They have a series of tips on how to get started yourself, but where Laois Genealogy comes into its own is with its extensive range of gravestone information.

They have collected thousands of headstone inscription records from hundreds of graveyards throughout the county, plus a number in bordering counties, and if you can provide them with some specifics they’ll send you any details they have on file.

It can be very difficult finding records from before the early 1900s, and very often the only evidence of an ancestors existence is the actual headstone on their grave – Laois Genealogy hope to save you the shoe-leather you’d be using visiting far flung cemetries.

You can find out more about their services, including ‘roots records’ that they hold for a number of other areas, by visiting them at the Laois Genealogy website.

I have to say that this is one of those ‘projects’ that makes you stop and think. It has taken two years for those involved to collect the records, and the service being offered is free. It’s a great spirit of generosity when individuals do something like this to help people explore their Irish ancestry – so ‘hats off’ and well done to all who worked so hard to put this one together!