Claire Bradley is a Dublin-based genetic genealogist specialising in ancestry from Ireland
It’s here 100 years to the day at 00:01 on 18th April 2026, the National Archives has gifted genealogists and historians with the long-awaited public release of the Irish Free State’s 1926 census. The link to search is here. It’s free to access and you don’t need to register an account. What’s on it? This…
It is here at last. I’ve been wanting to see this census since 1999. The link to search on is this one. The old census site remains active but does not have 1926 on it. I expect them to take it down in due course, which will cause all the links from trees on the…
As a new nation in 1922, Ireland went on a spree of renaming things. This happened at a county level (Kings County became Offaly, Queen’s County became Laois) and town level (Kingstown reverted to Dun Laoghaire, Queenstown went back to Cobh) – are you sensing a theme here? It also happened with street names, mostly…
With the excitement about the release of the 1926 census on 18th April, you shouldn’t be surprised that most of April & May sessions are about it. Each one will be tailored for the area I’m speaking in. April (all about the 1926 Census) Tuesday 28th April in Swords, hosted by Fingal Local Studies &…
MyHeritage has introduced a new facet to their family trees. Users can already display trees as a descendancy chart, a pedigree view or a fan chart. I mostly use the pedigree view as a first step and then the descendancy one if a tree I’m looking at doesn’t show much in the other view. Fan…
In an effort to declutter, I’m tackling one area or job every week. This morning it was the turn of clearing out old magazines. I’m not much of a magazine buyer but do like a subscription here or there. Getting something in the post is always exciting. They generally fall into the categories of yoga,…
As I posted earlier this week, we got the annual update to Irishgenealogy.ie with 1925 births, 1950 marriages and 1975 deaths. Annoyingly, the press release mentioned that the site had deaths from 1864 onwards, yet contradicts itself by stating further down that they only have deaths from 1871. At some point last autumn, even the…
Clients frequently ask me to collaborate with them on their family history. People have usually done a little bit themselves and then get stuck. I come in to help untangle and correct their homework! The proliferation of hint systems in online commercial genealogy sites means that it’s very easy for an error to be replicated,…
Earlier this year, I reported that the Valuations Office had moved. It’s now reopened in its new home at the Registry of Deeds on Henrietta St (Eircode: D01 EK82). I had reason to visit today, so here’s the lowdown. Though the building is much more beautiful, it is now in a less convenient location. It’s…
You know I love a bit fresh research to round off the year. Having talked about famous Noels and Christmas traditions in the past, this time I thought I’d look at people whose surname was Christmas. It’s not a very common name. The 1911 census finds just 14 people, mostly one family in Co. Louth,…