Derry City Cemetery Burial Records database launched

The Derry City Cemetery Burial Records database is now available to search, free of charge. (If you missed it, my blogpost of 9 October will give you details of this volunteer project, which started two years ago.)

This free database holds some 36,000 records dating from 1853 to 1916+, and can be accessed from this page: City Cemetery Records Project. There's an example below of a search I made for James Doherty who was born in Donaghmore and died in 1882. I've had to reduce the image considerably but I think it should be just about legible.

Clicking on the 'Grave Locations' reference brings up another three register entries of burials over the following 30 years, all showing the identical place of residence and, presumably, all related to James Doherty. And the precise location of the grave plot in the burial ground can be pinpointed in the cemetery map (see Tip 3 in the main text).

IGRS adds 14,000 names to its Early Irish BMD Indexes

The Irish Genealogical Research Society (IGRS) has uploaded an additional 7,000 records to the Society's Early Irish Birth, Marriage and Death Indexes, a unique collection of life event references from lesser-used and obscure sources. The update delivers 14,000 names, creating a new total name count for the three indexes of 274,000.

The Music Hall in Fishamble Street, as depicted
in Lady of the House in 1915

This latest tranche of data includes references to many deaths culled from Irish newspapers. One dramatic news item relates to the partial collapse of a Music Hall located in Fishamble Street, to the rear of Christchurch Cathedral in Dublin.

A meeting of the Trade Guild of St Luke, which combined the city’s cutlers, painters, paper-stainers and stationers, was being held to nominate a candidate to stand for election to parliament. The room was about 20 feet above ground and was crowded with somewhere between 300 and 400 men.

The thunderous applause and stamping of feet eventually caused one of the main support beams to give way and the entire body of men disappeared into the depths of the building below.

Máire Kennedy, former Librarian at Dublin’s Gilbert Library, says this of the event in her online Blog: “Nobody seems to have been killed outright, but at least eleven people died shortly afterwards of their injuries. Many were carried to their homes stretched on doors, or taken in sedan chairs.

Dublin’s medical personnel must have been under severe strain that afternoon and evening with so many casualties. Faulkner’s Dublin Journal reports that the sight of the maimed being carried through the streets caused the greatest consternation in the city. Finn’s Leinster Journal informs us that few escaped without severe injury and many were in a ‘situation that made death desirable’. The Hibernian Magazine predicted that many of the injured ‘will exhibit melancholy monuments, to perpetuate the memory of this dreadful event, by the loss of their legs and arms’.

From Walkers Hibernian Magazine we learn the names of some of those who died of their injuries: Mr Taylor, High street; Mr Deey, Attorney; Mr Byrne, cutler; Mr McMahon, Abbey Street; Mr Pemberton, Capel Street, Mr Johnson, Cutpurse-row; Mr Shaw, Essex-bridge; Mr Scot, Joseph’s-lane; and Mr Dobson, Capel Street.

Also included in this update are 850 references to marriages sourced from the Registry of Deeds. "Many of these marriage references came from formal marriage settlements, but which were hidden by the manner of their inclusion in the contemporary index volumes," notes Roz McCutcheon, the IGRS Early Irish Indexes creator and manager. "Including them in this index probably shines the first light on their existence in two hundred or more years.”

Marriage settlements can be extremely illuminating documents about family relationships and alliances. For instance, one registered in November 1759 notes that Nicholas Biddulph was to marry Elizabeth Dempsey, the daughter of Charles Dempsey; the groom was to be given employment by the bride’s father; and that Nicholas had a brother called Francs who resided at Stradbally, in Queens (Laois) county. Other relatives of the bride named were Samuel Dempsey, noted as a clerk to another man also called Charles Dempsey, assumedly cousins.

You can search the databases here:

IGRS Early Marriages Index – Free to all.

IGRS Early Births Index – Name search only for non-members.

IGRS Early Deaths Index – Name search only for non-members.

Irish family history & heritage events, 29 Oct - 11 Nov

Monday 29 October: Bank Holiday in the Republic of Ireland. All repositories and libraries closed, except the National Library of Ireland where exhibitions are open 12-5pm only, but all other services and facilities are closed. This public holiday does not apply to Northern Ireland, which operates as normal.

Monday 29 October: Ireland’s last witchcraft trial: Islandmagee, 1711, with Ciara Molloy. Host: Offaly Historical and Archaeological Society. Venue: Offaly History Centre, Bury Quay, Tullamore, Co Offaly. 8pm. There will be a prize for the best dressed witch on the night!

Tuesday 30 October: Glasgow's Mitchell Library Resources, with Irene O’Brien. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Causeway Branch. Venue: Guide Hall, Terrace Row, Coleraine BT52 1HF. 8pm. Free. All welcome.

Tuesday 30 October: Brendan Bracken: son of the Fenian rebel who built Kilrush's Maid of Erin or Winston Churchill's secret son? with Brian Comerford. Hosts: Kilrush and District Historical Society. Venue: Teach Ceoil, Kilrush, Co. Clare. 8pm. All welcome. Free to members/€5 to non-members.

Friday 2 November: Ireland's abandoned school houses, with Enda O’Flaherty. Venue: Loughwell Farm Park, Moycullen, Co. Galway. 8pm. All welcome. Admission is free and refreshments will be served.

Saturday 3 November: Pioneering Women in Irish history, a day conference. Hosts: Old Tuam Society and Galway County Council. Venue: Corralea Court Hotel, The Square, Tuam, Co Galway. 9:30am to 4:30pm. The conference fee of €10 includes tea and coffee and a two course lunch. See programme.

Monday 5 November: NLI Reading Room and Manuscript Room closed. Venue: National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. On-going Monday closures are facilitating extensive redevelopment of the premises. All other services/exhibitons/cafe, including Genealogy Advisory Service, operate as normal. Details.

Monday 5 November: Workshop Evening. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Foyle Branch. Venue: Lecture Room of Derry City’s Central Library, 35 Foyle Street, LondonDerry, BT48 6AL. 7pm. Free. All welcome.

Monday 5 November: 1798 Rebellion, with Dr David Hume. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Killyleagh Branch. Venue: Killyleagh Masonic Hall, 50 High Street, Killyleagh, Co Down. 8pm. Free. All welcome.

Monday 5 November: Using the National Library, a Research Workshop. Venue and Host: NLI, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. 3pm. Places are limited so booking required. To reserve a place, email learning@nli.ie or phone 01 6030 259/346.

Thursday 8 November: Exiles of '98, a half-day conference to marks the recent publication by the Ulster Historical Foundation of 'Exiles of ’98: Ulster Presbyterians and the United States', by Peter Gilmore, Trevor Parkhill and William Roulston. Venue: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 2-4:30pm. Free, but need to book.

