Genealogy
Are you interested in family history and tracing your ancestors? We provide a genealogy advisory service to help you in your quest for information. Sometimes it can feel daunting faced with many different sources of information, whilst we do not carry out research we can guide you in the right direction. Renowned Genealogist, Brian Mitchell, is available to respond to your questions. We also have a partnership with two valuable organisations the Irish Family History Foundation and Ireland Reaching Out.
Irish Family History Foundation
There are an estimated 70 million people worldwide claiming Irish ancestry. With the Irish Family History Foundation we offer a database of over one million records, dating from 1642 to 1922. Created, between 1982 and 2007 as a project of the Inner City Trust, the database focuses on the major civil and church registers of the city and county of Derry~Londonderry and Inishowen, County Donegal.
Records include:
- Pre-1922 civil birth and marriage registers
- The early baptismal and marriage registers of 97 churches
- Headstone inscriptions from 118 graveyards
- Census returns and census substitutes from 1663 to 1901
The database is now available at www.derry.rootsireland.ie
Ireland Reaching Out
We recently began a pilot project with Ireland Reaching Out as a NI Volunteer Partner. Founded in 2009 to enable local communities in Ireland to reconnect with people descended from their area, now living all over the world. It has registered over 150,000 members worldwide and helped form thousands of connections between regional localities and the people descended from them, many whose ancestors emigrated as far back as the early 1800s.
Ireland Reaching Out operates through its online platform, IrelandXO.com and welcomes volunteers from all over the island or Ireland who are interested in helping their local community deepen their ties with their global diaspora. And you don’t have to be a member of the diaspora to avail of the free genealogical advice which can be found on the IrelandXO message boards.
Thousands of descendants have found their way home with the help of Ireland Reaching out Volunteers.
Visit today and browse the genealogical queries, provide local information or even add your own ancestors. Contact our Archivist if you would like to learn more about the roles you can play with us as a Volunteer Partner.
Regional Winner for Heritage at the Good Causes Awards in 2019, Ireland Reaching Out is a key feature of the Irish Government’s Global Irish Diaspora Policy and is funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Check out the platform here IrelandXO.com
Contact Details
For further information on our genealogy service please contact:
Brian Mitchell
Tower Museum
Union Hall Place
Derry
Telephone: (028) 71372411
Email: genealogy@derrystrabane.com
Hours
We are open!
Monday – Sunday 9am – 5:30pm
Last Admission: 4:30pm
Contact Us
Tel: 028 7137 2411
tower@derrystrabane.com
tower@derrystrabane.com
