Friday 31 July 2020

Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives: end of July update

In the last two weeks the volunteers of Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives have uploaded headstone photos + transcriptions of their inscriptions from five burial grounds across the four provinces of Ireland.

The four-year project to collect photos of headstones
at Aughaval Cemetery in County Mayo and transcribe
their inscriptions has been completed. Thanks are due
to volunteers Dympna Beckett Joyce & Bernie McCafferty.
They include the final tranches from the 1000-grave Aughaval Cemetery in County Mayo and are listed below.

The IGPA Headstone Project now holds more than 157,000 images. They, as with all files in the online archive, are provided free to help other researchers.

DUBLIN Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Kilbarrack Graveyard, Sutton (additional)

DUBLIN Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Mt. Jerome Cem., Parts 259-261

MAYO Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Aughaval Cemetery Part 7
Aughaval Cemetery (New) Part 8

MONAGHAN Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Drummully St. Mary's Church (CoI) (additional)

WATERFORD Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Friends Burial Ground, Newtown (additional)

Thursday 30 July 2020

New/updated US genealogy records: 2-week summary

Below is a summary of US family history collections that have been either newly released or updated by the major genealogy databases in the last two weeks. (The last summary list was published on 16 July, see blogpost).

My regular summaries are designed to help family historians whose Irish ancestors emigrated, temporarily or permanently, to the United States. By default, they should also be useful to anyone carrying out research in the US, regardless of the origin of their ancestors.

The figures in parenthesis in the New Collections section are the numbers of records/images in each new record set.

Unless otherwise stated, the figures in parenthesis in the Updated Collections section reflect the number of records added to the collection in the recent update, if a number has been clearly noted by the supplier. I do not include updates of fewer than 1,000 records.

NEW COLLECTIONS

Ancestry

FamilySearch

FindMyPast

UPDATED COLLECTIONS

AmericanAncestors
        St Cecelia, Boston; St John The Baptist, East Boston. (1,700 pages/66,000 names)

Ancestry

FamilySearch


Some of the above content 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 Irish Genealogy News online. See Advertising Disclosure tab above.

Key 'Troubles' documents from NAI added to CAIN

A batch of some 960 documents, covering events related to Northern Ireland over the period 1986-88, have just been added to the Conflict Archive on the INternet (CAIN) website as part of an ongoing partnership involving Ulster University and the National Archives of Ireland (NAI).

CAIN contains information and source material on 'the Troubles' and politics in Northern Ireland from 1968 to the present. Work on the Irish records from the NAI was initially funded by the Reconciliation & Anti-Sectarianism Funds, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Dublin and later by the Reconciliation Fund, at DFAT.

The newly released material covers a wide range of topics: the workings of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in its initial phase in relation to various political, legal and security matters; how the governments in Dublin and London sought to manage their relationship in the face of challenging issues such as the extradition of those suspected of terrorist offences or the high profile cases of the Birmingham Six and Guildford Four; as well as the immediate aftermath of some of the most notorious events during the ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland such as the Enniskillen Bomb in November 1987 and the aftermath of the killings in Gibraltar in March 1988.

Wednesday 29 July 2020

Online lectures and activities from PRONI for August

With the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland still closed to the public due to Covid-19 restrictions, the PRONI team is working hard to maintain and develop a programme of virtual engagement activities which will take place over the coming months.

Two online events are included in the current schedule:
  • Monday 10 August: Eastside Festival – East Belfast in the Great War. Gareth Lyle will discuss East Belfast in The Great War through the prism of the 8th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles, who served in the 36th (Ulster) Division. Zoom presentation. 2pm-3pm. Free. Invitations are issued 24-hours before the event. Register.
  • Thursday 13 August: Eastside Festival – A-Z of Belfast Cinemas. Filmmaker Brian Henry Martin talks you on an alphabetical odyssey to celebrate the golden age of the cinema. Zoom presentation. 2pm-3pm. Free. Invitations are issued 24-hours before the event. Register.

More How-To Videos have been uploaded
  • The latest additions to PRONI's YouTube channel are videos to help you search on irishgenealogy.ie and the 1901/1911 census online. See the full playlist.

