This book is writeen by Tom Coughlan, a genealogy professional and Leitrim resident. It sets out the records available for family history research in Leitrim, where they can be accessed, and how they can be used to best effect in tracing Leitrim families. Leitrim is one of the smaller Irish counties. in 1791 it had only 10,026 homes and in 1841 it had 155,000 residents, this dropped to 112,000 by 1851. The Great Famine and resulting economic depressioon caused huge emigration from the county which continued up until recent times. Leitrim families are mainly Gaelic in origin and the most frequently found surnames include O'Rourke, McClancy, O'Meehan, Reynolds (originally McRannal), McMorrow, Flynn, McLoughlin, Kelly, Gallagher, McKiernan, Rooney, Moran, McGowan and McSharry.