Category: Uncategorized

It’s that time of year again. People are looking for an evening course & I happen to have one. My course on tracing your ancestors will be starting this day 2 weeks (28th January 2020). I’ll be covering all the basics: the census, civil & church records, land & military records, newspapers and, of course,…

I’m running a Christmas competition. You could win some free genealogical research. To find out more, head over to my Facebook page.

We finished another successful term of my beginner’s genealogy class this evening. My lovely students have indulged me with a photo. I always learn from something from them & we have fun along the way. If you’re interested, I’ll be running another class in the New Year. Details will be available on Malahide Community School’s…

I’m really excited to share the news of a new genetic genealogy project. Middlesex University lecturer (and my friend) Dr Britta Stordal and I are working with her under-graduate students on a genetic genealogy project. The students will examine the results of direct to consumer DNA tests from anonymous volunteers and attempt to figure out…

Readers of my blog will know about my long-term Ure One Name Study. A sister of my Ure ancestor, Margaret, was married by 1901, and widowed by 1911. She had one son. The husband was not present for the census and up til recently I’d never found any evidence of a marriage or the birth…

As a genealogist, the satisfaction of a job well done is usually rewarded by a nice thank email or letter. People will then go on to share the findings with their wider family. It’s not often though that the genealogist gets invited to the family gathering, but that’s what happened to me today. I met…

With the recent news that FindmyPast has been awarded the contract to digitise the English & Welsh 1921 census, my thoughts have turned again to the next Irish census. We were busy having a War of Independence in 1921, so skipped the census. The next one was taken in 1926, the first census of the…

DNA tests are the hot topic for family historians these days. The area can be bewildering and often it can be difficult to decipher the results. What’s a centimorgan? How do you triangulate results? How should you approach contacts? Are ethnicity results nonsense (hint: mostly!)? Should you use Gedmatch? I can answer all these questions…

Booking is now open for the new term of my beginner’s genealogy class in Malahide Community School. Walk-in enrollment will take place on 17th September. Classes will start on Tuesday 2nd October and run for 10 weeks. Lots of people will have gotten DNA tests over the summer why not learn how to make the most…

Booking is now open for the new term of my beginner’s genealogy class in Malahide Community School. Enrolling on Monday 22nd January, where I will also be available to talk to prospective students. Classes will start on Tuesday 30th January and run for 10 weeks. Lots of people will have gotten DNA tests for Christmas: why…