Bealtaine newsletter

We’re well into May as I get to write my newsletter for the month. It’s been a busy one for me with many classes and lectures delivered and a couple more to come still.

I’ve posted a review on my blog of a history of Grangegorman Mental Hospital in Dublin. Medical files can be obtained for direct ancestors and I’ve assisted a few clients in this process over the years.

This week was #MentalHealthAwareness week so I took the time to write about my great-grandmother, Mary Lawless, who lived as an inmate in Grangegorman for the last 10 years of her life. I used a Freedom of Information request to obtain her medical files a number of years ago. After reading the book, I looked at them again with fresh eyes.

I have also received the results of my brother’s Big Y test from Family Tree DNA in the past while. I ordered it at Rootstech and they already had his sample, so results took about 2.5 months to come in. This is an area I want to learn more about so I’ll be taking you all on this journey with me! His haplogroup is R-P312 -which is common in Ireland, Britain and continental Europe and part of the R-M343 shown on the map below.

As we approach summer, we often try to head outdoors a bit more. I’m aiming to include some more tourism in the blog over these months for people who might be planning a research or roots trip to Ireland.