Tuesday 29 June 2021

Six new irish collections (total 2.2million records) join Ancestry

Ancestry has uploaded no less than six Irish record collections today, all held by the National Archives of Ireland. None is making its debut. Some can be found on the NAI's own free genealogy website (here), while most have been part of FindMyPast's Irish collection for some years, too. They don't really need introductions.

That's not a complaint. Having brand new records, never before online, or only recently discovered even, may be a little more exciting, but it's also good to have plenty of competition in the market and to have different databases to check. What one database search may not uncover may be revealed in another.

I also sometimes like having the option, which Ancestry provides, of browsing the images rather than having to use the search field option.

Without further ado, here are the collections now available via Ancestry. Figures in parenthesis indicated total number of records.

In addition, a couple of indexes containing recent deaths have been updated, as follows:



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 28 June 2021

Irish genealogy, history and heritage events, 28 June to 10 July

Tuesday 29 June: The dismantling of the Poor Law system in Ireland in the 1920s and 30s, with Brian Donnelly. Host: National Archives of Ireland. Online lecture. Free. 7pm. Need to register here.

Tuesday 29 June: Occupational Hazards – The working lives of our ancestors, with Dr Janet Few. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Causeway Coast and Glens Branch. Online lecture. Free. All welcome. 8pm. Email causeway@nifhs.org to request zoom link.

Wednesday 30 June: Deep Histories, Deepening Connections: The UK and Ireland's Lost Records, an afternoon conference hosted by The National Archives (UK) to mark the 99th anniversary of the destruction of the PROI in the opening battle of the Irish Civil War. Starts 2pm. Ends 5pm. Free. In a series of discussions and presentations, the converence will reveal the surprising stories behind medieval tax finance and the accounting scandals that led to centuries of Irish records being sent to England, and tackle the conservation challenges of providing access to premodern collections.Registration required.

Wednesday 30 June: "Sheep stealers from the north of England” – the Riding Clans in Ulster, with Robert Bell, author of The Book of Ulster Surnames. Host: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. Online lecture, free. 2-3pm. Need to register.

Thursday 1 July: The land question and revolution in Monaghan, with Professor Terence Dooley. Host: Monaghan's War of Independence lecture series from Monaghan County Museum. Free lecture on Facebook and YouTube, 7pm. All welcome.

Friday 2 July: What happened to Limbo? with Dr Christy Cunniffe exploring Limbo's significance with reference to the traditions and practices around death and burial in Ireland with a special focus on deviant burial. Host: Irish Workhouse Portumna's First Friday Series of lectures. Online. 8pm. Tickets €5. Details.

Monday 5 July: Lighthouses All Around Ireland – Their History, Construction and Operation, with Dr Gordon Millington. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Foyle Branch. Online lecture. Free. All welcome. 7pm. Email Foyle@nifhs.org to request zoom link.

Tuesday 6 July: The Ballyfermot troop train ambush of 8th July 1921; the last major action of the War of Independence, with Cathy Scuffil and Liz Gillis. Part of the Truce series of free online lunchtime lectures marking the anniversary of the end of the War of Independence. Host: Mansion House and Dublin City Libraries. 1pm. Booking essential.

Wednesday 7 July: Lord Mayor Laurence O’Neill and the revolutionary Mansion House, with Cllr Michael MacDonncha and Mary Muldowney. CPart of the Truce series of free online lunchtime lectures marking the anniversary of the end of the War of Independence. Host: Mansion House and Dublin City Libraries. 1pm. Booking essential.

Wednesday 7 July: Major-General Oliver Nugent – The Irishman who led the Ulster Division in the Great War, in conversation with author, Nicholas Perry. Hosts: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and the Ulster Historical Foundation. 2-3pm. Online. Free. Booking essential.

Thursday 8 July: "The guns are silent - but they remain in the hands of the Irish Volunteers", with Cormac Moore telling the story of how the Truce came about. Part of the Truce series of free online lunchtime lectures marking the anniversary of the end of the War of Independence. Host: Mansion House and Dublin City Libraries. 1pm. Booking essential.

Thursday 8 July: What revolution? Were there winners and losers? with Professor Terence Dooley. Host: Monaghan's War of Independence lecture series from Monaghan County Museum. Free lecture on Facebook and YouTube, 7pm. All welcome.

Friday 9 July: The War of Independence in Cork from both sides of the conflict, with historians Dr John Borgonovo and Dr William Sheehan, and chaired by Gerry White. The event marks the centenary of the Truce between Britain & Ireland. Host: St Peters Cork, 87A North Main Street, Cork City. 7:30pm to 9pm. Covid restrictions in place. Tickets cost €10.

Friday 9 July: "England's interests are not Orange interests" – Approaches to the Truce in the national and international press, with Mary Muldowney. Part of the Truce series of free online lunchtime lectures marking the anniversary of the end of the War of Independence. Host: Mansion House and Dublin City Libraries. 1pm. Booking essential.