Thursday 8 November: The history of the linen industry in the Mountshannon region, with Noel Murphy. Host: South East Galway Archaeological & Historical Society. Venue: Irish Workhouse Centre, St. Bridget's Road, Portumna, Co. Galway. 8pm. All welcome.

Friday 9 November: Hidden in the landscape, with Dr James O'Neill. Hosts: This land of ire: the archaeology and landscape of Tyrone's Rebellion, a lecture series organised by Historic Environment Division. Venue: The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 1pm. Free. Details.

Saturday 10 November: Family History lecture day. Host: Irish Family History Society. Venue: Dublin City Library and Archives, 144 Pearse St, Dublin 2. 10am to 4:30pm. Free. All welcome.

Saturday 10 November: The 1918 general election – political earthquake or ‘same old, same old’? History Ireland Hedge School. Host: History Ireland magazine. Venue: Allingham Festival, Abbey Centre, Ballyshannon, Co Donegal. 6pm. Free. Editor Tommy Graham, with Brian Hanley, Brian Walker, Pauric Travers and Margaret O’Callaghan. Free. All welcome.


Background photo credit: Jooinn.com

FindMyPast adds Waterford Poor Law Minute Books

The Waterford Poor Law Union Board Of Guardians Minute Books have been digitised, indexed and uploaded to FindMyPast's Ireland collection. The record set covers only the Waterford PLU and holds more than 229,000 records

A Board of Guardians was responsible for the administration and operation of the workhouse and Poor Relief projects within each Poor Law Union (PLU). The minutes of weekly meetings recorded how many men and women were housed in the workhouse, how many were discharged or died, and the number of births. They also recorded workhouse expenditures, along with the names of the workhouse suppliers. Outdoor relief was also noted in the minutes.

Researchers may find their ancestors named in the Minute Books for all kinds of reasons. They have been a mamber of staff, a Guardian, or a supplier of goods or services; they may have received outdoor Poor Relief for work such as breaking stones for pathways and roads. They may have paid or collected local rates, have been a workhouse inmate and have announced marriage to another inmate or requested assistance to emigrate, or they may have been an orphaned or deserted child or someone with special circumstances or needs.

Originals (and detailed Descriptive Lists) of the Waterford PLU Minute Books, as well as those for the PLU's of Dungarvan, Kilmacthomas and Lismore Poor Law Unions, are held by Waterford City & County Archives. The full collection will soon be available on FindMyPast.

Three new titles join Irish Newspaper Archives

The Dublin-based, family-run Irish Newspaper Archives has added three new titles to its holding. The publications are:

Westmeath Independent, 1884–Current
Offaly Independent, 1920–Current
Dublin Journal, 1733–1825

To celebrate these additional titles, and the current season, there's a couple of useful discounts on offer. You can take advantage of a 35% discount on a 12-month subscription to the online archive, or a 20% discount on a one-month subscription. Both offers will expire on Sunday 4 November.

See below for the promotional codes, which you'll need to quote in order to claim your discount.

Registry of Deeds Index Project: latest news

The volunteer-led Registry of Deeds Index Project has seen more updates and function improvements.

Canberra-based Nick Reddan FIGRS, who manages the free site, advises that the main Index now holds 290,372 record entries originating from 31,947 memorials of deeds, while the updated Grantors' Index now has 23,011 entries.

 In a bid to woo more would-be volunteers to contribute to the site, which exists purely for the benefit of Irish family historians, he says that transcribing the Grantors' Indexes is not complex; the data is in tabular form and you just need to type it into a spreadsheet or Word table and then email it to webmaster@irishdeedsindex.net. Simples.

In terms of improved functionality, Nick has corrected the search scripts so they should be working better now.

If you want some background to the ROD Index Project, you might like to read Nick's article in last month's newsletter of the Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations (1.2Mb pdf).

Genetic Genealogy Ireland: lecture videos are online

Video recordings of the Genetic Genealogy Ireland 2018 conference, which was held at the Back To Our Past fair in Dublin last weekend, will start being uploaded to the GGI video channel in due course.

If you're too impatient to wait, you can watch recordings of the live-streamed videos via the GGI Facebook group. You'll need to join the Group to do so. You'll find links to the individual recordings on the GGI website.

I'll keep an eye on the GGI video channel and let you know when the open-access recordings start appearing.

AncestryIreland.com adds 10 new databases

The Ulster Historical Foundation (UHF) has advised that it has added ten new databases to its Ulster Genealogical and Historical Guild collection, topping up the subscription (or Pay As You Go)  holding by more than17,000 records.

The new databases are:

• A Directory of the Gentry in Banbridge in 1823
• A List of People granted Freedom of the Corporation of Coleraine in 1832
• A Subscriber List for the book Heterogenea or Medley for the Benefit of the Poor
• A List of People Holding Railway Shares in any of the Irish Railways in 1847
• A List of Members of Parliament in Co. Down from 1585-1885
• A List of Mills on the Bann in 1837
• A Petition to Parliament from Banbridge from 1828
• Registers of Baptism from First Antrim Presbyterian Church from 1677-1733
• Registers of Marriage from First Antrim Presbyterian Church from 1675-1736
• Seapatrick Military Records from World War I

Guild Members have access to more than 200 databases. For more details, see the UHF’s website AncestryIreland.

Milestones for NEHGS collection of RC records (Boston)

The New England Historical Genealogical Society's AmericanAncestors.org has continued to expand its collection of Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston registers, 1789-1900, as follows:

Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records (Image-only), 1789-1900
In the last three weeks, the image/browse collection has passed a significant milestone with more than 500 volumes now available to view on the online database. 

• Our Lady Help of Christians (Newton): Baptisms & Marriages, 1879-1900
• Sacred Heart (Natick) Baptisms & Marriages, 1890-1900; Confirmations, 1893-1900
• St. Francis de Sales (Charlestown) Baptisms, 1861-1900; Marriages, 1862-1900
• Sts. Peter and Paul (South Boston) Baptisms & Marriages, 1847-1900; Confirmations, 1865-1900

You don't need a subscription to view these images, only a Guest Account. To find out how to navigate the collection to find the records you want, watch this short how-to video.

Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1900
Indexing of the images continues and there are now more than 200 volumes available in the fully indexed collection via the link above. The most recent additions were the registers for St Mary's in Randolph, which was built in 1849:

• St. Mary (Randolph) Baptisms & Marriages, 1853-1900: Confirmations and First Communions, 1869-1884

To search and view the indexed collection, you need to be a member of the NEHGS.

Irish family history and heritage events, 22 Oct - 4 Nov

Monday 22 October to Friday 26 October: National Archives of Ireland's Reading Room closed to facilitate building works. Venue: Bishop Street, Dublin 8. Reopens Tuesday 30th. Details

Monday 22 October: NLI Reading Room and Manuscript Room closed. Venue: National Library of Ireland, Dublin 2. On-going all-day Monday closures are facilitating extensive redevelopment of the main Kildare Street premises; all other services/exhibitons/cafe, including Genealogy Advisory Service, operate as normal. Details.

