New exhibition tells story of Presbyterianism in Ireland

A new exhibition telling the story of Presbyterianism in Ireland over the last four centuries has opened in Belfast.

L-R: Deputy Lord Mayor of Belfast, Emmet McDonough-Brown;
Moderator of the PCI, Rt Rev Dr Charles McMullen;
Deputy Lord Lieutenant for Belfast Dr Philip McGarry

Located at the headquarters of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) in Assembly Buildings, Fisherwick Place, the exhibition offers a number of stand-alone interpretive themed panels and interactive exhibits, allowing visitors to walk through a brief history of Irish Presbyterianism.

That history begins with the arrival of Scottish Presbyterians in Ulster some 400 years ago, moves on to the founding of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland in 1840, and continues to the work and ministry of the church today.

The exhibition also tells the stories of some of the influential men and women who have left their mark on Irish Presbyterianism, takes a look at the democratic nature of Presbyterian church government and some of the religious and political controversies, past and present.

With over 30 special artefacts on display, many of which have been loaned by the Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland, there are also interactive exhibits and audio-visual installations. These enable visitors to locate the denomination’s 500-plus congregations across Ireland, interact with a 19th century map of Presbyterians in Ireland and view short films on the history, life and work of the Church.

Coolattin Lives: free family history resource launched

If you have ancestral connections to the Coolattin Estate in the south of County Wicklow, you're in for a treat. (If you don't, you're going to be green with envy!)

A new website – CoolattinLives.ie – has been launched in a collaboration between Courthouse Arts Centre, Tinahely; Trinity College Dublin; National Library of Ireland; and Wicklow County Archives.

It's a free resource with a database containing tenant records for the Coolattin Estate from pre- to post-Famine, plus access to digitised collections held by Wicklow County Archives.

The database holds:

• Tenant Lists, transcribed from maps drawn up in 1841-42, showing how much land was held by each head of household and the name of landlord
• Lists of tenants in rent arrears and given Notice to Quit are in the Ejectment (Eviction) ledger books, 1845-60
• Detailed records of some 6,000 tenants who departed Ireland for Canada under the Fitzwilliam Assisted Emigration Scheme, 1847-1856.
• Tenant Lists of those who remained on the estate in 1868 and in 1861-86

It can be searched by an individual's name or by townland name, and there is also a browseable historical map.

Some examples of the discoveries you might make:

• Thomas Jolly was evicted from his home in the townland of Sleaghroe in September 1863 for non-payment of £16 rent. 
• In 1868, a 42-year-old labourer called Matt Doolin lived in the townland of Ardoyne with his 44-year-old wife, a son and a daughter, his mother in law and a cousin.
• Ann Byrne, aged 36, lived with her 37-year old husband, Pat, and their children Biddy (4) and Ann (18 months) in Cronelea (civil parish Mullinacuff). They rented cabin and kitchen garden from Thomas Twamley and shared it with Pat's sisters Biddy (29) and Ann (27). The family emigrated in 1847.

You'll also find direct free access to three important local collections: the Wicklow Grand Jury Presentments 1818-1899, and the Admission and Discharge registers of Shillelagh and Rathdrum Workhouses.

There's more information about how the project has come together on CountyWicklowHeritage.org, yet another site family historians with local connections should explore.

Congratulations to all involved. I'd love to see more local projects like this come to fruition.

Delayed arrival for Ancestry's Irish Directories top-up

Towards the end of February, Ancestry announced the imminent upload of new material in the shape of BMD Notices from the Belfast Newsletter, Cork Marriage Licence Bonds and a huge bundle of Irish Directories.

While the Newsletter notices and Cork's licence bonds collections have duly arrived in the database during March, the Irish City & Regional Directories top-up is running a little late.

Ancestry has now said the upload of an additional 2.1million records from historical Irish directories will join the existing collection in early April. It will include an entirely new volume of Pettigrew and Oulton, new commentary on existing images, and the typical listings of names, addresses and occupations of Irish residents, as well as a variety of events, institutions, businesses and offiial departments.

The existing collection of 6,205,675 records holds nearly all of Thom's Irish Almanac and Official Directories published between 1847 and 1946.

AmericanAncestors: More RC Massachusetts uploads

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

Indexed database

Click image to find out more about the project

The latest parish volumes to be fully imaged, indexed and available to search are listed below. From a total of 19 volumes, more than 94,504 records have been transcribed, delivering a total of 326,377 names.

• St. Mary (Lawrence) – Baptisms, 1848-1900; Confirmations, 1855-1890, with gaps; Marriages, 1849-1900.
• Our Lady of the Assumption (East Boston) Baptisms 1869-1900; Marriages, 1870-1896; Confirmations, 1869-1892
• St. Mary Star of the Sea (East Boston) Baptisms and Marriages, 1866-1900; Confirmations, 1884-1900

To search and view the indexed database, you need to be a member (Individual-level and above) of the NEHGS.

Unindexed Image-only database
Images of forty volumes from the following parishes have been uploaded to the Browse database:

• Patronage of St. Joseph (Somerville) – Baptisms, Marriages, Confirmations and 1st Communions
• St. Brigid (Maynard) Baptisms and Marriages, 1871-1900
  
• Immaculate Conception (Revere) Baptisms, Marriages, First Communions, and Confirmations: all 1889-1900
• St. Anne (Lawrence) Baptisms, Marriages and Deaths, 1871-1900; Confirmations, 1880-1900
• St. Mary (Foxborough) Baptisms and Marriages, 1878-1900
• St. Patrick (Watertown) Baptisms and Marriages, 1855-1900
• St. Vincent de Paul (South Boston) Baptisms and Marriages, 1862-1900, Confirmations, 1870-1900
• St. Mary (Georgetown) Baptisms and Marriages, 1874-1898; Confirmations, 1898-1900

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.

And something extra
St. Augustine Chapel and Cemetery in South Boston is celebrating its bicentennial this year. The chapel is the oldest surviving Catholic place of worship in Massachusetts; it was established to be the final resting place of Father Francis Matignon, one of the pioneering figures who helped establish the Catholic church in Boston. As part of the bicentennial celebrations, a database of its cemetery records, dating from 1819-1859, has been created and uploaded to AmericanAncestors.org: Boston MA: St Augustine Cemetery Records, 1819-1859.

This database contains a mix of original records and copied volumes that include lot sales, burials, deaths, and gravestone inscriptions. The volumes labelled “Gravestone Inventory” were created during a preservation study of the cemetery undertaken in the 1980s. There are more than 15,000 records and 62,000 names available to search in this database, which is available to all NEHGS members and free guest members.

Backlog of Irish census corrections finally cleared

All Hail John Grenham!

As most Irish family historians will be aware, professional genealogist John Grenham MAGI  has been slogging through a huge backlog of researcher-submitted census corrections for the past 18 months. He has now completed the project and all the verified suggestions have been uploaded to the National Archives of Ireland's Genealogy website.

Incredibly, he seems to have retained his sanity and sense of humour. See his blogpost announcing the completion of the project.

Well done, John.

Church of Ireland to mark 150th anniversary of its disestablishment

This year marks 150 years since the Irish Church Act was passed, and set in train the end of the Establishment of the Church of Ireland (as the state church). The Act came into force 17 months later on 1 January 1871.

One of the displays in a small exhibition at the RCB Library
marking 150 years since the Church of Ireland
ceased to be Ireland's state church.

