FindMyPast: 30% off 3-month Plus and Pro subscription

FindMyPast.co.uk has a flash sale you won't want to miss if you don't have a current subscription.

Offer expires 31 July      

It's a hefty 30% discount on a three-month subscription to either the Plus or Pro package. Below are the basic features of the two packages:

PLUS subscription
Includes all the basic British and Irish family history records (BMDs and census) plus British and Irish parish, education, employment, travel and migration records, plus directories, military, wills and probate collections, specialist Irish records and the 1939 Register.

The sale offer reduces a three-month PLUS subscription from a single payment of £35.85 to just £25.10, the equivalent of £8.37 per month.

PRO subscription
Includes all of the PLUS subscription AND all USA, Canada, Australian, New Zealand and global records, access to PERSI and to the entire Brtitish Newspaper Archive of more than 33million pages from publications produced in Ireland and Britain. (At the latest count there were 175 Irish titles in the newspaper database.)

The current sale offer reduces a three-month PRO subscription from a single payment of £44.85 to just £31.40, the equivalent of £10.47 per month.

To take advantage of the offers, click the image to visit the FindMyPast.co.uk subscription page where you'll can compare the two packages and make your selection. So long as you're signed out of any current subscription, you'll see the discounted prices shown. The offer expires at 11:59pm GMT Wednesday 31 July.

Although this offer is via the FindMyPast UK site, you don't need to be a UK resident to purchase the packages. If these are the right subscriptions for you – and they probably are if you've got Irish and/or British ancestors – go ahead and subscribe.


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 events, 29 July to 11 August

Monday 29 July: 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/Genealogy Advisory Service operate as normal.

Monday 29 July: Walls Don’t Fall Without Effort – the demise of the medieval town walls of Cashel, with Richard O'Brien. Host: Cashel Heritage Forum. Venue: Parish Centre, Friar Street, Cashel, Co Tipperary. 7:30pm. All welcome. Free.

Tuesday 30 July: Harry Clarke's stained glass windows in Kilrush, with Donncha MacGabhann. Host: Kilrush and District Historical Society. Venue: St. Senan's Catholic Church, Toler Street, Kilrush, Co Clare. 8pm. All welcome.

Wednesday 31 July to Saturday 3 August: The Spirit of Mother Jones Festival. Various venues in Shandon, Cork City. Activities include lectures, film screenings, poetry readings, book launches, performance and music. All free. Programme.

Thursday 1 August: NIFHS Research Centre reopens after summer break, with extended hours. Host and venue: North of Ireland Family History Society, Unit C4, Valley Business Centre, Newtownabbey, Co Antrim. 2pm to 8pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Details.

Thursday 1 August: Linenopolis: The health and welfare of mill workers, with David Huddleston. Host and venue: Linenhall Library, 17 Donegall Square North, Belfast BT1 5GBt. 1pm. Free, but need to book.

Monday 5 August: Bank holiday in Republic of Ireland. All repositories closed. National Library of Ireland exhibitions (only) open noon to 5pm. This bank holiday does not apply in Northern Ireland, where it's business as usual.

Tuesday 6 August: East Belfast and the Blitz, with Nigel Henderson. Hosts: Eastside Arts Festival and PRONI. Venue: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 1-2pm. Free, but need to book through Eastside Arts.

Wednesday 7 August: Women in the Archives, with Lynsey Gillespie and Jason Burke. Host: Eastside Arts Festival and PRONI. Venue: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 1-2pm. Free, but need to book through Eastside Arts.

Thursday 8 August: The “Wee Yard” and the Great War, with Nigel Henderson.Host: Eastside Arts Festival and PRONI. Venue: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 1-2pm. Free, but need to book through Eastside Arts.

Thursday 8 August to Sunday 11 August: West Cork History Festival, a programme of lectures, field trips, discussions, film screenings, music and entertainment. Venue: The Festival site is in the beautiful grounds of Rosebank, formerly the dower house of the Liss Ard estate, less than a mile outside Skibbereen, Co. Cork. Tickets.

Saturday 10 August: Family history advice and tips – drop-in. Host: Mayo Genealogy Group. Venue: National Museum of Ireland – Country Life, Turlough, Co Mayo. Free. All welcome. No booking. 11:30am to 1pm.

Saturday 10 August: Irish Saturday. Hosts: Irish Genealogical Society International. Venue: IGSI Library and Research Center, 1385 Mendota Heights Rd., Mendota Heights, Minnesota, USA. 10am to 4pm. On Irish Saturday the library is staffed by IGSI members, so it's a good day to come in for Irish family history research.

150 years ago today: Church of Ireland disestablished

On this day, 150 years ago, the Irish Church Act was passed into law, ending the Church of Ireland's long status as the 'state' church of the island.

To mark the anniversary, the RCB Library has published its August Archive of the Month a few days early in order to release an analysis by the historian Dr Miriam Moffitt of the Disestablishment as it happened and was reported in the Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette (now known as the Gazette).

The Church’s sense of betrayal following the
passage of the Irish Church Act is evident in
this editorial dated 21 August 1869.

Drawing on the rich resources of the digitized and freely searchable Church of Ireland Gazette, Dr Moffitt focuses on the period between the circulation of the draft Bill in January 1869 to its passage into law on 26 July and the following months, demonstrating how the news was reported and interpreted by the wider Church of Ireland community.

She comments: “Viewed from today’s perspective, the passage of the Irish Church Bill through both Houses of Parliament was inevitable but few people saw it that way in 1869. Many Irish Protestants accepted that, with a hefty majority of 110, Gladstone’s Liberal government could push through any legislation it chose through the Commons.

"They had, however, pinned their hopes on the House of Lords where they believed Conservative peers and bishops, under the leadership of the Belfastman Lord Cairns, would reject the Bill. However, although many of the Lords firmly opposed the Bill, they voted it through, and many of the English and Welsh bishops abstained.

“To have rejected it would have caused such a constitutional crisis that the future of the House of Lords would have been called into question. Members of the Lords could only save one skin – their own or the Church of Ireland’s. Unsurprisingly, they plumped for their own. The acquiescence of the Lords in late July was a bolt from the blue for members of the Church of Ireland who had been told repeatedly that Disestablishment would never happen. The legal status of the Church as the Established Church of the country was defined and guaranteed in Article 5 of the Act of Union of 1800. To disestablish it was to fly in the face of the constitution. It would, and could, never happen. Until it did.”

