Sunday 26 September 2010

All day seminar - Saturday 2nd October

A full day seminar, run by the Irish Family History Society, will take place this coming Saturday, 2nd October, at Dublin City Library & Archive, 138 Pearse Street, Dublin.

It starts at 10 am, is free, and no booking is required. Here's the programme:
  • 10am Registration
  • 10.30am Dublin's Protestant Dissenters, their meeting houses and records. (Steven Smyrl)
  • 11.30am The Talty Millions: Lawyers, Liars, Inheritance, Disinheritance and the Great Crash of 1929. (Patrick Waldron)
  • 12.30-2pm Lunch. Not provided.
  • 2.15pm Researching the Irish in US records. (Anne Rodda)
  • 3.15pm Fogotten Heroes: Ireland's World War One Soldiers. (Tom Phelan)
For more details, email ifhs@eircom.net.

Friday 24 September 2010

Ancestors from Donoughmore?

If you have ancestral connections to Donoughmore, county Cork, a new book may be of help to your genealogy research.

Donoughmore and all Around trawls through 300 years of burials in Donoughmore, highlighting the political, economic, social and cultural life of a rural community.

Centred on Donoughmore, the book takes in families from surrounding parishes, including Aghabullogue, Aghinagh, Blarney, Glantane, Grenagh and Inniscarra.

The official launch of the book, written by Richard Henchion, will take place at Stuake Community Centre tonight at 8pm, following a memorial mass at 7.30pm at St Lachteens.

The book can be purchased through www.donoughmorehistoricalsociety.com.

Thursday 23 September 2010

Irish Graveyard Survey moves on

An ambitious project to survey and index every grave in Ireland takes another important step forward next week.


Irish Graveyard Surveyors (IGS Ltd), the company behind the project, will begin another survey of graves, this time at cemeteries around Buncrana, in Inishowen, co Donegal.

Their 12-strong team surveys every plot in the cemeteries, whether or not they have a headstone or other marker. As each graveyard survey is completed, a map and index (noting name and address of the deceased, month and year of death, age at death and plot number) is drawn up and displayed in local churches and chapels. Any corrections are noted before a stainless steel sign is erected in the grounds showing the map and index.

IGS has already completed surveys in other west coast parishes and plans to upload their indexes to a website in due course. I'll be keeping an eye on this project as it develops and will post when the website goes live.

Family Tree Maker 2011: 20% off, one week only

The latest version of the popular genealogy software package Family Tree Maker has been released with a tempting 20% saving.

If you were considering treating yourself (or someone else!) to a new program for Christmas, it might be worth taking this offer up. A little early, perhaps, for thinking of Christmas, but, hey, you're worth it! You'll have to be quick, though. The offer ends at close of play on Monday 29 September.

The Family Tree Maker 2011 package claims to include more than 100 enhancements requested by users of earlier versions of the product. Find out more at Ancestry.com.

Thursday 16 September 2010

Laois & Offaly records now online

Church records for parishes in Laois and Offaly have been added to the online databases of www.rootsireland.ie.

This latest update adds another 800,000 records to the pay-as-you-go database.

Thursday 9 September 2010

Linenhall Library Lectures

While PRONI is in transit to its new, state-of-the-art premises in Belfast's Titanic Quarter (see yesterday's post), the Linenhall Library has stepped into the breach to play host to a series of lunchtime lectures.

These will be delivered by PRONI staff on the last Wednesday of the month (see diary below), and there's no need to book in advance:

24 November: Using online sources for genealogical research.
26 January: How to start tracing your family tree in Northern Ireland.
23 February: Preserving the past for the future.
30 March: Vere Foster - the man who paid women to go away.
27 April: The Blitz on Belfast.

The free talks will start at 1pm in the Performance Area of the Linenhall Library. No need to book.

Wednesday 8 September 2010

PRONI's temporary home

After nearly 40 years, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) has closed its Balmoral Avenue doors to the public.

From today, a temporary self-service microfilm facility is available at Cregagh Library, and will continue to be available until PRONI reopens in new purpose-built accommodation (artist's impression pictured) in the Titanic Quarter of Belfast in Spring 2011.

Only 10 microfilm readers, a microfiche and a reader printer will be available at Cregagh Library, 409-413 Cregagh Road, Belfast, BT6 0LF.

A booking system will be in place for five of the microfilm readers with the remainder available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. Users can reserve slots for one or two hours, up to a maximum of two hours per day.

To make an advance bookings for microfilm readers, telephone (44) (0) 2890 255900 or visit the Library. PRONI say that they will review the booking system subject to demand.

All the usual PRONI self-service microfilms, including church registers, will be available at Cregagh (a full list of the self-service collections can be viewed at www.proni.gov.uk.

The 1901 census, now freely accessible online at www.census.nationalarchives.ie, will not be available on microfilm at Cregagh.

Opening Hours for PRONI@Cregagh are as follows:
Monday 1pm – 5pm
Tuesday 10am – 5pm
Wednesday 10am – 5pm
Thursday 1pm – 8pm
Friday 10am – 5pm


It will also be possible to view some of the microfilms that don't fall in the self-service category. However, these microfilms will not be stored at Cregagh so they must be requested in advance. Tel (44) (0) 2890 255907.

Friday 3 September 2010

Free immigration records - One weekend only!

Ancestry.com is providing free access to all its immigration records this weekend.

The offer stretches across the company's entire gambit of collections, including those that have only just been released, and there's even a free webinar.

This is a one-off Labor Day weekend offer that ends on 6 September, so be sure to take full advantage of it!

Thursday 2 September 2010

Galway family history seminar this weekend

The Western Family History Association will host a seminar on Irish Genealogy at the Claregalway Hotel, Claregalway village, Galway on Saturday 4 September.

Speakers include Nora Keohane Hickey, chair of the Clans of Ireland, Joan Sharkey from the Irish Family History Society, and Paddy Waldron of the Clare Roots Society and CIGO.

The seminar starts at 2pm (ends 5.40pm). Admission €5 including refreshments.