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
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…
People join us in the Green Room with the aim of breaking down brick walls in their Irish family tree – while having a lot of fun alongside people with a similar goal. One piece of advice I hear our genealogists give constantly is to “go wide” rather than “go deep”. They mean that when…
When the Irish famine came to an end in the late 1840s, the workhouses were full to overflowing with those who were destitute, sick and unable to work. Over 4,000 orphan girls were removed from these workhouses and sent to the Australian colonies where they were to become domestic servants and wives to the many…
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.…
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…
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…