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
Many readers often ask about the origin of an Irish first name in their family tree. Sometimes, it’s an unlikely Irish name such as “Jeremiah” – or sometimes a rare name such as “Gobnait”. It’s no secret that many of our shared Irish roman catholic ancestors borrowed names from the saints and angels of the…
When we lived in England during the 1990s, a phrase that I heard many times was “teaching granny to suck eggs”. Maybe you have heard it in your family? It was used in a context of not wanting to insult another person by stating what should be common sense already e.g. standing in front of…
Carina here – a bit of a change from Mike. I came downstairs earlier and pulled Mike off the keyboard to sent him back to bed – still stressing about “never missing a Letter from Ireland yet”. So I said, don’t worry, I’ll do it instead.At this stage I read the Letter from Ireland each…
Don’t you just love that word – “Diaspora”? Apparently, it comes from the Greek word for “scattering”. The reason I bring this up today is because Ireland appointed it’s first “Minister for the Diaspora”. I first remember the word being used in the context of an “Irish Diaspora” when President Mary Robinson used to light a candle of…
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…
Irish Genealogy & Family History Podcasts
In this episode of the Letter from Ireland Show we follow the trail of one Irish Emigrant family all the way from County Kerry to Chicago and Illinois in the USA. Join us as we start in the family homestead just outside Listowel in County Kerry.
There is a wonderful Irish Ancestry Resource that many of us overlook when we are “scouring” the records for the smallest hint or connection. It also has the benefit of being very entertaining. See if you have used this resource in the past – or plan to in the future!
Would you like to hear some Irish Voices from Australia? Last March we headed to Australia on the Irish Ancestry Trail – and this podcast features just some of the people we met along the way.
What have your experiences with DNA testing for Irish Family History been like? Successful? Frustrating? Or somewhere in between? In this episode of the Letter from Ireland show, we share our own recent experiences.
So many people left Ireland for Australia in the early to late 1800s. Some were sent for “seven long years transportation” while others went of their own accord to seek a better life. Here we have just one story connecting so many threads between Australia and a County in Ireland.