Recently I posted about Mike Collins and his weekly letters from Ireland. One of the bonuses when I signed up to receive the letters was an article describing Mike's "Favourite Online Resources." Here's a brief explanation of his picks for (free) research sites:

• Surname Database (www.surnamedb.com/) - a database of 50,000 surname meanings with information on the origins and earliest recordings of last names.

 

• Irish Surnames and Counties (www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/index.cfm) - a comprehensive resource for Irish surnames; this Irish Times database was created and designed by John Grenham.

 

• Ireland History in Maps (www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlkik/ihm/) - the geography of early Ireland including maps and history of early Irish territories, clans, tribes and placenames.

 

• Irish Castles Maps (www.irishorigenes.com/irish-castle-locations) - illustrates the location of over 1300 clan castles in Ireland, generally covering the time period 1200-1650.

 

• Online Irish Census (www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/) - the two Irish census currently available online (1901 and 1911) are easily searchable to find how/where your family surname dispersed into the 20th century.

 

• Your Irish Heritage Blog (http://youririshheritage.com/) - a variety of resources and information; use the 'Search Box' at the top of the home page to query names and places.

Mike's entire blog posting - including examples regarding the surname 'Cotter' - can be read at: http://youririshheritage.com/our-favourite-online-resources/.