Ep. 32: Tracing Irish Ancestors With AI

"All the Irish records burned." Every genealogist with Irish ancestry has heard this warning and most have believed it long enough to stop searching. In Episode 32 of Ancestors and Algorithms, host Brian shows why that warning is not the whole story.

In a live AI-assisted genealogy research session, Brian traces his own Irish ancestor, Caitlin Flanagan, born around 1831 in County Clare, Ireland, who emigrated to Boston during the Great Famine and left almost no Irish paper trail. Using Perplexity and Claude, he navigates the surviving substitute records for pre-Famine Irish genealogy, the land surveys, tithe records, and Catholic parish registers that the 1922 Four Courts fire did not reach; and builds a credible, documented case for a specific family in a specific townland in western County Clare.

Whether your Irish ancestors came from Clare, Cork, Galway, Mayo, Donegal, Tipperary, Kerry, Limerick, or anywhere across Ireland's 32 counties, the AI-powered research workflow in this episode applies to your search.

This episode is for anyone who has Irish blood in their family tree and hasn't known where to start, or who started searching and walked away when the wall felt impenetrable. It is equally valuable for experienced Irish genealogy researchers ready to integrate AI tools into their workflow.

What you'll learn: 

► How to use Perplexity to map every surviving Irish genealogy record for your ancestor's county before searching a single database 

► How to search Griffith's Valuation (free at askaboutireland.ie) and use Claude to analyze hundreds of entries and pinpoint your ancestor's townland 

► How to cross-reference the Tithe Applotment Books (free at nationalarchives.ie) to build 30 years of corroborating land record evidence 

► How to read Catholic parish register images at registers.nli.ie, including what the Latin abbreviations actually mean 

► Why the 1926 Irish Census, releasing FREE on April 18, 2026  could be the breakthrough your research has been waiting for

3 copy-paste ready AI prompts included. Every workflow uses 100% free tools.

AI tools featured: Perplexity, Claude. Records covered: Griffith's Primary Valuation, Tithe Applotment Books, NLI Catholic Parish Registers, irishgenealogy.ie, Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland, 1926 Irish Census. Topics: Irish genealogy, Irish ancestry research, AI genealogy tools, AI family history research, Irish records 1922, Four Courts fire genealogy, Great Famine emigration, County Clare genealogy, Catholic parish registers Ireland, Griffith's Valuation, townland research, Irish census substitutes, civil registration Ireland, Genealogical Proof Standard.

Companion Guides with 17 advanced Irish research AI prompts available for Patreon members at ancestorsandai.com.

Connect with Ancestors and Algorithms:

📧 Email: ancestorsandai@gmail.com
🌐 Website: https://ancestorsandai.com/
📘 Facebook Group: Ancestors and Algorithms: AI for Genealogy - www.facebook.com/groups/ancestorsandalgorithms/

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