In this special Irish family history episode we take two letters from our Green Room members. We chat about the approach they should take to uncover more about their respective Irish ancestral homelands.

The first letter comes from one of our members in Australia and shares the story of her Irish Irish ancestors. She wonders how to go about discovering the actual origin for these ancestors in Ireland. Mike shares his approach - and comes up with a target destination!

In the second letter we chat about how people often jump back to the Irish records too soon - and often jump to incorrect conclusions. Mike takes a letter from a member from the USA. They are sure that their ancestor originated in County Cork - but Mike points out that some of the evidence just does not stack up. He shows how it is worthwhile going back to basics to find the real origin for your Irish ancestry.

We also have Irish songs of emigration to provide some (additional) entertainment along the way.

• "Shores of Botany Bay" performed by The Irish Rovers.
• "Thousands are Sailing" performed by The Pogues.
• "Galway Bay" performed by Bing Crosby.

Thank you for listening to the Letter from Ireland show. To support the podcast, get lots of member-only features and follow Mike and Carina behind the scenes as they travel around Ireland go to ALetterfromIreland.com/plus .