Other aspects of the story include the Church’s more public journey to re-structure itself in the post-established world. Dr Moffitt observes how most of the negotiations in Westminster were carried out by prominent laymen who were also pivotal in organising the governance systems of the disestablished Church.

The presentation, which also draws on other complementary resources available in the Library, once again reveals how looking through the lens of the Gazette can recover hidden aspects of the Church of Ireland's history. The digitised version of the Gazette from 1856 to 1949 is available to search, free, at https://esearch.informa.ie/rcb

Ireland's oldest Jewish cemetery to re-open to the public

Ireland's oldest Jewish burial ground – Ballybrough Cemetery, in Dublin 3 – is to be refurbished and reopened to the public more than 40 years since its closure.

Ownership of the cemetery, on Fairview Strand, passed to Dublin City Council a few years ago when the practical and financial realities of maintaining the graveyard and mortuary chapel became too much for the Dublin Jewish Board of Guardians.

This is how the cemetery looked when it was last
actively maintained. It is now considerably overgrown

One of earliest surviving Jewish burial grounds in Ireland and Britain, the cemetery was founded in October 1718 after a small group of Jewish families, some of them from Spain and Portugal, settled in the area. They leased and subsequently bought the 2,500sqm site, and, in 1857 built the mortuary chapel or gatehouse. The latter notes the construction date as 5618, the Hebrew equivalent of 1857.

Burials continued in the cemetery until 1900 (and, for one family, until the mid-1950s), when Dolphin's Barn became the main place of rest for Jews in Dublin.

Within the dilapidated boundary wall are more than 200 graves, most dating from 1800 to 1900; about 150 have headstones.

Although the cemetery has been on the Record of Protected Structures since 1991, it is now in a very sorry state, as you can see from the Google Street Map pic below.

No budget has yet been set by Dublin City Council for the conservation and restoration work to be carried out prior to the cemetery re-opening.

Ballybough cemetery mortuary chapel.
(Photo courtesy Google Street Map)

Fergus O’Carroll, Senior Executive Parks Superintendent of DCC's North City Parks District, told Irish Genealogy News that the first steps have been to carry out the condition survey and conservation plan; that plan will be presented for approval to councillors and the public in the coming months.

"The majority of the works in the first phase will be carried out on the building and boundary wall," he said. "Conservation of the monuments will be a longer term objective carried out with the involvement of the City Conservation Officer and City Archaeologist. It is intended to carry out minimal interventions to the landscaping and return the grounds to grass."

For more information about Ballybrough Cemetery and the Jewish community in the area, see 5618 and all that – The Jewish Cemetery, Fairview Strand, by Diarmuid G. Hiney, published in the Old Dublin Society's Dublin Historical Record in 1997 and available free at JSTOR.

Northern Ireland Baby Names 2018

The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) has published its annual report on the most popular names given to babies whose births were registered in Northern Ireland last year.

Boys
James – the most popular name in each of the past four years and the only Top 10 2018 name to survive from the Top 10 1978 – held on to the top spot but he's having to share the top step of the podium by Noah. In third place was Jack, a name that topped the list from 2003 to 2014. In descending order of popularity, James, Noah and Jack were followed by Charlie, Daniel, Jacob, Oliver, Harry, Thomas and, making a debut appearance, Leo.

The highest climbers in the Top 100 boys names were Tommy, Theo and Hunter, while the less common names to appear in the Top 100 were Axl, Blaze, Hendrix, Phoenix and Wolf.

Girls
The name Grace leapt into the Top 10 in 2003 and has never been lower than third in the popularity stakes since. It shared the top spot with Emily in 2013, but pushed Emily into second place this year. In third place was Olivia, followed by Sophia, Ella, Amelia, Isla, Anna, Lily and Lucy.

Within the Top 100 girls names, the highest climbers in popularity between 2017 and 2018 were Rosie, Sadie and Saoirse, while some of the less common names to make their way into the list were Disney, Hermione, Moana, Storm and Zandaya (god help 'em).

All
Copying recent celebrity trends of choosing a baby's name by sticking a pin in the map (or something), there were a number of Northern Irish babies named after such exotic places as Rio, Paris, Vienna, India, Memphis, Adelaide and Milan. Names inspired by Nature have also caught on: River, Storm, Meadow, Misty, Forrest and Summer all feature in the lists.

Another interesting fact drawn out by the statisticians is that boys are much more likely to be named after their fathers with over 1,600 boys given Dad’s name but only 266 girls given Mum’s name.

There were a total of 22,983 births registered in Northern Ireland during the course of the year. As with previous years, a greater variety of girls' names (2,196) than boys' names (1,683) were registered. The range of names being used by parents has grown considerably over the past 40 years, with 1,198 girls names and 647 boys names registered in 1978.

You can find out more at the NISRA website or view a short NISRS video on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBkVI4x_Fg4 .

Free access to Ancestry.com.au's Immigration records

This offer has now expired

Ancestry.com.au is offering free access to Australian and New Zealand immigration records plus a selection of UK records for four days. See a list of record collections featured here.

You'll need a registered account to take advantage of the access period. If you don't already have one, follow the links to set one up. It's free and very straightforward. All you need to provide is your name and an email address.

Free access will end at 11:59pm AEST on Sunday 28 July.



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.

NIFHS to run DNA Summer School, 26 to 30 August

The North of Ireland Family History Society is to hold a DNA Summer School in August.

On the pick-and-mix curriculum is a daily choice of two two-hour classes, one held in the morning (11am), one in the afternoon (2pm). Each class will follow a similar format with a talk of about one hour followed by a practical workshop to put into place what has been learned. Participants can attend just one class or a number of classes, according to their needs. Each class costs just £5.

Apart from the classes on Monday (Y-DNA & MT-DNA) where having DNA Test results is optional, participants will need to have received DNA results to take part in the classes.

In order to fully participate in the workshop, they will also need to bring a laptop and the login details for their DNA results.

Below is the briefest summary of the schedule and class topics. See the NIFHS website for more details and how to book.:

Monday 26 August:
Y-DNA
MT-DNA

Tuesday 27 August:
Uploading Results to other Sites
Ethnicity Estimates

Wednesday 28 August:
Using My Heritage DNA
AutoClusters

Thursday 29 August:
Maternal and Paternal Linking on FTDNA
ThruLines – a new tool on Ancestry

Friday 30 August:
Using DNA Painter
Theory of Family Relativity

Price reduction for copies of post-1857 E&W wills

It's not often genealogists encounter a permanent price reduction!

