Creating a full picture of your ancestors requires educating yourself about all of the forces at play in their daily lives. From essays, maps, anthologies, historical studies and compilations of interviews and even historical novels, this page lists a number of my dog-eared and well-thumbed sources.

We need to breathe in the who, what, when, where and why of it all to have a chance of even coming close to standing in their shoes, and understanding why they turned left instead of right.

Please note that some of these resources may require a fee to access or generate reports/records depending on the resource.

I will update this as I discover additional resources. Bookmark this page!


Books, Narratives and Well Researched Novels that Build the Big Picture

These are all go-to resources that I have amassed over time and find myself reaching for regularly. While most of these titles are non-fiction, there are a few well researched novels in this list as they give an excellent depth of context to the times. Novels are indicated as such.

Please be patient as I continue to update this list which was sadly neglected and in poor form.

The Irish Diaspora and the Great Famine

Connolly, Sean. On Every Tide. Basic Books, an Imprint of Hachette. 2022.

Coogan, Tim Pat. Wherever Green is Worn – The Story of the Irish Diaspora. Hutchinson. 2000

Coffey, Michael, ed. with text by Golway, Terry. The Irish in America. Hyperion–Disney Enterprises. 1997.

Egan, Charles. Cold is the Dawn. SilverWood. 2017 [novel]

Gallagher, Thomas. Paddy’s Lament- Ireland 1846-1847 – Prelude to Hatred. Harvest, Harcourt Brace & Company. 1982

Keneally, Thomas. The Great Shame – And the Triumph of the Irish in the English Speaking World. Anchor Books. 2000. [First published by Serpentine Publishing Company in 1998].

Laxton, Edward. The Famine Ships – The Irish Exodus to America. Holt. 1998

Miles, Kathryn. All Standing – The Remarkable Story of the Jeanie Johnston, the Legendary Irish Famine Ship. Simon & Schuster. 2013

Riley, Jon Michael. The Irish File – Images from a Land of Grace. Rizzoli. 1992

Woodham-Smith, Cecil. The Great Hunger – Ireland 1845-1849. Penguin Books. 1991 [First published by Hamish Hamilton. 1962].

Ireland and Irish History

Cahill, Thomas. How The Irish Saved Civilization – The Untold Story of Ireland’s Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe. Anchor Books. 1995.

Coogan, Tim Pat. The IRA – Fully Revised and Updated. Palgrave for St. Martin’s Press. 2002.

Ellis, Peter Berresford. Eyewitness to Irish History. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2004

Gray, Tony. Ireland This Century. Little, Brown and Company. 1994.

Grenham, John. Clans and Families of Ireland – The Heritage and Heraldry of Irish Clans and Families. Salamander Books Limited. 1993

MacManus, Seumas. The Story of the Irish Race. Barnes & Noble Books. 1999. [Originally published in 1921. This edition missing all pages after page 710]

McCourt, Malachy. The Claddagh Ring – Ireland’s Cherished Symbol of Friendship, Loyalty & Love. Running Press. 2003.

McCullough, David Willis. Wars of the Irish Kings – A Thousand Years of Struggle from the Age of Myth Through the Reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Three Rivers Press. 2001.

Mallory, J. P. THe Origins of the Irish. Thames & Hudson. 2013.

Wallace, Martin. A Short History of Ireland. Barnes & Noble Books. 1986. [By Arrangement with Appletree Press. First published 1973]

Australia and Australian History

Alexander, Alison. Tasmania’s Convicts – How Felons Built A Free Society. Allen & Unwin. 2010.

Christopher, Emma. A Merciless Place – The Lost Story of Britain’s Convict Disaster in Africa and How It Led to the Settlement of Australia. Allen & Unwin. 2010.

Collins, Paul. Hell’s Gates – The True Tasmanian Story of the Escaped Convicts Who Turned to Cannibalism to Survive. Hardie Grant Books. 2002.

Flinders, Matthew. The Investigator in Port Phillip – April 1802. The Banks Society. 1802

Mead, Tom. Killers of Eden – The Killer Whales of Twofold Bay. Angus & Robertson. 1961-1991.

