Irish Roots Genealogy & Research

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Irish Roots Genealogy & Research

When your roots are in Ireland, so are we.

10/05/2026

Whenever I visit in Wexford, I am always drawn to a large black and white photograph hanging in the bar there. The photograph, taken on 27 June 1963 by the respected late photographer Denis O'Connor, captures an iconic moment in Wexford's history when the great grandson of Wexford emigrants paid his respects to another, much earlier Wexford emigrant, whose statue proudly stands on Wexford's Crescent Quay. The men in question? US President, John F Kennedy (1917-1963), and Commodore John Barry (1745-1803), founder of the US navy. ,

09/02/2026

Just one of the many thousands of birth, death and marriage records freshly released today:

Born in New York city to an Irish mother, 'Dev' would grow up in Ireland to become a husband, father, teacher, freedom fighter, and politician, living through some of Ireland's most turbulent modern history. Here on his newly released death record, his occupation simply reads 'Retired President of Ireland'.

07/02/2026

Many of the roadblocks encountered by people exploring their own family history here in Ireland stem from an unfamiliarity with the changes in political geography in the country, especially in relation to the last century. Many place names changed. For example places like Kingstown in County Dublin and Queenstown in County Cork, appeared on records up until the early part of the last century, but in the 1920s changed to Dun Laoghaire and Cobh. Newtownbarry in County Wexford reverted to its original name, Bunclody, in the 1950s. As colonialism in Ireland came to an end, counties, towns, villages, and even Streets reclaimed their Irish identity.

In addition to this a double s in place names was (historically) very frequently recorded as an elongated s (as depicted), which in cursive often looked like a lower case f, leading to many place names being erroneously transcribed on modern genealogy sites, newspaper archives, etc., eg, New Ross as New Rof, Rosslare as Roflare.

Have you found examples of this in your own research?

15/01/2026

In this week in...

1815 - Daniel O'Connell fought a duel with John D'Esterre, of Dublin Corporation, in County Kildare. D'Esterre died 2 days later from his wound, having challenged O'Connell to the duel because he felt insulted by O'Connell's reference to Dublin Corporation as beggarly.

1922 - Dublin Castle was formally handed back by the British Crown. Michael Collins led the delegation for the Provisional Government, marking the end of the castle's more than 700 year occupation.

2018 - The death of Dolores O'Riordan, aged 46, much loved lead singer of Irish rock band, The Cranberries, and writer of possibly one of the best known Irish songs worldwide, Zombie.

08/01/2026

What new information will be available from the 1926 Irish census?

In short, a lot!

Firstly, not just the County of birth, but specific towns/townlands of birth will be supplied.

In addition to individual occupations, their employers' details will also be given, or previous employers where they were out of work at the time of the census.

And while the 1911 census gave us insight into the duration of current marriages, numbers of live births, and surviving children, the 1926 census will also provide information on previous marriages and any children/stepchildren from those marriages, and where they are living. Additionally, the census will state whether either or both parents of each child is still living.

The 1926 Census will be made available to researchers in April, to coincide with the 100 years since the Census was taken (April 18th).

22/10/2024

Sunrise over Tuskar Rock in Wexford by the very talented Fred Kelly, aka Raw Dublin. Some of the most interesting people I have had the pleasure of researching have been the lighthouse keepers of Ireland and their families, and the extraordinary lives they lived.

30/03/2024

Rail travel in Ireland was not accessible to most people until the mid to late 19th Century, and motor vehicles were still quite rare (less than 1000 in Ireland) in the early 1900s. For rural communities this meant that the coach or cart was the only means of transport for most people, and travel was both time-consuming and expensive. The average coach was capable of about 20 miles travel in one day (unless a change of horses was available along the way), which meant that a trip from anywhere in Ireland to the capital took days.

This is useful information to keep in mind when researching family history - the average Irish family could ill afford to spend time and money on travel, and market days were probably the only rare opportunities most young people had to step outside of their own communities. For this reason, you will find that, unless they were terribly affluent, or their work gave them the opportunity to travel (coach drivers, itinerant labourers, higher ranked household staff of gentry, for example), your ancestors were far more likely to marry their neighbours, and even second or third cousins within their own communities, than someone in another county or at the opposite end of the country.

11/03/2024

Stunning exposure of the Milky Way above St Patrick's Bridge, Kilmore, Co Wexford by local photographer DJ Morris. St Patrick's Bridge is a partially submerged tidal causeway leading to the Saltee Islands, on the South East coast of Ireland. The Saltee Islands are one of the few places in Ireland to have a modern Royal Family.

05/03/2024

Give your mother the benefit of our experience, local knowledge and contacts this Mother's Day.
Email research@irishrootsgenealogy.ie to find out more about our range of genealogy services, and the benefits of using an Irish genealogist to discover your family's Irish origins. When your roots are in Ireland, so are we.

01/03/2024

HEROES ALL.

I've dipped into my own family history to give examples of why genealogy is so much more than what you may find in online records. Looking at the birth, deaths and marriages records for the men of my father's family, their occupations were simply listed as farmers, fishermen, and carpenters (which indeed they were), but they were also so much more. They were also lifeboat men, saving hundreds (if not thousands) of men, women, children over the course of their collective lives, in the late 19th and early 20th century, along the South East coast of Ireland.

Many Irish people had extraordinary lives beyond what was recorded as their occupation on civil records and census returns. As a genealogist here in Ireland, it is my privilege to research and discover the true lives of your ancestors, beyond historical indexes.

28/02/2024

'Phtttthhhttt... Fithhhhsss... Fythyss... ughh (sigh)... tuberculosis'

One of my least favourite words to pronounce, but one which regularly appeared on Irish records is 'phthisis'. More romantically known in novels as 'Consumption' (and in fact the word phthisis is Greek for consumption), phthisis is better known to most as tuberculosis. The use of the name phthisis (consumption) came from the physical wasting away of the afflicted, as if consumed by the illness.

During the course of my research, I regularly have to look up archaic medical terms, and am somewhat concerned that Google thinks I'm a time-travelling hypochondriac! 😉

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