Jayne McGarvey provides a professional genealogy service for people with ancestors from Northern Ire
Genealogy in Northern Ireland
Maybe you are considering exploring your Northern Irish roots for the first time, or want to investigate your family history further but don’t have the time to look. Or you’re just not in the right location to pursue your genealogy project or search a particular set of Records, Will or Graveyard. Perhaps you have lost a family member in a census or can’t find that elusive wedding. Knowing about our ancestors can provide a sense of identity in a changing world, and many of us yearn to know more about the people who made us who we are. Yet all too often we know precious little beyond our own grandparents. What part of the country were your ancestors from and what was their place in society? Irish genealogy has somewhat of a reputation for being a disappointing and frustrating pastime for amateur family historians. Countless stories have emerged of people hitting dead ends and the dreaded brick wall, or you will have been told that all the records were lost in the 1922 Four Courts fire in Dublin and indeed many records, but not all, were lost. Each family has its own story just waiting to be uncovered, and it’s a real privilege to help someone find out about their past. If you are ready to embark on your voyage of discovery then contact me today, and take your first step towards knowing your ancestors. My Services
Initial Ancestral Research Assessment
An Initial Ancestral Research Assessment explores the feasibility of archival research by identifying sources of potential relevance for your family history in Northern Ireland. It is often a good idea to commission only a couple of hours to begin with. This will facilitate some work to be done and for a research plan to be drawn up based on results, the information you have and the survival of NI genealogy records which appear relevant. This can also be a useful starting point if you wish to undertake some or all of your own research. An initial research assessment costs £30 and on average takes 3–4 weeks to complete. Detailed Research Packages
A Detailed Research Package can be tailored to suit your individual requirements, whether you wish to build up an individual profile of an ancestor or search a particular family line (which can include extended family members if you wish) or search an individual set of records. This may include archives held at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), The General Registration Office, (GRONI) or it may be more locally at churches, graveyards, libraries, newspaper offices etc. This can be useful for clients who wish to carry out the majority of their own research but for time/geographical reasons are unable to search an individual set of parish records or visit a particular grave yard. A Detailed Research Package costs £35.00 per 2 hour block commissioned and includes travel to Central Belfast Archives. Travel to other non-centrally held repositories or areas can be quoted for upon request. Please note that postage charges and fees imposed by registry offices / archives for certificates and photocopying will be added to these time charges. These will be agreed with the client before research commences. Photography
If feasible would you like photographs of homesteads, townlands, churches, schools, headstones? (These can be priced individually or as a package dependent on distance, and can be provided as hard copy and/or digital image)
Please email me for a quotation
Document Retrieval
Know what you want, and where it is, just want a copy by email or post
Please email me for a quotation
03/09/2025
There's nothing quite like holding an original church register in your hands—centuries of Irish lives documented in faded ink and careful script.
These treasured volumes contain the heartbeat of our ancestors: baptisms celebrated with joy, marriages blessed with hope, and burials mourned with love. Each entry tells a story; every signature links us to the past.
A few church registers predate the 1800s, surviving turbulent times to become our most valuable genealogical treasures. From the meticulous records of Church of Ireland parishes to the detailed Catholic registers that began in earnest after Catholic Emancipation, and the Presbyterian registers—occasionally written in beautiful copperplate that's a joy to decipher—these books hold the keys to unlocking our family mysteries.
Have you discovered your ancestors in original church records? What stories did they reveal? Share your finds below.
28/08/2025
Genealogy is the art of gathering former relatives and occasionally a current cousin.
Have you made contact with any "new" cousins recently?
26/08/2025
Historic handwriting or hieroglyphics?
Do you ever wonder if it was a person or a hen that made the scratchings on the document?
21/08/2025
Money doesn't grow on trees but ancestors do.
Have you grown your ancestral tree recently?
20/08/2025
Every Irish ancestor discovered feels like finding the perfect puzzle piece! One moment you're hunting through baptismal records in a parish register, the next you're piecing together fragments from Griffith's Valuation and civil registration. Each record connects to reveal the bigger picture of your family's story. The thrill of that breakthrough moment when everything clicks into place makes all those hours searching through Irish archives absolutely worth it. What was your most satisfying genealogy puzzle solve?
19/08/2025
When you're deep into Irish genealogy research and realise half your family tree is just different spellings of "O'Sullivan" and "Reilly," whilst the other half seems to have vanished into thin air somewhere between Ireland and Ellis Island. At least the family stories about Great-Aunt Brigid's secret recipe for soda bread are still intact... even if we can't find her birth certificate anywhere.
18/08/2025
Sometimes the key to moving backwards is to come forward first.
17/08/2025
Remember me in the family tree.
14/08/2025
We become the ancestors of our children.
13/08/2025
Whether you're deciphering 19th-century Irish parish records at 2am or trying to work out which Patrick O'Sullivan is YOUR Patrick O'Sullivan from County Cork, proper caffeine levels are absolutely essential for genealogy success.
That moment when the coffee kicks in and suddenly you spot the connection you've been missing for months... or when you realise you've been looking at the wrong townland because you needed that second cup!