'Stay Home' Memories – There's still time to take part in this project:
  • This recently launched project aims to gather information on the lives of the people of Northern Ireland and how the pandemic effected everything from work and education to shopping and family and social life. Take part by completing the Stay Home Census Form to record who you locked down with, how it affected your work, education and living arrangements. Find out more.

Ancestry adds to Irish Famine Relief Commission Papers

Just before the USA celebrated its Independence Day, Ancestry updated one of its Irish collections – the Ireland, Famine Relief Commission Papers, 1844-1847.

https://prf.hn/click/camref:1100l4pTC/destination:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ancestry.co.uk%2Fsearch%2Fcollections%2F1772%2FI didn't mention it on IrishGenealogyNews at the time because no additional information was provided and I don't like to point researchers in the direction of updates unless I have some clear idea on what 'updated' means. It might be additional records; it might be new or additional images joining a database; it might be a reconfiguration of search fields...

Well, it's taken a while to find any information about this particular update but today I came across a tweet from @AncestryUK and it seems the update saw the addition of new records – no fewer than 80,874 of them, too.

The tweet advises that among the new items are letters asking for aid for families in need, providing important testaments to how difficult life became in the mid-19th century.

Ancestry's description of the collection is pretty good, and the material can be searched by name of individual or placename, or browsed by individual items.

Tuesday 28 July 2020

Brian Mitchell's NEW Pocket Guide to Irish Genealogy

Brian Mitchell's Pocket Guide to Irish Genealogy, first published in 1991 with revised editions in 2002 and 2009, has long been a favourite on the Irish family historian's bookshelf. In the 29 years since it was first published, the paperback's content and pagination has grown from 63 pages, to 77, to 90, and now, in a fully revised NEW Pocket Guide to Irish Genealogy, to 122 pages, so it's still comparatively small, but don't be fooled by the 'pocket guide' of the title. Brian's book was never pocket sized, either in physical form – all editions have appeared as a 7"x10" softback – or for the breadth of knowledge and essential information it provides to the researcher.

Click to visit publisher's website
When the original Guide was published, access to Irish record sources nearly always required a visit to a repository and some hours spent poring over original or microfilmed copies of historical material. Given that researchers today can view and search digital copies or transcriptions from their own Internet devices, Brian has completely revised his Guide to meet the needs of today’s researchers and direct them to current websites and resources.

However, his original premise has not changed: that the examination of seven major record sets will throw light on most peoples’ Irish ancestry: Civil records of birth, marriage and death; church registers for baptisms, marriages and burials; headstone inscriptions and burial records; census returns and substitutes; wills; Griffith's Valuation and Tithe Applotment Books. Brian describes these and how to get the best from them, after introductory chapters that provide a brief history of Ireland and Irish genealogy and guidance on taking your first genealogical steps if you live in Britain, North America, Australia or New Zealand.

In addition to the seven main types of records mentioned above, the book also looks at 'other sources' such as newspapers, registry of deeds, estate records and ordnance survey memoirs.

A third of the book is taken up with Insights and Strategies, all tried and tested during Brian's nearly 40 years of experience as a genealogist. In this section there is information about DNA testing; contact details and websites for the major record repositories; a look at Irish surnames and identity; where to find and use Passenger Lists; sources for Scots-Irish ancestors; a three-step 'road map' to starting research in the records; and two case studies which illustrate how to apply the steps covered earlier in the book.

The case studies relate to research in areas now in Northern Ireland. This is understandable since Brian has made a speciality out of research into the people, the emigrant ships, the places and the surnames of LondonDerry. He also runs the Derry service for RootsIreland's network of Genealogy Centres and is the genealogist for Derry City and Strabane District Council, but his family history experience covers the entire island. He is also a member of Accredited Genealogists Ireland.

The book appears to be aimed at the beginner or re-starter, and they won't go amiss with Brian's strategic approach and the way he lays out all the basics. But it is also a very handy publication for more experienced researchers, who will find it indispensable when they need to check a detail or revisit the nature of a particular record collection, or to use Brian's experience to find a fresh perspective to stalled research.

Brian's condensed guide to tracing Irish ancestors is on sale through the publisher's website Genealogical.com for US$25, from Amazon UK for £20.42, and from other good booksellers.

