Tracing family tree

How would I go about tracing my family tree with only my parents birth certs to go on. I know the counties my grandparents lived and the year of my maternal grandparents death but thats about it. Any information appreciated. Are there professionals who can do the job for me? That would be great.

Many thanks

I'm sure that there are lots of sites that can help and which you can find by searching the internet but here is just one:

Your local County archives (or failing that, the county archives that you think would be appropriate) can be useful with this.

They won't actually help you do the detective work but they may have relevant documents etc and will point you in the right direction.

Parish records might also help - [broken link removed]. I think that they have been or will be made available to the public for free.

The 1911 census records are available online at:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/

could be useful, I believe they are also adding the 1901 census to this website also - you get very interesting info off the census form, I found out my great grandfather had listed his occupation as a 'Whitener' - which upon research turned out to mean someone who painted ceilings and white interiors. There is other interesting info - always wondered where Id gotten a flair for personal dressmaking, turns out half the relations from the past were tailors!

The online 1911 census is only useful at the moment for people from Dublin.
A marriage cert gives both parties' fathers' names and the addresses the two marrying lived at at the time of marriage. It is easier to find a marriage cert because you have 2 people's name and you can cross-reference in the index. You need to know the year (or at least an approximate period) to search the indexes. If your grandparents came from Dublin, then start with the census. If not from Dublin, go to the national archives in Bishop Place in Dublin and search for marriage records for the relevant period. If you were to search for a grandparent marriage, this would likely yield an address to check the microfilm census records for 1911/1901, again in the National Archives. Their website gives all the details of how to apply for a reader's ticket and the staff there are very helpful.

Best of luck!

Don't know the street name, but I can tell you that the data is held at the Irish Life building behind Liberty Hall. On the third floor I think.

Bill is talking about Abbey Street (the office relocated from Lombard Street).

You can look up birth, death, marriage indices there for a charge of 2 euros per five consecutive years (price approx) or you can look up the indices for free in the Gilbert Library in Pearse Street (indices up to 1950's only).

Very helpful staff in Pearse Street library.