John Anthony Brennan is a native of Crossmaglen, a small, tough town in County Armagh, Ireland. A town, like Ireland herself, which has survived much pain and hardship through the centuries beneath the invaders harsh heel. His new book,…

The scarcity of 19th century census returns for Ireland means that we genealogists place a huge emphasis on census substitutes. What is a census substitute ? My colleague, John Grenham explains it very well when he states, "Almost any document which records more than a single name can…

Those of you who are searching for your heritage – perhaps a little study of Irish Septs may help. If does not open, let me know and I will email you one.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~larkin/documents/IrishSeptsVol1.pdf

Sligo Abbey

Abbey Street, Sligo Town, County Sligo



Known locally as simply "The Abbey," this Dominican Friary was founded in the mid 13th century by Maurice Fitzgerald. The site contains a great wealth of carvings including Gothic and Renaissance tomb structure, well preserved cloister and the only…

Britain declared war on Germany 100 years ago today, on 4 August 1914 and on 9 August the British Expeditionary Force began leaving for France. Some other Wild Geese have blogged here about their ancestors who fought in the war, so I just thought I'd put up these resources…

Lance Corporal William Devine, 5th Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers

The 5th Battalion, The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers was raised at Omagh in August 1914, part of Kitchener's First New Army.…

Dr. James Barry (Margaret Ann Bulkley) and Albert Cashier (Jennie Hodgers).

My grandmother’s small flat was usually crowded on Sunday morning after mass. My father, uncles and aunt talked noisily as the room filled with cigarette smoke (almost everyone smoked in the 1950’s). Seated in the armchair between the…

Descendants? yes and no. He had 6 children - 2 died under age 1, daughter died age 24 - not married, son who was Brig Gen. married was always in the military and away - one distinct 1900 census in the Philippines, one stray document with the McClernand surname but others seem to have changed name spelling. One daughter (the eldest) married Wirt Butler and she died at age 24  - and there are Butler descendants. Have looked at all know sources for trees - no children ever show up past…

Pictured at right is Paul Vincent Carroll, born in Dundalk, County Louth.  He was a friend of my parents, Michael and Lilian (Power) Quinlan, when they were all members and actors of The Dundalk Drama Society in the early 1930s.  Paul's best known play was "Shadow and…

When I first heard the phrase "boutique hostel," I figured it was a bit of marketing gimmickry at work. I mean, hostels were bottom-of-the-barrel, right? I suspected the word "boutique" was in line to replace "charming" and "lots of character" for describing accommodation that wasn't quite up to par.

Well, this summer I got a taste of modern hosteling,…

There's a very good article here from The Irish Times on new numbers from the Department of National Defence in Canada on the Irish who served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during World War 1, although the number is likely underestimated. There is a new history project initiative in Sligo to help…

In every issue of ISLE magazine, we feature Irish made and designed products. 

In our Premier Issue which went live in September 2012, we did a big feature on Ceardlann, the craft village in Spiddal, County Galway. You can read that issue in our archive on our our website.  Above and just below are…

Bernardo O'Higgins (1778–1842) was born in Chile -- not Ireland.  However, his father, Ambrosio O'Higgins (a Spanish colonial Viceroy) was…

Who was "General O'Reilly," and how did a man with such an Irish name become the "Spanish Governor of Louisiana?"

While on a consulting assignment in August of 2000, I was bicycling through the streets of New Orleans and randomly came across a historic marker that read: "Fort St. Charles On Oct. 25, 1769, under Gen. O'Reilly, Spanish governor of…

General John Alexander McClernand, born May 30, 1812, Kentucky, self- educated lawyer at age 20 and private in Blackhawk War with Abraham Lincoln as his Captain. Son of Dr. John, immigrant from Antrim, Ireland and Fatima Cummins (her ancestors were part of the Jamestown…

I have been researching the history of Irish martial arts - styles of wrestling, boxing and stick-fighting - for about 30 years now. To the best of my knowledge, Glen Doyle of Newfoundland, Canada is the only person on earth who still practices a living style (not one recreated through books or manuals) of Irish stick-fighting. He learned and inherited…