Monday 22 October: Was Bonaparte in the GPO? Reflections on the legend of Napoleon in Irish history 1796-1916, with Professor Thomas Bartlett. Host and venue: Princess Grace Irish Library, 9 rue Princesse Marie-de-Lorraine, 98000 Monaco. 7:30pm–10pm. Reservations via pglib@monaco.mc are essential. Entry €10 per person payable at the door.

Monday 22 October: The sinking of the RMS Leinster in October 1918, with Mario Corrigan. Host: Kill Local History Group. Venue: Parish Office, Kill, Co. Kildare. 8:30pm. Free. All welcome.

Tuesday 23 October: Pandemic: Ireland and the Great Flu 1918, a full-day conference and exhibition. Hosts: Glasnevin Cemetery Museum and Trinity College Dublin. Venue: Glasnevin Cemetery Museum, Finglas Road, Dublin 11. 9:30am to 5:15pm. €10. Booking.

Tuesday 23 October: What's in a (Sur)name? with Dr Paul Tempan. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Belfast Branch. Venue: C. S. Lewis Room, Holywood Arches Library, 4-12 Holywood Road, Belfast, BT4 1NT. 7:30pm. Free. All welcome.

Wednesday 24 October: DNA applications to Irish genealogy, with Maurice Gleeson. Host: Irish Genealogical Research Society, Ireland Branch Autumn Lecture. Venue: Helen Roe Theatre, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 63 Merrion Square South, Dublin 2. 6:45pm. All welcome. Members free; non-members €5.

Wednesday 24 October: The Siege, the 1718 Migration and the Foyle Valley, with Dr William Roulston. Hosts: Siege Museum supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Derry Strabane Council. Venue: The Siege Museum, 13 Society Street, Derry BT48 6PJ. Free. 7pm to 10pm. Need to register.

Wednesday 24 October: Irish family history assistance in the Library. Host: Genealogical Society of Victoria. Venue: GSV Library, Level 6, 85 Queen Street, Melbourne, Australia. Free for members. $20 non-members. 10am to 4pm. Consultations: One-hour appointments with a research consultant also available. See details.

Thursday 25 October: Total war? Ireland in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, 1793-1815, with Professor Tom Bartlett. Hosts: PRONI and the Ulster Society for Irish Historical Studies. Venue: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, 2 Titanic Boulevard, Titanic Quarter, Belfast BT3 9HQ. Free. 7pm–9:30pm. Need to register.

Friday 26 October: Using Family and Local History Resources Online, a Positive Aging Month practical workshop that starts with an orientation tour of PRONI and is followed by an introduction to searching resources online. Venue: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 11am to 1pm. Free, but space is limited so booking is essential. Details

Saturday 27 October: Irish Special Interest Group meeting, with Jean Roth. Host and venue: Seattle Genealogical Society, 6200 Sand Point Way NE. Seattle, WA, USA. Free. 10:15am to 12:15pm. All welcome.

Sunday 28 October Free genealogy help session. Host and venue: Library of the Irish American Heritage Center, 4626 N Knox Avenue, Chicago, IL 60630, USA. From 1pm to 4pm. Free. All welcome.

Monday 29 October: Bank Holiday in the Republic of Ireland. All repositories and libraries closed, except the National Library of Ireland where exhibitions are open 12-5pm only, but all other services and facilities are closed. This public holiday does not apply to Northern Ireland, which operates as normal.

Monday 29 October: Ireland’s last witchcraft trial: Islandmagee, 1711, with Ciara Molloy. Host: Offaly Historical and Archaeological Society. Venue: Offaly History Centre, Bury Quay, Tullamore, Co Offaly. 8pm. There will be a prize for the best dressed witch on the night!

Tuesday 30 October: Glasgow's Mitchell Library Resources, with Irene O’Brien. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Causeway Branch. Venue: Guide Hall, Terrace Row, Coleraine BT52 1HF. 8pm. Free. All welcome.

Tuesday 30 October: Brendan Bracken: son of the Fenian rebel who built Kilrush's Maid of Erin or Winston Churchill's secret son? with Brian Comerford. Hosts: Kilrush and District Historical Society. Venue: Teach Ceoil, Kilrush, Co. Clare. 8pm. All welcome. Free to members/€5 to non-members.

Friday 2 November: Ireland's abandoned school houses, with Enda O’Flaherty. Venue: Loughwell Farm Park, Moycullen, Co. Galway. 8pm. All welcome. Admission is free and refreshments will be served.

IrishGenealogy.ie: latest on next tranche of uploads

The free site is managed by the Department
of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht

Some eleven weeks on from my last blogpost about the (slow) progress of the state-managed project to complete or at least update the GRO's civil birth, marriage and death registers collection, I thought it time to check with the powers-that-be that the 'November or thereabouts' upload was still on course.

Apart from anything else, I thought it might make a happy piece of news to kick off this year's Back To Our Past show, which will be opening its doors this morning in Dublin.

Sadly, I have no such news. Here's the official line:' The GRO confirms that it is still working on a further tranche of records but is unable to confirm when it will be in a position to transfer these records to the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht for uploading to www.irishgenealogy.ie.'

Maybe it's the pessimist in me, but I got the distinct impression that if this project isn't unofficially on hold, it's certainly not got a lot of momentum behind it.

I hope I'm wrong, but I fear we may not be getting any sizeable upload this year.

Halloween discounts on MyHeritage DNA kits

MyHeritage DNA is running a sale in Ireland, the UK and the USA. (I understand it is also running in Canada and Australia but I've not been able to access those sites to obtain details due to the site's irritating geo-locater widget.)

The discounted price of the MyHeritage DNA testing kit is €59 | £59 | US$59, reduced from €75 | £75 | US$75, respectively.

In each case, shipping is free if you order two or more kits.

The sale offer runs until Thursday 1 November and you'll find full terms and conditions on the website.

Researching Ulster Ancestors: 2nd edition published

Published by the Ulster Historical Foundation

A second edition of one of the most respected genealogy guides for the north of Ireland has been published by the Ulster Historical Foundation.

Written by Dr William Roulston, a director of the UHF, Researching Scots-Irish Ancestors – The Essential Genealogical Guide to Early Modern Ulster, 1600-1800, was first published in 2005. It opens up avenues for research, drawing attention to collections held in archives in Ireland and elsewhere, which can help document your family back to the 1600s.

This new edition is a much expanded (and, obviously, fully updated) version of the original. It runs to more than 600 pages, up from 262. It includes more detailed information on the importance of church and land records and new chapters explore the value of records relating to charitable bodies, fraternal organisations and businesses. There is also a discussion of potential sources of information on emigration.