What's your go-to fuel for those late-night research sessions? Coffee, tea, or perhaps something stronger when you hit another brick wall?
12/08/2025
Capturing Our Irish Heritage: From Glass Plates to Digital Dreams
Do you have bits of yesterday tucked away in old tins and dusty albums?
Ireland's photographic journey tells the story of our families through the lens of time. From the formal Victorian studio portraits of the 1860s—where our great-great-grandparents stood rigid and serious in their Sunday best—to the candid snapshots of the 1950s when the humble box brownie made photography accessible to ordinary Irish families.
Those precious 35mm colour slides from the 1960s and 70s captured our parents' generation in living colour: first communions, weddings in the local parish, and summer holidays to Bray or Bundoran. Each click of the shutter preserved a moment that today helps us piece together our family stories.
Now, in our digital age, we're blessed with the ability to restore, share, and preserve these visual treasures like never before. That faded sepia portrait of your ancestor from County Cork? It can be enhanced. Those box brownie snaps from a Dublin tenement? They can be digitised and shared with cousins across the globe.
Every photograph is a genealogical goldmine—revealing fashions, locations, relationships, and stories that census records can't capture.
What photographic treasures are hiding in your family collection? Share your oldest Irish family photo below!
11/08/2025
We've all been there! That one elusive Irish ancestor who seems to vanish into thin air just when you think you've found them.
When you hit a brick wall, try this approach:
Write down precisely what you know AND what's puzzling you
Create a timeline of their life events
Look for gaps or contradictions
Sometimes stepping back and organising what you have reveals clues you missed before. That "troublesome" ancestor might just be waiting for you to ask the right question!
What's your most challenging Irish ancestor mystery? Share below!
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Maybe you are considering exploring your Irish roots for the first time, or want to investigate your family history further but don’t have the time to look or you would like some help to decide which record collections may be of the most help towards your research goal.
You may not in the right location to pursue your genealogy project or search a particular set of Records, Will or Graveyard.
Perhaps you have lost a family member in a census or can’t find that elusive wedding.
Knowing about our ancestors can provide a sense of identity in a changing world, and many of us yearn to know more about the people who made us who we are. Yet all too often we know precious little beyond our own grandparents. What part of the country were your ancestors from and what was their place in society?
Irish genealogy has somewhat of a reputation for being a disappointing and frustrating pastime for amateur family historians. Countless stories have emerged of people hitting dead ends and the dreaded brick wall, or you will have been told that all the records were lost in the 1922 Four Courts fire in Dublin and indeed many records, but not all, were lost.
Each family has its own story just waiting to be uncovered, and it’s a real privilege to help someone find out about their past. If you are ready to embark on your voyage of discovery then contact me today, and take your first step towards knowing your ancestors.
My Services
Initial Ancestral Research Assessment
An Initial Ancestral Research Assessment explores the feasibility of archival research by identifying sources of potential relevance for your family history in Northern Ireland. It is often a good idea to commission only a couple of hours to begin with. This will facilitate some work to be done and for a research plan to be drawn up based on results, the information you have and the survival of NI genealogy records which appear relevant. This can also be a useful starting point if you wish to undertake some or all of your own research.
An initial two-hour research assessment costs £30 and on average takes 3–4 weeks to complete.
Detailed Research Packages
A Detailed Research Package can be tailored to suit your individual requirements, whether you wish to build up an individual profile of an ancestor or search a particular family line (which can include extended family members if you wish) or search an individual set of records. This may include archives held at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), The General Registration Office, (GRONI), The National Archives Ireland (NAI), The National Library of Ireland (NLI), the General Registrar Office of Ireland (GRO) or it may be more locally at churches, graveyards, libraries, newspaper offices etc. This can be useful for clients who wish to carry out the majority of their own research but for time/geographical reasons are unable to search an individual set of parish records or visit a particular grave yard.
A Detailed Research Package costs £56.00 per 2 hour block commissioned and includes travel to Central Belfast Archives. Travel to other non-centrally held repositories or areas can be quoted for upon request. Please note that postage charges and fees imposed by registry offices / archives for certificates and photocopying will be added to these time charges. These will be agreed with the client before research commences.
Consultancy Services
Whether you are a seasoned researcher or just beginning, Genealogy can be a fascinating pursuit and many of my clients enjoy being involved in the research themselves. If you would like help to begin or continue your research I can offer one to one classes, either in person or by distance, help you review the information you already have, solve problems with your family tree or assist you put together you own research proposal. Depending on your expertise this can be tailored to suit your needs and access to records.
Please email me for a price at info@jaynemcgarvey.com
Photography
If feasible would you like photographs of homesteads, townlands, churches, schools, headstones? (These can be priced individually or as a package dependent on distance, and can be provided as hard copy and/or digital image)
Please email me for a quotation
Document Retrieval
Know what you want, and where it is, just want a copy by email or post
Prices for document retrieval begin at £10.00 stg for Documents available in the greater Belfast area. Please drop me an email for more details.
