THE JOURNAL
The Journal
The history behind each Book, the counties families left, the craft of a letter worth keeping, and how to give one that means something.
Gift and Giving
DNA Kit or Letter Subscription: Which Irish Gift Lasts?
A DNA kit gives names and percentages. A letter subscription gives the story behind them. How to choose the right heritage gift.
Gifts for an Irish Grandparent Who Misses Home
For the grandparent who left Ireland and never stopped missing it. A gift that brings a little of home to the mailbox each month.
The Gift That Gets Your Parent Telling Stories
A monthly letter that pulls out the stories you have never heard, before they are gone. How a heritage gift prompts reminiscing.
Irish Heritage Gift Boxes vs a Year of Letters
Gift boxes fill a shelf then stop. A finite letter series has a real ending and no auto-renew. An honest look at both.
Is an Irish Letter Subscription Worth It?
What you get for the price, why it reads as an heirloom not a subscription, and how it compares to a one-off heritage gift.
A Meaningful Gift for an Elderly Irish Mother
Past another candle or cardigan. A monthly letter posted from Ireland she looks forward to all year, and calls you the moment it lands.
Mother's Day Gifts for an Irish Mother Far From Home
For the mother who misses Ireland. A hand-written letter posted from home each month, starting with Mother's Day. Ships from Ireland.
A St Patrick's Day Gift for Irish-American Parents
Skip the shamrock mug. Give a letter from home that lands all year, not just on 17 March. A St Patrick's Day gift with meaning.
Emigration History
American Letters: The Envelope That Held Families Together
For a century, a single letter was the only thread between Ireland and its emigrants. The real history behind Yours, From Ireland.
Castle Garden vs Ellis Island: Where Ancestors Landed
Most Irish who came before 1892 never saw Ellis Island. Where famine-era emigrants actually arrived in New York, and how to tell.
The Coffin Ships: Crossing the Atlantic in Black '47
What the famine-era Atlantic crossing was really like, and why the ships earned their name. Handled with the gravity it is owed.
American Money: How Remittances Kept Ireland Alive
The dollars posted home from America paid rents, bought passage and kept west-of-Ireland families going. The remittance story.
The Easter Rising and Irish America: Watching 1916
How Irish America funded, followed and reacted to the 1916 Rising, and why the executions changed diaspora feeling overnight.
The GAA and the Diaspora: Irish Games Cross the Atlantic
Founded in 1884, the GAA followed the emigrants to America and kept a scattered people together. How Irish games crossed the sea.
The Irish Brigade: Emigrants in the American Civil War
Why tens of thousands of Irish emigrants fought for the Union, and how the war reached families back home in the west of Ireland.
Irish Neutrality and "the Emergency" in World War Two
Why Ireland stayed neutral in the Second World War, what "the Emergency" meant at home, and how emigrant sons still went to fight.
The Land War: How Mayo Started the Fight for the Land
The Land League began in County Mayo in 1879 and changed who owned Ireland. Michael Davitt, Irishtown and the fight for tenant rights.
Where the Word "Boycott" Comes From: Lough Mask, Mayo
One County Mayo land agent gave his name to the English language in 1880. The true story of Captain Boycott and Lough Mask.
The Irish War of Independence: A Plain Timeline
From the first Dail in 1919 to the Treaty and Civil War, a clear year-by-year timeline of how the Irish Free State was born.
What Was an American Wake? The Irish Farewell
The all-night send-off held for emigrants who would never return, a funeral for the living. The history behind Book One's first letter.
Counties and Ancestry
After the DNA Test: Turn Your Irish County Into a Story
Your results found the county. Here is how to turn a coloured percentage into a story you can hold, and share with the family.
County Clare Emigration: Leaving the West of Ireland
The evictions and clearances that emptied Clare, and where its emigrants went. County Clare's emigration history in full.
County Galway's Emigrants and the Road to Boston
Galway and Connemara families made Boston a second home. The county's long emigration history and its deep Massachusetts ties.
County Kerry and the Emigrant Trail to America
From the Blaskets to Springfield, Kerry sent its people across the Atlantic for generations. The county's emigration history.
County Cork Emigration: From Queenstown to America
Cobh, once Queenstown, was the last sight of Ireland for millions. County Cork's emigration story and the port that shipped it.
County Mayo and the Great Emigration
Mayo lost more of its people than almost anywhere in Ireland. The emigration history behind the Mayo edition of Yours, From Ireland.
County Tipperary and a Century of Leaving
From the Golden Vale to the cities of America, Tipperary's people left for a hundred years. The county's emigration history.
How to Find Which County in Ireland Your Family Left
A practical guide to pinning down your ancestral county in Ireland, from surnames and records to the free tools that actually help.
What Irish Emigration Records Can and Can't Tell You
Passenger lists and manifests hold more gaps than families expect. What emigration records reveal, what they miss, and why.
Tracing Irish Roots: Ancestry, RootsIreland or Parish Records?
Ancestry, RootsIreland or the free parish registers? What each Irish genealogy source covers, and where to start your search.
Letters and the Craft
Fiction or History? The Truth Behind Yours, From Ireland
The family is invented, the history is not. How the letters stay factually rigorous, and why honest provenance is the whole point.
How Much Does a Historical Letter Subscription Cost?
What letter subscriptions typically cost, how monthly and gift pricing compares, and what you actually get for the money.
Aged Paper and Wax Seals: How the Letters Are Made
From aged paper to the wax seal, how each letter is made to feel like a real letter home and never like junk mail. The craft behind it.
Irish Letter Subscriptions Compared: What Sets Ours Apart
How letter subscriptions differ, and why one continuous Irish family and a real Irish postmark make Yours, From Ireland unlike the rest.
The Real Irish Postmark: Why Where a Letter Is Posted Matters
Every letter is posted from Ireland with a genuine Irish postmark. Why that stamp of place is the heart of a letter from home.
What Is a Letter Subscription? The Story-by-Mail Format
How story-by-mail works, where the format came from, and why a letter you can hold beats another app. The idea behind the letters.
Why the Letters Are Paper Only (and Why It Matters)
Adding trinkets would land your recipient a customs bill. Why every mailing stays pure paper, and why that is the better gift.