Extensive appendices include a summary breakdown of the sources available for the 17th and 18th centuries for every parish in the historic nine counties of Ulster (including a listing of surviving pre-1800 church records) and a detailed description of around 350 collections of landed estate papers. A set of parish maps for each county in Ulster has also been included, along with a listing of more than 600 places in the nine counties of Ulster giving the parish location.

While counting numbers, it should also be noted that the book has two titles (yep, it's so good they named it twice!).

In the UK and Ireland, the paperback is called Researching Ulster Ancestors – The Essential Genealogical Guide to Early Modern Ulster, 1600-1800. ISBN 978-1-909556-66-9.

In the Rest of the World it is called  Researching Scots-Irish Ancestors – The Essential Genealogical Guide to Early Modern Ulster, 1600-1800. ISBN 978-1-909556-65-2

The content is exactly the same, no matter the title. So is the price: £19.99 (plus P&P).

Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives: latest files

Aughaval Cemetery, Westport, Co. Mayo.
Photo courtesy of Bernie McCafferty and
IGPArchives. Click for enlarged image.

The following files of headstone transcriptions and photos, and church records were added to the online Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives in the first half of October.

They were all submitted by volunteers and are free to search and view.

FERMANAGH Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Cooneen Parish Church (no gravestones)

LIMERICK Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Limerick City, St. Mary's Cathedral (CoI) Pt 2

LONGFORD Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Lanesborough, St. John's (CoI) Graveyard (Rt. Side)

MAYO Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Aughaval Cemetery, Part 4

MONAGHAN & FERMANAGH Genealogy Archives - Church Records
Clones Parish Registers, Baptisms, 1846-1850
Clones Parish Registers, Baptisms, 1851-1856

TIPPERARY Genealogy Archives - Church Records
Fethard Marriages, Dio. of Cashel & Emly, 1814-1819

National Library of Ireland will be offline on 17 October

The National Library of Ireland has advised that all its online services will be unavailable from 11am on Wedneday 17 October while essential maintenance is carried out.

For family history researchers, the greatest negative of this downtime will be lack of access to the Library's Catalogue and free Roman Catholic Registers database. Regarding the latter, FindMyPast's and Ancestry's indexes and links to the latter will also be impacted, with transcriptions available but no images.

Online services are expected to be functioning again during the afternoon.

UPDATE, 17 October, 18:50pm: Full service appears to have resumed.

Drogheda Independent joins British News Archive

The Drogheda Independent has joined the online British Newspaper Archive.

Some 72 editions from selected editions published 1915, 1916 and 1922, and all editions published in 1990-1995 have joined the database so far, but the holding will eventually span 1890 to 2005.

The British Newspaper Archive can be accessed via its dedicated site (click image), but is also available in its entirety as part of a FindMyPast Pro/Ultimate or World subscription (see current discount offer).

Its Irish collection includes 159 titles from Ireland; five of them target Drogheda specifically:  Drogheda Argus & Leinster Journal, Drogheda Conservative Journal, The Drogheda Independent, Drogheda Journal (Meath & Louth Advertiser) and Drogheda News Letter, making it an excellent archive for those with family connections from the county.

Irish family history and heritage events, 15-27 October

Monday 15 October: NLI Reading Room and Manuscript Room closed. Venue: National Library of Ireland, Dublin 2. On-going all-day Monday closures are facilitating extensive redevelopment of the main Kildare Street premises; all other services/exhibitons/cafe, including Genealogy Advisory Service, operate as normal. Details.

Monday 15 October: Diary of a WW1 Nurse, with Jenny Cumming. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Larne Branch. Venue: Larne Bowling & Lawn Tennis Club, 112-120 Glenarm Road, Larne, BT40 1DZ. 7:30pm. No need to book. All welcome.

Monday 15 October: The Heathen's Tale, with Annie Humphrey. Host: More Tales of Medieval Dublin lecture series. Venue: Wood Quay Venue, Dublin City Council, Wood Quay, Dublin 8. Admission free. All welcome. 1:05pm - 1:50pm.

Monday 15 October to Friday 19 October Researching your Irish and Scots-Irish family history, with Gillian Hunt and Fintan Mullan at the 2018 British Institute. Host: International Society for British Genealogy and Family History. Venue: Salt Lake Plaza Hotel, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. Cost: $495. Details.

Tuesday 16 October: An introduction to family history research, a workshop. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, South Tyrone Branch. Venue: Killymaddy Centre, 190 Ballygawley Road, Dungannon, Co Tyrone BT70 1TF. Free. 8pm. All welcome.

Wednesday 17 October: The Taverner Family, with Tom Mason. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, North Armagh Branch. Venue: Bleary Community Centre, 1 Deans Road, Bleary, Craigavon, Co Armagh, BT66 7AS. Free. 7:30pm. All welcome.

Wednesday 17 October: John Redmond – The forgotten patriot, with former Taoiseach John Bruton. Host: Westmeath Archaeological and Historical Society. Venue: Greville Armsn, Mullingar, Co Westmeath. 8pm. All welcome. Free.

Wednesday 17 October: Book launch: Michael Collins – The Man and the Revolution, by Anne Dolan and William Murphy. Guest speaker: Fintan O'Toole. Host: Collins Press. Venue: GPO Witness History, O'Connell Street, Dublin 1. All welcome. 6:30pm-7:30pm. All welcome.

Wednesday 17 October: “We always vote Redmond in this house” - The Redmonds and Waterford, a political dynasty, 1891-1952, with Dr Pat McCarthy. Host: Waterford County Museum. Venue: Dungarvan Harbour Sailing Club, Quay St, Abbeyside, Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, 8pm. Entry fee €5. All welcome.

Friday 19 to Sunday 21 October: Back To Our Past family history fair and Genetic Genealogy Ireland conference. Organised by SLP and ISOGG respectively. Venue: Industries Hall, RDS, Anglesea Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. Free admission for pre-booked tickets. All welcome. Lectures, societies, database providers, DNA test kits, publishers and suppliers and more, all under one roof. Details.

Friday 19 to Sunday 21 October: Maritime Heritage, a weekend of lectures from lighthouse keepers, sailors, historians and maritime archaeologists. Host: Maritime Heritage Weekend. Venue: Harry's Bar, Rosses Point, Sligo. Tickets for each evening/afternoon are €10 or weekend tickets are €25 and will be available at the door or from Harry’s Bar. Details.

Sunday 21 October:  From Ulster to New England: Researching your Scots-Irish ancestors, with the Ulster Historical Foundation. Hosts: New England Historical Genealogical Society and New Hampshire Historical Society. Venue: Executive Court Banquet Facility, 1199 S. Mammoth Road, Manchester, New Hampshire, USA. Cost: $125. Details.