The Church of Ireland is planning an official programme of events across the island starting in November 2019 with a commemoriative National Service at Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin and ending in Autumn 2020 in St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast.

Other projected events include a colloquium in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, architectural walking tours incorporating the key sites in Dublin during Heritage Week 2019 and 2020, and a symposium at the Royal Irish Academy.

There will also be a small exhibition within the Representative Church Body Library and a small exhibition that will travel to the Cathedrals across the Church of Ireland. Also in planning is a cultural exchange in 2020 between the Church of Ireland and the Church of Wales, when the latter will be commemorating the centenary of their own Disestablishment from the Church of England.

A new area of the Church's website has been dedicated to the 150th anniversary at https://www.ireland.anglican.org/about/welcome-to-disestablishment-150

Strabane Chronicle joins British Newspaper Archive

The British Newspaper Archive (BNA) has added The Strabane Chronicle and Tyrone and Donegal Advertiser to its online holding. So far, the editions ready for searching are those published in 1912. In due course, the BNA plans for editions spanning 1899 to 1915 to be available.

The addition of this weekly paper (which is still published on Thursdays in Strabane) means there are now 46 historical newspapers from Northern Ireland in the online BNA. They are shared with FindMyPast's top-level subscription packages.

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Irish genealogy and history events, 25 March to 7 April

Monday 25 March: NLI Reading Room and Manuscript Room closed all day to facilitate the Library's continuing redevelopment of the premises. Venue: National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. All other services/exhibitions/cafe, including Genealogy Advisory Service, operate as normal.

Monday 25 March: Ancestors, Ireland and Emigration: Irish and Scots-Irish Genealogy, a day seminar with Gillian Hunt and Fintan Mullan. Hosts: Ulster Historical Foundation, Tourism Ireland and The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. Venue: The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, 36 West 44th Street, 7th Floor, New York, USA. 10am–4pm. Fee. Details.

Monday 25 March: Introduction to using DNA for genealogy. Host: Ballybofey, Stranorlar & District Historic Society. Venue: Henderson Hall, Glebe, Stranorlar, Co Donegal. All welcome. 8pm.

Monday 25 March: German travel writers in the Irish midlands from 1750 to today, with Dr Joachim Fischer. Host: Offaly Historical & Archaeological Society. Venue: Offaly History Centre, Bury Quay, Puttaghan, Tullamore, Co Offaly. 8pm. All welcome. Refreshments available after lecture.
‏
Tuesday 26 March: Distant Ireland - Migrations to the New World, with Gillian Hunt and Fintan Mullan. Hosts: American Irish Historical Society and Ulster Historical Foundation. Venue: American Irish Historical Society, 991 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10028, USA. 10:30am-1:30pm. Fee. Details. 

Tuesday 26 March: Breaking through “brick walls”, with Martin McDowell. Host: NIFHS, Belfast Branch. Venue: C S Lewis Room, Holywood Arches Library, 4-12 Holywood Road, Belfast, BT4 1NT. 7:30pm. Free. All welcome.

Tuesday 26 March: The Guardian: Peter Johnstone Freyer and the creation of modern prostate surgery, 1895-1921, with Kieran Fitzpatrick. Host: Kilrush and District Historical Society. Venue: Teach Ceoil, Grace Street, Kilrush, Co Clare. 8pm. Free to members. €5 for non-members, payable on the door. All welcome.

Tuesday 26 March: Irish Newspaper Archives, with Andrew Martin. Host: NIFHS, Causeway Branch. Venue: Guide Hall, Terrace Row, Coleraine BT52 1HF. Venue: Guide Hall, Terrace Row, Coleraine BT52 1HF. 8pm. All welcome. Free.

Tuesday 26 March: 1919 and the War of Independence, with Noreen Higgins McHugh. Host: Ardmayle Historical Society. Venue: St John the Baptist, Castlemoyle North, Ardmayle, Co. Tipperary. 7:30pm. All welcome. Refreshments will be available.

Wednesday 27 March: English Records for Irish Research, with Michael Gandy FSG. Host: Society of Genealogists, 14 Charterhouse Buildings, Goswell Road, London EC1M 7BA. 2-3pm. £8. Details.

Wednesday 27 March: Uncovering the ordinary experience of extraordinary times: Ireland 1917 - 1927, with Dr Richard McElligott Part of the Social History and the Irish Revolution public lecture series. Hosts: Glasnevin Museum and Trinity College Dublin's School of History & Humanities. Venue: Milestone Gallery, Glasnevin Cemetery Museum, Finglas Road, Glasnevin, Dublin 11. 7pm to 8:30pm. Tickets should be booked in advance. €6.

Thursday 28 March: Researching your Irish ancestors, a full-day seminar with David Rencher and Dr Perry McIntyre. Host: Unlock the Past. Venue: Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club, 117 Ryedale Road, West Ryde, NSW 2114, Australia (16km NW of Sydney CPD.) 9am-5pm. Booking by 22 March: $79 (includes light lunch, morning tea, and prize draw). On the day: $90. Details.

Thursday 28 March: The Politics of Revolution in County Tipperary 1913-1923, with Seán Hogan. Host:South East Galway Archaeological & Historical Society. Venue: Irish Workhouse Centre, St Brigid's Road, Portumna, Co Galway. 8pm. All welcome.

Monday 1 April: NLI Reading Room and Manuscript Room closed all day to facilitate the Library's continuing redevelopment of the premises. Venue: National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. All other services/exhibitions/cafe, including Genealogy Advisory Service, operate as normal.

Monday 1 April: DNA Project Update and Introduction to the NIFHS Research Centre, with Martin McDowell and Kathleen Morrison. Host: NIFHS, Killyleagh Branch. Venue: Killyleagh Masonic Hall, 50 High Street, Killyleagh, Downpatrick BT30 9QF. Free. 8pm. All welcome.

Monday 1 April: Dunnalong through the ages, with Dr William Roulston. Host: NIFHS, Foyle Branch. Venue: Lecture Room, Derry City’s Central Library, 35 Foyle Street, Londonderry, BT48 6AL. 7pm. All welcome. Free.

Monday 1 April: From one War to another: Dublin 1916-1919, with Bernard Kelly. Host: Mondays Talks at the Mess series. Venue: Richmond Barracks, off Bulfin Road, Inchicore, Dublin 8. All welcome. 11am. Tickets €5 which includes tea/coffee & scone. Booking.

Tuesday 2 April: Lady Victoria Pery 1893-1918, aristocratic aviator: The flight of the Earl's daughter, with Dr Paul O'Brien. Host: Hunt Museum. Venue: Captain's Room, Hunt Museum, The Custom House, Rutland St, Limerick City. Free. 1pm to 2pm.

Tuesday 2 April: From family tree to a readable family history, with Michael McKeag. First of a three-session course. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society. Venue: NEHGS Library and Resource Centre, Unit C4, Valley Business Centre, 67 Church Road, Newtownabbey, BT36 7LS. 11am to 1pm. Classes are open to the public but booking is essential. Cost: £18, payable at the first session. Sessions continue on 9 and 16 April. Details.

Wednesday 3 April: All at sea: maritime records in PRONI, with Stephen Scarth. Part of PRONI's Wreck and Rescue lecture series. Host and venue: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 1pm. Free. All welcome. Need to book. Details.

