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
Just this week, I received a request from Helen Wyse (always listen to someone with Wyse as a surname!). Helen said: I am very curious about the naming conventions used for townlands, baronies, villages etc. which seem to repeated over and over again. So many places are prefixed or suffixed in such a way that it…
Have you ever looked at census records as part of researching your Irish ancestors? If you have, then you realise just how valuable they can be when locating your ancestral families at a particular location and time. In this letter, we chat about using a census but also one very particular resource that will give you…
This week’s letter is one for all the Irish Family History enthusiasts out there. We tackle the question: “What do I do when I am stuck in my family history research?” by working with one of our Green Room members and making some suggestions relevant to her particular situation. However, you may notice one or two…
In 2018, we travelled to the north-east of the US where we were invited to speak at a combined NEHGS/TIARA conference in Boston. Our host was Pam Holland, a US-based genealogist and vice president of TIARA at the time (The Irish Ancestral Research Association). She was also a very helpful member in our Green Room. While…
Have you ever walked into an old house and immediately felt a sense of history between those four walls? Today’s letter is all about a house located ten miles from us here in county Cork and the man who was born in one of its bedrooms almost 200 years ago. Patrick Cleburne is born in…
Irish Genealogy & Family History Podcasts
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…
Join us on a Saint Patrick’s Day Parade of Story and Song. In this episode we share two stories – one all about the places in Ireland where Saint Patrick is said to have walked and the next looks at the Shamrock and the gorse, two plants associated with this time of year in Ireland.…
In this special episode of the Letter from Ireland show we start our journey in Cobh (Queenstown) in County Cork. We chat with the manager of the Cobh Heritage Centre who has his own immigration stories to tell. We then take the route across the Atlantic that our ancestors would have followed (just slightly upgraded!)…
In this week’s episode we go back in time. First we go back to a time when the first Celtic peoples arrived in Ireland – we then go back even further to look at the period when the Celts appeared on the continent of Europe for the first time. Much of this “history” is relayed…
In this week’s episode we look at the life times and legacy of three ancient Celtic saints – with lots of fine music in between. We start with a letter all about the Irish Saint Gobnait – but you may be surprised at how her name was anglicised into different versions that you may have…