Monday 22 October to Friday 26 October: National Archives of Ireland's Reading Room closed to facilitate building works. Venue: Bishop Street, Dublin 8. Reopens Tuesday 30th. Details

Monday 22 October: NLI Reading Room and Manuscript Room closed. Venue: National Library of Ireland, Dublin 2. On-going all-day Monday closures are facilitating extensive redevelopment of the main Kildare Street premises; all other services/exhibitons/cafe, including Genealogy Advisory Service, operate as normal. Details.

Monday 22 October: Was Bonaparte in the GPO? Reflections on the legend of Napoleon in Irish history 1796-1916, with Professor Thomas Bartlett. Host and venue: Princess Grace Irish Library, 9 rue Princesse Marie-de-Lorraine, 98000 Monaco. 7:30pm–10pm. Reservations via pglib@monaco.mc are essential. Entry €10 per person payable at the door.

Monday 22 October: The sinking of the RMS Leinster in October 1918, with Mario Corrigan. Host: Kill Local History Group. Venue: Parish Office, Kill, Co. Kildare. 8:30pm. Free. All welcome.

Tuesday 23 October: Pandemic: Ireland and the Great Flu 1918, a full-day conference and exhibition. Hosts: Glasnevin Cemetery Museum and Trinity College Dublin. Venue: Glasnevin Cemetery Museum, Finglas Road, Dublin 11. 9:30am to 5:15pm. €10. Booking.

Wednesday 24 October: DNA applications to Irish genealogy, with Maurice Gleeson. Host: Irish Genealogical Research Society, Ireland Branch Autumn Lecture. Venue: Helen Roe Theatre, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 63 Merrion Square South, Dublin 2. 6:45pm. All welcome. Members free; non-members €5.

Wednesday 24 October: The Siege, the 1718 Migration and the Foyle Valley, with Dr William Roulston. Hosts: Siege Museum supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Derry Strabane Council. Venue: The Siege Museum, 13 Society Street, Derry BT48 6PJ. Free. 7pm to 10pm. Need to register.

Wednesday 24 October: Irish family history assistance in the Library. Host: Genealogical Society of Victoria. Venue: GSV Library, Level 6, 85 Queen Street, Melbourne, Australia. Free for members. $20 non-members. 10am to 4pm. Consultations: One-hour appointments with a research consultant also available. See details.

Thursday 25 October: Total war? Ireland in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, 1793-1815, with Professor Tom Bartlett. Hosts: PRONI and the Ulster Society for Irish Historical Studies. Venue: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, 2 Titanic Boulevard, Titanic Quarter, Belfast BT3 9HQ. Free. 7pm–9:30pm. Need to register.

Friday 26 October: Using Family and Local History Resources Online, a Positive Aging Month practical workshop that starts with an orientation tour of PRONI and is followed by an introduction to searching resources online. Venue: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 11am to 1pm. Free, but space is limited so booking is essential. Details

Saturday 27 October: Irish Special Interest Group meeting, with Jean Roth. Host and venue: Seattle Genealogical Society, 6200 Sand Point Way NE. Seattle, WA, USA. Free. 10:15am to 12:15pm. All welcome.

Sunday 28 October Free genealogy help session. Host and venue: Library of the Irish American Heritage Center, 4626 N Knox Avenue, Chicago, IL 60630, USA. From 1pm to 4pm. Free. All welcome.

Registry of Deeds: more temporary access restrictions

Dublin's Registry of Deeds has advised that essential maintenance work will again require the Transcribing Room Vault to be closed to the public from Monday 15 October to Tuesday 30 October.

The Vault contains transcripts of Memorials of Deeds from 1896 to 1910. It was closed for several weeks during the summer.

Researchers should find no other access restrictions at Henrietta Street during this new period of closure, but probably best to keep your eye on the prai.ie news pages, if you're planning to visit later this month.

Wexford People joins British Newspaper Archive

The Wexford People has joined the British Newspaper Archive.

When first launched in 1853, the publication was known simply as The People. It became The Wexford People in 1994 and continues as a weekly tabloid serving Wexford Town and County Wexford.

Editions uploaded so far span the years 1856 to 1896, with gaps, and the digital archive plans to eventually include all years to 2005.

The British Newspaper Archive can be accessed via its dedicated site (click image), but is also available in its entirety as part of a FindMyPast Pro/Ultimate or World subscription (see current discount offer). It includes 158 titles from Ireland; four of them target Wexford specifically: Wexford Conservative, Wexford Constitution, Wexford Independent and Wexford People, making it a great archive for those with family connections from the county.

New book: Foyle Maritime Memories

Foyle Maritime Memories; Photographs from the Bigger and McDonald Collection 1927-1939 is a new book from family and local historian Brian Mitchell MAGI.

Brian is well-known as the manager of the Derry Genealogy Centre and author of several books including the indispensable A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland. For his latest publication he has turned his attention to an archive of photographs, now in the care of Libraries NI, taken by the Derry Standard newspaper prior to WW2.

He has researched a selection of these photos to explore Derry and Lough Foyle’s maritime history, particularly the themes of emigration, transatlantic tourism and the activities of the Londonderry Port and Harbour Commissioners. Images include the activity on the quays, loading and unloading of ships, tug-tenders plying between Derry and Moville, transatlantic liners, the Scotch Boat and emigrants and passengers on board the tenders, liners and cross-channel steamers.

The 120-page paperback also captures the arrival of General Balbo and his ‘Italian Transatlantic Air Armada’ of 24 seaplanes on the Foyle in July 1933 on their way to Chicago’s World Fair and, in the year before, another transatlantic story that captured the world's imagination: the arrival in May 1923 of Amelia Earhart, the first women to fly the Atlantic solo, at Robert Gallagher’s farm at Ballyarnet.

Priced at £9.99, the book is available from the publisher Colourpoint Books of Newtownabbey. ISBN 9781780731759.

15% off FindMyPast annual Ultimate/Pro/World subs

FindMyPast is offering a 15% discount on annual subscriptions to its most comprehensive packages.

Unlike most of the company's money-saving offers, this one is open to both new and returning customers, so make sure to grab it before it expires on Tuesday 16 October.

Click on the flag or links below to the FindMyPast territory that is the most appropriate to you, and then check out the descriptions of the packages on offer and the Terms and Conditions.

	FindMyPast Ireland Get 15% off a 12-month World subscription
	FindMyPast USA/Canada Get 15% off a 12-month Ultimate British & Irish subscription
	FindMyPast UK Get 15% off a 12-month Pro subscription
	FindMyPast Australia/NZ Get 15% off a 12-month World subscription

Dublin Port Archive launched online and free

The Dublin Port Company has launched a dedicated online repository containing employee registers, photographs, drawings, maps and charts, and videos at DublinPortArchive.com.

