Turtle Bunbury

YOUR HISTORY IN A BOOK - a selection of families

"We all of us descend from men and women whose names we will never know. Until recent centuries, every generation simply came and fell like fields of wheat". Turtle Bunbury, The Landed Gentry & Aristocracy of Co. Wicklow (2005)

Turtle has written the history of close on 150 families. In some cases, the client wanted it for a Golden or Ruby Wedding Anniversary. In others it was for a Christmas or birthday present. And sometimes it was out of simple curiosity. Most of the families originated in Ireland, but they have also been Irish-American, Canadian, British, British colonial, Danish and Russian.

As of 2009, many of these histories come under the umbrella of Turtle's innovative concept, 'Your History in a Book', where he sets the generations of every specific family into the context of the historical events and characters they would have encountered.

Turtle's principal aim is to bring colour and life into the dramatis personae of the past, to provide something warmer than the cold, stone grave slabs scattered across the country. As such, he places each family in the context of the times in which they were living. Many of the characters he examines were players on a stage that circulated the entire world. The following histories are necessarily works in progress. If you have any further knowledge of these families, or spot any errors, omissions or broken links, then please email Turtle directly.