My Personal Research
Who Do You Think You Are
People often say that when they start exploring their Irish history, they would love to find some intriguing characters. Not a villain exactly but just let’s say, a colourful character, which adds a bit of ‘colour’ to your Irish family tree book. I love to find heroines in my Irish ...
Finding Famous Ancestors
I think I have seen most episodes of ‘Who Do You Think You Are’, at least the ones this since of the pond. I spent some time recently catching up with ones that I had missed. I was intrigued by one in particular – Emma Willis (née Griffiths), a very ...
Love Letters from the Past
I am passionate about trying to understand more about our ancestors through our research instead of just finding birth, marriage and death certificates. For some reason, when one family historian meets another, the first question that will be posed 95% of the time is… ‘how far can you go back’. ...
Tracing my Ancestors: Mary Angela
This blog details my personal search for my Paternal Great Grandmother, Mary Angela Bridgeman. In writing this post, I hope to provide a better understanding of the effort and tenacity required to undertake some family history research; and demonstrate to you the level of detail and style of story- telling ...
Tracing an Adoption: Helen’s Story
Another real life Adoption Story I'd like to share. There's nothing I love more than helping people find out where they come from. Adoption tracing and research can be difficult, but it is so rewarding to help uncover family history and reunite people like Helen with their birth families. I ...
Tracing an Adoption: My Sister’s Story
This blog post is about helping my younger sister to find her biological father. I have her permission to write this blog but she asked that I don’t use her name. I come from a family of 6 children; 3 biological and 3 adopted. My mother tells me that even ...
Grave Hunting at Glasnevin Cemetery
During a recent history tour of Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin, I learnt that there are more dead people buried in Glasnevin Cemetery than are living in Dublin today. On your 'Irish Family History' journey I'm sure you will come across some relatives buried in Glasnevin Cemetery also known locally as the ...
Family History: Lost and Found
Uncovering long lost relatives is a common occurrence in genealogy research. One of the most fantastic things about doing family tree research is meeting relatives that you never knew existed. During the summer I was fortunate enough to meet a new O’Gorman 3rd cousin Terri. It would probably be useful to ...
Tracing My Ancestors: Desperately Seeking Julia
Julia O'Farrell (née Whelan) I had been searching for my great grandmother Julia O’Farrell’s grave for nearly 2 years. Sometimes I would just leave it, hoping that looking at it with a fresh pair of eyes weeks later would uncover something new. It was one of those searches where I ...
Following in the Footsteps: My Great, Great Grandmother
Finding out where your ancestors were born and lived on documents such as census records, birth / marriage / death certificates can be a wonderful way to get a sense of the life that they lived. But you can’t beat going to the places that you see in these documents ...