I have been trying to find out who Mrs. Anne Banks was for the project, "The Very Generous Mrs Banks", but it is proving to be extremely difficult. Even though she was a wealthy woman, who left thousands of pounds…

Mary Harris "Mother" Jones (1837- 30 November 1930) was an Irish-American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent labor and community organizer. She helped coordinate major strikes and co-founded the Industrial Workers of the World. Mary…

It is a source of great pain and frustration to genealogists that most 19th Irish census returns have been destroyed. The destruction is generally blamed on the fire at the Public Records Office in 1922 during the Irish Civil War. While the 1922 fire did consume a great deal of…

Back before there were affordable and reliable alarm clocks, the occupation of a knocker-up made a few pence a week in England and Ireland by using a long, lightweight stick, often bamboo, to tap on their clients’ upper floor windows and wake them up so they could get to…

Have you ever had the occasion to visit a cemetery and noticed headstones that had coins left on them?  Here are some interesting reasons for the ‘tokens’ being left behind.

The Ferryman

By far the most popular…

Beyond the Grave Conference, Limerick - a few weeks ago........

Jane Lyons (me) Talk.

I've just been sent a link to a 'video' of my talk at this conference and y'know, I was wrecked, had had about three hrs sleep the night before, it was 4.30pm, I was tired.

Confusion over the term "family crest" probably arose from an understandable abbreviation of the terminology in heraldry for an important part of a coat of arms. One of the most respected sources for heraldry information is Fairbairn's Book of Crests of the Families of Great…

This is part two in a series of articles on "Searching for Your Irish Ancestors" written by Ireland-based professional genealogist Nicola Morris of Timeline Genealogy. You can…

In our genealogy classes, we often investigate the origin of the surname.  In one case, this led to an interesting historical fact about the phrase “The Real McCoy.”

McCoy: “A common surname of Scottish origin in…

Except for brief periods during and after times of war, passports were not required of U.S. citizens traveling outside of the country until 1941. Many Americans, however, obtained one for their own security. Passports were and still are issued by the Department of the State, and…

My Great-Grandfather Luke Gibbons is named after his grandfather who was born around 1780 in Ireland, probably in County Mayo. Luke is the son of Patrick Gibbons who was born in Ireland in 1806…

Dear Cousins,

 

May 5th in Feakle, County Clare, Ireland was a most amazing day for all the Loughnanes.  It was the first time that the great grandchildren of John & Bridget nee Kelliher Loughnane, Patrick & Anne nee Minougue Loughnane, Ellen nee Loughnane & Michael McMahon, and Anne nee Loughnane & John Torpey were together in one place at the same time.  It was the first time that so many of us were reunited with our Loughnane cousins from…

The mention of Irish land and property records causes many people to switch off and say that their people never owned property in Ireland. Indeed, it is true to say that very few people in 18th and 19th century Ireland owned their own property!

However, a wonderful…

I sent the below message in to Facebook today and it is only as I read through the replies that I realise people don't actually think about these maps.

I was asked a question about the relevant size of them - it is 1:50,000

On Friday, the day before Janet arrived in this area, I dropped dogs with June my wonderful dog minder and then I drove to Dublin because I…

Technically, the sister of one of your grandparents is your grand-aunt. “Grand” shows that it is one generation away; “great” is supposed to be added to generations beyond “grand.” But like so many other words in the English language, there’s the dictionary definition and then there’s how it’s commonly used.

Reverend Adam Boyd’s, (b1650 Scotland), son Robert Boyd (b1678 Ulster), died in Chester County, PA. Robert’s son George (b1691 Ulster) died in Pennsylvania, his son Patrick Harrison Boyd (b1711 County Antrim) died in Virginia, was the GGGGGrandfather of William Lawrence Boyd, (b 6-6-1894 Cambridge, Ohio) lists himself on his WW1 draft registration in 1917 as “farmer”. In 1918,…

A Church index of sorts.

While I've been travelling around with my friend Janet, Daniel who helps me with from-ireland has done a bit of organising of my last few months posts and created a Church index.

Mainly the Churches are in the counties I name above, but, we also have some Cork, Carlow, Kildare, Waterford, Dublin, Westmeath, Offaly (King's Co.) and Galway churches.

I just know I've forgotten somewhere!!

Audie Leon Murphy (20 June 1925 – 28 May 1971) was one of the most decorated American combat soldiers of World War II, receiving every military combat award for valor available from the U.S. Army, as well as French and Belgian…

Ireland in the 1650s lay in ruins. Twelve years of calamitous warfare had destroyed the country's infrastructure and resulted in the death of over 20% of the Irish population.

In August 1649 the New Model Army, led by Oliver Cromwell, went to Ireland to re-occupy the country following the Irish Rebellion of…

Bit, I told Janet earlier about you calling these kind of trips I make Fairy Trips....and she laughed. Later, she turned round and asked me what I had said about Fairies.

The more I think about this, I smile - travelling through Ireland with nary a care in the world, not worrying about where you are going because when you get there you will find something worth remembering - it is actually a fairy trip. Earlier today we were trying to get home from Castlecomer and I saw a sign…