My site is devoted to research on my ancestors, and features the results of research I conducted in County Clare, Ireland. 

Please follow the links below, and enjoy a journey back to the Irish past...

Bob McNamara 

My father left Ireland for America on March 16, 1904.  To mark the centennial of his passage across the Atlantic I recently delivered a speech to a genealogical society, which you can read by clicking here.

The Daytona Beach News-Journal published an article on the research my son and I have conducted.  The article appeared on the front page of the Sunday paper on March 4, 2001, but you can read the text by clicking here.

See results of genealogical research conducted at the Rectory in Quin.

Read Reminiscences of “The Doctor Mack”

  View the Chronology of My Father’s Family in Ireland.

Come with me for a visit to Michael Kenneally in Maghera.

Visit Maghera as my father knew it.

Meet some of the neighbors in Maghera today.

Read a brief geography lesson answering the question, Where Is Maghera?

See my father’s family in the 1901 Census of Ireland.

Read about my father’s arrival in America in 1904.

Read about my grandfather’s arrival at Ellis Island in 1905.

See my Aunt Tessie and Uncle Tom in Maghera.

Visit a landmark named for my ancestors, Nestor’s Bridge.

Visit the final resting place of my ancestors, the Clooney Graveyard.

Read Material About My Grandfather Discovered In the Archives of the Irish Folklore Commission. 

See an amazing surprise that awaited me in Ireland: snapshots my mother sent to my Aunt Tessie more than 60 years ago.

See a recently discovered photograph of my grandfather, and read the surprising story of how it was sent to me.

My wife Marie and I posing before the ruins of Quin Abbey.  The abbey was built by a chieftain of the McNamara clan as a gift to the Franciscan Order in the early 1400s.  Even in ruins it is an imposing structure.

The principal of the local National School told me a wonderful legend about the building of the abbey: the son of a McNamara chieftain had nearly drowned in the river that runs through the village of Quin, and the chieftain pledged that if his son lived, he would build something for the church to give thanks.  His son survived, and Quin Abbey was constructed.

Customize your computer by installing some wallpaper images of County Clare, Ireland.

To contact me, click here.

A publisher in County Clare, Martin Breen, has re-published a history of the McNamara family which first appeared in print in 1896.  Those interested in the early history of the clan can find out more by clicking here.  Martin has also reprinted a book on the perennial rivals (and occasional allies) of the McNamaras, the O'Brien clan.  

CLASP Press, the publishing unit of the Clare Local Studies Project of the Clare Library also has a range of fine books on Clare.  

The Clare Local Studies Project also offers a fascinating collection of online publications. 

My mother’s father worked as a steam locomotive engineer.  To see photographs of Samuel Dunning, click here.