Thursday 4 April: Using Ancestry and FindMyPast, a 2-hour workshop with Ann Robinson. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society. Venue: NEHGS Library and Resource Centre, Unit C4, Valley Business Centre, 67 Church Road, Newtownabbey, BT36 7LS. 7pm to 9pm. Classes open to the public but booking is essential. Cost: £8. Details.

Friday 5 April: Treasure: The Tale of a Twisted Torc, with Dr Greer Ramsey. Host and venue: National Museum Ireland - Archaeolog, Kildare Room, Ground Floor, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Admission free. Places are limited. To book, phone 01-6486 332 or email educationarch@museum.ie.

Armagh Ancestry Genealogy Conference, 17-19 May

Armagh Ancestry, the Irish Family History Foundation's dedicated member for County Armagh, is to hold a weekend genealogy conference in May. Its theme is 'Emigration – voluntary or forced.'

Subject topics and speakers include the following:

• Emigration records - a case study from the port of Derry, with Brian Mitchell MAGI
• National Archives of Ireland sources for researching a convict ancestor, with Tom Quinlan
• Armagh/Irish family history resources, with Feargal O'Donnell
• Researching 18th-century ancestors in Ulster, with Dr William Roulston
• Church, civil and census records, with Feargal O'Donnell
• Genealogy sources in Armagh County Museum and Banbridge Genealogy, with Sean Bardon and Jason Diamond
• Using the RootsIreland.ie database, with Dr Brendan Scott
• The 1922 fire at the Four Courts, what was lost and what survived, with Feargal O'Donnell
• History from headstones, including optional local graveyard tour

The conference will be held at the Navan Centre and Fort, 81 Killylea Road, Armagh BT60 4LD. It will open on the Friday evening (17 May) with a Mayoral Welcome and reception.

A limited amount of free individual consultations are available on the Saturday and Sunday for those attending. They must be booked in advance.

The cost of the Conference is £20 per day or £30 GBP for Saturday and Sunday (Friday is free). The admission fee includes tea/coffee during breaks. A special £5 lunch menu is available each day and must be pre-booked.

See more information and booking here.

New design for National Archives of Ireland's website

The new look home page of www.nationalarchives.ie

The National Archives of Ireland has redesigned its main website with a fully refreshed look and new navigation.

It was, admittedly, rather desperately needed! It was a site that made me feel claustrophobic, so obviously was it stacked to the rafters and allowing no breathing space for a half line of extra text. Even its home page had text extending over and out through the supposed edge of the designed page.

So the fresh colour scheme and 'airiness' of the new design brings a sigh of relief from me. And the signposting to the various parts of the site is much clearer and obvious. While I don't think I'll ever be a great pal of the catalogue, no matter its appearance, I'm glad to see the online exhibitions and the NAI's dedicated websites – the Decade of Centenaries, the Anglo-Irish Treat 1921, the Chief Secretary's Office Registered Papers, 1918-1932 – and, of course, the Genealogy website being so much more prominently featured.

Take a look around.

Ancestry DNA offers 25% saving for Mothers' Day

With Mothers' Day just around the corner in Ireland and the UK, Ancestry is offering a 25% discount on its autosomal DNA testing kit.

To take advantage of the offer, select the appropriate flag for your preferred currency below and place your order by 11:59pm on Wednesday 27 March.

	Irish Residents: Discount reduces price of kit from €95 to €71. Shipping extra.
	UK Resident: Discount reduces price of test kit from £79 to £59. Shipping extra.

The content above contains affiliate links. This means I may earn a small commission if you buy via these links. This does not affect the price you pay as a consumer, but it does contribute to keeping IrishGenealogyNews online. See Advertising Disclosure tab above.

The National Archives, Kew: changes to Reading Rooms

The National Archives (TNA) in Kew, London, has advised that some work will be carried out in its Reading Rooms next week. Both the Research and Enquiries areas may be affected, but services to visitors should run as normal. Any disruption to researchers is likely to be minimal.

Repurposing of the space follows the closure of the London Family History Centre at TNA. While the Centre will have gone, the TNA has become a FamilySearch Affiliate Library, allowing researchers with a free FamilySearch account to access all digitised records on the FamilySearch database. They will be able to do this by using the PCs in the reading rooms.

The remodelling of the areas should be completed by Friday 29 March.

Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives: latest uploads

McGinn family headstone,Kilnavart churchyard,
Ballyconnell, Co Cavan. Photo courtesy
Dave Hall and IGPArchives

During the first half of March, the volunteers at Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives uploaded the following files of headstone (photo and inscrioption text) and church records to the free to view website.

CAVAN Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Killaduff Cemetery, Drumod (Additional)
Kilnavart, St. Patrick's Church Graveyard, Ballyconnell

CLARE Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Coad Graveyard, Kilnaboy Parish

DUBLIN Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Mount Jerome, Dublin - Parts 212 & 213

LEITRIM Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Fenagh Abbey (R.C.) Graveyard (Additional)

MAYO Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Moyna Cemetery (Kilmeena) (Near Newport) Pt 1

ROSCOMMON Genealogy Archives - Headstones
St. Patrick's (R.C.) Elphin (partial)

The Portadown News joins British Newspaper Archive

The British Newspaper Archive (BNA) has added The Portadown News to its online holding. So far, the editions ready for searching span 1859-1921. The addition of later editions, up to 1956, will follow in due course.

This paper has tweaked its title with some regularity, having been launched as The Portadown Weekly News and County Armagh Advertiser and quickly changed to The Portadown News, and County Armagh Advertiser and subsequently (1872-1890) to the The Portadown & Lurgan News, and County Armagh Advertiser. In 1891 it became The Portadown News.

Just to throw in some muddle during 1888-1903, it was also known as The Portadown & Lurgan News, and Tenant Farmers' Gazette.

It is the second paper from the area for researchers with local ancestors to explore. The Portadown Times is already in the archive.

The addition of this title means there are now 45 historical newspapers from Northern Ireland in the online BNA. They are shared with FindMyPast's top-level subscription packages.

The content above contains affiliate links. This means I may earn a small commission if you buy via these links. This does not affect the price you pay as a consumer, but it does contribute to keeping IrishGenealogyNews online. See Advertising Disclosure tab above.

Irish genealogy, history & heritage events, 18-31 March

Monday 18 March: Bank Holiday in both Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland.

Monday 18 March: NIFHS Research Centre C4 and its resources, with Kathleen Morrison. Host: NIFHS, Larne branch. Venue: Larne Bowling & Lawn Tennis Club, 112-120 Glenarm Road, Larne, BT40 1DZ. 7:30pm. Free. All welcome.

Monday 18 March: Irish Genealogy Workshop, with the Ulster Historical Foundation. Hosts: Heinz History Center and the Westmoreland County Historical Society. Venue: Senator John Heinz History Center, 1212 Smallman St., Pittsburgh, PA 15222 USA. 9am-4:30pm. Fee. Details.

Tuesday 19 March: Irish and Scots-Irish Family History Research Workshop, with Ulster Historical Foundation. Host and Venue: The Filson Historical Society, 1310 S. 3rd St., Louisville, KY 40208,USA. 9am–1pm. Free to members. $20 to non-members. Details.

Tuesday 19 March: Childhood and youth in Ireland from 1740, with Dr Sarah Anne Buckley. Host: Tipperary People and Places Lecture Series. Venue: Tipperary Studies, The Source, Cathedral Street, Thurles, Co Tipperary. 7:30pm. Free. Tea served. All welcome.

