California Genealogical Society blog: Our Library Collections: Ireland and Scotland

One of the newer reference books in our
collection for Irish research

One in a series by CGS member Chris Pattillo, highlighting some of our holdings at the CGS Library in Oakland. For a fuller listing of books, journals, and more, consult the CGS Library catalog in WorldCat.

Our books for Irish and Scottish research are combined with Great Britain in section CS400. We have a ten-volume set of Scottish Record Society books that were given to the society by George R. Dorman. Each volume covers a different record set. For example, volume 35 is The Register of Marriages For the Parish of Edinburgh, 1701-1750, published in 1908. Volumes 40-50, bound together, are Parish Registers of Canisbay, Durness, Kilbarchan, Wigtownshire and Minnigaff. These volumes are packed with lists of names and dates.

A more recent publication is A Genealogist's Guide to Discovering Your Scottish Ancestors, written by Linda Jonas and Paul Milner and published in 2002. This reference is a good starting point for anyone who has not yet tackled their Scottish ancestors. The book offers a step-by-step process for doing research. Chapter One is "Getting Started," followed by "Research Process Guidelines," "Uniqueness of Scottish Research," "Accessing Internet Resources," and more. Unique to this book are graphic icons to guide the user through the material. For example, there is an icon of a warning hand indicating: “Stop before you make a mistake.”

An excellent source for beginning
Scottish family research

We have a similar book for Irish research – Tracing Your Irish Family History by Anthony Adolph. It includes a section on first steps for tracing your ancestry back to Ireland, including a survey of Irish genealogy resources available in numerous countries, from the U.S. to Canada to Argentina. This book is very well illustrated.

One of our older Irish references is a hefty tome; A Genealogical and Heraldic History of Landed Gentry of Ireland by Sir Bernard Burke, published in 1912. This is a dense compilation of land and family records – birth, marriage and death records and pedigrees.

Another of our newer books is John Grenham's Tracing Your Irish Ancestors (2006). Each chapter focuses on a different record set, including general register office records, census records, church records, property and valuation records, genealogical office records, emigration records, and more. This book includes a lengthy section on Roman Catholic Parish Registers listing “all copies of Roman Catholic parish registers, microfilm and database transcript" to be found as of 2005.

A good book to start on your Irish research

As I worked on writing this article I realized I no longer have an excuse for avoiding researching my Irish great-grandmother Mary McGowan. The tools I need to get started are right here in our library.