Book Review: Tracing Your Irish Ancestors, Fifth Edition by John Grenham
Tracing Your Irish Ancestors, Fifth Edition. By John Grenham. Published in 2019 by Genealogical Publishing Company (by arrangement with Gill Books), 3600 Clipper Mill Road, #229, Baltimore, Maryland 21211-1953. https://genealogical.com/. ISBN: 9780806320977. XXI + 650 pp. Item #7730, Hardback, $38.50.
Everyone has a hero within the industry they work in. Those of us lucky enough to be genealogists, whose research focuses within Ireland, consider John Grenham to be that hero. When Grenham revises a book, even one you may already own, you find a prominent place for it on your bookshelf.
Tracing Your Irish Ancestors, 5th Edition (2019) along with the 4th Edition (2012).
John Grenham has long been a key researcher in Ireland. From his work writing the “Irish Roots” column for the Irish Times to his groundbreaking Irish Ancestors website, Grenham is considered to be the definitive source on Irish family history. Not only is Tracing Your Irish Ancestors, Fifth Edition the perfect companion to his Irish Ancestors website, it may well be the definitive book on Irish genealogy in existence today.
Published about seven years after the fourth edition, this revision hopes to shed light on the new resources and records now available to the family researcher, whether they investigate online or onsite. Ireland, in Grenham’s own words has “become one of the world leaders” when it comes to free online access to a plethora of records (p. XV). This fact, coupled with Grenham’s updates, makes all of us with Irish roots quite lucky, indeed.
One of the greatest gifts John Grenham offers in Tracing Your Irish Ancestors, Fifth Edition may be his easy-to-follow, step-by-step approach found within “Where to Start.” Not only is his advice helpful for the beginner, but it also slows down the eager intermediate researcher, ensuring that they follow sound research methodology. He then cleverly leads researchers to online sources available to help connect emigrant descendants back to their homeland. It is strongly advised by this writer that genealogists of all experience levels read Grenham’s priceless “Introduction” (p. XVI).
Thus, having a much sturdier foundation in place, readers will find record source groups divided across chapters one to twelve. Every trick of the trade can be found within these chapters. This includes how and where to access records, and research tips to effectively focus research within each group. Record groups include but are not limited to the census, land, genetics, probate, parochial and civil birth, marriage and death records. Each chapter demonstrates a depth and breadth of knowledge that only a man like John Grenham could possess, having completed hands-on, in-the-trenches research over the course of his career.
If that isn’t enough to get a researcher started, chapters thirteen to fourteen explore each county with precise source lists and Roman Catholic parish registers. These targeted chapters encompass two-thirds of the volume, and are not only comprehensive, they may actually be exhaustive in nature. Once a genealogist has identified their ancestor’s specific county of origin, every known resource is at his or her fingertips. Online resources are highlighted for easy access. Within the final chapter, readers will find local repositories, researchers and genealogical societies that should be used when completing onsite research.
John Grenham’s goal with Tracing Your Irish Ancestors, Fifth Edition was to include the numerous resources Ireland has opened over the course of the last decade. These alone make this new edition a must-have guidebook for any genealogist studying his or her Irish roots.
Bridget M. Sunderlin, CG®
Timonium, Maryland