The cost of a digital copy of post-1857 probate records from England and Wales has been slashed from £10 to £1.50 with immediate effect. The copies can be ordered via the Find A Will online service, which I can vouch for as pretty efficient having used it (and paid full whack, grrrr) only two weeks ago.

You search the Find A Will database by name and year of death, select the record of interest, and pay up. Up to 10 days later (in my case, just 48 hours), a pdf copy of the probate docs and will arrives in your Inbox.

You can find out more about the service at the UK Government site, here, or go direct to the search page at Find A Will.

(With thanks to Roger Harvey)

Irish genealogy and history events, 22 July - 4 August

Monday 22 July: 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/Genealogy Advisory Service operate as normal.

Tuesday 23 July: Using social media for Irish research, with Laura Mackinson and Ilene Murray. Host: St. Louis Genealogical Society. Venue: Auditorium at St. Louis County Library HQ, 1640 South Lindbergh, St Louis, MO 63131, USA. 7–8:30pm. Members and non-members welcome. Open to members and non-members.

Wednesday 24 July: Rebels, Redcoats and Contested Identities: The Battle of Tara, 1798, with Dr Ciaran McDonnell. Last of this year's Tara Lecture Series. Host: OPW - Office of Public Works. Venue: Hill of Tara Centre, Dunsany, Navan, Co. Meath. Admission is free but limited seating, so arrive early. All Welcome.

Wednesday 24 July: Irish Family History Assistance. Host: Genealogical Society of Victoria. Venue: GSV Library, Level 6, 85 Queen St, Melbourne 3000, Australia. 10am to 4pm. Free for members. $20 non-members. Bookable one-hour appointments with a research consultant. Details.

Thursday 25 July: Book launch: Interned. The Curragh Internment Camps during the War of Independence, by James Durney. Host and venue: Curragh Military Museum, Curragh Camp, Co. Kildare. All welcome. 7:30pm. Lord Edward's Own Re-Enactment Group will be taking part. RSVP to cilldara2016@gmail.com.

Thursday 25 July: The vernacular architecture of Ireland, with Dr Christy Cunniffe. Host: Kilbarron Terryglass Histoorical Society. Venue: Terryglass Hall, Terryglass, Co Tipperary. Following the talk there will be a tasting of Food from our Fields. Admission €5. (Members €2)

Friday 26 July: A Tyrone family in America – Slavery and the Campbell Family in America, with Andy Hahn of the Campbell House Museum in Missouri. Host: Ulster American Folk Park, Omagh, Co Tyrone, BT78 5QU. 1pm. All welcome. Phone 0208 8224 3292 for details.

Saturday 27 July: A Tyrone family in America &nash; Native Americans, Robert Campbell and the presidency of Ullyses Grant, with Andy Hahn of the Campbell House Museum in Missouri. Host: Ulster American Folk Park, Omagh, Co Tyrone, BT78 5QU. 1pm. All welcome. Phone 0208 8224 3292 for details.

Sunday 28 July: Genealogy Day at Cabinteely House. Hosts: Genealogical Society of Ireland and DLR Summer Festival 2019. Short talks, demonstrations and advice for beginners and above. 2-5pm. Cabiteely Park, Co Dublin. No booking required. Details.

Monday 29 July: 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/Genealogy Advisory Service operate as normal.

Monday 29 July: Walls Don’t Fall Without Effort – the demise of the medieval town walls of Cashel, with Richard O'Brien. Part of the Within and Without the Walls lecture series. Host: Cashel Heritage Forum. Venue: Parish Centre, Friar Street, Cashel, Co Tipperary. 7:30pm. All welcome. Free.

Wednesday 31 July to Saturday 3 August: The Spirit of Mother Jones Festival. Various venues in Shandon, Cork City. Mixed activities include lectures, film screenings, poetry readings, book launches, performance and music. All events free. Programme.

National Archives of Ireland seeks new Director

The National Archives of Ireland (NAI) is seeking a new Director to manage the day-to-day leadership, strategic development and operational management of the archives.

The NAI premises in Bishop Street, Dublin

This is an exciting and challenging time for the NAI as the repository is currently undergoing a major redevelopment of new purpose-built storage facilities at its premises in Bishop Street, Dublin 8. The new Director will have a significant role in managing these developments and implementing future plans which will see the development of education and outreach facilities.

Other responsibilities for the new Director will be in leading, developing and overseeing policy formulation and implementation in the modern information and digital age. The NAI launched a new website earlier this year, and provides free public access to genealogical collections and makes regular contributions to the Decade of Centenaries project.

The new Director will be required to lead the NAI as it continues the preservation and digitisation of its National Collections and makes them available to the public.

The position of Director will be for a five-year fixed term contract and will be filled through an open competition. You'll find further information on the role and details of how to apply on PublicJobs.ie .

Closing date is Thursday 8 August.

Arizona to host Int'l Famine Commemoration 2019

Josepha Madigan T.D., Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and Chair of the National Famine Commemoration Committee, has announced that the 2019 International Commemoration of the Great Irish Famine will take place in Phoenix, Arizona on Sunday 3 November.

The Famine Memorial at the Irish Cultural
Center, Phoenix, Arizona

Confirming the arrangements for this year’s international Commemoration Minister Madigan commented: "As Chair of the National Famine Commemoration Committee, I look forward to the International Famine Commemoration being held in Phoenix, Arizona. This is the fifth time the commemoration has been held in the USA, and Phoenix is the westernmost venue to date. Previously the International Famine Commemoration has been held in New York, Boston, New Orleans and Philadelphia.

"I am particularly pleased that the Commemoration is being held in Phoenix this year as 2019 marks the 20th anniversary of the dedication of the Great Hunger Memorial commissioned by the Irish Cultural Center.

This year’s commemoration represents an opportunity to not only recognise the work of the Irish Cultural Center and McClelland Library in Phoenix but to honour the memory of those who left Ireland during the Famine itself, the subsequent years of emigration which saw many Famine Irish and their descendants make an enormous contribution in the Western states, and the ongoing role of the Irish diaspora and Irish-Americans in Arizona and throughout the Western United States.”

There have been ten international commemorations of the Great Irish Famine to date. Since the first international commemoration in Toronto and Quebec in 2009, events have also been held in Australia, Canada and the UK.

A giant leap for mankind and a half price offer from Irish Newspaper Archives

Half price offer expires tonight

To mark the 50th anniversary of the first Moon Landing, Irish Newspaper Archives is offering a generous 50% off subscriptions to its database. The archive holds more than six million pages of newspaper content from titles published across the island. Many of the newspapers are available from thier very first edition to the current day.

