Irish Genealogy & Family History Resources
Are you interested in discovering more on your Irish family history? In this section, I have included letters (and podcasts) that include stories, explanations and approaches to help you investigate your own Irish family history. You may even receive a little inspiration to break down one or two family history brick walls!
Browse the features 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 and podcasts.
Irish Genealogy & Family History Letters
A couple of days ago I was having lunch with one Ian Armstrong (Ian designed the cover of A Letter from Ireland). His family has been in Cork for generations – but his ancestors came from County Antrim in Ulster – and before that they arrived in Ireland from the Scottish border counties in the…
In last week’s letter from Ireland, we talked about the “Irish Diaspora” and I asked what part of the diaspora you came from. Well – the response was second to none (that’s very good in Irish parlance!). I spent until last Thursday reading replies that traced the tracks of many of your Irish ancestors. So…
The River Bandon gets it’s name from the Celtic goddess for water – Bann – and rises near the town of Drimoleague. Through the many aerial shots used in the programme we see all the towns, bridges and castles along the way. And we meet many of the local characters. During its first few miles…
Many Irish families seem to feature multiple instances of the same forenames e.g you might find dozens of Johns, Marys or Richards – but very few Joans, Timothys or Michaels. This cumulative effect is often down to “Irish naming patterns” – but sometimes families have a special place for some given names. Last week, I…
Todays letter is a little different – it features an imagined ancestral letter written by one of our readers as well as their imagined response. We start with a letter received in Ireland back in the mid 1800s from Nova Scotia in what was to become Canada: “Hello, My name is Lawrence Cavanagh and I…
Irish Genealogy & Family History Podcasts
In this special Irish family history episode we take two letters from our Green Room members. We chat about the approach they should take to uncover more about their respective Irish ancestral homelands.
On our latest episode, join us on an Irish genealogy trip as we embark with Boston-native Cathy Abraham back to County Cork. Unraveling the romantic tale of her great-grandparents’ elopement to America, we uncover hidden truths and visit ancestral lands connected to the O’Callaghan and Richardson families. Prepare for some fascinating discoveries!
In this episode, we look at a very difficult time in Ireland – one that triggered a time of death across the population of the island as well as emigration for many generations afterwards.
In this episode we look at two different styles of story-telling. First, Carina reads out “Which County did your Irish Ancestor Come from?”. In the second feature we ask an Irish Poet/Bard to look at the family history of one of our Green Room members and then to put the entire saga into verse.
In a follow-up to our recent episode about traveling from Cobh to Ellis Island – we head back to the Cobh Heritage Centre in County Cork and hear 7 stories of emigration from this very spot to many places around the world. Many thanks to Jack Walsh and all the team at the Cobh Heritage…