LOCAL HISTORY:NOT EVERY family deems itself worthy of an individual history nor, for that matter, is every family happy to have a history written about it. There is always the danger of an odd shinbone or other scrap of a skeleton falling out of the cupboard. With the Family History of the O'Gradys of Clare and Limerick, by Gerard Madden, this is admittedly the case - there were a few notorious members of the clan as well as many family individuals.
The patronymic also includes Grady, Brady, Ó Grádaigh and Ó Brádaigh and had its roots in east Clare, where the first recorded O'Grady was Anselis, who was killed at a battle in 1151, according to the Annals of the Four Masters. Of the infamous Gradys, Thomas "Spectacles" Grady (a late-18th-century judge) was probably the most notable, being described as a "good lawyer but without judgement . . . and an indefatigable tuft-hunter". Two more distinguished Gradys were Standish Hayes O'Grady the historian (1832-1915) and Standish James O'Grady the novelist (1846-1928).
The author, a dedicated Clare historian, dismisses as "totally fictitious" a claim that Muhammed Ali had an O'Grady ancestor. This is an absorbing and detailed family chronicle that deserves a wide circulation.
Another book with interest for families in Limerick is Dr Matthew Potter's definitive record of the mayoralty and mayors of the city of Limerick from 1197-2007, a work that includes a history of the office of mayor from its establishment in the 12th century as well as a record of every mayor of the city since 1842, when the modern mayoralty evolved.
Among the most notorious of the incumbents was Edmund Sexten (1486-1555), a renegade Irishman who enjoyed the patronage of King Henry VIII and was granted much forfeited land after the dissolution of the monasteries. He also defeated fellow-Irishmen on several occasions in battles and sieges and claimed to have prevented the destruction of the city by Lord Leonard Grey, Lord Deputy. But when another lord deputy later requested that Sexten be elected as mayor again, the citizens of Limerick refused. He died in 1555 and after his burial in St Mary's Cathedral his corpse was lifted from his tomb and "hung by his heels from the roof where it remained undiscovered for three years". Talk about skeletons in cupboards. This is a fascinating work and an invaluable record for all with links to Limerick. Your family name may be in there somewhere.
Similarly, Roscommon folk will find John Hamrock's guide to tracing their ancestors most useful. This is another from the series from Flyleaf Press who have already published similar guides on how to research families from counties Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Kerry, Limerick and Mayo. It is a compilation of possibly all the sources on Roscommon genealogy that are available to the family researcher. Hamrock's diligence in listing the hundreds of what he describes as "the confusing range of sources" is to be commended and he advises the beginners and even experienced genealogists that new sources continue to be discovered. The old reliables such as the Civil Survey of 1654, and the Hearth Money Rolls of the 1660s and even data collected in the national religious censuses in 1764 and 1766 are all, in the case of Roscommon, lost. This guide should assist in filling the gaps in Roscommon's story.
Longford, neighbouring county to Roscommon, has its researchers too. With the assistance of many others, five members of the Co Longford Federation of the Irish Countrywomen's Association, with Ann Donohue as editor, have recorded what life was like for women in the county in the last century. This is a social history, embracing education, marriage and motherhood, employment, religion and emigration, with a concluding section on changes in women's lives since 1960. It is raw, revealing stuff, with interviewees, many of them mothers and grandmothers, talking frankly about their lives at school ("the teacher, he stayed with his back to the fire and we had no heat only sit in wet feet the whole day"), their marriages and motherhood ("we got married at eight o'clock and we went off to our wedding breakfast - two duck eggs"), work ("we had about 20 cows and they had to be handmilked"), religious practices ("we weren't allowed to listen to the radio on Sunday, only the news"), employment ("sure every child emigrated nearly and they emigrated when they were only thirteen or fourteen"), and the huge changes in women's lives from the 1950s onwards. The book may seem to be full of woe, but it concludes with expressions of hope and greater happiness, especially for the women who co-operated in the production of this valuable record.
Breege McCusker's Irvinestown Through the Years was first published, to much local acclaim, in 1985 and now has been reprinted in a new edition with revisions and updates. The story of this Co Fermanagh town begins with the Plantation of Ulster in 1610 and unfolds, under McCusker's skilled hands, into a colourful and detailed account of the place and its people down through the intervening centuries. It is excellently written and nicely illustrated with monochrome and colour photographs.
Richard Roche is a journalist, author and local historian
Family History of the O'Gradys of Clare and Limerick. By Gerard Madden, East Clare Heritage. €20
First Citizens of the Treaty City. By Matthew Potter, Limerick City Council. €25 hbk, €20 pbk
Tracing Your Roscommon Ancestors. By John Hamrock, Flyleaf Press. €13
Longford Women's Voices. Edited by Ann Donohue, Co Longford Federation, ICA. NPG
Irvinestown Through the Years. By Breege McCusker, Necarne Press. NPG