If you want to take advantage of this special offer, you'll need to be quick. Click the image, right, choose your preferred subscription and currency, and, when you get to the payment page, type in the coupon/promo code Moon50 to see the half price sum.

The offer expires tonight, Sunday 21 July, at 11:59pm.


The content above not contain affiliate links, but some of my news stories do. Affilate links allow me to earn a small commission if the reader buys via such links. Affiliate links do not affect the price you pay as a consumer, but it does contribute to keeping IrishGenealogyNews online. See Advertising Disclosure tab above.

30 Irish cultural traditions given official recognition

Some 30 unique traditions have been given official recognition by the state. Some of the customs and traditions have a national reach, which others are specific to regions or cities.

Traditional Currachs are still a common sight in
the coastal waters along the West of Ireland.

Among them are the making of Irish crochet lace and Mountmellick embroidery, the Burren Winterage festival, which celebrates the unique farming history of North Clare, the Mummers of Fingal, dry stone construction, which is still such a feature of rural Ireland, Sea currach making and Snap net fishing, and the tradition of carillon – bellringing percussion organ – in Cobh, Co Cork. All 30 have been given a status that will help to protect and preserve the traditions for generations.

The customs have been added to the National Inventory of Ireland’s Intangible Cultural Heritage, a UNESCO initiative to safeguard cultural heritage.

Uileann piping and hurling have already been been inscribed in the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage, while an application for harping will be considered at the end of the year.

The full list of customs and traditions recognised on the list are:

• Uileann Piping
• Hurling
• Cruitireacht na hÉireann / Irish Harping
• Winterage in the Burren
• Limerick Lace
• Turas Cholm Cille
• Snap Net Fishing
• Irish Crochet Lace
• Cobh Carillon Playing
• Native Irish Pedigree Dog Breeds
• Art and Practice of Falconry
• St Moling’s Pilgrim’s Route
• Mountmellick Embroidery
• Cant / Gamon, the traditional language spoken by Travellers
• Traveller Tinsmithing
• Sea Currach Making
• Mummers of Fingal
• Basketmaking
• Letterpress Printing in Ireland
• Floating Heritage
• Carrickmacross Lack Making
• Marcanna na Talaimh
• Dry Stone Construction
• Irish Traditional Music
• Traditional Farming and Sheepdog Training
• Irish Draught Horse Breeding
• Boyne Currach Making
• Loy Digging
• Holy Wells in County Clare
• Mid Kerry Biddy

Free access to Ancestry.ca's Canadian census collection

Ancestry.ca is offering free access to its Canadian Census Collection this weekend.

You can access these records sets (details below) so long as you have a free registered account. If you don't already have one, you'll need to register. This is a straightforward and quick process.

Either way, just click the image to get started.

The free access will end on Sunday 21 July at 11:59pm ET.

The following data collections are included in the free access weekend:

• 1825 Census of Lower Canada
• 1842 Census of Canada East
• 1851 Census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia
• 1861 Census of Canada
• 1871 Census of Canada
• 1881 Census of Canada
• 1891 Census of Canada
• 1901 Census of Canada
• 1906 Canada Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta
• 1911 Census of Canada
• 1916 Canada Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta
• 1921 Census of Canada
• Nova Scotia, 1770 Census
• Nova Scotia, Canada, Census, Assessment & Poll Tax Records, 1770-95, 1827, 1838

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.

Heritage Week 2019 programme launched: 2,000 events

National Heritage Week, which will take place 17–25 August, was officially launched yesterday by Josepha Madigan TD, Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. The nine-day event is part of European Heritage Days, a joint initiative of the Council of Europe and the EU to promote awareness and involvement in our natural, built and cultural heritage.

Josepha Madigan, TD, with children at
the Heritage Week launch

It is Ireland's most popular cultural event and at least half a million people are expected to participate in some 2,000 heritage events. Nearly all events are free and this year's theme is Pastimes | Past Times.

For family historians, whether they live in Ireland or will be visiting during August, Heritage Week will present a diverse programme of walks, workshops, talks, re-enactments and have-a-go events that can help you understand more about the lives of your ancestors and find out how and where you can discover more. Free genealogy advice, tours of national and local repositories, Open Days at historical venues, 'Living' history experiences, graveyard tours... they are all featured in the line-up. Really, if you can't find at least a handful of events to interest and motivate you, you should check for a pulse.

Search the HeritageWeek.ie database of events using keywords such as Genealogy, Archives, Family history, Ancestors etc.

As the launch was held in Dublin's Henrietta Street, I'm going to call out just one venue for its events likely to be of interest to genealogists: the Registry of Deeds. Not only will it be running lunchtime tours of its very special archive (Monday to Friday, 19-23 August, Booking essential), it will also present an evening seminar exploring some of the recent discoveries made in its collection (Eureka! 22 August, 6-7:30pm. Booking essential.)

Irish Registry of Deeds Index Project: mid-July update

The Irish Registry of Deeds Index Project has updated its online database with another tranche of transcriptions from its hard-working band of volunteers.

The update means there are now 318,287 records in the main index, transcribed from 34,628 memorials of deeds in the main index.

Additionally, the Townland and Grantors indexes have been updated with new entries. The new totals for each of those indexes are as show in the images, above.

All the indexes can be searched here, free of charge.

UCD Digital Library releases Workhouse Drawings

University College Dublin's Digital Library has released a representative sample of drawings, plans and other documents from the Workhouse Collection (ref 85/128) held by the Irish Archictural Archive (IAA).

Click map to view UCD Digital Library's
Workhouse Drawings Collection

Built between 1839 and 1847, some 130 workhouses were built. They were designed by architect George Wilkinson to accommodate either 400 people or 800 people and were constructed to a standard specification and layout. Fever Hospitals were added to them from 1847, and 30 more workhouses were built between 1849 and 1853 to a different design. (Of these 163 workhouses, 74 have been completely demolished and seven are derelict.)

While the IAA's Workhouse Collection holds drawings for 81 workhouses in the Republic of Ireland, many are in too delicate a condition for open access but UCD's smaller digital sample collection will allow free and unrestricted access to researchers. It holds 42 drawings and documents relating to the Mallow, Castleblayney, Lismore and Gorey workhouses, and the 104-page Fifth Annual Report of the Poor Law Commissioners dating from 1839.

