Who do you think you are?

THE SIGN next to the lift in the General Register Office (GRO) in Dublin says it all: “Due to an unprecedented increase in customers accessing the genealogy services it may be necessary to close the office at times.”

It seems we are all obsessed with our past, and more particularly with our family histories. The General Register Office, based in the same complex of buildings as the headquarters for the National Lottery, is full of noise, and in one of the other buildings where people try to trace their family line, it’s a similar story.

When I visited the National Archives off Kevin St in Dublin, there wasn’t much of a queue, but that’s the thing. According to Helen Kelly, genealogy expert here, there never used to be queues at all. Now, thanks to television programmes such as Who Do You Think You Are? and RTÉ’s recent Genealogy Roadshow, digging around files and records has never been so popular.

Next weekend at the RDS the Back To Our Past show — running alongside the Over 50s Show — is aimed squarely at helping people in their attempts to decipher their family history. But how does it work, and how easy is it to turn up some answers?

Having never attempted any revision of my own family’s past, I visited the National Archives armed with nothing more than the name of my grandfather, Richard Baker, to see how quickly I could turn up a result. The answer was illuminating.

The National Archives has the rarified air of a public library and its genealogy services have come centre stage of late. When I visited, the Australian man ahead of me said he was looking for the history of an orphan girl from the west of Ireland who departed on a ship in 1849. My request seemed a little pedestrian by comparison, but not to Helen.

Her fingers dancing across the keys and with an impassioned glint in her eye, she took me through the basic steps in a blur. Much of the information is actually available online, on sites such as originsnetwork.com (which charges a fee) or askaboutireland.ie (which is free) or familysearch.org, rootsireland.ie or findmypast.ie, but the starting point, almost always, seems to be the census of 1911 and the earlier census in 1901. In my case, a process of deduction placed Granddad, who I fondly remember living with us in his final years, as an eight-year-old boy growing up in a house in Rooska West near Bantry, Co Cork, in 1911. Using this information, the census of 1911 also shows me that his father — my great grandfather — John Baker, was aged 37 in 1911 and my great-great-grandfather, Richard, aged 67.

Even if you already knew some of the details, seeing the process in action is strangely thrilling. As Helen explained, the records deal with townlands, as well as parishes and baronies. There were 64,000 townlands throughout Ireland, but birth records were also maintained differently, depending on whether your family was Catholic or Church of Ireland.

Using the census print-out, she was able to provide me with the exact volume and page number for the civil registration index at the GRO. The office here is much busier, even at lunchtime.

Three main records are kept, colour-coded and shelved according to date: marriages, births and deaths.

The process is simple, and for the first time, you have to stick your hands in your pockets. You need to fill out a photocopied form, listing the type of record and as much detail as possible — name, district, year, quarter of that particular year, volume and page, then pay €4 per copy of the record in question.

Results are usually provided within a few minutes, as was the case with my search.

There it was: the marriage certificate of John and Elizabeth Baker in Drimoleague.

The intriguing aspect of it was the unknowns: who was the Henry Beamish who witnessed the ceremony?

What happened to his family?

How come my great-grandparents, obviously getting married at a relatively young age, were already listed on the form as “spinster” and “bachelor”?

According to Paul Gorry of the Association of Professional Genealogists in Ireland, who will be helping co-ordinate this weekend’s show, the current interest in tracing the past is likely to stick, particularly given the recent commitment by the Government to have the 1926 census posted online in the coming years.

Next weekend’s show, he says, is a one-stop-shop for anyone looking to get started.

In itself, tracking the past can be tricky: ages can be wrong, there are no birth certificates pre-1838, and many records have been lost, which can mean using alternative records, like land registration records or the Griffith’s Valuation, dating from 1852.

Many Church of Ireland records were destroyed in a fire at the Public Records Office in 1922, and now national records are maintained at the Representative Library in Churchtown in Dublin. The National Library has many Catholic records, but the thread could take you anywhere, including back to the place of origin of your relatives. Ultimately, says Helen Kelly, “Get out and walk and talk to the locals — that will get you back into the landscape”.

One more very important rule: When I discussed my ‘findings’ with my mother, she was already a few steps ahead of me, and could tell me that my great-great grandparents were Richard and Elizabeth Baker (nee Johnston) and they were married in 1872, and the generation before them were Samuel and Elizabeth Baker (nee Daly), all things I didn’t know, and one thing I have always known: ask your mother first.

Back To Our Past — The Irish Genealogy, Family/Social History Experience runs from October 21–23 as part of the Over 50s Show at the RDS, Dublin. More than 30 exhibitors will be in attendance, including the National Library, National Archive, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Ordnance Survey Ireland and Roots Ireland. Admission is €10.

See www.backtoourpast.com for more details.