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Who am I?
I'm Claire Santry. That's me in the middle of the photo below,
sitting with two of my brothers on a wooden train that our bought and restored for us.
Yes, it's a few years ago, and no, I don't wear my skirts quite that short any more.
The engine was fine for three of us, but we needed to add a passenger carriage after three more brothers and a sister joined us over the next seven years.About five years after this photo was taken, I thought I'd found my calling. I opened a 'Museum' in my bedroom. Nowadays it would be called a 'pop-up' Museum, as I issued entrance tickets only rarely. My parents, grandparents and their friends indulged me by handing over a sixpence at the door.
Telling stories
Basically, I was hooked on history and telling stories (I got the latter from my Grandad, I think... see box, below), so I would find or create 'priceless' exhibits, each of which came with a right old yarn. For example, a pearl button came loose on the wedding dress of Queen Victoria just as she was about to enter Westminster Abbey but her lady-in-waiting, Ellen, ever ready with her needle and thread, saved the day by quickly sewing it back on before the bride walked down the aisle. Phew!
And here was that very button, in my bedroom! No touching, please.
There were many exhibits involving adventure by young girls. For some reason they were usually called Ellen. One such story told of how 12-year-old Ellen Driscoll had tumbled, poor thing, from the top of Mount Everest having reached the summit moments before Edmund Hillary.
Her body was never found, only a boot lace and a luggage label which, helpfully, had her name and address on it AND had fallen into my possession. She never got the recognition she deserved, did Ellen.
Reporting and researching stories
Moving on from making up stories about the past, I went on to study History and Political Philosopy at the University of London, and after some shilly-shallying that included working and having a ball in Paris for a year, I settled on a career in journalism. It had always been inevitable!
Over the years I've written for numerous publications in Ireland, England, Northern Ireland and the USA. I've specialised in business, architecture and construction, travel and, more recently, genealogy.
Given my interest in history, genealogy research was a natural fit, and like many others who started out on the quest, I found myself bitten by the family history bug and couldn't let it go.
Combining my hobby with my work skills was a no-brainer!
Helping others find their ancestral stories
Highlights of my work and achievements in the genealogy world are noted below:
2008: Irish-Genealogy-Toolkit.com website launched.
2011: IrishGenealogyNews.com blog launched. A few years later, John Grenham, a member of Accredited Genealogists Ireland and arguably the world's best known professional Irish genie, described it as 'the single most trusted source of updates on Irish record releases and events'. I closed the blog in July 2024. It was still riding high but I had pressing family commitments and something had to give.
2012: Genealogy feature content published on the Irish Government's new Certificate of Irish Heritage website.
2013: I was elected a Fellow of the Irish Genealogical Research Society (IGRS), the world's oldest and most prestigious society dedicated to Irish family history.
2014: First edition of my New Irish Genealogy Resources
E-book published,
detailing the record collections and other resources released since
2011.
It proved popular, so I have continued to publish updated editions
more or less annually.
The most recent edition, published 2023,
includes not only information about the records released 2011-2022, but also details of
books and other tools for learning about Irish local,
social and family history.
2015: IrishGenealogyNews.com received international recognition when it appeared in Genealogy in Time's Top 100 online genealogy sites, based on visitor numbers and search engine rankings.
2015: I was voted 'Superstar Genealogist for Ireland' by readers of John D Reid's Anglo-Celtic-Connections blog. I felt obliged to adopt a rock star pose everytime someone mentioned it! See the news story here.
2016: Working with the Church of Ireland's RCB Library on
behalf of the IGRS, I reformatted and updated the Church of Ireland Parish Register List, adding links to online records.
It is an essential and free resource for
Irish genealogists and is updated regularly. You can download the most
recent version (December 2024) from the RCBLibrary website.
2017: My book - The Family Tree Irish Genealogy Guide
- a 230-page paperback was published (Penguin Random House). Aimed primarily but not exclusively at Irish-Americans, the book aims to direct family historians to the records they need when first starting out on their research and provides tools and resources for moving it on further. It's illustrated and full of tips and is available through good bookshops, online and in stores.
2025: The Irish Genealogical Research Society announced that I was to receive the Wallace Clare Award, the society's most prestigious award and named after its founder.
Through the years, I've written for several family history magazines (see 'Credits' box) and my quarterly 'What's New? Review' in Irish Roots magazine has been running for thirteen years.It's been a hoot!
2012: Genealogy feature content published on the Irish Government's new Certificate of Irish Heritage website.
2013: I was elected a Fellow of the Irish Genealogical Research Society (IGRS), the world's oldest and most prestigious society dedicated to Irish family history.
2014: First edition of my New Irish Genealogy Resources
E-book published,
detailing the record collections and other resources released since
2011.
It proved popular, so I have continued to publish updated editions
more or less annually. The most recent edition, published 2023,
includes not only information about the records released 2011-2022, but also details of
books and other tools for learning about Irish local,
social and family history.
2015: I was voted 'Superstar Genealogist for Ireland' by readers of John D Reid's Anglo-Celtic-Connections blog. I felt obliged to adopt a rock star pose everytime someone mentioned it! See the news story here.
2015: IrishGenealogyNews.com received international recognition when it appeared in Genealogy in Time's Top 100 global online genealogy sites, based on visitor numbers and search engine rankings.
2016: Working with the Church of Ireland's RCB Library & Archive on behalf of the IGRS, I reformatted and updated the 93-page Church of Ireland Parish Register List, by adding links to online records. It is an essential and free resource for Irish genealogists and is updated regularly. You can download the most recent version (December 2024) from the RCB Library.
2017: My book - The Family Tree Irish Genealogy Guide - a 230-page paperback was published (Penguin Random House). More...
2025: The Irish Genealogical Research Society announced that I was to receive the Wallace Clare Award, the society's most prestigious award and named after its founder.
Through the years, I've written for several family history magazines (see 'Credits' box) and my quarterly 'What's New? Review' in Irish Roots magazine has been running for thirteen years. It's been a hoot!
My family name – Santry – is unusual not just for being uncommon but also because it is one of only a handful of Irish surnames derived from a place.
The village of Santry (now a sprawling suburb of Dublin) grew up on the banks of the River Santry just north of the capital.
Peculiarly, as a surname it has no certain connection with Santry in County Dublin. In fact, it is pure County Cork.
I'm afraid I can't give a satisfactory explanation for this. Perhaps one of my ancestors moved from Dublin to settle in Cork and became known as Santry.
Whatever
the reason for its emergence as a surname, every single individual
called Santry should be able to trace their ancestry back to Co Cork and
specifically to South West Cork.
Being descended from that county, I've got a fair drop of O'Driscoll in my blood, too.
My mother's heritage is less localised and takes in the counties of Carlow, Dublin, Tipperary, Wexford and Wicklow. It is full of great Irish surnames like Doyle, Tierney, Tobin, Lanigan and Connor, plus a few less obvious ones.
It was one of the latter that set me off on my ancestral trail. Who could resist a name like Sophia Doolittle?
When I came across this name in an old letter written by my grand aunt Rosann to her niece, Maree, I just had to know more.
And so it started....
CREDITS
My journalism career has brought publication credits from some of the world's best-known newspaper and magazine titles. They include:
The Guardian, Daily Express, London's Evening Standard, the Belfast Telegraph, the Belfast News-Letter, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, Ireland's Visitor magazine, Connections (Dublin Airport magazine), Horizon (AmEx customer magazine), Practical Family History (UK), Family Tree magazine (UK), Family Tree Magazine (USA) and Irish Roots Magazine (Ireland).