7 Windele Road,
Drumcondra,
Dublin 9,
Ireland
Email: grenhamsirishancestors@gmail.com
Website: www.johngrenham.com

Areas of research: All of Ireland

John Grenham came to professional genealogy in 1981, as one of the panel of Genealogical Office researchers and later worked for Hibernian Research. As in-house researcher for the Genealogical Office in 1990-91, he was instrumental in setting up the GO Consultation Service, the forerunner of the current Advisory Services in the National Library and National Archives. He joined APGI, the forerunner to AGI, in 1988.

He was Project Manager with the Irish Genealogical Project from 1991 to 1995 and later went on to develop and market his own genealogical software, Grenham’s Irish Recordfinder.  He ran the Irish Times Irish Ancestors website from 1998 to 2016. It now runs on his own site. In 2005, he was the first Genealogist-in-Residence at Dublin City Library. He was awarded a fellowship of The Irish Genealogical Research Society in 2007, of the Genealogical Society of Ireland in 2010 and of AGI in 2023. Among his publications are the standard guide to Irish genealogy, Tracing your Irish Ancestors (5th ed.2012), Clans and Families of Ireland (1995),Generations (1996), “The Genealogical Office and its Records” in The Genealogical Office , (1999), Grenham’s Irish Surnames (CD-ROM, 2003) and numerous articles and columns in the UK magazine Your Family Tree. He wrote the “Irish Roots” column and blog in The Irish Times between 2009 and 2016 (archived here). The blog is now at www.johngrenham.com/blog. In 2011, along with Irish Times Training, he developed and launched an online genealogical course. In 2011 and 2014, he was co-presenter of the RTE television programme “The Genealogy Roadshow“. Between 2014 and 2019, he delivered seven ten-week diploma in family history courses at City Colleges in Dublin.

He was a member of the Advisory Council of the National Archives of Ireland from 2017 to 2021 and has been a member of the board of the National Library of Ireland since 2021. He also chairs the Library’s Genealogy and Heraldry sub-committee.

His website is www.johngrenham.com.