ISBN: 9780806359083



Monday 27 July 2020

Ancestry UK on Tuesday 28 July: 9-hours maintenance

https://prf.hn/click/camref:1100l4pTC/destination:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ancestry.co.uk%2FThere's a note on the Ancestry.co.uk website advising that scheduled maintenance will be being carried out from 5am to 2pm tomorrow, Tuesday 28 July.

The stated hours are for both Irish and British Summer Time.

Some portions of the site may be unavailable during this nine-hour period.

No further details are provided but users are thanked for their patience.

More funding for Ireland's National Cultural Institutions

The Irish Government has pledged a further €6 million of capital funding to accelerate the redevelopment and renewal of Ireland's National Cultural Institutions.

The two main repositories of genealogical interest – the National Archives and National Library - will be major recipients of the funding, which will, it is hoped, kickstart a return to the programmes underway before the Covid-19 shutdown.

In a press briefing on the Government's Job Stimulas Package, Minister for Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht Catherine Martin TD discussed the purpose of allocating these additional funds: "Over the coming 18 months we will seek to complete the design and planning phases of a number of iconic buildings housing national cultural institutions with a view to commencing construction in 2021.

"Highlights under this programme of capital investment include the reimagining and significant restoration of the National Library, and the National Archives redevelopment will see our valuable trove of State archived material rehoused.

"Advance design and planning works will commence at the National Concert Hall and the Abbey Theatre, and a project in the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork City will enhance this cornerstone building in a regenerated city plaza."

Copy of Irish Proclamation sold at auction for €190,000

At an auction in Dublin on Saturday, an original print of the Irish Proclamation was sold for €190,000 to an unidentified telephone bidder. Whyte’s Auctioneers had offered a guide price of €100,000 to €150,000, and described the document as “an original example of the historic document published by the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army” in April 1916".

Lot 135 of Whyte's Eclectic Collector Auction
It features a pencil inscription reading: "This Proclamation …. I took off “Marks” Jewellers shop Henry Street (opposite General Post Office) on Tuesday evening April 25th, 1916, [signed] J. Brady)", which the Whyte's catalogue described as giving "a contemporaneous provenance to the document”.

The secret printing of the Proclamation in Liberty Hall, which overlooks Dublin's Customs House and the River Liffey and was then the HQ of the Irish Citizen Army, was overseen by James Connolly. A print run of 1,000 copies was planned, but in the event, there was not sufficient metal type available. Fewer than 500 copies were printed.

No more than fifty have survived, and most of these are held by museums and other institutions. Up to a couple of dozen are thought to be in private hands.

Other lots at Saturday's auction included the Wolfe Tone Archive; the Thomas Ashe Archive; the 1798 and 1916 Proclamations; 1916 Rising medals, uniforms and weapons; collectibles from the Northern Ireland ‘Troubles’; and an Irish porringer from the Cromwellian Commonwealth period.

You'll find more details of items offered at the sale by watching the video below.



Saturday 25 July 2020

Sligo Chronicle joins BritishNewspaperArchive database as it passes 38million page milestone

With The Sligo Chronicle joining BritishNewspaperArchive.co.uk, the database has tipped past the impressive milestone of 38 million pages.

https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=5895&awinaffid=123532&clickref=&ued=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk%2Ftitles%2Fsligo-chronicleAs of this morning, the online repository holds 38,011,080 pages of historical newspapers published since the 1700s in Britain, Ireland and some colonial outposts.

The entire database is available on both the BritishNewspaperArchive.com (BMA) and its sister company FindMyPast (FMP).

This latest addition means the number of Irish titles available to search in both the BNA and FMP newspaper collections tot up to 194 (55 of them from Northern Ireland),

The Sligo Chronicle weekly paper was launched in 1850. It started out as a Wednesday publication, but quickly changed to Saturday, and ran until 1891. It also carried advertisements for everything from furniture and insurance to quack cures.

It also carried a mix of news relating to world news (Indian Mutiny, murder in Van Dieman Island), Westminster politics, local shipwrecks, workhouse matters, Union meetings, gossip, announcments of fair dates and produce prices, reports from petty session courts and local assizes, and birth, marriage and death listings.