Sheehy, Tom. Battlers Tamed A Sandbelt – Moorabbin 50 Years A City. City of Moorabbin. 1985

France and French History

Norwich, John Julius. France – A History From Gaul to de Gaulle. John Murray Publishers. 2018.

Prost, Antoine. Petite Histoire de La France Au XXeme Siecle. Librarie Armand Colin, Paris. 1979.

Robb, Graham. The Discovery of France. Picador. 2007

Military Histories – All Forces and Countries

Vermont Revolutionary War Rolls. Tuttle. 1904 [Binding Copy]

Ames, Arthur C. Ed. TeamB” 326th Air Service Group – They Kept ‘Em Flying. Wetzel Publishing Group. 1946.

Eberly, Robert E., Jr. Bouquets from the Cannon’s Mouth – Soldiering with the Eighth Regiment of the Pennsylvania Reserves. White Mane Books. 2005.

Stalls, Carol and Patterson, Geoffrey. Comp. A Soldier Lived in My House – A WWI History of Caulfield. Glen Eira Historical Society and Caulfield Retired Serviceman’s League. 2017.

Various. The 9th Sees France and England. AAF Publications Company. 1947

Scotland and Scottish History

Bain, Robert. The Clans and Tartans of Scotland. Collins. 1938

Moffat, Alistair. Scotland’s Forgotten Past – A History of he Mislaid, Misplaced and Misunderstood. Thames & Hudson Ltd, London. 2023 and 2024

The National Archives of Scotland. Tracing Your Scottish Ancestors – The Official Guide. 5th Ed. Birlinn. 2005

Emigration and Immigration

Brownstone, David M., Franck, Irene M., and Brownstone, Douglass. Island of Hope, Island of Tears – The story of those who entered the New World through Ellis Island – In their Own Words. Barnes & Noble Publishing. 2000.

Cannato, Vincent J. American Passage – The History of Ellis Island. Harper Collins. 2009

Charlwood, Don. The Long Farewell – The Perilous Voyages of Settlers Under Sail in the Great Migration to Australia. Burgewood Books. 1981

Coan, Peter Morton. Ellis Island Interviews – Immigrants Tell Their Stories in Their Own Words. Barnes & Noble Inc. by arrangement with Facts on File Inc. 2004. “More than 100 immigrants from all over Europe and the Middle East offer accounts of those difficult steps that carried them to and through Ellis Island’s legendary Golden Door.”

Frost, Alan. The First Fleet – The Real Story. Black Inc. 2011.

Miller, Kirby and Wagner, Paul. Out of Ireland – The Story of Irish Emigration to America. Roberts Rinehart Publishers. 1997.

Reeves, Pamela. Ellis Island – Gateway to the American Dream. Barnes & Noble Books. 2000

General Research and Writing Reference

The Board for Certification of Genealogists. The BCG Genealogical Standards Manual. Millennium Edition. Ancestry. 2000

Shown Mills, Elizabeth. Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian. Genealogical Publishing Company. 1997

Shown Mills, Elizabeth. Ed. Professional Genealogy – A Manual for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers and Librarians. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. 2001

Britain and British History

Room, Adrian. Guide to British Place Names. Longman. 1985

England and English History

Camp, Anthony J. Everyone has Roots – An Introduction to English Genealogy. W H Allen Co. Ltd., 1978

McCarthy, Justin. A History of Our Own Times – From the Accession of Queen Victoria to The General Election of 1880. In Two Volumes. Harper and Brothers Publishers. 1880.

Cemeteries and Other Burials

Inskeep, Carolee. The Graveyard Shift – A Family Historian’s Guide to New York City Cemeteries. Ancestry. 2000

Keister, Douglas. Stories in Stone – A Field Guide to Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography. MJF Books. 2004

America and American History

Crane, Stephen. Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and Other Writings About New York. Barnes & Noble Books. 2005. [Original publication of Maggie: A Girl of the Streets was 1893.] [Novel]

Eakle, Arlene and Cerny, Johni. Eds. The Source – Guidebook of American Genealogy. Ancestry. 1984

Burns, Annie Walker. Kentucky Vital Statistics – Record of Marriages in Fayette County Kentucky. For the Period of Years 1803 to 1851 Inclusive. Higginson Book Company. 1931.

