Read our Customers Stories.
"Staff were amazing"
"This was a great experience that we enjoyed.We found out lots of imformation with the help of the very friendly and helpful staff .We will be in contact soon to further our search."
"Family History Center!"
"We went to EPIC and ended up spending 3 hours in the Family History Center trying to locate one of our relatives! I have to rave about the staff there! They were well versed in attempting to locate family from the 1800's and had suggestions that proved very successful for our journey! Pubs seem to be the way to go for us - family history and stories of those that left Ireland, while not well documented in some cases, their relatives are happy to share!
If you are looking for family - this is truly a great place to start!"
"Irish Family History Centre Dublin"
"It took the researcher Patrick an hour to unearth my family history, detail of which would have taken me many days, if ever. It was a fascinating journey and great fun, and well worth it. Highly recommend the experience of engaging an expert in the field."
"Genealogy Consultation"
"I brought my mother up to the Irish Family History Centre as a Birthday activity. She has always been interested in her family history and I thought this would be a nice afternoon for us to spend together. We spent an afternoon in the Irish Family History Centre working with Genealogist, Patrick Roycroft. It was a fantastic experience and we found out so much about our family history that we never expected to uncover. It was a pleasure to work with Patrick who was full of knowledge and genuinely as excited as we were to connect the dots and retrace so many layers of our family from over the years. We found the consultation so useful that we doubled our time. Patrick was very efficient, wasted no time and gave us the information we needed to continue exploring our family's past after our visit. We have every intention of going up again to explore other parts of our family tree as on our last visit we gained information that we never would have expected to come across or even known to look for. We wouldn't have been as successful on our own and it most certainly helped to speed up the process! We could not recommend The Irish Family History Centre highly enough. Looking forward to our next visit!"
"Great afternoon learning about my heritage"
"This was a wonderful afternoon in Dublin. I have been working on my family tree for several years and was completely blocked in learning more. Patrick was amazing in helping me find additional information on my family and educating me on how to continue my quest. So thankful for his help. Everyone across the board was friendly and helpful. Make the time to visit while you are in Dublin!"
"The Place For Irish Family History Research."
"I had pre booked online a one hour session with an advisor to help further my research into my Irish ancestors. I was on a one day flying visit primarily to visit The Irish Emigration Museum and the Irish Family History Centre. The lady that assisted me was extremely helpful and I came away with lots of useful information and several tips on how to progress my research further. Included in the session was a voucher code for a 1 month free subscription to Findmypast. A nearby pub was recommended for a pint or two of Guinness prior to me catching the bus back to the airport."
"Irish Roots"
"I visited the Irish Family History Centre for one purpose - to track down information about my Irish family. In just one hour with Patrick Roycroft, a genealogy expert, I obtained more information on my grandfather's family than I had gathered in five years of internet searches on my own. Patrick was funny, enthusiastic, smart and genuinely interested in helping me learn my family story. He even offered to continue investigating my family after I left. I paid for another hour of research and two weeks later, I received an email from him with detailed research on my grandmother's side of the family. I highly recommend the Irish Family History Center to anyone interested in studying their family's story. If you do go, ask for Patrick - he's the man."
"After years of getting nowhere EUREKA", Brian from Australia.
"If you are visiting Dublin and have any trace of Irish blood in your system a definite must is a visit to the "Epic" Irish Emigration Museum, and the attached Irish Family History Centre.
My grandmother was born in Ireland but the family never heard the story of her past. After walking through the Epic experience I had a consultation with Patrick at the Irish Family History Centre and the results have astounded me. My grandmothers birth place, the unusual circumstances of her birth, the land they occupied, and other details have all come to light. I recommend this experience to all as an excellent way to connect to your past."
"Outstanding experience and rewarding outcome at the Irish Family History Centre."
