Genealogist · Author · Historian
Joanna Cicely Fennell, M.A.G.I., is a multi-lingual accredited Irish genealogist with a passion for travel and photography. Her personal research interests include British India, South Africa and the Caribbean. Joanna has been a full-time professional genealogist since 2012, having discovered a talent for genealogy three years earlier when, inspired by family lore, she began to document her own family history. By exploring her family’s dramatic past, which crossed continents, social divides and religions, Joanna uncovered connections to Florence Nightingale, Clive of India and King Charles III, to name just a few of the famous individuals on her family tree.
Joanna has since conducted research for hundreds of clients with ancestors from all parts of the globe, in a variety of languages. As well as client and probate research, she has extensive experience researching for television shows such as Who Do You Think You Are? and My Family Secrets Revealed. After several years as a freelance genealogist, Joanna spent four years working for AncestryProGenealogists in Dublin, where she expanded her research skills to include DNA analysis, which she has used to great effect in solving adoption and unknown parentage cases in Ireland and abroad over the years.
Joanna has written articles for Families in British India Society, Irish Genealogical Research Society, Ancestry and Accredited Genealogists Ireland. In 2013, she completed her first privately-commissioned book The Pitman Family, available in selected libraries worldwide. She has presented on a variety of topics at family history events, such as ‘Back To Our Past’ in Dublin and ‘Who Do You Think You Are? Live’ in London.
Research Specialities:
Adoption, British India, Caribbean, DNA, Genetic Genealogy, Gentry, Irish Abroad, Irish Citizenship, Italian Citizenship, Quakers, Merchants, Military, Nobility, Probate Genealogy, Unknown Parentage
Qualifications
Bachelor of Arts, English and Italian (University College Dublin, 2004)
Master of Arts, Film Studies (University College Dublin, 2007)
Postgraduate Certificate in Genealogical Studies (University of Strathclyde, 2011)
Member of Accredited Genealogists Ireland (2015)
Languages
Italian, French, German
Heritage Travel
“We were able to use everything that Joanna had found to visit family residences, churches where marriages and baptisms took place and of course Glasnevin, my 3rd Great Grandmother’s final resting place. We found her in a grave with her Mother and Father and two of her sisters. This was an extremely moving experience for both Mum and I and we credit Joanna with making it all possible. We had the pleasure of meeting Joanna for a drink in the cafe next to the property that my 3rd Great Grandmother was living at the time of her death in 1864, on our last night in Ireland.”
Beyond the records
“I decided to contact Joanna to do some research about my father’s family. He had come from Ireland, but died when I was young and I didn’t know much about him. Joanna was extremely helpful and considerate with her research. She really gets into the details. She sent me photos of places that his parents had lived, copies of records and really obscure, difficult to find things like a copy of a crossword competition, which my grandmother had won! It put a human spin on the research and I found the whole experience really interesting. I would recommend Joanna’s services to anyone.”