Some of the above content 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 Irish Genealogy News online. See Advertising Disclosure tab above.


Monday 20 July 2020

More than 18m test results are in AncestryDNA database

Ancestry has announced that its cousin-matching DNA database now holds the results of more than 18million autosomal tests.

https://prf.hn/click/camref:1011l4pku/creativeref:1011l28283
This is more than all other major DNA test suppliers put together. Not bad for a product and service that was introduced only eight years ago in the USA.

It then went global, launching in Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the UK in 2015 and to a further 29  countries a year later.

Despite the best efforts of alternative autosomal DNA test suppliers targeting genealogists, AncestryDNA remains the most likely route to matching with the descendents of your extended ancestral family.

Ancestry also advised that it would shortly be making changes to the data available to DNA test customers. In future, 'distant cousin' matches will only be shown on the Ancestry website if you share a minimum of 8cM in your DNA. (If you've already saved such information, or have been in touch via the messaging system with your match, this detail will continue to be shown to you.)

Otherwise, the minimum threshold for 'distant cousin' status will be 8cM, and your total number of matches will probably reduce. I for one will not miss being presented with hundreds of matches I'm never going to explore!

Another addition to the data will be along shortly. It will record the longest segment of matching DNA. I'm not sure when this will go live.




Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives: early July updates

In the first half of July, the files below were added to Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives. While most of these files are new to the digital archive, that for St Loman's in Trim, Co Meath, has been upgraded, with all 933 photographs joining the online collection.

Headstone in St Loman's cemetery, Trim.
Photo courtesy of Kev Murray and IGPArchives.
All the data and images on IGPArchives are free to access. They are provided by volunteers for the benefit of all researchers.

Please note, however, that copyright of the photograph or transcribed material remains with the submitting researcher.

DUBLIN Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Mount Jerome Cem. Part 258

LEITRIM Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Drumkeerin, Innismagrath CoI Graveyard (partial)

LIMERICK Genealogy Archives - Land
A list of Claims, 1700 - Parts 1 & 2

MEATH Genealogy Archives - Headstones
St. Loman's, Trim part 6 - Complete 933 images

TIPPERARY Genealogy Archives - Newspaper
Tipperary News PDFs

WEXFORD Genealogy Archives - Headstones
St. Mary's Graveyard, Tagoat (partial)

Friday 17 July 2020

Latest updates to British family history collections

Below is a summary of new and updated family history record collections for England, Scotland and Wales released by major genealogy databases over the last 11 days (last summary, 6 July).

This regular summary of releases relating to British collections is designed to help family historians whose Irish ancestors migrated, temporarily or permanently, to England, Scotland or Wales. By default, it will also be useful to anyone carrying out research in those three nations, regardless of the origin of their ancestors.

The figures in parenthesis in the New Collections section are the numbers of records/images in the new record set.

Unless otherwise stated, the figures in parenthesis in the Updated Collections section reflect the number of records added to the collection in the recent update. In some instances, the supplier has not made this figure available. Updates of fewer than 1,000 records have not been included.


NEW COLLECTIONS

British Newspaper Archive (All titles shared with FindMyPast's Britiah Newspaper Collection)

TheGenealogist

MyHeritage

UPDATED COLLECTIONS

FamilySearch

FindMyPast


Some of the above content 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 Irish Genealogy News online. See Advertising Disclosure tab above.


Thursday 16 July 2020

2-week summary of new and updated USA collections

Below is a summary of US family history collections that have been either newly released or updated by the major genealogy databases in the last two weeks. (The last summary list was published on 3 July, see blogpost).

My regular summaries are designed to help family historians whose Irish ancestors emigrated, temporarily or permanently, to the United States. By default, they should also be useful to anyone carrying out research in the US, regardless of the origin of their ancestors.

The figures in parenthesis in the New Collections section are the numbers of records/images in each new record set.

Unless otherwise stated, the figures in parenthesis in the Updated Collections section reflect the number of records added to the collection in the recent update, if a number has been clearly noted by the supplier. I do not include updates of fewer than 1,000 records.