With records dating back to 1707, the physical archive is still being catalogued so the website, which is free to search and view and already holds items that anyone with family connections to the port will enjoy exploring, is a work-in-progress.

The Name Book - Click for larger view

Probably of most immediate interest to family historians is the Name Book. This covers the period from 1906 to 1914 and lists every manual worker employed by the Dublin Port and Docks Board. (Note: this book doesn't include Dockers; they were employed by stevedoring companies, not by the Board.) It contains information on the dates employees started and finished work with Dublin Port, their occupation and any noteworthy events or occupation changes that occurred during their time of employment at the Port. For example, you'll see 'Striker' written in red ink against some of the names.

An introduction to the Name Book says that a pdf of an image from the register page can be downloaded for each search result. I haven't found this to be the case; clicking on 'View' seems to be futile, and although I've tried to contact the Archive since yesterday's launch, I haven't been able to speak to anyone about the problem.

However, I've found that it's possible to browse images of the register pages via the Gallery section of the site instead. As names are recorded in a 'soft' alphabetical order, it doesn't take long to locate the entries you've found in the name search.

The Gallery also holds general research material, including videos, and maps. I particularly enjoyed the Nicknames video, where ex-employees were filmed laughing and jokeing as they recalled some of the nicknames – some kind, some not so kind – conferred on most of their fellow workers at the port. A collection of historical maps dating back to the early 18th century features the Dublin coast from Dun Laoghaire to Skerries and along the river course and into its estuary, while the 1926 Yearbook provides a detailed history of the dock, the development of its many quays, its chief exporters (think Guinness and Jacob's Biscuits) and shipping lines, and the distance to destination ports around the world. It's full of photos and drawings.

(Thanks to eagle-eyed genealogist Claire Bradley for spotting news of the release.)

Credentials for Genealogists: Proof of the Professional

Gorry Research has announced the publication of Credentials for Genealogists: Proof of the Professional. Written by Wicklow-based professional genealogist Paul Gorry MAGI, who has 40 years' experience of client research, the new book (his fifth) is intended as a resource for both accrediting bodies and those seeking professional credentials.

Virtual Launch, 10-11 October

In its 253-pages, Paul unapologetically advocates for credentials for professional genealogists. He highlights the work of the various accrediting bodies worldwide, which have long provided such credentials, and notes that relevant credentials are not open to every genealogist, largely due to linguistic or geographical restrictions, but he concludes that currently the majority of practitioners do not have accreditation and fail to recognise it as a necessity. His view is that credentials are essential for the sake of genealogy as a profession, for the integrity of the conscientious practitioner, and for safeguarding clients’ interests.

It's clear from the book's theme that this publication will of considerable interest (and some controversy) to genealogists, whether they are existing professionals, would-be professionals, happy hobbyists, and even potential clients, and I shall be back in a few days with a review when I finished my reading.

In the meantime, I thought you'd like to know that the book will be receiving a 'Virtual Launch' this week on Facebook when Paul will be celebrating the book's release and chatting about its subject.

Virtual Launch details, Wednesday 10 October:
From 10am to 11am (Irish time), primarily for Australasians enjoying their evening
From 7pm to 8pm (Irish time), primarily for fellow Europeans

Virtual Launch details, Thursday 11 October:
From 2am to 3am (Irish time), primarily for North Americans

He'll be coming and going all day in between these hours, and you can dip in whenever you like, wherever you are. It's free and should be good fun. (I hope to see you there.)

Credentials for Genealogists (ISBN 978-1-9164480) can be purchased online for €16.00 (plus p&p) from Blessington Books. It will also be available at the Accredited Genealogists Ireland (AGI) stand at Ireland’s annual family history fair, BACK TO OUR PAST, at the RDS, Dublin, Ireland, (19-21 October).

Free tickets to BTOP and Genetic Genealogy Ireland

There's less than a fortnight to go until Back To Our Past (BTOP), incorporating the Genetic Genealogy Ireland (GGI) conference, opens at the RDS in Dublin 4.

It's the ninth outing of BTOP, Ireland's largest annual history fair. As usual, the show has attracted most* of the major Irish genealogical organisations from online database suppliers, societies and publishers, to dna test providers, course organisers and national repositories. As well as giving researchers of all levels the opportunity to ask questions, explore database collections and take advantage of show discounts on society memberships, database subscriptions, books, magazines and other products, free consultations will be available on the Accredited Genealogists Ireland stand.

Lectures on a wide selection of mainly traditional Irish family history themes will be presented on the hour from noon: five on both Friday and Saturday and three on Sunday.

The Genetic Genealogy Ireland conference is the largest of its kind on this side of the Atlantic and will once again present a schedule of talks by international dna experts. Sponsored by Family Tree DNA, the conference is held in a dedicated room above the main exhibition hall and features six talks each day, on the half hour from 11.30am. You can find out more here.

Free admission tickets can be booked in advance. Once you're inside the Hall, the exhibition can be explored at your leisure and lectures are free to attend on a first come, first served basis.

BTOP and GGI will be held in the Industries Hall, RDS (Anglesey Road entrance), Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, Friday 19 to Sunday 21 October. Doors open at 11am each morning and close at 6pm.

* As last year, FindMyPast is not expected to attend.

RCB Library marks centenary of The Leinster tragedy

To mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of RMS Leinster, a Royal Mail steamer ship torpedoed and sunk just one month before the end of the First World War, the Representative Church Body (RCB) Library's October Archive of the Month features an online exhibition entitled The Leinster Tragedy: Human Interest Stories brought to life by the Church of Ireland Gazetteand Other Sources.

The Leinster had departed from Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire) on Thursday, 10 October 1918 to make the crossing from County Dublin to Holyhead in Wales. About an hour later, when still within sight of the shore, she was fatally struck twice. There were 803 persons on board – 75 crew and 728 passengers, the later made up of 22 postal sorters, 200 civilians and 506 military personnel. Some 564 persons perished, the greatest ever loss of life in the Irish Sea.

Eye-witnesses recalled the explosion following the second hit and, within a very short time, the ship went down. Some persons were killed by the blast, some later died from their injuries, some died from drowning, and some were rescued. Dublin's hospitals and morgue were soon full to bursting point with relatives frantically seeking to identify their loved ones.

The online exhibition focuses on the tragedy from a Church of Ireland perspective. Many casualties had strong connections with the Church of Ireland and the impact of the episode was felt in parishes the length and breadth of the country. However, the community voiced many different opinions about how to respond to the atrocity, as demonstrated in the Gazette's editorials and articles.

See “The Leinster Tragedy” exhibition here.

