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
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…
I often come across a new member in the Green Room who provides us with the “facts” of their Irish ancestors origin in Ireland. I say “facts”, but these facts sometimes appear unlikely when presented to an Irish genealogist. For example, we might receive facts that a couple who were born in different parts of…
Many of our readers are surprised (and disappointed) when they make the leap back to the Irish records – but then come across more than one family in an area of Ireland that might be their ancestral family. How do you choose between them? Have you had a similar experience? I received the following from…
Earlier this week we had the start of Lent – which remains quite a big deal in Ireland. This was a time of year that affected our shared Irish ancestors in many ways. It was a lean time in the larder as the food from the previous harvests thinned out. It was also a time…
One of the best things about Irish family history research is the availability of so many Irish records online and for free. One of the most useful sets are the civil records which were centralised by the Irish administration starting in the middle 1800s. The Irish Civil Records. A centralised Civil registration system for marriages…
Last week, we spoke about the “Start of an Irish Spring” – how the ancient Celtic festival of “Imbolc”/Saint Brigid’s day celebrates the start of spring here in Ireland. For the the rest of this letter we’ll have a look at one ancient Irish tribe that gave us a number of Irish surnames – and…