Claire Bradley is a Dublin-based genealogist specialising in Irish ancestry
I’ve been using newspapers a lot recently to look for death notices and obituaries. There are two main types of notice to look for: This is an example of the former. It’s my 3x great-grandmother, Mary Lawless, née Swan, who died on the leap day in 1936. I wrote about her previously here. This is typical…
This year for Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d take a look at how often Irish people were called Valentine in February. St Valentine was a 3rd century CE Roman martyred clergyman who is also the patron saint of beekeepers and asthma. I didn’t know illnesses could have saints, but there you go! He has an…
How often have we followed a hint in someone else’s tree to see they’ve got some additional information? It’s exciting, right? The potential for new cousins, new discoveries and maybe some photos. But how do we determine if the other person’s tree is accurate? I’m always reminding my students that you have to do your…
Despite climate change’s best efforts, the evenings are beginning to draw in.Many people will not be aware that Hallowe’en has its origins in Ireland. It’s changed quite a bit since I was a child in the 1980s but some facets still remain the same. Back then, we dressed up and went to our neighbours’ doors…
If you’re a user of Ancestry, and you have a tree attached to your account or DNA results, then you’re familiar with this little leaf which appears to give you hints. These suggestions come in 2 forms. This blog discusses how to know when to accept or ignore them. Record suggestions – Ancestry has millions…