Accompanying the Workhouse Drawings (digital) Collection is an interactive map showing the location of the workhouses on modern maps and data on whether each survives and, if it does, in what capacity. There is also a very informative short feature about the collection here, which is worth reading for greater insight into these architectural icons that were so feared by our ancestors.

Early July update: Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives

Photo from Shankill cemetery.
Courtesy Dave Hall and IGP Archives.

Volunteers have donated the files noted below to Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives (IGP-web) during the first half of July.

They are made available to researchers, free of charge, but do bear in mind that contributors retain copyright of their transcriptions and/or photographs.

DUBLIN Genealogy Archives – Headstones
Mount Jerome, Dublin - Part 226-229

LONGFORD Genealogy Archives – Land
Registry of Deeds - Index of Grantees, 1708-1738
Registry of Deeds - Index of Grantors, 1708-1738

ROSCOMMON Genealogy Archives – Headstones
Shankill Cemetery, near Elphin (UPDATE)

TIPPERARY Genealogy Archives – Church
Thurles Parish Marriages, Dio. of Cashel & Emly (R.C.) 1841-1843

What's in store from RootsIreland.ie later in the year?

More Roman Catholic records from County Wexford are in the process of being transcribed and will be uploaded to RootsIreland later this year. So, too will another instalment of records for Limerick.

These are two revelations made in the latest Irish Genealogy Matters, the newsletter of the Irish Family History Foundation, which manages the RootsIreland database and oversees an island-wide network of heritage and genealogy centres.

The newsletter also provides an impressive summary of the records uploaded to the database so far this year. They tot up to more than 100,000 records of different types – a selection of Protestant and Roman Catholic baptisms, marriages and burials; confirmations; census substitutes; and civil births, marriages and deaths – and come from Counties Waterford, Armagh, Cork, Wexford, Galway, Laois and Offaly. The transcribing teams have certainly been busy!

All of these records have, of course, been noted here on Irish Genealogy News as and when they were released, but it's worth checking the summary in case you missed a relevant blogpost.

You'll also be able to find news of developments past, present and future, of developments from around the IFHF centres in the newsletter. Click the image to download the pdf.

Irish genealogy, history and heritage events, 15-28 July

Monday 15 July: NLI Main 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/Genealogy Advisory Service operate as normal.

Monday 15 July: Bank Holiday in Northern Ireland. PRONI, private libraries and all public lending libraries across Northern Ireland will be closed until Tuesday 16 July. This public holiday does not apply in the Republic of Ireland.

Tuesday 16 July: The Myth Business: Alma and Jeremiah Curtin in Dingle and Ventry, 1892, with Professor Angela Bourke. Host: Dingle Historical Society. Venue: Dingle Skellig Hotel, Dingle, Co Kerry. 8pm. All welcome.

Wednesday 17 July: Tara: 'The Resuscitated Jerusalem', with Dr Mairead Carew. Third of this year's Tara Lecture Series. Host: Office of Public Works. Venue: Hill of Tara Centre, Castleboy, Co Meath. Free. All welcome. Seating limited so arrive early to ensure you get a seat.

Thursday 18 July: Irish Wills in the Society of Genealogists Library, with Else Churchill. Host and venue: Society of Genealogists, 14 Charterhouse Buildings, Gosport Road, London EC1, UK. 1 hour. Free. Bookings.

Friday 19 July: The heritage, archaeology, and folklore of some sacred wells in East Galway, with Christy Cunniffe. Host and venue: Aughrim Visitor Centre, Aughrim, nr Ballinasloe, Co Galway. 2pm. Free. All welcome.

Saturday 20 July: Dead famous – Who is buried where in Northern Ireland, with David Hume. Host: Whitehead Summer Festival and Whitehead Library. Venue: Whitehead Library, Edward Rd, Whitehead, Co Antrim BT38 9QB. Booking essential T 028 9335 3249 / whitehead.library@librariesni.org.uk. Free. All welcome.

Saturday 20 July: A celebration of People, Place and Heritage, an afternoon conference. Part of the Crinniú festival. Host and venue: Irish Workhouse Centre, Portumna, co Galway. 1-4pm. Free. Details.

Saturday 20 July: HER story in history - Irish Women who made a difference, with Maura Barrett. Ormond Castle Lecture Series. Host and venue: Tipperary Studies, County Library, Castle Ave, Thurles Townparks, Thurles, Co. Tipperary. 11:30am. Free. All Welcome. Booking essential on 051 640787.

Saturday 20 July: Lesbian Lives in 1916 and the Irish revolutionary period, with Claire Hackett. Host and venue: Áras Uí Chonghaile, James Connolly Visitor Centre, 374 Falls Rd, Belfast BT12 6DG. 1–2pm. Free. No booking required.

Monday 22 July: 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/Genealogy Advisory Service operate as normal.

Tuesday 23 July: Using social media for Irish research, with Laura Mackinson and Ilene Murray. Host: St. Louis Genealogical Society. Venue: Auditorium at St. Louis County Library HQ, 1640 South Lindbergh, St Louis, MO 63131, USA. 7–8:30pm. Members and non-members welcome. Open to members and non-members.

Wednesday 24 July: Rebels, Redcoats and Contested Identities: The Battle of Tara, 1798, with Dr Ciaran McDonnell. Last of this year's Tara Lecture Series. Host: OPW - Office of Public Works. Venue: Hill of Tara Centre, Dunsany, Navan, Co. Meath. Admission is free but limited seating, so arrive early. All Welcome.

Wednesday 24 July: Irish Family History Assistance. Host: Genealogical Society of Victoria. Venue: GSV Library, Level 6, 85 Queen St, Melbourne 3000, Australia. 10am to 4pm. Free for members. $20 non-members. Bookable one-hour appointments with a research consultant. Details.

Thursday 25 July: Book launch: Interned. The Curragh Internment Camps during the War of Independence, by James Durney. Host and venue: Curragh Military Museum, Curragh Camp, Co. Kildare. All welcome. 7:30pm. Lord Edward's Own Re-Enactment Group will be taking part. RSVP to cilldara2016@gmail.com.

Sunday 28 July: Genealogy Day at Cabinteely House. Hosts: Genealogical Society of Ireland and DLR Summer Festival 2019. Short talks, demonstrations and advice for beginners and above. 2-5pm. Cabiteely Park, Co Dublin. No booking required. Details.

FindMyPast's growing US passenger and crew collection tops 102m records

FindMyPast has consolidated its collection of US passenger and crew records and added a further two million records covering Boston, Texas and South Carolina.

