Claire Bradley is a Dublin-based genetic genealogist specialising in ancestry from Ireland
Hot on the heels of the changes to the National Archives website, the other main state portal for genealogical research has had a refresh. ETA: 27/2 – several of the issues that I noted below are now fixed! Hence, I’ve removed or edited my comments. Last week, I was in touch with IrishGenealogy to ask…
I’m very excited to be giving a talk on St Patrick’s weekend for the Society of Genealogists in London. Sadly I won’t be there in-person to see the new premises (fond memories of the old one from my IGRS days though). This talk is all about Irish censuses and census substitutes. I’ll be covering all…
We have now an official date for its release: 18 April 2026. In just 15 months, professionals, family historians, hobbyists and regular historians will be sitting at their desks hitting refresh while we await the first Irish census release in more than 50 years (if we count the microfilm release of the previous two in…
It’s the time of year when people start thinking about evening courses. My beginner level course in Irish genealogy is back for a 14th year. It starts on Monday 16th September at Malahide Community School in north Co. Dublin and is now enrolling students. This course is subsidised by the Department of Education so costs…
It might be still Spring, but Malahide Community School’s Autumn Adult Ed program is already out. I’ll be running my popular Irish Genealogy course in person for 10 weeks starting 16th Sept. This is the thirteenth year of running the class in my alma mater. It’s always good fun and I’m always refining the topics…
For St. Patrick’s Day 2024, I’m taking a look at a new collection on Ancestry of Guinness records. Guinness, in case you didn’t know, is one of Ireland’s most famous exports. The Guinness Store House is a top tourist attraction in Dublin. I actually don’t much like the black stuff, but I do recognise the…
A couple of weeks ago, I gave a talk during Heritage Week at Fingal Local Studies and Archives. An Irish Times journalist came along and I did a small interview with him beforehand. He stayed to hear all the questions and spoke to some people in the audience about their use of genetic genealogy to…
It was an ordinary November day. Then came an announcement from Minister Catherine Martin that she was making €5m available to digitise the 1926 census and it will be available online, for free, in April 2026. You can read the full press release here! I’m really hoping they’ll redesign the whole census/genealogy site, which are…
I’ve launched a YouTube channel. The plan is to have videos on Irish genealogy and DNA testing. I have a few taster videos up already but more will come over the weeks and months. If you have any ideas for content, please do leave a comment. If you enjoy, please do like, share and subscribe!
Back to Our Past returns to the RDS in Ballsbridge, Dublin this weekend. It will feature trade stands from some of the big genealogical organisations – both commercial and state repositories as well as family history societies. I’ll be delivering two talks – my first in-person events for over two years! Saturday 12 noon: Tracing…