Blog Intro

 I have been actively researching for over 30 years. Originally my goal was to expand my own family tree and I did signifacant work on it in 1990's. Then for a period of 10 to 15 years, I did very little. My focus at that time was on work and raising a family. Several years ago I started researching again - amazed at what resources the internet had made available from my laptop. Initially I started researching my oldest know ancestor, the Rev William Homes who was probably born in County Donegal, Ireland. He ministered for years in Strabane and in 1714 emigrated with the rest of his family to Massachusetts where he settled on Martha's Vineyard.

As my research continued, I started making notes on various Homes / Holmes I came across in Ireland. These notes now now comprise almost 200 pages. As my research has continued, my focus shifted away from trying to explore my own family to one of better understanding the various Homes / Holmes families of Ireland prior to about 1800. In the last couple years it has become apparent that my ancestors and many other Holmes families in Ireland originated in Scotland, so in the past year I have started another project of capturing information on the Holmes familes of Scotland.

I created this site to share my research of the Holmes families of Scotland and Ireland. I will use the blog to provide updates on my latest research, as well as thoughts and musings on various Holmes families.