MY BLOG
Welcome to my genealogy journey
I will be sharing when and why I started tracing my own family tree.
The brick walls I broke down and the many living relatives and friends I found along the way.
I will be posting when I can and giving some tips and ideas along the way…….
Catherine
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18th April 2026
The 1926 Census is finally available! I have been happily looking up information about my grandparents and great-grandparents. I have not slept in a few days! Much more to find……
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13th March 2026
I attended an Irish Family History meeting last Wednesday night. It was a very interesting evening with many laugh-out-loud moments that, unfortunately, I cannot share!
One member spoke about having photographs of Nelson’s Column after it was blown up—and he himself appeared in the pictures. He explained that he had been given a camera as a gift and carried it with him at all times. Looking back, he said he is very glad that he did.
He also shared the challenges he faced while trying to locate his father’s baptismal certificate. When he finally found a copy, the date recorded on it did not match the date his family had always believed to be correct.
I also spoke about my experience using AI to help locate a burial place for a client. I discussed both the advantages and the limitations of using it. AI can be very useful for tasks such as transcription, cleaning up text, summarising information, and organising research. However, it cannot replace proper evidence, historical context, or human judgement.
The group members regularly support one another and share their knowledge and expertise. It is a very worthwhile group to join.
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23rd Feb 2026
Researching an Ancestor Who Did Not Want to Be Found
What happens when the trail suddenly goes cold — not because records are missing, but because someone deliberately disappeared?
It took me many years to uncover any real information about my great-grandfather Daniel Flynn’s brother, Michael Flynn.
I first found him on the 1901 census (from the National Archives website), aged 13, living in Dublin with his mother and siblings. His brother Daniel was listed as a Private in the British Army.
But by 1911, Michael had vanished. He did not appear on the census (from the National Archives website).
I later located his army record on Ancestry. Michael had become a Sergeant Major in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. I even found a photograph in the family archive of him in uniform alongside his brother Daniel. After that, however, the trail went cold.
Eventually, I discovered a World War I record that appeared to match him. It mentioned a wife and two children — Michael and Anne Marguerite, the latter born in India. Encouraged, I searched for a marriage certificate, checking carefully that the father’s name aligned. It seemed I was on the right path.
But then doubt crept in.
Should everything be uncovered? How do we handle discoveries that may unsettle living relatives?
While searching further, I found a Michael Flynn listed on the 1939 Register in England on the Ancestry website. He was living with his wife Mary Ellen and three children. Something caught my attention: his birth date was recorded as 6th September 1889.
My Michael Flynn’s birth record showed 13th November 1888.
Close — but not the same.
Curious, I researched Michael Flynn, born in September 1889. I soon discovered that this man had died in 1911. I found his death record from the Irish Genealogy website (irishgenealogy.ie) and burial details from the Dublin Cemeteries Trust (dctrust.ie). That should have ruled him out entirely.
Yet DNA results told a different story.
A DNA match connected directly to the family listed in the 1939 Register. The children matched. The family matched. Everything pointed back to them.
So why would Michael adopt the birth date of another man — one who had died?
Then I uncovered the answer.
Through newspaper archives, I found records of a Michael Flynn working at the Post Office in London. He had been stealing postal items containing money. Eventually, he was caught and prosecuted. The newspaper listed his address: Ferndale Road, Lambeth — the same address connected to the family I had traced.
That confirmed it.
“Our” Michael Flynn had reinvented himself.
Even his wife Mary’s birth details were incorrectly recorded, which explains why I struggled to find her earlier records. It seemed reinvention ran deep.
This was no accident or coincidence. It was deliberate.
Researching family history often feels like assembling a puzzle. But sometimes, the missing pieces aren’t lost — they’re hidden.
And sometimes the most difficult ancestors to trace are the ones who teach us the most: about resilience, reinvention, shame, survival, and the complicated nature of family.
Author: Catherine Kelleher, Genealogist / AGI Affiliate
Mobile: +353 087 928 5663
Website: CK Research and Design
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17th Feb 2026
Well, I have just finished a report for one of my clients regarding Michael Collins.
Just started another report for a new client, and I am working on a booklet for another client.
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26th Jan 2026
I have been very busy working on my two businesses in the last few months.
I am now an Affiliate with Accredited Genealogists Ireland, I look forward to
learning from other genealogists and increasing my skills in researching.
More on that in the next few weeks after I meet my mentor.
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Sohana a student from the learning heaven came across an article on Ancestry to Archives: Libraries Are Revolutionizing Family Tree Research.
www.librarysciencedegreesonline.org/libraries-revolutionizing-family-tree-research
I thought it might be helpful to share. #genealogy
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New Free Historical Records from 10 Countries
FamilySearch expanded its free online archives with over 18 million new records from 10 countries. Exciting additions include 12 million civil (birth, marriage, death) and church records from Italy, 8 million civil and immigration records from the Dominican Republic, and 2 million records from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Other countries with significant record additions include the following:
- Belgium
- French Polynesia
- Honduras
- Philippines
- United Kingdom
- United States
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4th December
I have been busy putting the finishing touches (lol) to two family trees for clients,
Get in touch for last minute family tree gifts today #genealogy
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20th November
I have had a busy few weeks, two clients I have been building their trees, nearly up to 500 on one and 400 on the other. I had a previous client’s friend come back to me, attacking me and threatening to bring me to court without explanation. I am not going into it further. Life is too short and most of my clients understand the work and effort that goes into my research. Onwards.
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11th Nov
It has been a busy few weeks for lots of reasons…..
I am working on three client family trees and have a few brick walls, some I have broken down,
others I know I will break threw….Need help with a brick wall or want to find where a loved one is buried?
Get in touch for a quote.
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22nd October
I have been busy in my different businesses the last few weeks!
I have been trying to prove a line of a family is connected to one of my clients
family tree, feel like I am close and won’t give up. Burial records helped me
confirm some information but not there yet. A new client is providing me with
some starting information next week and I can’t wait to get started on their tree.
I find starting a day with a walk clears the head and makes you see things alot
clearer! Reviewing another client tree this evening.
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14th October
This week I have been researching my maternal line. I found a connection to Theodore Roosevelt, he was a good friend of a very distant relative.
Did you know the story of ‘The Teddy Bear’…….
Did you know that the Teddy Bear was invented in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt? It all began when Theodore Roosevelt was on a bear hunting trip near Onward, Mississippi on November 14, 1902. Mississippi’s Governor Andrew H. Longino had invited him, but unlike other hunters in the group, Theodore had not located a single bear.
Roosevelt’s assistants cornered and tied a black bear to a willow tree. They summoned Roosevelt and suggested that he shoot it. Viewing this as extremely unsportsmanlike, Roosevelt refused to shoot the bear. The news of this event spread quickly through newspaper articles across the country. The articles recounted the story of the president who refused to shoot a bear. However, it was not just any president, it was Theodore Roosevelt the big game hunter!
Clifford Berryman, a political cartoonist, read the article and decided to lightheartedly satirize the president’s refusal to shoot the bear. Berryman’s cartoon appeared in the Washington Post on November 16, 1902. Morris Michtom, a Brooklyn candy shop owner, saw the cartoon and had an idea. He and his wife Rose also made stuffed animals, and Michtom decided to create a stuffed toy bear and dedicate it to the president who refused to shoot a bear. He called it ‘Teddy’s Bear’.
After receiving Roosevelt’s permission to use his name, Michtom mass produced the toy bears which were so popular that he soon founded the Ideal Toy Company. To this day the Teddy Bear has worldwide popularity and its origin can be traced back to Theodore’s fateful hunting trip in 1902.
#genealogy
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6th October
So all I had to go on was grandfather’s birth record, saying his father was called Michael Joseph Kelleher. I found one Michael Kelleher, a draper, living in Glasnevin, Botanic road in 1911. I followed his life and found he worked in Clery’s on O’Connell Street and married Bridget Clune in Berkley Road church the following year 1912. I went to the church presbytery and a gentleman let me come in and take photographs of the marriage register which showed parents names, witnesses names and mother’s maiden names. I continued to follow Michael’s life and found he had 5 children, John (Jack), Desmond, Eine Maureen, Marie Teresa and Nora Euphoria. I spent too many hours to mention trying to find what happened to each of them, never knowing for sure if we were all related.
Then I ordered a DNA test and my results were uploaded showing matches and ethnicity. One day I found a match to a William Kelleher in America – his grand uncle was Michael Joseph Kelleher, the same man I had researched.
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30th September 2025
Tips & Advice
Ask questions……… talk to your parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. Take notes…. but remember people can be economical with the truth. Chinese whispers can cause issues. Remeber if you are given dates of events search a couple of years before and after that year.
The 1901 and 1911 census is a great place to start your search. I am counting the hours until the 1926 census is available…. I have so much to look up and clarify.
I am starting a tree for a new client in a few weeks just waiting for the starting information. Get in touch for a quote and why my services are way above the rest.
Catherine
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25th September 2025
I started to have an interest in our family history after my dad passed away in 2007. I wish I had asked questions years before, but we can’t change the past. Little did I know that not only would I find family we didn’t know we had, but also living family we didn’t know we had. Family living in Dublin, Co. Wexford, Cork, Australia and United States.
I have to say I have enjoyed every minute of this search and it is still going on. I have not met anyone who is finished with their family tree.
More to come
#genealogy
If your family members won’t talk about a particular relative, a seasoned genealogist knows they are keeping mum about something very interesting.
If at first you don’t succeed, search, search again. That is why we call it re-search.
“My family tree has many branches, both living and dead… but all equally important. I cherish the memories that make its roots run deep.” —Lynda I Fisher
We inherit from our ancestors gifts so often taken for granted. Each of us contains within this inheritance of soul. We are links between the ages, containing past and present expectations, sacred memories and future promise. – Edward Sellner
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Genealogist & Family Tree Researcher