Join Mike and Carina as they chat about just one reader story from the Irish Land Wars of the late 1800s. Our reader shares an amazing story of immigration and now understands the reasons why her family were so reticent about talking of their Irish family history.
Join Mike and our head genealogist in The Green Room, Jayne McGarvey, as we chat about the usefulness of the Irish "Tithe Applotment Books" when discovering more about the location and lives of your Irish ancestors during the early 1800s.
Join Mike and Carina as we take around Inishmore - the largest of the Aran Islands which lies at the mouth of Galway Bay to the west of Ireland. It's a magical part of the world - and we travel around in the company of a very special tour guide.
We are (hopefully) at the closing stages of a pandemic as I write. However, our ancestors had to endure many pandemics and famines through the centuries - and all without the same access to medicines we enjoy today. Today's show is all about one famous Irish author whose mother had to endure a pandemic in her native Sligo town before heading off for a new life in Dublin.
Did you ever wonder how the Irish surnames in your family tree originated and evolved? This handy guide talks you through many Irish first names - and how they eventually led to Irish surnames - with plenty of examples along the way!
Would you like to join us on a tour of County Cork as we emerge from Covid restrictions here in Ireland? We take you on a circuit of a part of County Cork - stopping in 6 different places full of Castles, Stone Circles, Villages and Market Towns.
Join Mike and our Green Room Genealogist - Jayne McGarvey - on a walk through the ancient Irish monastic graveyard of Monasterboice in County Louth. They discuss the various types of burial sites, Celtic High Crosses and the ancient Round Tower on this very special Irish Heritage Site.
Our readers are very keen to trace their Irish ancestors back to a specific part of Ireland, and that is very understandable. However, it's often a better idea to dig up more leads and clues in the ancestors place of immigration BEFORE attempting to make the leap back to Ireland.
In this episode of the Letter from Ireland show, Mike takes 2 reader case-studies to illustrate how this approach might work.
In this episode of the Letter from Ireland Podcast show, we travel to the city of Glasgow in Scotland to meet two proud Glasgow natives of Irish ancestry. Come with us as we get a unique perspective on this city that saw the arrival of so many Irish immigrants from the 1800s onwards.
In this episode of the Letter from Ireland Show we head to County Cavan and meet plenty of characters, visit some beautiful places and pick up the stories of this little-visited part of Ireland. Join us as we have the "Life of Riley" in County Cavan!
In this episode of the Letter from Ireland Show we head to County Limerick and a townland by the name of "Patrick's Well". This place has been named after the Holy Well within it's borders - and we chat to the lady whose family has looked after this unique place for generations sharing stories, traditions and a cure or two!
The Letter from Ireland Show is a weekly podcast that goes out each Thursday from our cottage in County Cork. Tune in to this episode - and dive straight in to a bit of Irish caint, ceóil agus craic (conversation, music and craic!).
As we reach the end of series 4 of the Letter from Ireland Podcast show, we'd thought we would share just 7 of our favourite Irish Ancestry moments. It was a tough choice and we hope you enjoy them!
In this episode of the Letter from Ireland Show, we interview Jayne McGarvey - an Irish-based genealogist. Drawing on her expensive experience, we ask her to share 3 signs that you are making progress with your Irish family History research and she make made some very interesting suggestions that may surprise both those beginning their Irish family history and the more experienced researchers. See what you think!
In the late 1800s, hundreds of thousands of Irish people moved into the Tenement Buildings of Dublin and New York. In this Podcast, we travel to the Tenement Museums of both Dublin and New York to get an insight into what life was like in these buildings for our Irish ancestors.
Would you like to take a trip with us from Queenstown to Ellis Island? Join us on a journey as we first travel to Queenstown (Cobh) in County Cork before touring around Ellis Island in the USA - meeting some very interesting people along the way!
In this episode of the Letter from Ireland Show we chat with Pam Guye Holland - a genealogist based in Boston, Mass. In the interview we discuss how critical it is to gather all the local information you can on your Irish ancestors before attempting to trace their origins back to Ireland. And - we ask Pam to share some of her best hints and tips!
In this episode of the Letter from Ireland Show we celebrate the 5th birthday of The Green Room (our member area) and the 6th birthday of the letter from Ireland. Over that time we have received and answered over 90,000 Irish-related questions. Carina and Mike discuss the 12 most surprising things they noticed over that time.
Do you know where to start with your Irish Family History Research? Irish Genealogy has it's quirks as you may have discovered! In this episode we bring you around our new Green Room Research Wheel that we have recently launched for our Green Room members.
Join us on this episode of the Letter from Ireland show as we look at the brand new Essential Green Room Guide to Irish Family History Research. This is a very different, interactive way to progress your Irish family history research. While you do need to be a member of the Green Room (see more here) to take full advantage of all the aspects of this guide - we feel a list to this podcast as we work our way around the Green Room Research Wheel will be beneficial for all people of Irish ancestry who want to know how to approach their Irish family history research.