Click image to view expanded sample manifest

This growing collection now holds more than 102.5million records, most of them from the National Archives and Record Admission (NARA) in Washington, John F Kennedy Trust Ltd, and Mystic Seaport Museums. You'll find a full list of the lists and their sources here.

Spanning 1800-1965, the collection includes ship manifests kept by shipmasters, crew lists, flight manifests, passenger arrival lists, and more, and documents the arrival of millions of immigrants – so many of them Irish – into America.

Transcripts and images are available for most of the entries, and many researchers will discover not only basic details of their ancestor's year and place of birth, arrival and place of arrival and ship name, but also who their ancestor travelled with, what their occupation was, their last residence and who they were intending to visit after arrival.

The crew lists may reveal physical descriptions, lengths of service, literacy levels and specific jobs of individuals working on a ship.

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.

New book: Marriage and the Irish - a miscellany

Click cover image for publisher's online shop

Marriage and the Irish: a miscellany is the second in the Wordwell series Birth, Marriage and Death among the Irish.

Like the successful first book of the series – Death and the Irish: a Miscellany – the marriage volume has been edited by Salvador Ryan, Professor of Ecclesiastical History at St Patrick's College, Maynooth.

The 283-page paperback explores the institution of marriage in Ireland over 1,400 years, beginning with the concept of marriage in early Irish law and ending with a mainly statistical snapshot of marriage in 2016. It holds 79 articles written by 75 contributors from a range of academic disciplines.

As a collection, the book tells the story of how attitudes and practices related to marriage have evolved over the years in response to social changes, religious tenets, legal developments and shifting life expectations.

All of the features are short; most are less than 1,200 words in length and all are accompanied by suggestions for further reading and/or details of the writer's main sources.

The range of topics is vast. Here's a selection: the secrets of the medieval Irish bed; C16th court cases concerning impotence, drunkenness and dowries; domestic violence in early modern Ireland; clandestine marriages; mixed marriages; elopement; the introduction of marriage equality, the C19th honeymoon; desertion and divorce; and humanist ceremonies. There are also articles focussed on specific groups of people eg Irish emigrants; Methodists; Quakers; aristocrats; and Travellers.

With the individual articles being so short and the topics so varied, this is an easy book to pick up for a quick, morsel-sized bite at the subject and its place in our ancestors' lives and, indeed, in our own.

The neatly-presented illustrated book is available from the County Dublin-based publishers, Wordwell Ltd, price €25.

ISBN978-1-9164922-2-6

Future Irish census will carry messages from the past

For the first time, the 2021 census of the Republic of Ireland will allow people to write a confidential or personal message on their census questionnaire; this message – dubbed a 'time-capsule' feature, will be offered with neither guidance nor restrictions on what individuals might wish to convey to their descendants or future society, and will remain sealed for 100 years. Leaving a message will be voluntary.

Other changes to the quesionnaire will see eight new questions posed. They focus on renewable energy sources, smoking, volunteering, childcare, commuting home from work, school or college, internet access and devices, smoke alarms and working from home. Some 25 existing questions, including those dealing with disability, ethnic group, Irish language and religion, will be updated.

The next census will be paper-based and take place on Sunday 18 April 2021. The changes follow the Central Statistics Office's two-year public consultation and pilot survey, the latter having been carried out in September 2018 in 35 areas in seven counties, with 10,000 households taking part.

Commenting on the consultation and Pilot Survey, Cormac Halpin, Senior Statistician, said: "The value of the statistical information provided by the census cannot be overestimated. It drives policy, targets services where needed and informs our decisions at a time of continuing social change. "There is an international element to the next census as every other EU member state will also be required to carry out a census in 2021."

Time for some debate, perhaps, on what our descendants might want to learn about us in 2121?

Irish Genealogy, History and Heritage events, 8-21 July

Monday 8 July: 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 8 July: Irish Genealogy: Life in the Past Lane, with Barbara Griffin. Host: IFCI. Venue: Friendly Sons of The Shillelagh, 815 16th Ave, Belmar, New Jersey, USA. Free to IACI members. Guests $10. All welcome. Details and booking.

Tuesday 9 July: Headstones – their obvious and hidden messages, with John Nangle. Host: GSI. Venue: DFEi, Cumberland St, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin. 8pm. All welcome. €3.

Wednesday 10 July: Tara and the Celtic Revival, with Professor Emeritus Muiris O Sullivan. Tara Lecture Series. Host and venue: Hill of Tara Centre, Dunsany, Navan, Co. Meath. Free. Seating limited (arrive early). All welcome.

Thursday 11 July: Traditional boats of Ireland – Dónal Mac Pólin Collection, exhibition launch. Part of the Earagail Arts Festival. Host: Donegal County Museum, High Road, Letterkenny, Co Donegal. 7pm Free. RSVP to museum@donegalcoco.ie.

Friday 12 July: Bank Holiday (also Monday 15 July) in Northern Ireland. PRONI, private libraries and all public lending libraries across Northern Ireland will be closed until Tuesday 16 July. These public holidays do not apply in the Republic of Ireland.

Saturday 13 July: Afternoon Tea celebrating Lady Catherine Beresford, nee Power, hosted by Curraghmore House, Portlaw, Co. Waterford as part of the Comeraghs Wild Festival. Two talks, plus a traditional afternoon tea in the formal dining room and a visit to the Shellhouse. Talks: Commemorating Lady Catherine, 1701-1769, with Julian Walton, and Laid out in Fine Taste: Lady Catherine Power & Sir Marcus Beresford's creations at Tyrone House and Curraghmore, with William Fraher. 3pm. Due to limited numbers, places must be booked. Admission: €50. Details.

Sunday 14 July: The Waterford country house during the revolutionary period, with William Fraher. Part of the Comeraghs Wild Festival. Venue: Woodhouse Estate, Stradbally, Co Waterford. 2pm. Admission: €25, includes afternoon tea. Bookings.

Monday 15 July: 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 15 July: Bank Holiday in Northern Ireland. PRONI, private libraries and all public lending libraries across Northern Ireland will be closed until Tuesday 16 July. This public holiday does not apply in the Republic of Ireland.

Tuesday 16 July: The Myth Business: Alma and Jeremiah Curtin in Dingle and Ventry, 1892, with Professor Angela Bourke. Host: Dingle Historical Society. Venue: Dingle Skellig Hotel, Dingle, Co Kerry. 8pm. All welcome.

