The new book, tentatively entitled “The Nolans, a people – from most ancient times to the present”, picks up on the quest for a better understanding of Nolan family history first undertaken by Father John Nolan of Kirkcubbin in the 1920s.

Following is a tentative cover for the new book.

Dying prematurely in the late 1920s, Fr. Nolan’s plans for a Nolan history book were quashed and his manuscript notes lay dormant for nearly a century until they were finally rediscovered in the late 1900s and, under the auspices of the newly-formed Nolan Clan family association (aka the Nolan Clan or Clan O Nolan), they were published in book form in the Millenium year (2000). Fr. Nolan’s planned history book, co-authored by Art Kavanagh of Bunclody, is entitled “O Nolan – the history of a people” and is available online (see https://www.amazon.ca/ONolan-History-People-Arthur-Kavanagh/dp/0953848582 ).

As newsletter editor for the Nolan Clan from 2004 to 2018 and also webmaster for the Nolanfamilies.org archival website, I have written and continue to write research posts and family stories of interest to Nolans everywhere. Recently, I also started an online NolanFamilies research group (meeting over Zoom) to help research and identify the many brick walls faced by the modern-day Nolan diaspora.

Having experienced firsthand how our understanding of Nolan family history at the world level has grown in leaps and bounds since the advent of the Internet, it is my intent to write a new, updated family history book, expanding on the understanding first formulated by Fr. John Nolan of Kirkcubbin in the 1920s.

In the new book, I hope to:

• shed greater light on the ancient origins of all known Nolan families (O Nuallain, O hUllachain, Nolan, Nowland, Noland, Nolins, Knollin, Naulin, …)
• provide an improved understanding of the forces and historical events which drove many Nolan families to migrate within Ireland and beyond
• document the story of many early Nolans who left Ireland and resettled in other parts of the world.

For now, in the absence of a new, updated hard-copy version of a Nolan family history book, I am inviting Nolan family researchers from around the world to comment on and possibly contribute to the Research Posts which will form the basis for the writing of the new book.

I also welcome any Nolan-related information which could help improve our modern-day understanding of Nolan family history. The nature of the information, family lore or otherwise, does not matter. The end goal is not to leave any stone unturned. We all know how a family story can quickly become distorted, but the hope is that the story passed down from generation to generation has some grain of truth left in it, such that the true family story can be recovered.

Roger Nowlan, (Email Me )

webmaster and NolanFamilies research facilitator