In Celtic Ireland, genealogy was hugely important. One reason for this was that in Gaelic society what you could possess depended directly on whom you were descended from and so family history was very significant.

In the 10th century, the Gaels were among the first Europeans to begin adopting true hereditary surnames. Almost without exception, these names were patronymic in form - that is deriving from the father of the person concerned - and incorporated:

In other European cultures, surnames relating to places (Da Vinci), occupations (Smith) or descriptions (Negri) appear as well as patronymics. In Ireland, surnames were almost exclusively patronymic.

Despite the long history of invasion and migration in Ireland, and the change from a culture based on the Irish language to one based on English, society in Ireland until quite recently remained deeply local, with intense regional and family loyalties.

For the vast majority of people in Ireland, the answer to the question of where they came from was simply: 'Here'. This is an answer as true for Northern Presbyterians as for Southern Catholics.

For the Gaels of a thousand years ago, ancestry was only important in terms of kinship - that is how individuals were related to each other. In modern Ireland, as increasing prosperity and social mobility have begun to dissolve traditional ties, the search for ancestors and the records relating to them have taken on a new significance.

The basic principles of research on Irish ancestors are the same as those for any research:

A few persistent myths beset Irish genealogy:

Location, location, location, and as much else as possible. Generally speaking, unless your ancestor had a fabulously exotic surname, the minimum information you will need to make use of Irish records is a county of origin, and if the surname is a common one, even this may not be enough.

As is so often the case in genealogy, however, there are almost as many ways around a difficulty as there are obstacles. If you know a couple were married in Ireland after 1864 (or 1845 in the case of non-Roman Catholics) you should be able to identify the marriage in General Register Office records. If your ancestor (or any of his brothers or uncles or cousins) was a policeman, their service records will at least narrow the area of enquiry. The same is true for a member of the armed forces.

If you know the two surnames even before the start of a marriage, it is possible to narrow the areas where the two names are recorded using some of the finding aids for Griffith's Valuation. The individual circumstances of families vary so widely that it is not possible to give universal advice. This is the main reason why family history research can (thankfully) never be standardised.

The answer depends entirely on the nature and quantity of the information with which you approach Irish records. In most cases, for those researching Catholic tenant farmers, the earliest limit for research is generally the starting date of the local Catholic parish records, which varies widely from place to place. The later records are generally found in the poorest areas, which saw the most emigration. It would be unusual for records of such a family to go back much earlier than the 1820s.

Once again, though, there are many exceptions, with:

The single biggest obstacle for families born in Britain is the collapse of native Gaelic culture in the mid-17th century, leaving an almost unbridgeable gulf of five or six generations, even in the case of the Gaelic aristocracy.

Before embarking on the Irish records, though, it is worth exhausting those available in England. Read about Irish perspectives on UK records.

According to his service file held at the National Archives John Milbank of Carlow, who was born in 1840, joined the newly re-formed 5th (Royal Irish) Lancers as a farrier at the Newbridge in March 1858. He had previously been working as a blacksmith. To read more on the Case Study of John Milbank, please follow the link.