Wednesday 17 July: Tara: 'The Resuscitated Jerusalem', with Dr Mairead Carew. Third of this year's Tara Lecture Series. Host: Office of Public Works. Venue: Hill of Tara Centre, Castleboy, Co Meath. Free. All welcome. Seating limited so arrive early to ensure you get a seat.

Thursday 18 July: Irish Wills in the Society of Genealogists Library, with Else Churchill. Host and venue: Society of Genealogists, 14 Charterhouse Buildings, Gosport Road, London EC1, UK. 1 hour. Free. Bookings.

Saturday 20 July: Dead famous – Who is buried where in Northern Ireland, with David Hume. Host: Whitehead Summer Festival and Whitehead Library. Venue: Whitehead Library, Edward Rd, Whitehead, Co Antrim BT38 9QB. Booking essential T 028 9335 3249 / whitehead.library@librariesni.org.uk. Free. All welcome.

AncestryUK: Free access weekend to UK military records

This weekend, Ancestry UK is giving free access to all its UK military records. (As far as I'm aware, free access isn't available via other Ancestry territories.)

Within this collection is a wide range of record sets. Here's a small sample of them: 

Free access period has ended

• Canada, Pension Applications For Widows and Family of British Military Officers, 1776-1881
• Royal Hospital Chelsea Pensioner Soldier Service Records, 1760-1920
• Scottish Soldiers in Colonial America
• Ireland, Royal Irish Constabulary Pensions, 1873-1925
• American Loyalist Claims, 1776-1835

See the full list of featured record sets here.

If you have already registered with Ancestry, click the image and start searching. If you don't already have a regsitered account, you'll need to register with your name and email address; you'll then be sent a username and password to access the records.

The free access weekend will end on Sunday 7 July at 11:59pm GMT.

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.

Enrolment open for University of Limerick's MA History of Family

Enrolment is now open for this September's intake for the MA History of Family at the University of Limerick.

While it is not a genealogy course, the subject may appeal to anyone with an interest in Irish history and family history who wants to take their research a stage further and study towards a Master's degree.

Students study the family within its broader context of social, cultural and economic history, and a wide range of topics are covered, including families and migration, families and communities and Irish cultural history, as well as academic writing and advanced research skills. Students also write a dissertation based on their own research.

Course Director Dr Ciara Breathnach explains that the course appeals to a diverse range of students. "Some join the course straight after finishing their undergraduate degree, but several have joined following a long break from formal study. They have often developed an interest in Irish history through researching their own families and may have done a few courses in genealogy. They now feel ready to take this study further, in a more academic environment. The programme is designed to appeal to those wishing to upskill, reskill or conduct continuing professional development. and is sensitive to busy lives and those working full-time."

The course is delivered both on-campus and online. Online students interact with colleagues in Ireland via audio-conference and through the University of Limerick’s virtual learning environment. The result is that the students are as diverse as the topics. "Students are based not just in Ireland but also from all over the diaspora including America, Australia, Canada and the UK," says Dr Rachel Murphy. "This provides a really enriching environment in which to teach and learn, as students share their wide range of experiences."

The course may be studied full-time (one year) or part-time (two years).

For more details, visit the course homepages:

• MA History of Family (on campus)
• MA History of Family (online)

Richmond Barracks' Mondays at the Mess podcasts

The Mess cafe at Richmond Barracks,
off Buffin Road, Inchicore, Dublin 8.

Looking for some more podcasts to extend your knowledge of Irish political, social and cultural history? Dublin's Richmond Barracks, which opened as a museum, exhibition and cultural centre three years ago, has been hosting a popular monthly lecture series called Mondays at the Mess. The lectures are presented by historians, authors and archivists, with wide-ranging historical themes covering national and Dublin issues and events.

While there's a €5 admission fee to attend the talks in person, all visitors are treated to tea and a scone.

For those unable to attend, more than 20 of the talks can now be enjoyed online, free. No tea and scone, but there's nothing to stop you putting on the kettle and grabbing a jammie dodger from the biscuit jar.

The following selection of lecture titles should give you a taste of what's on offer:

Momento mori : Post-mortem photography and child mortality in early 20th century Dublin, with Orla Fitzpatrick

Independence and Dependants – The Military Service (1916-1923) Pensions Collection, with Robert McEvoy

Gala Days – Executions in Late Medieval Dublin, Dr Áine Foley

The Beautiful Game in Dublin: Early Days and Glories, with Donal Fallon

The Devout and the Deviant (issues around the 1935 Criminal Law Amendment Act which dealt with sexual crime and sexual activity), with Molly O’Duffy

Grave Matters – Death and Dying in Dublin from 1500 to the present, with Lisa Marie Griffith

Votes for Women: Suffrage in the Suburbs, with Maeve Casserly

Here's the link to view the Mondays at the Mess podcasts menu.

4th of July Flash Sale: Half price Ancestry subscriptions

Ancestry is running a 4th of July Flash Sale in the US (only) on Ancestry memberships subscriptions. They're half price! You'll have to be quick. The discounts will disappear tomorrow night. Here's what's on offer:

Offer has expired

US Discovery
Access to all US records (50% off).
6-month subscription reduced from $99 to $49 (save $50). 1-month subscription also half price.

World Explorer
Access all US and international records.
6-month subscription reduced from $149 to $74 (save 75). 1-month subscription also half price.

All AccessAccess to all US and International records, Fold 3 and Newspapers.com Basic.
6-month sub reduced from $199 to $99 (save $100). 1-month subscription also half price.

These membership offers are available to new subscribers only and are not for renewal of current subscriptions. You need to purchase your new package before 11.59pm PST on Thursday 4 July.

Click the image for more details and to place your order.

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.

Ireland's Registry of Deeds: a step closer to digitisation

Henrietta Street approach to the Registry of Deeds,
where the Digitisation Strategy Steering Group
held its first meeting last week.

Maybe I haven't had my nose close enough to the grindstone of late, but this ENORMOUS news landed in front of me last night without a whisper of prior warning: the Property Registration Authority (PRA) hosted the first meeting of the Registry of Deeds Digitisation Strategy Steering Group (RDDSS) last week.

Yep. Online accessibility to this huge and unique collection of more than five million memorial records – property transactions, marriage settlements, wills and the like – dating from 1708 may now be rather less of a genealogists' pipe dream than we thought. Those of us grown old on 'it won't happen in my lifetime' negativity had better revisit their future plans, as the PRA has set out a vision to make the Registry of Deeds' records 'available and discoverable online for research and the enjoyment of all'.