Friday 9 and Saturday 10 July: The Military Aspects of the War of Independence, 1919-1921, a two-day online seminar hosted by the Military Archives and the Military History Society of Ireland. No registration required. Links in Programme will go live at 9am on each day. See programme for details.


Friday 25 June 2021

English, Scottish and Welsh genealogy updates: 2-week summary

Below is a summary of new and updated family history record collections for England, Scotland and Wales released by the major genealogy databases over the last two weeks (for the previous summary, see 14 June blogpost).

This regular summary of releases and updates 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. Where two figures are given, the first is the number of additions, the second is the new total.

Please note that I don't usually include updates of fewer than 1,000 records.


NEW COLLECTIONS

Ancestry


BritishNewspaperArchive (shared with some FindMyPast subscriptions)

The Genealogist

UPDATED COLLECTIONS


Ancestry
FamilySearch

FindMyPast
FreeBMD


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.

FindMyPast adds more than 2.3million Irish Court records

FindMyPast has made the following additions to its Ireland collection:

Irish Petty Sessions Court Registers: More than 62,000 records from the courts of Ballyshannon and Newtowncunningham have been added to this record-set. They date from 1828 to 1855.

Although the Petty Sessions Court records are available in other commercial databases, this County Donegal set is exclusive to FindMyPast. You can search all County Donegal petty sessions records here.

If you're not familiar with this popular collection (total records 22million+), see the Irish Petty Sessions page at Irish-Genealogy-Toolkit.com.

Court of Chancery Bill Books, 1627-1884: This collection from the National Archives of Ireland spans more than 250 years. It holds some 1.2million records and contains information about legal disputes and court proceedings, often referring to genealogical details and names. While it has potential for family history, the real-world detail of the cases recorded is scant. Search here.

Court of Exchequer Bill Books 1627-1884: Dealing mainly with cases concerning equity, this court was at a senior level of the Judiciary's pecking order. Its records are full of land and business owners, merchants, professionals and farmers with large landholdings and estates. The collection holds over a million records. Like the Court of Chancery above, the records have genealogical potential, even if they don't reveal much detail or explanation of the proceedings. Search here.



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 24 June 2021

Four days' free access to MyHeritage's Immigration & Travel records

My Heritage is opening up all its immigration and travel records for free access over the next four days.

The Immigration & Travel category on MyHeritage encompasses 57 collections with 181,280,020 historical records from all over the world.

They include passenger arrival records, naturalization records, border crossings, emigration records, passports, and convict transportation records.

These records are often pivotal for genealogists because the documents may record precisely where your ancestor previously lived before they set sail, and may reveal details of family members, fellow travellers, an address for where they were headed on arrival, and other information such as the name of the ship on which they had crossed the ocean

Wednesday 23 June 2021

MyHeritage offer: DNA test kit + 30-days access to records & more

MyHeritage is offering its DNA test kit plus 30 days of free access to its records database, family tree creating and photo enhancing features for a special price of just £59. The standard price for a MyHeritage DNA test kit alone is £79 plus shipping.

It seems to me that this is a repackaging of what is always available to new customers plus the usual sale price, but it certainly looks more eye-catching dressed up this way.

I don't know if it's available outside Ireland and the UK (check your 'local territory' here), but it looks good value especially for those who are just starting out on their family history research.

The package includes all the regular features of a MyHeritage DNA test kit: ethnicity estimates from 2,114 regions, and matching, plus the other tools mentioned, and is topped off with a 50% discount on your first annual subscription, should you wish to extend your access to the record collections at the end of the free period.

To find out more, or to place your order, click the image, right.

Tuesday 22 June 2021

Ireland's VO Revision Books: one year to full online access?

The Valuation Office released its Annual Review 2020 and Strategic Plan 2021–2023 last month. Having finally got round to reading them, I'm happy to relay some positive news about the s...l...o...w digitisation of the Revision Books, the manuscripts and maps that can serve as census substitutes when hunting down ancestors and family from the mid-19th century to the 1990s. The VO's archive of these Books provide an invaluable resource or genealogical and historical research, especially for rural land and property occupiers.

Download links below

When the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland had the good sense to digitise and place freely online its archive of Revision Books way back in March 2013 (see links below), the Valuation Office in Dublin had barely started its digitisation project. A year later, when Irish Genealogy News first reported on it, there were pdf copies of the books from five counties available to view in the VO's Research Room only.

When I last visited the Research Room, just days before the Covid-19 Lockdown began, the Revision books and associated maps for a total of 19 counties and three cities could be searched electronically there. The areas available were Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork City & County, Donegal, Dublin City & County, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Limerick City & County, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary and Wexford.

I was told by VO staff that resource funding to work on the remaining seven counties – Laois, Louth, Longford, Leitrim, Wicklow, Westmeath and Waterford – had just been confirmed. It was, it seemed, full steam ahead... until the Lockdown stole most of the next fourteen months.

