seperate phone book for the counties covered by the 061 dialling code. If you fly into shannon airport then the 061 phone book will be the local phonebook used. My advice drive to shannon and nick one from a pub.

if your 3rd generation i hope your family kept in touch with their relatives otherwise they will be looking at you blankly and wondering who you are. A lot has changed in ireland in the last three generations.