Greenwood, Val D. The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy. 2nd Ed. Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc., 1990

Keller, Allan. Life Along the Hudson. Sleepy Hollow Restorations Inc. 1976.

Lewis, Tom. The Hudson – A History. Yale University Press. 2005.

National Archives Trust Fund Board – National Archives and Records Administration. Guide to Genealogical Research in the National Archives. Revised 1985

Philbrick, Nathaniel. Mayflower – A Story of Courage, Community and War. Penguin Group. 2006

Taylor, Alan. American Colonies – The Settling of North America. Penguin Books. 2002.

Watkins, T. H. The Hungry Years – A Narrative History of the Great Depression. Henry Holt & Company. 1999

Canada and Canadian History

Simpson, Patricia and Pothier, Louise. Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours – A Chapel and its Neighbourhood. Editions Fides. 2001


    Record Compilations..Dusty but Useful

    In constant development, this area includes information compiled through years of research.

    CANADA

    Les Bas-Poitevins du Canadaannotated, translated extract of the names of people from the Poiteau/Vendée region of France who arrived in New France during the 17th and 18th centuries. These individuals were part of the 10,000 Pioneer Families of Québec.


    Record Lookups by Region

    Click on the link following the record description to request a lookup.

    AUSTRALIA

    IRELAND

    • Vital Records — Birth, Marriages, and Deaths
      • Republic of Ireland – General – Kevin McCormack – kevmccresearcher@gmail.com
        • Kevin is a researcher based in County Cork, Ireland, with access to records in most counties, but particularly in Cork and Louth.

    UNITED STATES

    • Military Records
      • World War II
        • United States, US Army Ground and Air Forces
          • “Team ‘B’, 326th Air Service Group, They Kept ‘Em Flying” – KinQuery.Com
      • Revolutionary War
        • State of Vermont
          • Rolls of the Soldiers in the Revolutionary War, 1775 to 1783 – KinQuery.Com
    • Vital Records – Births, Marriages and Deaths
      • United States – Fayette County, Kentucky, 1803 to 1851 – KinQuery.Com
        • “Kentucky Vital Statistics”, Record of Marriages in in Fayette County Kentucky for the Period of years 1803 to 1851 Inclusive, Compiled in alphabetical order by Annie Walker Burns, 30 November 1931
    AUSTRALIA
    TROVE, Newspapers and other media, as digitised, from across Australiahttps://trove.nla.gov.au/
    Tasmanian Library, great resource for heritage documents including a massive digitised collection of records relating to convicts in Tasmaniahttps://libraries.tas.gov.au/Pages/Home.aspx
    CANADA
    Library and Archives Canada
    Note: many items are in French.
    (Contact Me for help with French records.)
    https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/genealogy/Pages/introduction.aspx
    BAnQ Numérique – Bibliothèque et Archives nationales de Québec (National Library and Archives of Québec). Massive online repository of records, interface is in French. (Contact Me for help with French records.)http://numerique.banq.qc.ca
    FRANCE
    Listing of traditional occupations in French with English translations. https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/France_Occupations
    IRELAND
    Irish Ancestors, Great resource for records and historical explanationshttps://johngrenham.com
    Roots Ireland, Catholic Church Records from across Irelandhttps://www.rootsireland.ie
    PRONI, Public Records Office of Northern Irelandhttps://www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni
    National Library of Irelandhttps://www.nli.ie/
    Louth Genealogical Sourceshttp://jbhall.clahs.ie
    UNITED STATES
    Coming Soon!
    GLOBAL
    Cyndi’s List – a long established list of genealogical resources spanning the globehttps://www.cyndislist.com
    The Internet Archive – massive collection of digitised material spanning all subjects, accessible for free. Great resource for old, out of print publicationshttps://archive.org/about/
    More to come!

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