Letter Archive
Welcome to the letter archive page for the weekly "Letter from Ireland". We started to write these letters in 2013 covering Irish Genealogy & Family History, Irish Surnames, Irish Culture & Customs and Ireland Travel, here you'll find a link to all of them.
Browse the letters listed on this page and jump to one that interests you, or enter a placename, surname or other item in the search box below to see related letters.
All of our weekly letters to date
Given the connection to this celtic festival, it is no coincidence that we celebrate Lá Fhéile Bríde (Law Ail-ah Bree-da) – St. Brigid’s Day – on February 1st in honour of our greatest female saint. St Brigid has a special place in the hearts of the Irish and her story and traditions have passed down…
Over in the Green Room, we often ask our members to share the religion that their Irish ancestor practiced. This is a purely practical matter – as once we know the religion we can look at the correct set of Irish church records. A good example of this can be found in this week’s letter.…
Looking back, candles played a big part in my childhood Irish Christmas traditions. Of course we had Father Christmas (“Daidí Na Nollag” – pronounced “dad-ee nah nul-ug”) but the countdown to Christmas was anticipated by the lighting of candles. First up was Advent. You are familiar no doubt with the Advent Calendar (Féilire Aidhbinte” –…
It can be quite difficult to track down the origins of an ancestor who left Ireland in the early 1800s. Useful records may be non-existent in parts of the country – and this can lead to a lot of guesswork on your part. Do you know what I mean? This was the problem facing one of our…
Today we feature a letter from one of our Green Room members, Marie Irwin, as she chats about the life and times of her family and their origin in the very north part of County Donegal. Marie: Hello Mike, a very warm welcome from sunny North Queensland to you. Mike: Nice to meet you too, Marie. A little…
Allow me to start this letter with a question – on your Irish ancestry search, have you discovered the place of origin for your ancestors in Ireland? Maybe you have even walked the same farm or village as they once did. If so, you are one of the lucky ones! Unfortunately, many people have ancestral records that…
Have you ever tried to track down the “life and times” of one of your Irish ancestors? I can be a fascinating (and sometimes frustrating) process as you put the pieces together and gradually gain a glimpse of what life was like at the time for those ancestors. I notice that many of us stick…
In today’s letter we have the story of one of our Green Room members – Catherine Clifford. We were provided with lots of information about the origin of their Irish ancestors in County Kerry in the early 1800s. However, I want to use this letter to point out how important it is to fully examine the records at…
Readers often contact me wondering where a particular ancestor or surname is likely to have originated in Ireland. Sometimes I can give a direct answer – but sometimes the answer is “it depends”. The following conversation features one of those surnames that originated in many different locations in Ireland. Here we have Kathleen Brennan from…
Have you ever heard of Thomas Francis Meagher? He was born in County Waterford in 1823, arrested for his participation in the Young Irelander rebellion of 1848 – and when convicted of sedition, received transportation for life to Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania in Australia). Before that, he created what later became the tricolour flag of Ireland…