You can see a picture of the Green Room Research Wheel at the top of the shownotes which you can find here.
Join us on this episode of the Letter from Ireland show as we look at a Celtic Festival that celebrates the arrival of Spring. Maybe you even celebrate it yourself? Our shared Irish ancestors had a lot of traditions around this festival – and the Saint who became associated with this time of year in Christian times.
The Letter from Ireland Show is a weekly podcast that goes out each Thursday from our cottage in County Cork. Tune in to this episode - and dive straight in to a bit of Irish caint, ceóil agus craic (conversation, music and craic!).
Join us on this episode of the Letter from Ireland show as we look at the influence of the Normans on Irish surnames and families - we then take off for Wales where we visit just some of the castles where many of the originators of various Irish surnames in Ireland were born and bred.
If you have any of the following Irish names in your family tree, then you will be really interested in this episode:
Archdeacon/Cody, Aylward, Barrett, Barron, Barry, Bermingham, Blake, Bluitt, Bonds, Bourke, Brannagh, Brett, Brew, Britt, Britton, Brown, Browne, Bryan, Burke, Butler, Campion, Cantillon, Cantwell, Carew, Chambers, Clare, Codd, Cody, Cogan, Colfer, Comerford, Condon, Cooney, Courcey, Crosbie, Crozier, Cullen, Cummiskey, Cusack, D’Arcy, Dalton, Darcy, Day, Dillon, Fagan, Field, Fitzgerald, Fitzgibbon, Fitzhenry, Fitzsimmons, Fitzsimons, Fitzstephens, Fleming, Flemming, Francis, French, Furlong, Gibbons, Grace, Griffin, Griffith, Hackett, Hays/Hayes, Hussey, Jordan, Joyce, Keating, Lacey, Lawless, Liston, Logan, Lovett, Lucey, Lynch, Lyons, Marshall, Martin, McQuillan, Molyneux, Morris, Morrissey, Nagle/Nangle, Nugent, Plunkett, Power/Powers, Prendergast, Prior, Punch, Purcell, Redmond, Rice, Roach/Roche, Roberts, Rochford, Russell, Savage, Sinnott, Wade, Wall, Walsh/Welsh, White, Wolfe, Wyse, Stapleton, Stephens,Talbot and Tyrrell.
The Letter from Ireland Show is a weekly podcast that goes out each Thursday from our cottage in County Cork. Tune in to this episode - and dive straight in to a bit of Irish caint, ceóil agus craic (conversation, music and craic!).
Join us on this episode of the Letter from Ireland show as we travel to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania in Australia) and visit some really interesting locations associated with Ireland's convict and emigrant association with the area!
So, come on in - sit down and have a listen to stories, people and places of this most beautiful part of the world!
Join us on this episode of the Letter from Ireland show as we tell some surprising stories from an Irish Halloween! Did you know that many of the rituals and traditions associated with Halloween came from the Celtic Festival of "Samhain" (pronounced "sow-en" - "sow" as pronounced in pig)?
Carina and Mike talk about the Celtic seasons and festivals, their own Irish Halloween memories - and tell two very special Irish stories linked to this time of year.
So, come on in - sit down and have a listen to these wonderful seasonal Irish tales of things that go bump in the night!
In this episode of the Letter from Ireland show, Carina goes on a voyage of discovery (in more ways than one) as she uncovers the hidden history of her paternal grandfather: Bartholomew Cronin.
Join Carina as she begins at the shop where her grandfather worked and lived - and then she heads back to his home-place before journeying even further back to one very special place associated with an Irish saint in the beautiful wilds of West Cork.
So, do come along - we know you'll enjoy the trip!
Carina never knew the surname that her paternal grandmother was born with - she only knew to call her "Granny"! So, we decided to find out a little more. What did we discover? Well, join us in this episode of the Letter from Ireland show as we go on a voyage of discovery - starting in a small shop in the Irish countryside - then on to a cottage on the fringes of Cork City - before finishing up at a grand castle.
There are lots of surprises along the way - and lots of mysteries solved also! This is a story that is both personal and universal, one that reaches from the present into the ancient past - maybe you have a story (or mystery) just like this one in your Irish family tree? Want to find out? Well, join us now as we start by asking Carina just what she knows - and does not know - about her "Granny Cronin".
Then, we hit the road and the records to find out more. We know you'll enjoy this journey!
The City of Liverpool in England has had very strong links with Ireland down through the centuries. In this Podcast, Carina takes you on a trip around Liverpool - through a gate that could tell a million stories, into "Paddy's Wigwam and then introduces you to four very famous sons of Liverpool - three of whom have direct Irish Roots!