Wednesday 20 March: Wreck and rescue in Dundrum Bay in the 19th century, with Barbara Lomas. Part of PRONI's Wreck and Rescue lecture series. Host and venue: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 1pm. Free. All welcome. Need to book. Details.

Wednesday 20 March: 'This is supposed to be a civilised country and part of Great Britain!' Southern Irish loyalists and revolution, with Brian Hughes Part of the Social History and the Irish Revolution public lecture series. Hosts: Glasnevin Museum and Trinity College Dublin's School of History & Humanities. Venue: Milestone Gallery, Glasnevin Cemetery Museum, Finglas Road, Glasnevin, Dublin 11. 7pm to 8:30pm. Tickets should be booked in advance. €6.

Wednesday 20 March: Irish & Scots-Irish Research Seminar. Host: Family Hunger, PLLC and Jan Clizer—Painting Scotland. Venue: Lake City Center, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. 1pm–8:30pm. Fee. Details.

Wednesday 20 March: Exploring a townland history in an urban setting, with Roddy Hegarty. Host: Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, North Armagh Branch. Venue: Venue: Bleary Community Centre, 1 Deans Road, Bleary, Craigavon, Co Armagh, BT66 7AS. Free. 7:30pm. All welcome.

Wednesday 20 March: Cathal Brugha and the Ring / Dungarvan Connection, with Nioclás ó Griofán. Host and venue: Waterford County Museum, St. Augustine Street, Dungarvan, Co. Waterford. 3pm. Free. All welcome.

Wednesday 20 March: Eviction in Westmeath during the Irish Famine, with Dr Ciaran Reilly. Host: Westmeath Historical Society. Venue: Greville Arms, Pearse St, Commons, Mullingar, Co Westmeath. 8pm. All welcome.

Thursday 21 March: The European Dimension: Dublin in the 11th century, with Dr Dagmar Ó Riain-Raedel. Host: Royal Society of Antiquities of Ireland, Venue: Helen Roe Theatre, Society House, 63 Merrion Square, Dublin 2. 7:30pm. Free. All welcome.

Thursday 21 March: Soft power: the women of Tyrone's Rebellion, with Dr James O'Neill. Host: Ulster Society for Irish Historical Studies. Venue: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 7pm–8:30pm. Free. All welcome. Details.

Thursday 21 to Saturday 23 March: Dominus Hibernie/Rex Hiberniae: Pre-modern Ireland, 1200-1801, an international symposium. Host and venue: The National Archives in Kew, London. Need to register. Details.

Friday 22 March: Researching Your Irish and Scots-Irish Ancestors, with the Ulster Historical Foundation. Host: Valparaiso County Library, 103 Jefferson Street, Valparaiso, Indiana, USA. 9am–4pm. Free. Details.

Saturday 23 March: Irish Genealogy Seminar, with Ulster Historical Foundation. Hosts: Florida Genealogical Society, Pinellas Genealogical Society, Genealogical Society of Sarasota, Manatee Genealogical Society, The Villages Genealogical Society, Lakewood Ranch Genealogy Club. Venue: Robert W. Saunders, Sr. Public Library, 1505 Nebraska Ave., Tampa, Florida USA. 8:30am–4pm. Fee. Details. Sold Out.

Sunday 24 March: Irish Genealogy Seminar/Workshop, with Ulster Historical Foundation. Host and venue: Gaelic American Club, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. 9am–4:30pm. Fee. Details.

Sunday 24 March: Sacred stones and the cult of sun worship, an open-air talk with William O’Brien. Host: West Cork Stone Symposium 2019. Venue: Ballycommane House & Garden, Ballycommane, Durrus, Co Cork. Talk followed by tea & coffee and a chance to explore the B&B’s beautiful gardens. 3pm. €10; €8 concessions. Details.

Monday 25 March: NLI Reading Room and Manuscript Room closed all day to facilitate the Library's continuing redevelopment of the premises. Venue: National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. All other services/exhibitons/cafe, including Genealogy Advisory Service, operate as normal.

Monday 25 March: Ancestors, Ireland and Emigration: Irish and Scots-Irish Genealogy, a day seminar with Gillian Hunt and Fintan Mullan. Hosts: Ulster Historical Foundation, Tourism Ireland and The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. Venue: The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, 36 West 44th Street, 7th Floor, New York, USA. 10am–4pm. Fee. Details.

Monday 25 March: Introduction to using DNA for genealogy. Host: Ballybofey, Stranorlar & District Historic Society. Venue: Henderson Hall, Glebe, Stranorlar, Co Donegal. All welcome. 8pm.

Monday 25 March: German travel writers in the Irish midlands from 1750 to today, with Dr Joachim Fischer. Host: Offaly Historical & Archaeological Society. Venue: Offaly History Centre, Bury Quay, Puttaghan, Tullamore, Co Offaly. 8pm. All welcome. Refreshments available after lecture.
‏
Tuesday 26 March: Distant Ireland - Migrations to the New World, with Gillian Hunt and Fintan Mullan. Hosts: American Irish Historical Society and Ulster Historical Foundation. Venue: American Irish Historical Society, 991 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10028, USA. 10:30am-1:30pm. Fee. Details. 

Tuesday 26 March: Breaking through “brick walls”, with Martin McDowell. Host: NIFHS, Belfast Branch. Venue: C S Lewis Room, Holywood Arches Library, 4-12 Holywood Road, Belfast, BT4 1NT. 7:30pm. Free. All welcome.

Tuesday 26 March: The Guardian: Peter Johnstone Freyer and the creation of modern prostate surgery, 1895-1921, with Kieran Fitzpatrick. Host: Kilrush and District Historical Society. Venue: Teach Ceoil, Grace Street, Kilrush, Co Clare. 8pm. Free to members. €5 for non-members, payable on the door. All welcome.

Tuesday 26 March: Irish Newspaper Archives, with Andrew Martin. Host: NIFHS, Causeway Branch. Venue: Guide Hall, Terrace Row, Coleraine BT52 1HF. Venue: Guide Hall, Terrace Row, Coleraine BT52 1HF. 8pm. All welcome. Free.

Tuesday 26 March: 1919 and the War of Independence, with Noreen Higgins McHugh. Host: Ardmayle Historical Society. Venue: St John the Baptist, Castlemoyle North, Ardmayle, Co. Tipperary. 7:30pm. All welcome. Refreshments will be available.

Wednesday 27 March: English Records for Irish Research, with Michael Gandy FSG. Host: Society of Genealogists, 14 Charterhouse Buildings, Goswell Road, London EC1M 7BA. 2-3pm. £8. Details.

Wednesday 27 March: Uncovering the ordinary experience of extraordinary times: Ireland 1917 - 1927, with Dr Richard McElligott Part of the Social History and the Irish Revolution public lecture series. Hosts: Glasnevin Museum and Trinity College Dublin's School of History & Humanities. Venue: Milestone Gallery, Glasnevin Cemetery Museum, Finglas Road, Glasnevin, Dublin 11. 7pm to 8:30pm. Tickets should be booked in advance. €6.

Thursday 28 March: Researching your Irish ancestors, a full-day seminar with David Rencher and Dr Perry McIntyre. Host: Unlock the Past. Venue: Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club, 117 Ryedale Road, West Ryde, NSW 2114, Australia (16km NW of Sydney CPD.) 9am-5pm. Booking by 22 March: $79 (includes light lunch, morning tea, and prize draw). On the day: $90. Details.

