What unusual occupations our ancestors sometimes had – or upon reflection, at least it seems that way to us nowadays.  Occupations, of course, if you were lucky enough to have a reliable one, changed with the times and were very much aligned with social and gender norms of the day. […]

Unusual Occupations of our Ancestors

Here at Irish Emigrant Trails, we specialize in “Ancestral Tourism”. It’s a growing area within the tourism and hospitality sectors and here in Ireland it’s no different.  Our approach to this broad field is a three step process.  Combined with our experience, enthusiasm and warm welcome, we will make your […]

What is Ancestral Tourism ?

Irish born Thomas Francis Meagher, (pronounced “Mah-ur”), (1823-1867), orator, convict, solider and one time Governor of Montana, is at last gaining the recognition in his home country that his amazing life deserves. Heretofore less well known in Ireland as he is in the United States of America, tales and biographies of his life […]

Thomas Francis Meagher – Meagher of the Sword

There is a fantastic free eBook available from the folks behind the 1916 Easter Rising 100 year commemoration website – Ireland.ie   Entitled “1916 Portraits and Lives”, the illustrated book contains 42 biographies of select figures from the Rising and their important roles in shaping Irish history, From 11th March to […]

Free 1916 Rising eBook

Whilst perusing historic American newspapers, now online on the wonderful Library of Congress website, I came across this amusing yet thought-provoking tale of the search for the heirs of a Mr. John McCrary, “a native of Ireland”, who had died tragically by falling out a high-rise window in New York in 1908. It […]

The Man from Five Mile Town – the search for ...

Rosanna “Rosie” Hackett, from Dublin, Ireland, was many things during her life of 82 years – a member of the St.Stephens Green / College of Surgeons garrison during the 1916 Easter Rising, a founder member of the Irish Women Workers’ Union, a member of the Irish Citizen Army and perhaps most […]

Rosie Hackett – Trade Unionist, Patriot, Heroine

Irish Gaelic orthography – or the way words in the language are written and spelled – has not always had the current Latin (Roman) standard typeface that we are used to with English, French and so on. In earlier times, up to the mid 19th century, Irish Gaelic was written in a […]

Irish Gaelic orthography

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A family’s last name (or surname) can tell us many things about the family and their origins and can be (but not always) a factor in roughly determining the area of Ireland where they came from.  Irish family names are a mixture of many previous lines, nationalities and ethnicity, from Norman […]

The Last Names of County Waterford