Irish genealogy and history events, 8-21 October

Monday 8 October: a) NLI - all areas closed until 11am. b)Reading Room and Manuscript Room closed all day. Venue: National Library of Ireland, Dublin 2. a)The delayed opening is due to a staff development meeting. b) On-going all-day Monday closures of these Rooms is to facilitate extensive redevelopment of the main Kildare Street premises; all other services/exhibitons/cafe, including Genealogy Advisory Service, will operate as normal from 11am. Details.

Monday 8 October: My Great-Migration Ancestors (1620-1640) – A family history story of Michigan, Al Capone, Chicago, Germany, Romania, Puritans, Tipperary, and the Siege of Derry, with Margie Bernard. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Foyle Branch. Venue: Lecture Room of Derry City’s Central Library, 35 Foyle Street, Derry, BT48 6AL. 7pm. All welcome.

Monday 8 October: Griffiths Valuation, with Anne Johnston. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Newtownabbey Branch. Venue: Drama Theatre, Glengormley High School, 134 Ballyclare Road, Newtownabbey, BT36 5HP. Free. 7pm. All welcome.

Monday 8 October: The murder of the Coleen Ban, with Tom Donovan. Host: Limerick Historical Society. Venue: Room 203, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. Everybody is welcome. 8pm.

Tuesday 9 October: The 1718 Migration, with Dr Linde Lunney. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Lisburn Branch. Venue: Bridge Community Centre, 50 Railway Street, Lisburn BT28 1XP. 7:30pm–9:30pm. Free. All welcome.

Tuesday 9 October: Irish Records they all went up in smoke - or did they? with Jill Williams FIGRS of the Irish Genealogical Research Society. Host and venue: Fife Family History Society, Volunteer House, 69 Crossgate, Cupar, Fife, Scotland KY15 5AS. 7:30pm. Admission free. Details.

Tuesday 9 October: Dublin Dockers and the Liffey Ferry, with Aileen O'Carroll and Declan Bryne. Host: Dublin Port Company. Venue: The Council Chamber, City Hall, Dame Street, Dublin 2. 1:10pm to 1:50pm. Free. Seats allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors open 12:30pm. All welcome.

Wednesday 10 October: In search of the cure: Irish folk medicine – past and present, with Dr Bairbre Ni Fhloinn. Host: The Folklore of Ireland Society. Venue: National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. 7pm. No booking required. All welcome.

Wednesday 10 October: Irish Research – now is the time, with Jill Williams FIGRS of the Irish Genealogical Research Society. Host: Central Scotland Family History Society. Venue: Smith Museum and Art Gallery, Dumbarton Road, Stirling, Scotland. 7:30pm. Details.

Thursday 11 October: The London Irish during WW1, with Dr Stephen Sandford. Host: Western Front Association, Antrim and Down branch. Venue: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast BT3 9HQ. 6:30pm. All welcome. £4 donation requested.

Thursday 11 October: Starting your Irish family history, with Irene O'Brien. Host and venue: The Mitchell Library, North St, Glasgow, Scotland, G3 7DN. 6-7pm. Free but booking required: T 0141 287 2999.

Friday 12 October: Using Family and Local History Resources Online, a Positive Aging Month practical workshop that starts with an orientation tour of PRONI and is followed by an introduction to searching resources online. Venue: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 11am to 1pm. Free, but space is limited so booking is essential. Details

Friday 12 October: Chronicles of the Great Irish Famine, with Declan O'Rourke. Host and venue: London Irish Centre, 50-52 Camden Square, London, NW1 9XB UK. 8:30pm. £20. Booking required.

Friday 12 October: The IRA Intelligence War, with Dr John Borgonovo. Hosts: Michael Collins House. Venue: Parish Centre, Western Road, Clonakilty, Co Cork. 7:30pm. Free. All welcome.

Friday 12 October to Sunday 14 October: Warp and Weft of Heritage Weekend, with film, theatre, field trips and talks on the archaeology, history, folklore and heritage of the Ardara area and further afield. Host: Donegal GAP Heritage and History Group. Various venues in Ardara, Glenties and Rosbeg, County Donegal. Details.

Saturday 13 October: Irish genealogy workshop, with the Ulster Historical Foundation. Hosts: Fountaindale Public Library and Plainfield Public Library. Venue: Meeting Room A, Fountaindale Public Library, Bolingbrook, IL 60440, USA. 9:30am to 5pm. Free, but need to register.

Saturday 13 October: 'Where Do I Find It?', a one-day Irish Ancestry conference. Host: Lancashire Family History & Heraldry Society. Venue: Oswaldtwistle Civic Centre (opposite The Straits), 155 Union Rd, Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, UK. 9:15am to 4pm. Fee: £20 including buffet lunch/ £14 conference only. Free refreshments available all day. Booking. All welcome.

Saturday 13 October: The Genealogy Event (New York), a mainly Irish family history day conference. with Hennessey presentation and cocktails reception. Host: The Genealogy Event. Venue: Pier A, 22 Battery Place, New York City, USA. 9:30am to 7pm. Includes refreshments, Hennessey (cognac) presentation and cocktails. Lunch optional. Fee: $44.06 – $81.20. Tickets

Saturday 13 October: The life and legacy of Thomas Francis Meagher - three lectures at 10am, 10:40am and Noon. Host and venue: Medieval Museum, Waterford City. Free, but you need to reserve a ticket.

Saturday 13 October: Pillars of God: Church power and influence in medieval Ireland, full day conference. Host: Ferns Heritage Project. Venue: St. Edan's Cathedral, Ferns, Co. Wexford. Fee €35 includes lunch and, on Sunday, musical concert. Details.

Monday 15 October: NLI Reading Room and Manuscript Room closed. Venue: National Library of Ireland, Dublin 2. On-going all-day Monday closures is to facilitate extensive redevelopment of the main Kildare Street premises; all other services/exhibitons/cafe, including Genealogy Advisory Service, operate as normal. Details.

Monday 15 October: Diary of a WW1 Nurse, with Jenny Cumming. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Larne Branch. Venue: Larne Bowling & Lawn Tennis Club, 112-120 Glenarm Road, Larne, BT40 1DZ. 7:30pm. No need to book. All welcome.

Monday 15 October: The Heathen's Tale, with Annie Humphrey. Host: More Tales of Medieval Dublin lecture series. Venue: Wood Quay Venue, Dublin City Council, Wood Quay, Dublin 8. Admission free. All welcome. 1:05 - 1:50pm.

Monday 15 October to Friday 19 October Researching your Irish and Scots-Irish family history, with Gillian Hunt and Fintan Mullan at the 2018 British Institute. Host: International Society for British Genealogy and Family History. Venue: Salt Lake Plaza Hotel, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. Cost: $495. Details.

Tuesday 16 October: An introduction to family history research, a workshop. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, South Tyrone Branch. Venue: Killymaddy Centre, 190 Ballygawley Road, Dungannon, Co Tyrone BT70 1TF. Free. 8pm. All welcome.