Thursday 28 March: The Politics of Revolution in County Tipperary 1913-1923, with Seán Hogan. Host:South East Galway Archaeological & Historical Society. Venue: Irish Workhouse Centre, St Brigid's Road, Portumna, Co Galway. 8pm. All welcome.

St Patrick's Weekend Discounts and Offers

Click the image to view all the St Patrick's Day offers

Inevitably, St Patrick's Day has brought out a host of discounts from genealogy database providers and DNA testing kits suppliers.

Rather than record them all in separate blogposts as I normally would, I've included them all in the Special Offers page of my website, Irish Genealogy Toolkit. Take a trip over there to see where you can save yourself a few quid, euros or dollars this weekend.

Hot off the press! New Irish Genealogy Resources 2019

Front cover of new e-book

Irish Genealogy News has published a 102-page e-booklet providing brief details of all the brand-new or, in some cases, upgraded Irish family history resources released from the beginning of 2011 to the middle of March 2019.

All of the collections featured in the e-booklet were the subject of blogposts on Irish Genealogy News at the time of their release.

Arranged by type of resource ie Census, Emigration Records, Newspapers, New Irish Genealogy Resources 2019 is an attractive and handy aide-memoire of recently-available resources useful to Irish family historians. It also includes details of newly released tools and finding aids, and a selection of research and history books published in the last year or so.

See my website, Irish Genealogy Toolkit, for details.

Free access to Irish collections: Ancestry & MyHeritage

This St Patrick's weekend, both Ancestry and MyHeritage are giving free access to their Irish collections.

Ancestry.com is giving free access to its 140 million Irish records. The free access door will be open until 11:59pm ET on Monday 18 March. (As far as I can tell, none of the other Ancestry 'territories' is in such generous mood this weekend.) Click the image below to find out which records are included in the free weekend.

MyHeritage is giving free access to its Irish collection of 14 million records until Wednesday 20 March, allowing you some rather more leisurely researching than most free access periods allow. Click the image below to find out more.

Irish genealogy and history events, 11-24 March

Monday 11 March: NLI Reading Room and Manuscript Room closed all day to facilitate the Library's continuing redevelopment of the premises. Venue: National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. All other services/exhibitons/cafe, including Genealogy Advisory Service, will be closed until 11am to facilitate a staff meeting.

Monday 11 March: Presbyterian Historical Society records, with Valerie Adams. Host: NIFHS, Newtownabbey. Venue: Glengormley High School, 134 Ballyclare Rd, Newtownabbey, BT36 5HP. Free. 7pm. All welcome.

Monday 11 March: Researching Your Irish and Scots-Irish Ancestors, with Ulster Historical Foundation. Host: Irish American Heritage Center. Venue: 4626 N. Knox Ave, Chicago, Ilinois, USA. Free, but need to register. 9am to 5pm.

Tuesday 12 March: Revolutionary diplomats: the archives and material culture of the Dáil Eireann foreign service, 1919-23, with Dr John Gibney. Host and venue: National Archives of Ireland, Bishop St, Dublin 8. No booking. Free. 6pm. All welcome.

Tuesday 12 March: Irish genealogy, with the Ulster Historical Foundation. Host: Wisconsin Historical Society. Venue: Memorial Library Room 126, 728 State Street, Madison, Wisconsin, USA. Cost: $36 WHS/WSGS members / $40 non-members; Lunch included. 9:00am-5:00pm. Programme, menu, tickets.

Tuesday 12 March: Irish family history, with Lisa Dougherty. Host and venue: Irish American Heritage Museum, 370 Broadway, Albany, New York 12207, USA. Free. 6:30pm–7:30pm. No need to register.

Tueday 12 March: Killarney: the Royal visit of 1861 that put Killarney on the tourist map, with Frank Tracy. Host: Genealogical Society of Ireland. Venue: Dun Laoghaire Further Education Institute, Cumberland Street, Dun Laoghaire. 8pm. All welcome. €3.

Tuesday 12 March: A house through time, with Louise Lewis. Host: NIFHS, Lisburn branch. Bridge Community Centre, 50 Railway Street, Lisburn, BT 28 1XP. Free. 7:30pm. All welcome.

Wednesday 13 March: Is everything we loved gone forever?: The burning of Irish country houses during the War of Independence, 1920-21, with Professor Terence A Dooley. Part of the Social History and the Irish Revolution public lecture series. Hosts: Glasnevin Museum and Trinity College Dublin's School of History & Humanities. Venue: Milestone Gallery, Glasnevin Cemetery Museum, Finglas Road, Glasnevin, Dublin 11. 7pm to 8:30pm. Tickets should be booked in advance. €6.

Wednesday 13 March: Nineteenth-Century Coastguards in Ireland, with Denis Mayne. Part of PRONI's Wreck and Rescue lecture series. Host and venue: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 1pm. Free. All welcome. Need to book. Details.

Wednesday 13 March: Researching your Irish ancestors, with the Ulster Historical Foundation. Host and venue: Brown County Library, 515 Pine Street, Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA. 9am–3:30pm. Free. Details.

Thursday 14 March: The homecoming of ex-servicemen to Ireland, with Dr Emmanuel Destenay. Host: Western Front Association, Antrim and Down Branch. Venue: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, 2 Titanic Boulevard, Belfast, BT3 9HQ. 6:30pm to 8:45pm. All welcome.

Thursday 14 March: Irish family history resources on the Internet, with Peter Christian FSG. Host and venue: Society of Genealogists, 14 Charterhouse Buildings, Goswell Rd, London EC1, UK. 2–3pm. Fully booked.

Thursday 14 March: Irish family history resources online, with Chris Paton. Host: Lanarkshire Family History Society. Venue: GLO Centre, 78 Muir Street, Motherwell, Scotland. 7pm. All welcome.

Thursday and Friday 14–15 March: 'An Irish Gatherin': Researching Irish and Scots-Irish Roots, with the Ulster Historical Foundation. Host: Heritage Consulting LLC. Venue: The Salt Lake Plaza, 122 West South Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. $20 per day. Format and bookings.

Saturday 16 March: Irish Research seminar, with the Ulster Historical Foundation. Host: Wales Ireland Scotland England Family History Society. Venue: Denver Public Library, 10 W. Fourteenth Ave, Denver, Colorado, USA. 9am–4:30pm. Details.

Saturday 16 March: Book launch – Shannonbridge – A History of Raghra c1600 to c1900, by Brendan Ryan and Laura Price. Venue: Shannonbridge Community Hall, Shannonbridge, Co. Offaly. 8pm. Book costs €25 but will be €20 on launch night. All welcome. No need to register.

Sunday 17 March: St Patrick's Day. Everywhere.

Monday 18 March: Bank Holiday in both Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland.

Monday 18 March: NIFHS Research Centre C4 and its resources, with Kathleen Morrison. Host: NIFHS, Larne branch. Venue: Larne Bowling & Lawn Tennis Club, 112-120 Glenarm Road, Larne, BT40 1DZ. 7:30pm. Free. All welcome.

Monday 18 March: Irish Genealogy Workshop, with the Ulster Historical Foundation. Hosts: Heinz History Center and the Westmoreland County Historical Society. Venue: Senator John Heinz History Center, 1212 Smallman St., Pittsburgh, PA 15222 USA. 9am-4:30pm. Fee. Details.