NEW COLLECTIONS

Ancestry

FamilySearch


UPDATED COLLECTIONS

AmericanAncestors
       St Joseph, Haverhill (135,000 names)
       Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Boston; Our Lady of Good Voyage, Gloucester (199,271 names)

Ancestry

Family Search


Some of the above content 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 Irish Genealogy News online. See Advertising Disclosure tab above.

Wednesday 15 July 2020

Trio of Irish papers joins BritishNewspaperArchive

Three more historical Irish newspapers have joined the online BritishNewspaperArchive.com and FindMyPast's Irish Newspaper Collection. They are as follows:

Cavan Weekly News and General Advertiser
So far, 1,394 editions of this paper, published on Fridays, are now available to search. They date from 1864 to 1876, with some gaps at present, but the holding will eventually span from 1864–1904.

Ballinrobe Chronicle and Mayo Advertiser
The holding for this Saturday paper already appears to be complete. It runs from 1866–96.

Cork Daily Herald
This paper went through many identities during its 40+ years of publication. In its launch year it was known as The Cork Herald and Southern Counties' Advertiser. In the course of the next two years is changed to The Cork Herald and Daily Advertiser and then to The Cork Daily Herald and Advertising Gazette. It settled on the latter name for a period of 32 years before shrinking the name to just Cork Daily Herald for the last nine years of publication, which ended in 1901. Editions published from 1856 to 1876 are now available, with the rest of the planned holding (to 1901) to be uploaded shortly.

There are now more than 190 Irish titles (55 of them from Northern Ireland) in both the BNA and FMP databases.



Some of the above content 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 Irish Genealogy News online. See Advertising Disclosure tab above.

JSTOR extends free access program to the end of 2020

JSTOR, the online digital library with more than 12 million academic journal articles, books and primary sources from across 75 disciplines, has expanded its free online reading programme until 31 December 2020.

http://jstor.org
Click image to visit site
The programme was created in response to the Covid-19 pandemic to help people unable to visit their usual repositories, and allows students and researchers to access up to 100 articles or items a month without institutional affiliation.

This generous offer allows you to access hundreds of research articles on Irish genealogy and history, many of them published in journals, magazines, and books that may be difficult to locate. You have to register - a painless process - and then you can start searching for material of interest.

To tempt you to explore, see the list below which provides just a tiny selection of material offered in a wide search for 'Irish genealogy'.

  • Genealogy, History, and Irish Immigration, by Joseph A. King in The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies,
  • Making Meaning out of Irish Names, by Bryan Coleborne, in the Journal of Irish Studies
  • Irish Immigrants in Michigan's Copper Country, by William H. Mulligan, in New Hibernia Review / Iris Éireannach Nua
  • Irish Life and Progress in Colonial South Australia, by Eric Richards, in Irish Historical Studies
  • Tara, the O’Haras, and the Irish Gone With the Wind, by Geraldine Higgins, in Southern Cultures
  • The Genealogy of the Anglo-Norman Lynches who settled in Galway, by Paul McNulty, in Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society
  • Irish-American Nationalism in Butte, 1900-1916, by Catherine Dowling, in Montana: The Magazine of Western History
  • 'O' versus 'Mac': The Irish Roots of US Presidential Candidates, by Seán J. Murphy in History Ireland
  • Irish Immigrant Healing Magic in Nineteenth-Century New York City, by Meredith B. Linn in Historical Archaeology
  • Irish, Scotch and Scotch-Irish, A Reconsideration, by Leroy V. Eid, in American Presbyterians
  • "It's not Really a Nickname, it's a Method": Local Names, State Intimates, and Kinship Register in the Irish "Gaeltacht", by Veerendra Lele, in the Journal of Linguistic Anthropology


Tuesday 14 July 2020

Ireland's Registry of Deeds Index Project: latest news

The volunteer-led Registry of Deeds Index Project has been updated. The free online Index now holds 361,578 entries from 38,842 memorials of deeds, while the Grantor Index now holds 36,410 entries.

In addition to the latest batch of uploaded Index entries, Project manager Nick Reddan FIGRS has rearranged some of the user-guides and placed them under a separate menu item.

These guides are aids for navigating free films of the RoD's memorial transcription books and indexes on FamilySearch.org.

