Discover Your Irish Heritage

 So I contacted Lorna Moloney, the resident forensic genealogist at the five-star Dromoland Castle resort hotel in County Clare, Ireland. Moloney helps guests trace their ancestry in the Emerald Isles, and for several weeks she tramped through cemeteries, interviewed clerks, pored over 18th-century Gaelic poetry and cross-referenced the various certificates of birth, death and taxes that punctuated life in rural Ireland, sending updates along the way—census records, tithe applotments, parish baptismal rosters scrawled in ink and Latin. A story about Sir Walter Raleigh scheming to steal the ancestral lands. Burial sites and the family crest; the location of a long-abandoned castle. Until, finally, it was time for Dad and me to go see it all for ourselves. 

Joshua Condon

A Writer and His Father Visited Ireland and Found the Roots of Their Family Tree at a 16th-Century Castle

The Robb Report - Joshua Condon

     

 Their help made the complex process of obtaining Irish citizenship much simpler. 

New Irish Citizen

     

 George Boole was an English mathematician, philosopher and logician whose work touched the fields of differential equations, probability and algebraic logic. He is now best known as the author of The Laws of Thought. 

The George Boole Project - UCC

Boole Genealogy Project Genealogist

George Boole Life and Times

     

 Lots of us long to be a little Irish. For me, there is something about the skill of Irish storytelling, the accent, the self-deprecating humour, the craic that draws me in. So, when I discovered I had a blood connection to the country, I knew I had to find out more. Ancestry travel is on the upswing In Ireland, we reached out to a forgotten relative on a whim Well, to be honest, I had someone much more qualified than me look into it. Lorna Moloney, genealogist, family historian and resident genealogist at Dromoland Castle hotel in County Clare, took what little information I had and combed through census data, military records, and birth and marriage files to fill in the gaps... We spoke online during the pandemic, and she broke it to me gently that my longed-for Irish lineage was really rather British – a grandfather born in Curragh Camp (which was then the headquarters of the British Army in County Kildare) to an English soldier and a London cook before that soldier went off to the Boer War. The photo she’d dug up and colourized of that child as a young man took my breath away – he could have been my son, my brother or my father in earlier years... people can book a genealogy session with a professional family historian. Catherine Dawson March/The Globe and Mail Since pandemic restrictions lifted, I figured it was time to get my craic on and see Ireland for myself. In particular, I wanted to meet Ms. Moloney and hear more about her work. We met over breakfast in the grand dining room at Dromoland – with views over the lake, golf greens and old forests of the 450-acre estate. The room almost upstaged the meal: Four glass chandeliers twinkled above, dark felted wallpaper was rich to the touch, multipaned windows revealed the large lake and wooden rowboats out front, all framed by heavy floor-length silk curtains. We lingered over cinnamon brioche French toast in sturdy, upholstered chairs to catch up. Ms. Moloney explained she’d learned a long time ago to take things slowly when revealing the past to her clients. “Every family has skeletons in the closet. I try not to shock, I have to be careful about that.” And sometimes there’s a delightful surprise, such as discovering a Boston client (with Canadian ancestors) had royal bloodlines, right back to medieval Irish king Brian Boru, whose descendants built and lived at Dromoland for centuries. I noted to Ms. Moloney that the research she did on my behalf must have been rather prosaic in comparison. But, rich or poor, Ms. Moloney reminded me, it’s all history. “You don’t get the entire picture without looking at the daily life of ordinary people,” Ms. Moloney said. “It is what makes history relevant.” Later, I joined the history tour at Dromoland and wandered the grand halls of the O’Brien ancestral home, hearing about the rise and fall in family fortunes. Enormous oil portraits of the family stared down from every hallway and room in the castle and I wondered what it must be like to know these were your people. 

Catherine Dawson March

Journalist - The Globe and Mail Canada

Lorna Moloney - Genealogist for Catherine Dawson March - The Globe and Mail

 How I discovered my ancestry with DNA and a trip to Ireland "Dromoland, which evolved over the centuries from a dank medieval fortress of the O’Brien clan, is now one of the few five-star castle hotels in western Ireland. It was here that we met up with local Clare genealogist Lorna Moloney. Moloney bounded into Dromoland with an energy that woke up the room. Her Irish lilt and excitement when speaking about all things genealogy made it clear she had found her passion. She encouraged us to continue our research via myheritage.com, noting that it provides insight as to which area a family may be from. "Every layer of knowledge gives you a little bit more," Moloney says, "and it’s a lot of fun." ..in search of the land where Michael O’Dea, my two-times great grandfather, and his many siblings were born and raised before immigrating to America in the early 1850s. We made our way along narrow dirt roads near the townlands connected to my family roots – Muckanagh and Rathlaheen...Not unlike previous trips to Ireland, we left eager to return and find cousins directly linked to Michael or his parents and siblings. Thanks to the many genealogists and local experts who shed light on the process, we now feel we have the tools we need to make it happen. 

Wendy O'Dea

Los Angeles Local Expert

How I discovered my ancestry with DNA and a trip to Ireland

 The Genealogy Radio show is produced weekly and aired by Raidio Corcabaiscinn in Kilkee, Co. Clare. Produced and presented by RCB and Lorna Moloney, the show has aired now for almost 15 years. It provides a wonderful means to connect to your past and explore your contextual histories of Irish ancestry. Lorna produces and presents the successful show: ‘The Genealogy Radio show’ aired each Thursday at 4p.m. from beautiful Kilkee, Co. Clare at Raidio Corcabaiscinn and Podcasts are available weekly and is an excellent researcher for Irish family histories. 

The Genealogy Radio Show

Community Radio Show - Raidio Corcabaiscinn

Archives of The Genealogy Radio Show