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Continue reading →: Starting Your Northern Irish Family History Journey: Beginning Tips.Embarking on your family history journey can be both exciting and rewarding—but let’s not sugarcoat it, it can also feel like trying to solve a puzzle where half the pieces are missing, and the other half have been chewed by the dog!
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Continue reading →: Reading over their shoulder: Discover Hidden Family Stories in NewspapersI found details of my three-times great-grandparents John and Mary Ann Herald and some of their family because a bailiff got a teapot of scalding water thrown over him! What was your great-grandfather laughing at over breakfast? Which neighbour was arguing over a boundary wall? Did your ancestor ever write…
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Continue reading →: Remembering Catherine Herald: Pt. 2: Rural InquestsWhat the Inquest Tells Us: Rural Death and Justice in 1890s Ireland When we read the newspaper reports [see end of article] of Catherine Herald’s death, aged just 37, in March 1895, from a modern perspective, one detail can feel almost more shocking than the tragedy itself: the matter-of-fact way it was…
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Continue reading →: Remembering Catherine Herald, Pt. 1: If only her sister had stayed the night…Every so often in family history you find a record that stops you in your tracks and haunts you long after you first find it. For me, that moment came with the discovery of the inquest reports into the death of Catherine Herald, my 2nd great-grandaunt, who died in March…
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Continue reading →: Resisting a Bailiff: One morning, two newspaper reports…When you begin digging into family history, you imagine that old newspapers will give you facts, dates, names, hopefully clear answers. What you initially may not expect is that they will also give you opinions. Recently I discovered two separate reports of the same court case, involving my ancestors, the Herald family…
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Continue reading →: A Warm Reception: The Herald Family, 1881-1882On a July morning in 1881, just after half past five, the quiet of the Herald household was broken by an attempted seizure of goods over a debt of £4 16s, a not insignificant sum, but one that would soon spiral into violence, courtrooms, and prison sentences. John Herald and his wife…
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Continue reading →: Finding JamesWhat My Great-Grandfather Taught Me About Genealogy, Gravestones & the Power of Local Knowledge Gravestones are extraordinary resources for family historians. They hold dates, names, relationships, stories… and sometimes, they hold the breakthroughs we’ve been searching for decades.But when the person you’re looking for has a very common name —…
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Continue reading →: Nollaig na mBanTwelfth Night, or the 6th of January, used to hold a special place in Irish tradition. Known as Nollaig na mBan or Women’s Christmas, it marks the final day of the Christmas season
A little bit about me..
Every family history begins with names and dates. I enjoy discovering everything that comes afterwards.
For fifteen years I worked as a librarian and I specialised in local studies and family history. Today, through Ulster Origins, I explore the newspapers, records and landscapes that help bring ordinary Ulster lives and traditions back into view.
Along the way I’ll share stories from across the North of Ireland, as well as discoveries from my own family’s journey from the Bann Valley to North America and Australia. If your roots are here, you’re very welcome.
Rhonda x