Testimonials

I started looking for my ancestors back in 2010.  I quickly hit a road block with Irish civil records.  I accidentally stumbled on to Joanna….and what a pleasant surprise. Not only did she deliver what I was looking for she gave me a full report using established genealogical guide lines.  She was honest and concise… she documented where she looked, what she found, and what the chances were if I was to proceed further.

– Brenda A,. Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, Canada

Thank you for all the work you have done unfolding early detail of my family’s Irish history. The results of your research and your lateral thinking have progressed our information a lot. I will be back to you shortly to take Irish matters further…and perhaps even for some investigations at the India section of the British Library regarding another branch of my family.

– David B., Pretty Beach, New South Wales, Australia

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.

– Katherine D., Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand

Joanna was extremely helpful with piecing together my family’s interesting history, she was prompt and thorough with her research and responding to my queries, and made the whole experience easy. I would use her again and definitely recommend her to other family history researchers.

– Jon D., Lauderdale, Hobart, Australia

I found your research very complete and fascinating. It took our family into areas that no one had ever mentioned or that the current family members had ever thought existed. I will look forward to working further with you.

– Mark R., Hardy’s Bay, New South Wales, Australia

I thoroughly recommend Joanna Fennell in her work as a genealogist. When I ‘hit a brick wall’ in my endeavours to find more about my grandfather’s time in Ireland she managed to find an opening and uncovered all sorts of exciting things, many of these revelations I had no knowledge of. Joanna is very responsive, efficient and professional.

– James F., Leiston, Suffolk, United Kingdom

Joanna Fennell has been supporting my family history research for two years. She has a tremendous grasp of the details associated with genealogy research and an ability to present complex and interwoven information into a concise and descriptive picture. Her work is marked by professionalism, customer satisfaction, accuracy and timeliness. I strongly recommend her for genealogy research support.

– Richard B., Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA

Joanna has been responsive, thorough and persistent. I accrued more detail on this branch of my family in Ireland than I would have anticipated, and I do certainly recommend Joanna and her professional skills.

– Tom M., San Rafael, California, USA

An excellent service, I was amazed at the amount of information Joanna unearthed about my familyIn addition to a number of family charts her report included newspaper cuttings, copy photographs showing where my forebears lived and even a copy of a previously unseen photograph of one member of the family. Way beyond what I had expected.

– Simon M., Ferndown, Dorset, United Kingdom

I first engaged Joanna in November 2013 to undertake research into my ancestors from Dublin, Ireland. Researching a surname such as Doyle living in Ireland contributed to a slow start originally as we needed to sort through a range of possible ancestors, however once we found the right person the information started freely flowing. All I had originally was the name of my 3rd Great Grandmother and a birthplace of Dublin but though Joanna’s professionalism, genuine interest, knowledge of where to access information and how to piece it altogether, over the last 6 months I have been able to build a family tree that consists of her parents, 7 siblings and their partners and children as well as details of her own children who were orphaned when she died. She has been able to access birth, death, baptismal, marriage, burial, residential, property, business, deed information. No stone seems to have been left unturned.

All of the information started to flow and definitely gained momentum just as my Mum and I were about to leave for a trip to Ireland and Joanna continued to correspond with us while we were travelling with new pieces of information. 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.

Still some work to do to fill in some gaps but I look forward to continuing to work with Joanna and highly recommend utilising her services to assist you in uncovering your family heritage.

– Kerry B., Beaconsfield, Melbourne, Australia

I recently contacted Joanna to help me in researching my family’s history. I was delighted with the results of her findings. Joanna was able to find information, stories and articles I would never have thought possible. Information which took us from Ireland to the USA, and to World War I. She provided a very friendly and prompt service and was always happy to answer any questions I had. I am more than happy to recommend Joanna to anyone who is trying to gain insight into their family’s history.

– Martin C., Ballyconnell, Co. Cavan, Ireland

I first contacted Joanna Cicely Fennell in June 2013 to trace my ancestors in Ireland after coming up against a virtual brick wall myself.  Since then, I have used her on two further occasions to trace branches of my wife’s family.   She proved to be very thorough, reliable, professional and knowledgeable.  Her reports were clear and concise, and submitted to time.  Her charges were fair and reasonable.  I have no hesitation in recommending her.

– Geoffrey C., Melksham, Wiltshire, United Kingdom

I have used the professional services of Joanna Fennell on three occasions to further my family history research when I had hit the proverbial “brick wall”! I found Joanna to be methodical, thorough and reasonably priced. Through her expertise I have discovered much more about my “elusive” Irish and British India ancestors than I had ever imagined. I would recommend Joanna as a person you can safely trust to further your family history research.

– Chrissy J., Beverley Park, Sydney, Australia

I have employed Ms. Fennell to help trace a granduncle in the USA. Not only was she successful in tracing him but the professional manner in which she carried out her work was brilliant.

– Paraic C., Shankill, Co. Dublin, Ireland

I have been pleased and impressed with the work that Joanna Fennell has done for me. I had been banging my head against a “brick wall” for years, Joanna helped me break through. She is thorough and documents all her work. We initially started in Wicklow, where my brick wall was. She later helped me find relatives in Dublin and other Counties. I would recommend her to anyone looking to trace relatives in Ireland.

– Peter O., Bothell, Washington, USA

Joanna has all of the attributes you would want to find in a highly qualified researcher and professional genealogist. She is intelligent, dedicated, thorough, concise, honest, dependable and a true value. You will be happy you chose or lucky to receive Joanna’s expertise! She is a true treasure and worthy of your trust, time and money!

– Theresa O., Media, Pennsylvania, USA

Joanna is a thorough and imaginative genealogist who under promises and over delivers. She has a real mastery of the surviving sources for 19th century Irish genealogy and an intuition for linking disparate details together to build up a coherent picture. In researching my family of rural farmers she traced land occupancy from the 1830s to Google Maps. She was also able to find remarkable details of moments in their lives through the use of local newspapers and gaol registers. I would unhesitatingly recommend her services.

– Gerard A., Amersham, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom