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Includes content from Vanishing Ireland, Easter Dawn, Dublin Docklands, The Irish Pub, Maxol and many more, as well as Waterways Ireland, the Past Tracks project and hundreds of historical articles on Irish families, houses, companies and events.

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Family Histories by Turtle Bunbury

Based on his innovative concept, ‘Your History in a Book’, Turtle provides family histories for golden and ruby wedding anniversaries, for Christmas and birthday presents and, sometimes, just for simple curiosity. Commission a family history by Turtle here.

The list below provides links to most of the 300 (or so) family histories that Turtle has delved into – mostly Irish or Anglo-Irish, but also Irish-American, Australian, Canadian, British, British colonial, Danish, Swedish, Dutch and Russian.

Turtle sets each generation of every specific family into the context of the historical events and characters they would have encountered. His principal aim is to bring colour and life into the dramatis personae of the past.

Turtle was one of the main presenters of the Genealogy Roadshow, the pioneering series which aired on RTE One between 2011 and 2017. In each episode, Turtle teamed up with two genealogists to investigate claims by people who believed they have famous or infamous relatives, or that they were connected to a historical event or long-standing mystery. The series was produced by Big Mountain and inspired PBS America to develop its own version of the form. For more see here.

He appeared with Mandy Moore on the US series of ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ He also worked as a historical consultant on ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’  (Ireland), most notably appearing on the show with former Miss World, Rosanna Davison.

The following histories are necessarily works in progress. If you have any further knowledge of these families, or spot any errors, omissions or broken links, then please email us directly.

“Riches should come as a reward for hard work, preferably by one’s forebears.”
Steven Runciman, historian.

 

IRELAND

 

ANTRIM

 

 

ARMAGH

 

 

CARLOW

 

 

CAVAN

 

 

CLARE

 

 

CORK

 

 

DERRY / LONDONDERRY

 

 

DONEGAL

 

 

DOWN

 

 

DUBLIN

 

 

FERMANAGH

 

 

GALWAY

 

 

KERRY

 

 

KILDARE

 

 

KILKENNY

 

 

LEITRIM

 

 

LIMERICK

 

 

LONGFORD

 

 

LOUTH

 

 

MAYO

 

 

MEATH

 

MONAGHAN

 

 

OFFALY

 

 

ROSCOMMON

 

SLIGO

 

 

TIPPERARY

 

 

TYRONE

 

 

WATERFORD

 

 

WESTMEATH

 

 

WEXFORD

 

WICKLOW

 

***************

 

U.K.

 

Australia

Benson of Queensland
Crampton of Tumut
D’Arcy of Rockhampton
Foster of New South Wales

Guyana

Bunbury of Devonshire

Kenya

Versturme-Bunbury

New Zealand

Halloran of Tairua & Auckland

Russia

Whishaw of St Petersburg

USA

Bunbury (Bumbry) of Virginia
Martin of Virginia

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