He has also been attaching links to Index entries so that researchers exploring memorials in books 1-10 can now link directly to the FamilySearch films. All new Index entries have a link.

It's been a busy month for Nick. Towards the end of June the Irish Genealogical Research Society hosted a Zoom presentation on the Registry of Deeds digitisation project with Ellen Murphy, and Nick gave a short talk about the history and development of the Index Project. You can see his slides in a pdf download here.



New county award for National Heritage Week scheme

The Heritage Council has announced a new awards scheme for each county participating in this year's National Heritage Week (15 to 23 August).

National Heritage Week typically focuses on organised events. With restrictions on gatherings due to COVID-19, local heritage groups, families and communities have been invited to develop projects around the theme of ‘Heritage and Education: Learning from our Heritage’.

The awards scheme will be expanded to include an award for the best project in each county. Projects will be assessed on their local reach and community engagement, educational value and the level to which they involve different age groups.

Making the announcement, the Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan TD, said: “There is a strong network of local Heritage Officers around the country, who work hard to support communities in protecting and promoting local heritage. The county awards should help stimulate interest and healthy competition within communities.”

National Heritage Week projects need to be completed before 15 August, when they will begin to be showcased. Formats for showcasing may vary from online talks or exhibitions, to a video, podcast, slideshow presentation or blog, to media coverage, a dedicated website or moderated social media account, or by means of small, restricted social gatherings, which comply with official public health advice.

In addition to county awards, the following award categories will apply to the 2020 awards:

Heritage Hero
: awarded to an individual or organisation that has demonstrated an outstanding contribution to the protection and promotion of heritage in Ireland. This award will be based on nominations received from members of the public.
Heritage on your doorstep: awarded to the heritage project that best explores an aspect of heritage – natural, built or cultural – in a locality, and which is shared with the wider community.
Relearning skills from our heritage: awarded to the project that best explores heritage skills, crafts or traditions in a locality, and which is shared with the wider community.
The heritage of education: awarded to the project that best explores the history of education in a place of learning in a locality, and which is shared with the wider community.
Water heritage: awarded to the project that best explores how a canal, river, lake or the sea shapes an important part of the heritage in a locality, and which is shared with the wider community.

A judging panel, convened by the Heritage Council, will consider submitted heritage projects for awards under the categories above. Awards will be announced in October 2020.

Friday 10 July 2020

MyHeritage opens free access to 1billion birth records

MyHeritage is opening up its entire birth records collection to free access until Thursday 16 July.

While there are no Irish birth records in the database, researchers tracing ancestors who emigrated from Ireland or who have 'disappeared' from scrutiny in the most likely family history collections, may find they can catch up with them and/or their descendents in a thorough search of MyHeritage births collection.

It includes records from many parts of the world where you may not have previously looked. When did you last check if your 'missing' ancestor settled and had a family in the Netherlands, Iceland, Argentina or Hungary?

MyHeritage's birth collection gives access to more than one billion records across 104 record-sets from around the world.  Click/tap the image below to search it.


 https://www.myheritage.com/research/category-2010/birth-records

Thursday 9 July 2020

How common were your Irish ancestors' first names?

I'm playing catch up here, having meant to blog last week about the latest developments on genealogist John Grenham's Irish Ancestors website. The most recent is a wonderful widget that maps the incidence of forenames appearing in the civil registration records of births from 1864 to 1913.  You can see an example, below, that maps the name of Timothy across Ireland during those years.

The first name TIMOTHY, as mapped from civil birth registrations
from 1864 to 1913. Image courtesy of JohnGrenham.com.
Timothy is a big name in my own family history, with a brother, grandfather and great great grandfather carrying the name on my father's line, all County Cork based. Beyond its origins as a name, I'd never thought much about it, accepting it as a pretty common first name across much of the island. Sure enough, John's forename map shows it as a reasonably popular name outside the northern third, with around 30,000 infant boys given the name during the period.

But I was surprised to see Timothy identifying as such a strong southwest name. Cork and Kerry just love Timothy!

The top six areas to show that love are Cork City, Killarney, Macroom, Tralee, Kanturk and Skibbereen, together accounting for more than a third of all Timothy registrations.