Tuesday 19 March: Irish and Scots-Irish Family History Research Workshop, with Ulster Historical Foundation. Host and Venue: The Filson Historical Society, 1310 S. 3rd St., Louisville, KY 40208,USA. 9am–1pm. Free to members. $20 to non-members. Details.

Tuesday 19 March: Childhood and youth in Ireland from 1740, with Dr Sarah Anne Buckley. Host: Tipperary People and Places Lecture Series. Venue: Tipperary Studies, The Source, Cathedral Street, Thurles, Co Tipperary. 7:30pm. Free. Tea served. All welcome.

Wednesday 20 March: Wreck and rescue in Dundrum Bay in the 19th century, with Barbara Lomas. Part of PRONI's Wreck and Rescue lecture series. Host and venue: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 1pm. Free. All welcome. Need to book. Details.

Wednesday 20 March: 'This is supposed to be a civilised country and part of Great Britain!' Southern Irish loyalists and revolution, with Brian Hughes Part of the Social History and the Irish Revolution public lecture series. Hosts: Glasnevin Museum and Trinity College Dublin's School of History & Humanities. Venue: Milestone Gallery, Glasnevin Cemetery Museum, Finglas Road, Glasnevin, Dublin 11. 7pm to 8:30pm. Tickets should be booked in advance. €6.

Wednesday 20 March: Irish & Scots-Irish Research Seminar. Host: Family Hunger, PLLC and Jan Clizer—Painting Scotland. Venue: Lake City Center, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. 1pm–8:30pm. Fee. Details.

Wednesday 20 March: Exploring a townland history in an urban setting, with Roddy Hegarty. Host: Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, North Armagh Branch. Venue: Venue: Bleary Community Centre, 1 Deans Road, Bleary, Craigavon, Co Armagh, BT66 7AS. Free. 7:30pm. All welcome.

Thursday 21 March: The European Dimension: Dublin in the 11th century, with Dr Dagmar Ó Riain-Raedel. Host: Royal Society of Antiquities of Ireland, Venue: Helen Roe Theatre, Society House, 63 Merrion Square, Dublin 2. 7:30pm. Free. All welcome.

Thursday 21 March: Soft power: the women of Tyrone's Rebellion, with Dr James O'Neill. Host: Ulster Society for Irish Historical Studies. Venue: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 7pm–8:30pm. Free. All welcome. Details.

Thursday 21 to Saturday 23 March: Dominus Hibernie/Rex Hiberniae: Pre-modern Ireland, 1200-1801, an international symposium. Host and venue: The National Archives in Kew, London. Need to register. Details.

Friday 22 March: Researching Your Irish and Scots-Irish Ancestors, with the Ulster Historical Foundation. Host: Valparaiso County Library, 103 Jefferson Street, Valparaiso, Indiana, USA. 9am–4pm. Free. Details.

Saturday 23 March: Irish Genealogy Seminar, with Ulster Historical Foundation. Hosts: Florida Genealogical Society, Pinellas Genealogical Society, Genealogical Society of Sarasota, Manatee Genealogical Society, The Villages Genealogical Society, Lakewood Ranch Genealogy Club. Venue: Robert W. Saunders, Sr. Public Library, 1505 Nebraska Ave., Tampa, Florida USA. 8:30am–4pm. Fee. Details. Sold Out.

Sunday 24 March: Irish Genealogy Seminar/Workshop, with Ulster Historical Foundation. Host and venue: Gaelic American Club, Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. 9am–4:30pm. Fee. Details.

Sunday 24 March: Sacred stones and the cult of sun worship, an open-air talk with William O’Brien. Host: West Cork Stone Symposium 2019. Venue: Ballycommane House & Garden, Ballycommane, Durrus, Co Cork. Talk followed by tea & coffee and a chance to explore the B&B’s beautiful gardens. 3pm. €10; €8 concessions. Details.

25% discount on a 1-year RootsIreland.ie subscription

RootsIreland.ie is offering a 25% discount on a 12-month subscription to its database.

The site is by far the best database for transcribed Irish church records of all the most genealogically relevant denominations.

Its collection not only provides extensive geographical coverage across the island, its 'time-spread' is wider, too, with the records of many congregations spanning comfortably into the 20th century. For example, it holds its own transcriptions of Roman Catholic baptisms and marriages and links to the National Library of Ireland's images of the registers to the full extent of that image collection (c1880).

Unlike other databases, however, most of the RootsIreland transcriptions continue for another 20, 30, or even 40 years past the NLI cut-off.

In addition to its huge holding of church records, RootsIreland offers civil records transcriptions in 19 of the historical counties of Ireland, plus significant collections of census subsctitutes and graveyard inscriptions.

The database currently contains more than 42million records, and updates regularly with records transcribed by its network of 34 genealogy centres. Already this year, these centres have added more than 40,000 new records from counties Laois, Offaly, East Galway and Waterford. By taking a subscription with RootsIreland, you help these centres to continue to provide a high-standard genealogy service.

The special offer runs until 11:59pm Irish time on 25 March. Details.

RootsIreland holds online records for all areas of the island of Ireland except South West Cork, County Kerry and Dublin City.

You can view the menu of records available for each county/local genealogy centre here.

Irish Newspaper Archives: a new title and a discount

The Dublin-based Irish Newspaper Archives has added The Nationalist & Munster Advertiser to its holding. The paper's publisher, the Nationalist Newspaper Company, was formed in Clonmel in 1885 and purchased its printing plant from a defunct title, 'The Tipperary'; the newspaper that launched in January 1886 was called The Tipperary Nationalist & Southern Irishman.

The Nationalist has joined the Irish Newspaper Archives

In its early years, the title of the paper changed several times. From February 1890 to April 1892 it was known as The Nationalist; from May 1892 to February 1908 it was The Nationalist & Tipperary Advertiser; and from February 1908 to December 2010 it was The Nationalist & Munster Advertiser. Since January 2011 it has been known as The Nationalist and is still published as such in Clonmel.

A continuous run from May 1889 to current editions can now be viewed on the Irish Newspaper Archives' database.

The owners of the Archives have also provided an update on their development plans. In the pipe for upload to the database are The Evening Press, The Sunday Press, The Belfast Telegraph, and The Tipperary Star. Post-1950 editions of The Belfast Newsletter will be added to the existing holding of the title, as will historical (1766+) editions of The Limerick Chronicle. Additionally, the company's work on sourcing editions to plug gaps in the existing holding of the Limerick Leader 1970-79 will continue.

As it's March and St Patrick's Day isn't too far off, Irish Newspaper Archives is offering discounts on its monthly and membership subscriptions, as follows:

30-day subscription – 15% saving reduces price to €/US$/£ 24.65. Use Coupon code TNT15.
Yearly subscription – 25% saving reduces price to €/US$/£ 111.75. Use Coupon code TNT25.

Click the image to reach the subscription page.

The discount expires on Saturday 23 March.

Ireland Genealogy Archives Project: latest updates

The Murphy Family of Kilcornan. Headstone
in the Old Cemetery, Ennistymon, Co Clare
Photo courtesy Jennifer Morgan and IGP Archives.
Click/tap for full image.

Volunteers have contributed the headstone files below to Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives in the second half of February.

The running total of headstones now available to search and view on the site is 142,000. As with all IGP-Archives' files, they have been donated by volunteers to benefit Irish family historians and are provided free of charge.