Wednesday 17 October: The Taverner Family, with Tom Mason. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, North Armagh Branch. Venue: Bleary Community Centre, 1 Deans Road, Bleary, Craigavon, Co Armagh, BT66 7AS. Free. 7:30pm. All welcome.

Wednesday 17 October: John Redmond – The forgotten patriot, with former Taoiseach John Bruton. Host: Westmeath Archaeological and Historical Society. Venue: Greville Armsn, Mullingar, Co Westmeath. 8pm. All welcome. Free.

Wednesday 17 October: Book launch: Michael Collins – The Man and the Revolution, by Anne Dolan and William Murphy. Guest speaker: Fintan O'Toole. Host: Collins Press. Venue: GPO Witness History, O'Connell Street, Dublin 1. All welcome. 6:30pm-7:30pm. All welcome.

Wednesday 17 October: “We always vote Redmond in this house” - The Redmonds and Waterford, a political dynasty, 1891-1952, with Dr Pat McCarthy. Host: Waterford County Museum. Venue: Dungarvan Harbour Sailing Club, Quay St, Abbeyside, Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, 8pm. Entry fee €5. All welcome.

Friday 19 to Sunday 21 October: Back To Our Past family history fair and Genetic Genealogy Ireland conference. Organised by SLP and ISOGG respectively. Venue: Industries Hall, RDS, Anglesea Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. Free admission for pre-booked tickets. All welcome. Lectures, societies, database providers, DNA test kits, publishers and suppliers and more, all under one roof. Details.

Friday 19 to Sunday 21 October: Maritime Heritage, a weekend of lectures from lighthouse keepers, sailors, historians and maritime archaeologists. Host: Maritime Heritage Weekend. Venue: Harry's Bar, Rosses Point, Sligo. Tickets for each evening/afternoon are €10 or weekend tickets are €25 and will be available at the door or from Harry’s Bar. Details.

Sunday 21 October:  From Ulster to New England: Researching your Scots-Irish ancestors, with the Ulster Historical Foundation. Hosts: New England Historical Genealogical Society and New Hampshire Historical Society. Venue: Executive Court Banquet Facility, 1199 S. Mammoth Road, Manchester, New Hampshire, USA. Cost: $125. Details.

Derry City Cemetery Burial Records - latest news

If you have family connections to Derry, you're in for a treat! The burial registers of Derry City Cemetery have been transcribed by a community group of more than 40 volunteers and the resulting database will be going online next month.

The registers also  reveal the location of the grave within
the large cemetery site, allowing family historians to
discover who is buried in the same plot as their ancestor -
information that may often extend the family tree further.

In terms of the genealogical information they provide, these registers are far superior to civil death records and church burial records. Indeed, Derry City Cemetery's registers provide more useful family history detail than most death, burial or cemetery records. Along with the usual name, residence, age, date of death, and occupation, Derry City's registers note the deceased's place of birth and the names of both parents.

The new database holds 36,000 records dating from 1853, when the cemetery opened, to 1916. It will be free to search and view the transcription, and each entry will provide a link to RootsIreland.ie so that researchers can follow up any discoveries via that database's collection of records from the area. The database is expected to be ready for researchers to start exploring sometime in November. (Obviously, Irish Genealogy News will let you know when this happens and provide details of its online home address... see Update below.)

Now.... The reason I'm bringing such early news of this exciting development is because the Derry City Burial Records project has been shortlisted for the Heritage Angels Awards 2018 in the Best Heritage Research, Interpretation or Recording category.

The Heritage Angel Awards celebrate the efforts of people
who go to extraordinary lengths to protect, save, record
and share their local heritage

Back in 2016, the Derry Tower Museum Archive team called on members of the public to help preserve and record the City Cemetery's valuable burial registers. Following dedicated training, the volunteers were able to complete the work, using their unique local knowledge of surnames and street names to turn seemingly illegible 150 year-old handwriting into a powerful genealogical tool. See the video below for more information.

Now shortlisted for this year's Heritage Angels Award for Northern Ireland, the project gives all  Irish family historians the opportunity to say a huge thank you to the volunteers who have worked for two years to make this important record collection accessible online.

Even if, like me, you don't have any connections to Derry, why not give the project a minute of your time to thank them for giving up hours of theirs? Think of it as a kind of proxy vote for all the volunteer projects from which the genealogical community benefits.

Here's the link to the Heritage Angels public vote. Only your email address, and the name of your preferred project, is requested. Public voting ends on 19 October.

UPDATE, 31 October 2018: The database is live.

Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives: latest updates

Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives was updated with the following files in the second half of September. All the photos and transcriptions were donated by generous volunteers to the free website.

This headstone to a US Army WW2 veteran is on
Holy Island, Co Clare. Photo courtesy of IGP
Archives and Valerie Ackroyd. Click for larger image.

CAVAN Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Columbas (CoI) Drumlane (Updated)

CLARE Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Inis Cealtra (Holy Island), Lough Derg

DONEGAL Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Convoy New R.C. Cemetery
Convoy, Reformed Presbyterian Church Graveyard
Kilclooney, St. Conals Graveyard

DUBLIN Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Deansgrange Cemetery, St. Brigids, Pt. 15

LIMERICK Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Limerick City, St. Mary's Cathedral (CoI) Pt 1

MAYO Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Aughaval Cemetery, Part 3
Leigue Cemetery, Ballina - partial (Updated)
Murrisk Abbey Part 2

MONAGHAN & FERMANAGH Genealogy Archives - Church Records
Clones Parish Registers, Baptisms, 1842-1845

HeritageMaps.ie adds Irish Historical Towns Atlas dataset

While I've previously blogged about the value of Ordnance Survey Ireland's GeoHive site for historical mapping data, I don't seem to have mentioned the Heritage Council's HeritageMaps.ie, which may also be useful to family historians.

Irish Historic Towns Atlas locations are identified
on HeritageMaps.ie and provide
download links to the IHTA digital editions

My attention was drawn to HeritageMaps this week because the towns featured in the Royal Irish Academy's Irish Historic Towns Atlas* range have been identified on the site. They are not only marked on the maps; data from the IHTA digital editions – a selection of texts and maps, bibliography, topographical information – is presented and can be directly downloaded.

The Heritage Maps viewer is a web-based spatial data viewer which focuses on the built, cultural and natural heritage around Ireland and off shore. It allows the researcher to view a wide range of data sets in map form, many of which have not been accessible to the public before. You can also create customised maps, identify disused railway lines, Sheela-na-Gigs and protected monuments, locate local museums, archives and burial grounds, and study local flora and fauna. It has many uses, both recreational and research-based.

*The Irish Historic Towns Atlas (IHTA) is part of a wider European scheme which records the topographical development of a selection of towns both large and small. Each town is published separately as a fascicle or folder and includes a series of maps complemented by a detailed text section.