The RDDSS Group brought together a good number of PRA staff, representatives of government departments, archival and educational institutions, professional bodies and key user groups from across the island. Among them was John Grenham MAGI, who knows a thing or two about genealogists' needs and database realities!

Realism is, of course, going to be required in equal measure to patience by family historians, because is won't be a quick and easy digitisation project, up and running in a matter of months. There are preservation issues, there are several different categories of records, there are physical challenges with the 17,000 large and cumbersome bound volumes, and inevitably, the ugly necessity of identifying funding and collaborative partners. The RDDSS Group is exploring strategy, and the project has a long way to go before it moves on from the talking phase, but the digitisation of this important archive of material does seem to have come one giant step closer.

For more info and pix of the RDDSS Group members, see the PRA news story.

* In the meantime, Irish genealogists shouldn't forget the Registry of Deeds Index Project, a volunteer-led project now holding more than 317,000 entries in its free online database. It's updated on a monthly basis. You might be lucky and find a memorial of Deeds relating to your ancestor long before the digitised deeds collection makes its way to our screens.

MilitaryArchives.ie begins consolidation and upgrade

The team at Ireland's Military Archives in Dublin has advised that the content of its dedicated Bureau of Military History website has been amalgamated into the parent MilitaryArchives.ie site from today. In the course of time (domain expiry) the dedicated site will be withdrawn.

The Military Archives, Cathal Brugha Barracks,
Rathmines, Dublin 6

While an automatic 'redirect' has been set up, you may as well take a moment or two to point your existing 'Favourites' or 'Bookmarks' towards the new url, which is:

http://www.militaryarchives.ie/en/collections/online-collections/bureau-of-military-history-1913-1921.

This transfer of the Bureau of Military History site's digital resources to the parent site is the first stage of a planned website upgrade. Further consolidation of MilitaryArchives.ie will follow, as will improvements in site functionality.

You can find out more at MilitaryArchives.ie.

Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives: June's updates

The volunteer team at Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives, part of IGP-web, uploaded the following files to the free database during June:

Headstone to Nicholas and Mary McLeady and
their son Maitiu (Matt) O'Maoileidigh in
Mount Jerome Cemetery, Dublin. Click to enlarge.
Photo courtesy of IGP Archives and Yvonne Russell.

CAVAN Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Ballyconnell, Our Lady of Lourdes (R.C.) Graveyard
Mullahoran, Our Lady of Lourdes (R.C.) (partial)

CORK Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Castletownroche, Bridgetown Priory Graveyard
St Edmund's, CoI, Coolkelure (near Dunmanway)

DONEGAL Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Raphoe, Presbyterian Church

DUBLIN Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Mount Jerome, Dublin - Part 223-225

TIPPERARY Genealogy Archives - Church Records
Thurles Parish Marriages, Dio. of Cashel & Emly (R.C.) 1838-1840

Grab a 20% discount on an annual sub to RootsIreland

RootsIreland is offering a 20% discount on all new 12-month subscriptions taken out on or before midnight (Irish Summer Time) Sunday 14 July.

That's a pretty generous offer from the online database that holds more than 23 million records, including the most complete and accurate set of Roman Catholic church records online, and civil birth, marriage and death records for more than half the island's counties.

The database is regularly updated, too; in the first half of 2019, some 100,000 transcription have been added from counties Armagh, Laois, Offaly, Waterford and Wexford, and from East Galway.

You can find a menu of the online records available for each county here.

RootsIreland.ie is run by the Irish Family History Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation which manages 34 genealogy centres across the island. The genealogists working in these centres have an unparalleled amount of local knowledge which can be invaluable to those tracing their ancestors, a service which no other website or company can provide to such a high standard. By taking out a subscription with RootsIreland, you are helping these centres to continue to provide a world-class service and securing many Irish jobs.

Both existing and new customers can take advantage of this special summer discount. New customers should click the logo and register for an account.

If you are a returning customer or you currently have a subscription, click the logo, click My Account, My Subscription and Start a New Subscription. The special deal subscription will begin once your current subscription (if any) runs out.

Irish genealogy, heritage and history events, 1-14 July

All of July: C4, the Research Centre of the NIFHS, is closed throughout the month, reopening 4 August. Venue: Unit C4, Valley Business Centre, 67 Church Road, Newtownabbey, Co. Antrim, BT36 7LS.

Monday 1 July: 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 1 July: The Workhouse of the South Dublin Union, with Davis Coakley. Host: Richmond Barracks, Mondays at the Mess series. Venue: Richmond Barracks, Off Bulfin Rd, Inchicore, Dublin 8. 11am. Admission €5, includes tea and scone. Tickets.

Wednesday 3 July: Liberating Ireland - Daniel O'Connell and the fight for Irish freedom, with Professor Patrick Geoghegan. Host & venue: Hill of Tara Centre, Castleboy, Co Meath. Free. All welcome.

Thursday 4 July: The Manchester Martyrs, and the West Cork Connections, with Robert J Bateman. Host: Duchas Clonakilty Heritage. Venue: The Parish Centre, Clonakilty, Co Cork. Free. 8:30pm. All welcome.

Sunday 7 July: Power and Politics in the Blackwater Valley, a one-day conference. Host and venue: Dromana House, Cappoquin, Co. Waterford. Four lectures, morning coffee, lunch and afternoon tea. 10:30am to 4pm. Inclusive fee of €75pp or €130 for two persons. For more details and to book, email info@dromanahouse.com or phone 086 8186305.

Monday 8 July: 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 8 July: Irish Genealogy: Life in the Past Lane, with Barbara Griffin. Host: Irish American Cultural Institute. Venue: Friendly Sons of The Shillelagh, 815 16th Ave, Belmar, New Jersey, USA. Free to IACI members. Guests $10. All welcome. Details and booking.

Tuesday 9 July: Headstones – their obvious and hidden messages, with John Nangle. Host: Genealocial Society of Ireland. Venue: DFEi, Cumberland St, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin. 8pm. All welcome. €3.

Wednesday 10 July: Tara and the Celtic Revival, with Professor Emeritus Muiris O Sullivan. Second of this year's Tara Lecture Series. Host: OPW - Office of Public Works. Venue: Hill of Tara Centre, Dunsany, Navan, Co. Meath. Admission is free but limited seating, so arrive early. All Welcome.

Friday 12 July: Bank Holiday (also Monday 15 July) in Northern Ireland. PRONI, private libraries and all public lending libraries across Northern Ireland will be closed until Tuesday 16 July. These public holidays do not apply in the Republic of Ireland.