An Introduction to My Family History

My name is Kevin Holmes. I am originally from Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, and now live in Limerick. I have been researching my family history for nearly 30 years.

My interest began when I was given a substantial amount of family information compiled by my grandfather's cousin, John Holmes of Monasterevin. His research into the Holmes family of Co. Laois and Co. Kildare provided the starting point for my own investigations. Further information and assistance came from Richard Holmes in Australia and from other members of the wider Holmes family, including my distant cousin Dianne Friden in California.

The same has been true of other branches of the family. My own research uncovered part of the Zimber story, but it was another distant cousin, Martin Zimber in Canada, who provided the vital information connecting the family in Ireland with the Schwarzwald, or Black Forest, in Germany. Paul Dold, Jürgen Sterk and Corinna Zimber subsequently provided further information about the Black Forest families.

The internet has transformed family-history research during the years I have been working on it, making possible contacts and discoveries that would once have been extremely difficult. This blog grew from a desire both to share what I have found and to make contact with others researching the same families.

People, Places and Stories

What began with the Holmes family has gradually developed into a much wider collection of family stories. The people featured here came from very different backgrounds and led very different lives. They include labourers, railwaymen, soldiers, shopkeepers, clockmakers and jewellers; people who remained close to where they were born and others whose lives took them across the world.

Their stories encompass different religious traditions, migration, war and political upheaval, work, sport, art and everyday family life. Geographically, they stretch from Laois, Kildare, Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford and Dublin to the Black Forest in Germany, Britain, Canada, the United States, Australia and Fiji.

The main family stories currently on the blog, together with some of the areas I am still researching, are grouped below.

The Holmes Family

The Holmes family is the central line of the research. The earliest evidence currently points to north-east Laois and the adjoining areas of Kildare and Offaly, with a long-standing Church of Ireland background and later Methodist connections.

The Zimber Family

The Zimber family brings the research to the Black Forest of Baden-Württemberg, where several generations were involved in clockmaking before family members migrated to Ireland and Cornwall.

The Kirwan Family

The Kirwan family was based in Dublin. The story of Edward Kirwan Snr follows him from working-class Dublin into the British Army and later back to civilian life, while a another article examines his son's role in the period of Irish independence.

The Waterford Families

Several family lines converge in Waterford, including the O'Flahertys, Ashmores and Quinns. The Quinn story, including Richard Quinn's possible experience on the goldfields, forms part of this wider Waterford group.

The Nagle Family

The Nagle family research centres on Nenagh, County Tipperary, where the family can be traced through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The stories range from ordinary family life to the very different experience of Martin Nagle, who served as a Garda before his unexplained death in 1925.

  • Nagles of Nenagh (forthcoming)
  • Sergeant Martin Nagle (1902–1925): A Nenagh Garda and an Unsolved Mystery (forthcoming)

Other Family Connections

Some articles look at the family as a whole rather than following a single surname, using the records that survive to place individual families within their wider context.

This is an ongoing project. Some branches are now reasonably well documented; others remain a mixture of records, family traditions and unanswered questions. As further research fills in the gaps, new stories will be added here and the connections between them will hopefully become clearer.

About the Research

The research draws on civil and church records, census returns, newspapers, military and other archival sources, DNA evidence, photographs, family papers and memories.

Family history inevitably contains uncertainties. Where a connection or identification is not established, I try to distinguish between what the records demonstrate, what family tradition tells us and what remains a possibility. New evidence occasionally changes the picture, and older articles may therefore be updated as further information comes to light.

Much of the research has also been collaborative. I am particularly grateful to the relatives, researchers, historians and others who have shared information, photographs and research over the years. Many of the stories on this site could not have been reconstructed without their help.

My own family lines also include the Kavanagh family of Dublin; the Reale, Long, Ashmore and Quinn families of Waterford; the Larkin, Mannion and Courneen families of Tipperary; the Arthurs and Barley families of Laois; and the Lee family of Offaly and Westmeath. Some appear only briefly at present, while others may provide stories for future research.

On my wife Helen's side, the families include Kelly of Laois, McCarthy of Cork, Sheedy of Tipperary, Cronin of Cork and Limerick, and Dineen of Cork.

Get in Touch

One of the reasons for creating this blog was to make contact with others researching the same families. I am always interested in hearing from relatives or anyone with information, photographs, documents or corrections relating to the people and places featured here.

If our research overlaps, please feel free to get in touch.

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