Geneology

My mom got similarly stuck (in the Netherlands) and her breakthrough was making a contact there that was willing to do some research and pull local records (only available on paper) for her.  He is a retired museum curator and somehow related so this stuff interests him as well.  He went around to a few churches (lots of records still kept by churches that are 100+ yrs old) and local government buildings.  Her family tree has gone well beyond ancestry.com, Ellis Island records, etc.

Do you have grandparents you can ask? Aunts/uncles/etc.? Get as many names/dates as possible. Then plug them in to ancestry.com. Most of it is free, but there are benefits to paying. However, a lot of libraries have an account that they'll let you use for free.

(edited because I'm a twit) 

Most anything available in Ireland or Scotland are likely to be not online yet ... HOWEVER, if you want to send me your family name I can give you some websites where you can look up your clan name (there is/was a clan system in both Ireland and Scotland but there are Clan "societies" that might make it easier for you to search, particularly regarding particular battles.

The clan system gets complicated -- your clan "name"  might have a different spelling now, or might have been a "sept" (under the protection of) a bigger clan.  But I can give you some websites that will help you look for that.

If you hear of any "Celtic festivals" (there are lists of those online) and they are anywhere close to you GO !!!!!  Really often such festivals will have "clan tents" (literally you can see 100 or so clans represented at these festivals) and making friends in a place like that can really get you some valuable help on this.

This is Tink in front of the Clan Kennedy tent February at the Sarasota Games. (That's the Kennedy Tartan behind the badge) 

David is a Scot and the Kennedys have been in Scotland for many centuries but it's also got a large presence in Ireland (and the Scots Kennedys were *from* Ireland possibly).  We've made several really **good** friends who are Kennedys that we correspond with a lot.  But Canada has a TON of Scots/Irish heritage-- a lot of US Scots trace their lineage thru Canada.

It's A LOT of fun.  And if your family has reached an impass with this, finding someone in your clan/sept may help break that loose.