The Purple Ink of Erasure: How the Cancelled Books Record Post-Famine Clearance When a clerk at the Valuation Office in Dublin opened the Cancelled Book for a Galway District Electoral Division in 1856, he did not sharpen his pencil. He reached for the purple ink. The act of striking through a tenant’s name—Michael Conneely, Holding … Read more
The Fear Factor You have tracked your family back to 1864. You are feeling confident. Then, you open a Parish Register from 1830, and your heart sinks. It looks like a spider crawled across the page in ink. It’s in Latin. The names don’t make sense (Gulielmus? Demetrius?). You feel like closing the browser and … Read more
The Truth Teller Paper records can lie. People can lie about their age, their name, or who the father really was. DNA does not lie. When the paper trail runs cold in 1840, biology takes over. This week, we aren’t looking at old books. We are looking at the bloodline itself. It is the final, … Read more
The Detective’s Secret You have searched for your ancestor. You have searched for his birth, his marriage, and his ship. You have found nothing. He is a ghost. When the front door is locked, you don’t go home. You go through the side window. Your ancestor didn’t live in a vacuum. He had neighbors. He … Read more
The Snapshot in Time Genealogy isn’t just about finding names; it’s about seeing them together. For most of us, the 1901 and 1911 Censuses are the only time we will ever see our ancestors sitting around the kitchen table as a family. We start here not just because it’s easy, but because it is the … Read more
For Irish genealogy enthusiasts, April 2026 marks one of the most significant dates in family history research since the launch of the 1911 census online. The upcoming release of the 1926 Census represents a treasure trove of genealogical data that will finally bridge a critical gap in Irish records. Here’s everything you need to know … Read more
1. The Geography: East vs. West Galway You cannot treat Galway as one place. It is historically split into two distinct “kingdoms,” and this affects your research. 2. The “Big Three” Record Sets Before you pay for expensive subscriptions, check these three free government databases. They cover 90% of what you need. 3. The “Tribes … Read more