Cork City alone counts for 3,470 of them!

The forenames tool is free to use. See John's blogpost Mary John Mary John Mary John before you do so; you'll then understand why you can't get any results for the likes of Mary, John, Ellen, Bridget, Patrick and some of the other names that appear with such frequency is most Irish researcher's trees.

The week before the Mary John blogpost, John blogged about the transcriptions of two County Longford religious censuses carried out by researcher John McDonald Pepper. They are for the parishes of Granard (1834) and Streete (1856).

Both are available, free to all researchers, as pdf downloads from John Grenham's blogpost 'The Kindness of Strangers'. 



More records added to the IGRS Early Irish BMD indexes

The Irish Genealogical Research Society has been adding regular bundles of records to its Early Irish BMD indexes since the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted normal routines back in late winter. This generous volunteer effort continues, with another 1,547 entries added this month to the Early Irish Births (303), Early Irish Marriages (1,140) and Early Irish Deaths (104).

Many of these additions have been drawn from the Registry of Deeds, the Society’s Swanzy Manuscripts collection, and from old and rare publications, and all pre-date the main body of surviving mid-18th-century Irish family history collections.

While the Marriage Index is completely free to all researchers, the Early Irish Birth and Death Indexes are resources reserved for IGRS members. However, anyone can still make a search for names.

You can find out more about the IGRS Early Irish Indexes on the Society's website, IrishAncestors.ie.

Wednesday 8 July 2020

New Reels from Home project launches in UK

A partnership between the Irish Film Institute and the London Irish Centre is bringing film heritage to Irish communities in London and across the UK. Reels From Home: Irish Film Heritage at Your Fingertips brings together a wide range of content from the IFI Irish Film Archive into one specially curated collection. It is now available free-to-view on the IFI Player.

Under the headings 'Ireland of Yesterday', 'Watch Irish History Unfold', and 'Rediscover Television Adverts', the Reels from Home collection includes materials which date as far back as the early 1900s. It includes both professional and amateur films documenting all aspects of Irish life including tourism, industry, sport, entertainment, and much more. The films have been selected to engage with the London Irish Centre's objectives to promote and advance education in Irish art, language, culture and heritage.

Reels From Home contains materials from IFI Player collections including the Bord Fáilte Film Collection, the Irish Adverts Project, the Father Delaney Collection, the Loopline Collection Vol. 1, and the Irish Independence Film Collection.

At a time when many people are spending more time at home due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Reels From Home brings a new channel of content to the Irish community that is free, entertaining, informative, and easy to access and navigate. The project follows in the footsteps of the 2018 Reel Memories initiative, presented by the IFI in partnership with Nursing Homes Ireland, which brought a selection of curated IFI Player material to nursing home residents across the country.



Commenting on the project, Kasandra O'Connell, Head of the IFI Irish Film Archive, added, 'We are delighted to be able to bring the collections of the IFI Irish Film Archive to a new audience in the UK , particularly at a time where people may be feeling more isolated than usual. As someone who was born in London to Irish parents, I have been eager for the archive to work with the UK's Irish community, and partnering with the London Irish Centre gives us a wonderful opportunity to do so.'

Highlights of the collection include 'Alive Alive O: A Requiem for Dublin', which captures the colourful street traders of Dublin and their fight to maintain their merchant tradition in the face of aggressive economic development; 'Ireland in Spring' presents a celebration of all things Irish and a delightful window on 1950s Ireland; and a 1970s advert for Bass ale featuring the legendary band The Dubliners performing in iconic Dublin bar O'Donoghue's.

It can be viewed on the IFI Player here.

As part of the London Irish Centre's Solas Season, there are weekly co-watching screenings of the collection. The next one is this evening, at 8pm. Details.


Tuesday 7 July 2020

€1m in funding announced for six Historic Towns

The Heritage Council, along with the new Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan TD, today announced funding of €1m to be shared by six historic towns.

This capital funding will help to provide jobs and economic stimulus through heritage-led regeneration and will aid the rebuilding of local economies with heritage as a focal point. The fund is from the Historic Towns Initiative, a joint initiative between the Department and the Heritage Council, and this year’s scheme follows successful programmes in both 2018 and 2019.