CAVAN Genealogy Archives - Headstones
St Mogues RC, Bawnboy (part)

CLARE Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Ennistymon, Old Cemetery (Mac-W)
Kilnamona Old Cemetery (O'KEEFFE)
Kilnamona, St Josephs RC (O'KEEFFE)

FERMANAGH Genealogy Archives - Headstones
St Mary's RC Graveyard Teemore

New indexes for Dublin Metropolitan Police registers

Indexes to the registers are free to view

Early last year, University College Dublin's Digital Library released an image-only collection of register records for the Dublin Metropolitan Police (General Register) and the Civic Guard (temporary register), 1837 to 1925. (See my blogpost.)

A separate index was online via Google for a short while, but it seems Google decided to make the index accessible only with a password, which wasn't the intention of UCD.

As the records have proved to be so popular with researchers, UCD has prepared an excel spreadsheet which can be downloaded, free of charge, at https://n2t.net/ark:/87925/h1ft8j2k. The file holds two spreadsheets – one for each register, and with a link to the image for each entry.

Many thanks to UCD's Digital Library team, not only for making the indexes available but also for considering users' needs for filtering and adding their own notes.

Centenary republication of Woods' Guide to the PROI

Click to download the pdf

This year is the centenary of the publication of Herbert Wood's guide to the Records Deposited in the Public Record Office of Ireland. Just three years after it was originally published, nearly all the records in the PROI were destroyed during the Civil War, making the Guide an essential reference document for recognising what was lost and what might be reconstituted.

To mark the centenary, well-known genealogy tutor Sean Murphy has produced a free online facsimile of this notable archival work. It comes with an introductory essay providing biographical information about Herbert Wood, commentary and photographs, and valuable appendices, and is reproduced with the permission of the National Archives of Ireland, the PROI's successor body, whose own digitised copy of the guide is online here.

At under 30Mb, Sean's facsimile is more than half the digital size of the NAI's onliine copy. Click/tap the cover image, right, to download a copy.

Launching his facsimile edition, Sean said: "Wood's work is something more than a guide to a lost archive, rather it is a template for archival reconstruction and a warning to guard against another archival catastrophe like that of 1922. Wood’s legacy is visible in the growing range of surviving and transcript public records being made accessible online today (see Appendix 1 of the prefatory essay). Hopefully the republication of Wood’s Guide will ensure that its continuing value will be more widely appreciated."

Irish genealogy, history and heritage events, 4-17 March

Monday 4 March: NLI Reading Room and Manuscript Room closed all day to facilitate the Library's continuing redevelopment of the premises. Venue: National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. All other services/exhibitons/cafe, including Genealogy Advisory Service, will operate as normal.

Monday 4 March: The people would take tents, with Ronnie Kilgore. Host: NIFHS, Foyle Branch. Venue: Lecture Room, Central Library, 35 Foyle St, Londonderry, BT48 6AL. 7pm. All welcome. Free.

Monday 4 March: The Weaver Poets, with Laura Spence. Host: NIFHS, Killyleagh Branch. Venue: Killyleagh Masonic Hall, 50 High St, Killyleagh, Downpatrick BT30 9QF. Free. 8pm. All welcome.

Monday 4 March: The heart of Inchicore: The Railway Works, with Mary Muldowney. Host and venue: Richmond Barracks, Inchicore, Dublin 8. Free. 11am. Reserve your place.

Monday 4 March: The early medieval sculptural heritage of Northern Ireland, with Megan Henvey. Host: Royal Society of Antiquities of Ireland, Venue: Helen Roe Theatre, Society House, 63 Merrion Square, Dublin 2. 7:30pm. Free. All welcome.

Tuesday 5 March to Saturday 16 March: Galway History Festival. Numerous events, most of them free. Hosts: NUI Galway, Galway CC, Creative Ireland. Various venues in Galway City. Download programme

Wednesday 6 March: Towards a further understanding of the violence experienced by women in the Irish Revolution, with Professor Linda Connolly. Part of the Social History and the Irish Revolution public lecture series. Hosts: Glasnevin Museum and Trinity College Dublin's School of History & Humanities. Venue: Milestone Gallery, Glasnevin Cemetery Museum, Finglas Road, Glasnevin, Dublin 11. 7pm to 8:30pm. Tickets should be booked in advance. €6.

Wednesday 6 March: Saving Lives at Sea: The story of Ulster's Lifeboats, with Robert Corbert. Part of PRONI's Wreck and Rescue lecture series. Host and venue: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 1pm. Free. All welcome. Need to book. Details.

Wednesday 6 March: Irish family history, with Dr Irene O'Brien. Venue: Govanhill Neighbourhood Centre, 6 Daisy Street, G42 8JL Glasgow, Scotland. Free. 7pm to 9pm. All welcome.

Wednesday 6 March: The lost village of Milltown, with Patrick Salmon. Host: Rathmichael Historical Society. Venue: Rathmichael NS, Stonebridge Road, Shankill, Dublin 18. 8pm. All welcome. €3.

Thursday 7 March: No Reading Room access until 2pm at the National Archives of Ireland. Doors to the public will open 2–5pm only. NAI, Bishop Street, Dublin 8.

Friday 8 March: Online family and local history resources, a workshop. Host and venue: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. two-hour workshop will start with an orientation tour of PRONI, followed by an introduction to searching online resources 11am. Free. Need to book.

Saturday 9 March: The history and heritage of St James’s Hospital in Dublin, with Prof Davis Coakley (2:15pm) and The Irish Revenue Police, with Jim Herlihy (3:15pm). AGM from 10am, members only. Host: Irish Family History Society. Venue: Dublin City Library and Archives, Pearse Street, Dublin 2. Free. All welcome to attend the afternoon session.

Saturday 9 March: Using DNA to trace your Irish ancestors, with Martin McDowell. Host: Fermanagh Genealogy Centre. Venue: Main Hall, Enniskillen Library, Halls Lane, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh. 1:30pm to 3:30pm. All welcome. Members free. Non-members £5.

Saturday 9 March: The Scots-Irish in New England, a genealogy workshop with the Ulster Historical Foundation. Host and venue: New Hampshire Historical Society, 30 Park St, Concord, New Hampshire, USA. 9:00am-4:30pm. Details and registration. $75 Members of New Hampshire Historical Society / $125 for non-members.

Saturday 9 March: National Irish Studies Conference 2019. Host: The Manchester Irish Education Group (MIEG). Venue: Irish World Heritage Centre, 1 Irish Town Way, Cheetham, Manchester, UK. A full day of lectures and workshops, plus bookstall, exhibition and raffle. 9am to 4:30pm. Tickets £25 prepaid / £30 on the door. Includes lunch and refreshments. Details.

Saturday 9 March: Irish Immigrants in Troy, with Chris Connell and Donna Vaughn. Host: Troy Irish Genealogy Society. Venue: Troy Public Library, 100 2nd St, Troy, New York, USA. 2pm–5pm. Need to register.

Sunday 10 March: Researching Your Irish and Scots-Irish Ancestors, with the Ulster Historical Foundation. Host: The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. Venue: Brookside Manor, 50 Bustleton Pike, Trevose-Feasterville, Pennsylvania, USA. 8:30am-4:30pm. Cost: $104. Details and registration.

Monday 11 March: NLI Reading Room and Manuscript Room closed all day to facilitate the Library's continuing redevelopment of the premises. Venue: National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. All other services/exhibitons/cafe, including Genealogy Advisory Service, will be closed until 11am to facilitate a staff meeting.

