Tuesday 25 November 2014

Winter issue of Irish Roots published

The latest issue of Irish Roots Magazine has been published and is now available in good newsagents and bookshops, as well as downloadable in digital format here.

http://www.irishrootsmedia.com/
Irish Roots magazine is available by post
or downloadable in digital format
Beyond the pretty picture on the cover of this issue, beginners and, indeed, many intermediate level researchers, will benefit from the first of a new Back To Basics feature series designed to place Irish records in their historical context and point family historians in the direction of the main repositories and their online records, as well as the best guide books.

Another article takes an in-depth look at government gazettes, especially the Dublin Gazette, and their value to genealogists, while those with ancestors from Limerick will want to follow up the advice and recommended resources in a spotlight feature focussing on that county.

A very unusual case study follows George Mitchell from County Monaghan who was killed in action as a soldier in the Indian Army; it'll be of great value as a methodology to follow in tracing the story of a WW1 ancestor, as well as highlighting a lesser-known battlefield of WW1: the advance into Iraq in 1917. Fascinating.

Other features look at the surnames of Leinster (I was surprised to learn that there are no big Norman-origin names among the top-20 in this province), and the famous Christmas Truce on the Western Front 100 years ago.

Irish-Australian politicians are also explored; there's my own regular review of new resources, developments and happenings in Irish genealogy; and, for Irish-American researchers, there's a helpful article about using Special Collections to discover more information about immigrant ancestors. There's also a rather sad tale of a family that made the journey to Manhatten and subsequently returned to County Cork.

As if that weren't enough, Nicola Morris, MAPGI, of Timeline Research, answers readers queries and provides readers with some great tips for their own research, and there's news from around the Irish genealogical groups. I spotted in the Society Notes section that the North of Ireland Family History Society will be expanding its excellent Research Centre in Newtownabbey, Co Antrim, after a neighbouring unit in the complex became vacant. This means the society, the island's busiest and biggest, will be able to host genealogy classes for local groups. I look forward to following up this development.

Irish Roots magazine costs €4.50/£3.35 in the shops, €7 by mail (anywhere), or $3.99 for a digital copy. A one-year subcription costs $12 (digital) or, for hard copy, €25/US$37/CAN$40/AUS$42/UK£25 (approximately) including postage.