Sligo Town
The six towns are:

-  Tralee, Co Kerry.
-  Ramelton, Co Donegal.
-  Ballina, Co Mayo.
-  Roscommon, Co Roscommon.
-  Sligo, Co Sligo.
-  Clones, Co Monaghan.

They were selected following a competitive process inviting local authorities to propose projects for heritage-led regeneration in one historic town in their area.

Making the announcement, Minister Noonan said: “We are in unprecedented times and our communities have been confronted with challenges and hardships that are both unique and extraordinary. My hope is that funding such as this can, through heritage-led regeneration, bring economic benefits to our historic towns helping them to prosper once again.

“We wish to put built, cultural and natural heritage at the front of both Government policy and the recovery of the country and so I look forward to working with the Heritage Council and the Department on similar initiatives over the coming months and years.”

Monday 6 July 2020

2-week update of new British genealogy collections

Below is a summary of new and updated family history record collections for England, Scotland and Wales released by major genealogy databases since 22 June (see last blogpost).

This regular summary of releases relating to British collections is designed to help family historians whose Irish ancestors migrated, temporarily or permanently, to England, Scotland or Wales. By default, it will also be useful to anyone carrying out research in those three nations, regardless of the origin of their ancestors.

The figures in parenthesis in the New Collections section are the numbers of records/images in the new record set.

Unless otherwise stated, the figures in parenthesis in the Updated Collections section reflect the number of records added to the collection in the recent update. In some instances, the supplier has not made this figure available. Updates of fewer than 1,000 records have not been included.


NEW COLLECTIONS

British Newspaper Archive (All titles shared with FindMyPast's Britiah Newspaper Collection)

FindMyPast

FamilySearch


UPDATED COLLECTIONS

Ancestry

FamilySearch

FindMyPast

The Genealogist

Some of the above content 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 Irish Genealogy News online. See Advertising Disclosure tab above.

Clonmel Chronicle joins BritishNewspaperArchive.com

https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinmid=5895&awinaffid=123532&clickref=&ued=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk%2Ftitles%2Fclonmel-chronicle
Here comes the third Irish addition to the BritishNewspaperArchive.com in the last seven days! It's the Clonmel Chronicle, an important regional paper for those with ancestors from counties Tipperary, Waterford, Kilkenny and even Limerick. It was published twice a week.

The planned holding will span 1848 to 1896.

So far, some 4,903 editions of the paper have been digitised and made available via the BNA database and FindMyPast's Irish Newspapers Collection. As far as I can tell, the holding is complete except for 1881. Whether the editions for that year are missing or will be added later, I don't know.

By my calculations, there are now more than 190 Irish titles (55 of them from Northern Ireland) in the BNA database.

Friday 3 July 2020

4-week summary of new/updated US genealogy records

Below is a summary of US family history collections that have been either newly released or updated by the major genealogy databases.  (The last summary list was published on 3 June, see blogpost).

My regular summaries are designed to help family historians whose Irish ancestors emigrated, temporarily or permanently, to the United States. By default, they should also be useful to anyone carrying out research in the US, regardless of the origin of their ancestors.

The figures in parenthesis in the New Collections section are the numbers of records/images in each new record set. Please note that I have omitted updates of fewer than 1,000 records to any one record-set.

Unless otherwise stated, the figures in parenthesis in the Updated Collections section reflect the number of records added to the collection in the recent update, if a number has been clearly noted by the supplier.

NEW COLLECTIONS

Ancestry

FamilySearch

FindMyPast

UPDATED COLLECTIONS

AmericanAncestors
       St Joseph, Lynn and St John the Baptist, Quincy (330,000)
       Stoneham (21,700)
       Blessed Sacrament, Walpole (27,500)
       St Casimir, Brockton; St. Brigid, Lexington; Our Lady of Czestochowa, S.Boston (66,000)
       St Matthew in Dorchester (37,600)
       St Joseph, Salem (279,800)
       St Bridget, Framingham and St Anthony of Padua, Cohasset(15,100)

Ancestry

FamilySearch

FindMyPast

Some of the above content 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 Irish Genealogy News online. See Advertising Disclosure tab above.