Monday 11 March: Presbyterian Historical Society records, with Valerie Adams. Host: NIFHS, Newtownabbey branch. Venue: Drama Theatre, Glengormley High School, 134 Ballyclare Road, Newtownabbey, BT36 5HP. Free. 7pm. All welcome.

Monday 11 March: Researching Your Irish and Scots-Irish Ancestors, with the Ulster Historical Foundation. Host: Irish American Heritage Center. Venue: 4626 N. Knox Ave, Chicago, Ilinois, USA. Cost: Free to attend for everyone, but you need to register. 9am to 5pm.

Tuesday 12 March: Revolutionary diplomats: the archives and material culture of the Dáil Eireann foreign service, 1919-23, with Dr John Gibney. Host and venue: National Archives of Ireland, Reading Room, Bishop Street, Dublin 8. No booking required. Free. 6pm. All welcome.

Tuesday 12 March: Irish genealogy, with the Ulster Historical Foundation. Host: Wisconsin Historical Society. Venue: Memorial Library Room 126, 728 State Street, Madison, Wisconsin, USA. Cost: $36 WHS/WSGS members / $40 non-members; Lunch included. 9:00am-5:00pm. Programme, menu, tickets.

Tuesday 12 March: Irish family history, with Lisa Dougherty. Host and venue: Irish American Heritage Museum, 370 Broadway, Albany, New York 12207, USA. Free. 6:30pm–7:30pm. No need to register.

Tueday 12 March: Killarney: the Royal visit of 1861 that put Killarney on the tourist map, with Frank Tracy. Host: Genealogical Society of Ireland. Venue: Dun Laoghaire Further Education Institute, Cumberland Street, Dun Laoghaire. 8pm. All welcome. €3.

Tuesday 12 March: A house through time, with Louise Lewis. Host: NIFHS, Lisburn branch. Bridge Community Centre, 50 Railway Street, Lisburn, BT 28 1XP. Free. 7:30pm. All welcome.

Wednesday 13 March: Is everything we loved gone forever?: The burning of Irish country houses during the War of Independence, 1920-21, with Professor Terence A Dooley. Part of the Social History and the Irish Revolution public lecture series. Hosts: Glasnevin Museum and Trinity College Dublin's School of History & Humanities. Venue: Milestone Gallery, Glasnevin Cemetery Museum, Finglas Road, Glasnevin, Dublin 11. 7pm to 8:30pm. Tickets should be booked in advance. €6.

Wednesday 13 March: Nineteenth-Century Coastguards in Ireland, with Denis Mayne. Part of PRONI's Wreck and Rescue lecture series. Host and venue: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 1pm. Free. All welcome. Need to book. Details.

Wednesday 13 March: Researching your Irish ancestors, with the Ulster Historical Foundation. Host and venue: Brown County Library, 515 Pine Street, Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA. 9am–3:30pm. Free. Details.

Thursday 14 March: The homecoming of ex-servicemen to Ireland, with Dr Emmanuel Destenay. Host: Western Front Association, Antrim and Down Branch. Venue: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, 2 Titanic Boulevard, Belfast, BT3 9HQ. 6:30pm to 8:45pm. All welcome.

Thursday 14 March: Irish family history resources on the Internet, with Peter Christian FSG. Host and venue: Society of Genealogists, 14 Charterhouse Buildings, Goswell Rd, London EC1, UK. 2–3pm. Fully booked.

Thursday 14 March: Irish family history resources online, with Chris Paton. Host: Lanarkshire Family History Society. Venue: GLO Centre, 78 Muir Street, Motherwell, Scotland. 7pm. All welcome.

Thursday and Friday 14–15 March: 'An Irish Gatherin': Researching Irish and Scots-Irish Roots, with the Ulster Historical Foundation. Host: Heritage Consulting LLC. Venue: The Salt Lake Plaza, 122 West South Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. $20 per day. Format and bookings.

Saturday 16 March: Irish Research seminar, with the Ulster Historical Foundation. Host: Wales Ireland Scotland England Family History Society. Venue: Denver Public Library, 10 W. Fourteenth Ave, Denver, Colorado, USA. 9am–4:30pm. Details.

Saturday 16 March: Book launch – Shannonbridge – A History of Raghra c1600 to c1900, by Brendan Ryan and Laura Price. Venue: Shannonbridge Community Hall, Shannonbridge, Co. Offaly. 8pm. Book costs €25 but will be €20 on launch night. All welcome. No need to register.

Sunday 17 March: St Patrick's Day. Everywhere.

FindMyPast uploads big bundle of Liverpool records

FindMyPast has added a sizeable bundle of records from Liverpool – the city once known as the second capital of Ireland. An estimated three quarters of today's population is estimated to have Irish roots, so there is good reason to expect that searching through Liverpool's historical parish, workhouse and school collections could prove rewarding for family historians looking for 'lost' ancestors who either passed through the port or settled in the growing city and nearby towns and villages.

Roman Catholic Records
The record sets released today include more than 1.4million Roman Catholic sacramental and congregational records making their online debut. Published in association with the Archdiocese of Liverpool, these collections cover 47 parishes, span 1754 to 1988, and include both a transcription and an image of the original documents. The Liverpool records have been added to each of the following collections:

• England Roman Catholic Parish Baptisms
• England Roman Catholic Parish Marriages
• England Roman Catholic Parish Burials
• England Roman Catholic Parish Congregational Records

Liverpool Workhouse Registers
Within this collection are some 2.5million records found in admission and discharge registers, classification lists, registers of the sick, and other documents from seven institutionsL Fazakerley Cottage Homes, Kirkdale Industrial Schools, West Derby Union Workhouse, Olive Mount Children's Home, Sefton General Hospital, Toxteth Park Workhouse, Walton Workhouse, and West Derby Union.

Admission and discharge registers typically note the inmate's religion, last residence, name and address of nearest relatives, and admission and discharge dates. Classification lists recorded children as orphans, illegitimate, deserted, child of parents undergoing punishment, child of widows or widowers, or child of lunatics. These records also contain lists of children sent to Canada; these provide the name and address of the foster parents, the ship's name and the date the child was sent.

• Search the Liverpool Workhouse Registers

Lancashire Church of England Parish records
More than 2.2million parish baptisms, marriages, burials and congregational records have been added to FindMyPast's collection of Lancashire Church of England parish records. The new indexed additions cover 157 parishes across the city and span the years 1653 to 1991. They are also available to browse.

• Lancashire Baptisms
• Lancashire Banns & Marriages
• Lancashire Burials
• Lancashire, Liverpool Congregational Records

School Records
Over 646,000 additional records covering hundreds of schools across Liverpool and Lancashire between 1807 and 1952 are now available to search in this collection. The most recent additions include admissions, withdrawals and log books that will enable you to learn more about your ancestor's early years.

These records may reveal a variety of details about your ancestors including birth dates, admission years and the schools they attended. You may also be able to discover their parents' names, father's occupation, exam results and any illnesses that led to absence from school.

• National School Admission Registers & Log-Books 1870-1914

England & Wales Non-Conformist Records
Over 50,000 additional records have been added to FindMyPast's collections of England & Wales Non-Conformist births and baptisms, marriages and burials covering Methodist churches in the English port city of Liverpool. The new additions span over 100 years of the city's history between 1800 and 1915 and are available to search within the following collections:

• England & Wales Non-Conformist Marriages
• England & Wales Non-Conformist Burials
• England & Wales Non-Conformist Births and Baptisms

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