DIY way to trace your family tree

Date Published: 20-Jan-2011

By Bernie Ní Fhlatharta

The interest in genealogy continuesto grow and a new book just published concentrates on Galway families as well as being a DIY guide for the amateur genealogist.

The author, local historian Peadar O’Dowd was chuffed when he was asked by the publishers to research and pen their Galway edition of the very popular series on how to trace your ancestry.

He admits he was apprehensive as he says he might be an historian, but he isn’t a professional genealogist.

It took Peadar two years to research and write A Guide to Tracing Your Galway Ancestors and he appears to have enjoyed every minute of it.

“I didn’t know much about genealogy when I started, but I have certainly learnt a lot about how to go about tracing your family history and I learned a lot about Galway families,” he said.

He includes a potted history of some of the city and county’s famous families including the city’s 14 Tribes.

He was obviously the right man for this job as he is not only a local historian, but has a series of other titles to his name, all to do with the history of his native city.

He used many sources to compile his latest book from census results to the GAA to local histories. In fact, he was pleasantly surprised at how much history he came across through GAA sources.

“They were a magnificent source because down through the years, local clubs have kept track of local families

“Graveyards, too, are a great source of information, as are clergy and their records. Other sources are land and church records as well as civil registration records, wills and marriage registrations.”

The book should be a great help to anyone thinking of starting their family tree.

But Peadar is not one to rest on his laurels and, as well as starting work on another new project, he is also going to return to another book, the history of Digital, which he started three years ago but abandoned to write the ancestry book.

A Guide to Tracing Your Galway Ancestors, which is also illustrated, retails at €13 and is currently in the shops. It will be launched in the Galway City Museum on Wednesday evening next.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.