"Wanting to solve a family history mystery I booked an hour with genealogist and historian, Gerard, He was fabulous, tracking down information that my sisters ( who are obsessed with this mystery) hadn't been able to find in twenty years of research. I also was given plenty more leads to follow in finding out more. A brilliant experience, can't recommend it highly enough (September 2018)"
"Irish Family History Centre rocks!?!"
"I stumbled across the Family History Centre quite by accident, while killing time waiting for a flight. I am so glad I did!
I waited about 20/30 minutes for an appointment with an expert advisor. It was Patrick Roycroft, he and I had a quick chat about how far my research had got,(just back to my grandmother).
I couldn't believe that within an hour we had gone back two more generations. And discovered that my family has very deep roots in Kilkenny. Patrick set me up with some amazing, practical advice to continue my own research. He showed me how to use the various databases to best advantage and how to trace my family history using land registry's, which I had no knowledge of before. This is giving such a complete picture of the area, who rented to who and who owned what.
If the place wasn't closing I would have asked to stay in Patrick's company for another hour. Best money I have spent on researching my family. Can't wait to share my news with my cousins back in Kilkenny.
Thank you so much Patrick. I would highly recommend seeing Patrick and I will be back to book some more time with Patrick, who was as excited as me by the research!"
"If you are looking for your Irish family, start here!"
"I booked an online appt. with one of the genealogists, Patrick. I booked a second online appt., with Declan, and then went in-person to when we finally got to Ireland a few weeks later.
I couldn't be more pleased with the progress Patrick and Declan were able to help me make. Without them, I'd still be looking in the wrong spots, and using incorrect information. Their guidance has been invaluable.
I left my in-person appointment armed with several more tools for my search. And, if/when I need more help in the future, I will have no hesitation in booking another appt. The cost per appointment pales in comparison to the time lost while searching for family, especially once you are on the ground in Ireland.
Absolutely five stars in my opinion. All the staff are knowledgeable and helpful. They are also compassionate, especially when finding bad, or sad, news about your family. Special mention of Fiona who organizes the sessions. She is also a gem!"
"Amazing Trip! So helpful!"
"Came here with very little info on my grandfather and his parents. I was able to go back 2 more generations in 30 minutes of help and work while here! I can not tell you how many hours I had spent on Ancestry.com trying to find any info with no luck! So I was super excited to find out so much in the little time we had here. The person working there that day was very helpful and seemed just as excited as I was! Highly recommend it!"
"So much fun"
"I️ went to the Irish Family History Centre on Sunday and out of curiosity I️ popped in to inquire about my Irish relatives - the Conway’s. After a few minutes of discussion I️ asked if I️ could purchase a consulting session to look into my family tree. Patrick was my family guide for the afternoon. It was so much fun ... it’s a puzzle filled with many surprises and some sad stories too. I️ left with the bug ... I️ want to dig deeper and learn more. I️ would highly, highly recommend."
"Got over the wall!"
"I visited three weeks ago hoping to get some hints but was a little sceptical as to how much time they could give. Well it was much more helpful than i imagined! I paid the small fee and lots of searching done so quickly using sites I was not aware of. When Claire was puzzling at the whereabouts of a family member the genealogist Maura came over and offered her tips. I called in a day later by chance to ask a question and Claire had found some more facts to help research! They were both so quietly intent on solving the mysteries. Completely opened up my Irish research. Truly worth the fee.
"Very Helpful - Worth Your Time"
"I visited in the morning, before it was crowded. I think the key is to walk in with the names of people you know of, and any location information you have. With just that, the genealogist on duty was able to direct me to new facts I hadn't been aware of (maiden name of a great grandparent who left Ireland in the 1840s) and even printed a baptism registry for me that I hadn't known existed. He also have me very solid website leads. Honestly, it's the consultation I needed, after hitting a wall on Amcestry.com. Considering my visit was last minute and I only had so much to go on, I really got a lot out of it. Come prepared and you'll get even more, I'd bet."
"A Needed Step"
"I have been doing family research for many years, but I had hit a wall with my Irish ancestors. After spending time with the experts at the Irish Family History Centre, I was able to discover two more generations of my family history. They even pointed me to the buildings in Dublin where I could get copies of their records. It was amazing! I feel like a family detective now."
"A wonderful experience"
"This has been the highlight if my trip to Ireland, so far. Patrick was wonderful in researching my Irish heritage. Beyond knowing my grandfather's name and that he was born in Dublin, I knew absolutely nothing else. Patrick assiduously discovered so much more and I now have a strong desire to follow up with the free access to the two databases that comes with the Heritage Centre fee. It was money very well spent from my point of view."
"Tracing my Irish relatives and ancestors was so exciting!"
"I visited the Irish Family History Centre during my visit to Dublin and it was the highlight of my holiday. Patrick was charming, interested in my story and really helped to find intriguing details of my family history. I began with anecdotes and one possible date and left with some real people and a sense of my past. How sad that my grandmother was born in the workhouse - still haven't found out why. What happened to my great grandmother? Thank you, Patrick, for igniting the spark. The work continues ............"
Hello,
I'm reaching out to thank you for the immeasurable gift I was given as a result of my geneology consultation at EPIC last year. Last September my husband and I were on our honeymoon and signed up for a consultation in the hopes of continuing to build my Dad's family tree and get answers on where his ancestors lived pre-emmigration. Here'sthe full story:
I've been doing ancestry research for a few years because I want to know more about where I come from. My Dad died when I was young and my one uncle and my grandparents on that side died before I was born, which made research difficult. I knew they were Irish and that was about it. Over the years I pieced together information and did a DNA test that connected me with distant cousins who live in the US. They were able to help me build out my family tree - special shout out to Ellynmarie Theep!
When Steve and I were in Dublin we met with a genealogist who was able to find the birth record of my Great Great Grandfather Hugh McManus; one of the lines on my Dad's side I had the least information about. The birth record had the birth location on it. We drove up to the townland (a small swath of land, similar to a township) in County Armagh in Northern Ireland. The town is a rural farming town with a big hill off in the distance that dominates the landscape. There we found the town church and graveyard. We looked around the graveyard and found the family grave site of my Great Great Grandfather and other ancestors. This was a powerful experience in and of itself, but things didn't end there. The gravesite looked well maintained; there were flowers there that didn't look too old so we wondered if descendants might still live in the area.
We started driving around the town looking for old farmhouses because my mom has an old black and white picture of a farm house that was passed down through my Dad's family. We knocked on the doors of a few farmhouses, asking if anyone knew if someone by the name "McManus" had ever lived there. The second person we talked to told us a Mary McManus still lived in the area. He drove us to her house and we knocked on the door. A man answered and told us he'd been married to Mary McManus for 40 years and invited us inside.
Mary came back 10 minutes later and asked who we were. I said, "My name is Patty O'Keefe and my Dad's name was Neil O'Keefe". She responded, "Oh, then your Grandma must be Marie and your Grandfather must be Myron", which are the names of my Grandparents, confirming these were my relatives. She then pulled out a huge family tree and gave us names, stories, and information dating back to the 1700's. My Dad was on the tree and under his name were question marks, so we got to fill in our names on her tree.
She then told us the house we were in was the farmhouse my Great Great Grandfather was born and grew up in, the one in the photograph in my mom's basement. She gave us a tour of the house and the land, made us food, and we all got to know each other better. She showed us letters she used to write to my Grandmother, and she found a picture of my Dad that she had in her house. That night she called all the distant relatives in the area (my third and fourth cousins) and we all went to the local pub.
The whole experience was surreal and overwhelming. It made me feel more connected to my Dad and to people I've never met. If someone showed up on my doorstep and told me they were a distant relative I don't know if I would have been as welcoming, but I will be now after this experience. Mary kept telling us she was so excited that we'd "made our way home".
Anyways, that's the story! Thank you so much for the experience that was made possible through this consultation - it's been a highlight of our lives.
Best,
Patty