So where are we now? Well, the project has funding, it has a name – The Valuation Office Archive Preservation Project – and the doors to the Research Room remain closed. But the Strategic Plan says the organisation will complete the digitisation of and provide online access (my underlining) to its archive of historical valuation records during the period of the Plan: 2021 to 2023.

This statement goes further than any I've previously seen or heard from the Valuation Office. Online access has been muttered as a 'possible' outcome of the digitisation project, but always as a possible add-on to getting the images pdf'd for the benefit of personal visitors and research-by-email customers. Full scale online access such as that available via PRONI's Revision Books database was still wishful thinking back in March 2020. Now it is confirmed, and the funding is in place.

I'd expect the new database to join the Valuation Office's existing Online Services portal. We'll have to see. Wherever it lands, I'm confident it will provide free access to all users.

Timing wise, I would estimate the final push to online access to take a year. Exactly when that year starts is now the issue, with the nation still some way from consigning all Covid-19 restrictions to the bin. We also have to hope the planned merger of the Valuation Office with the Property Registration Authority and Ordnance Survey Ireland into a new Government body called Tailte Éireann, and the physical relocation to new offices at the Distillers Building, Smithfield, Dublin 7, will not cause any further delay.


Notes:

Monday 21 June 2021

RootsIreland.ie's Kerry database passes 300,000 Catholic records

It's hard to believe that less than 18 months ago, there was no representation for County Kerry on the Irish Family History Foundation's RootsIreland.ie database, which is still regarded by many genealogists to be the most accurate site for Irish church records.

https://rootsireland.ie/kerry/online-sources.php
Click/tap image for an up to date list of Kerry records

Its holding currently consists only of Roman Catholic records. With today's upload of 9,277 baptism and marriage register transcription the database now holds more than 300,000 of them across 24 parishes. 

Entries up to 1881 link to images of the relevant register page on the National Library of Ireland's website (the NLI image collection ends at that date). 

RootsIreland's post-1881 entries are transcribed from local registers and are probably the only online records for this period currently available.

The new records are from the following parishes:

  • Ballybunion marriages, 1831-1905 (2,922 records) 
  • Brosna baptisms, 1866-1900 (1,734 records) 
  • Brosna marriages, 1890-1900 (156 records)
  • Castlegregory marriages, 1829-1911 (2,552 records)
  • Killeentierna marriages, 1803-1884 (1,586 records)

To view RootsIreland's full menu of online soureces for County Kerry, click the image above.


irish genealogy, history and heritage events, 21 June to 4 July

Tuesday 22 June The Marianna O’Gallagher Memorial Session: Strokestown Famine Orphans in Quebec. Part of the Canadian Association for Irish Studies Annual Meeting. 10am–11:30am EDT. Dr. Mark McGowan will be joining Caroilin Callery and Dr. Jason King to discuss a recent short film entitled “Strokestown Famine Orphans in Quebec and New York.” Need to register. (The film may be viewed prior to the session on YouTube.)

Thursday 24 June: Children during The War of Independence, with Liz Gillis. Host: Donegal County Library Service. Free online lecture. All welcome. Register here.

Thursday 24 June: The Protestant experience of the War of Independence, with Professor Terence Dooley. Host: Monaghan's War of Independence lecture series from Monaghan County Museum. Free lecture on Facebook and YouTube, 7pm. All welcome.

Thursday 24 and Friday 25 June: Dwelling(s) in Nineteenth-Century Ireland, a two-day virtual conference hosted by the Society for Study of Nineteenth-Century Ireland (SSNCI) and University College Cork. Programme and details. All welcome, but registration is required.

Friday 25 June: Past Lives: Exploring histories of family, an Ireland-Australia themed online session. Host: Department of History, University of Limerick. 11am to Noon (GMT+1). All welcome. Free. Register here.

Friday 25 and Saturday 26 June: The Genealogy Show 2021. Organised in the UK, the event includes speakers from around the world and includes talks on many 'international' topics, ie Irish, German, Jamaican, Dutch and Australian family history research, as well as how-to advice on techniques, DNA results, using archives or specific software, occupations and, of course, research guidance on English, Scottish and Welsh record collections. Talks are broadcast every 40 minutes around the clock for 48 hours and then become available on demand for 30 days, so you can watch lectures in your own time zone and at your convenience. Tickets £20-£30. Website.

Sunday 27 June: The IRA in Britain, 1919-1921, with Tola Collier. From the Burning of Custom House on May 25 Centenary Lecture Series. Presented by Liz Gillis and M O'Doibhilin. Free. 8pm. On Facebook.

Tuesday 29 June: The dismantling of the Poor Law system in Ireland in the 1920s and 30s, with Brian Donnelly. Host: National Archives of Ireland. Online lecture. Free. 7pm. Need to register here.

Thursday 1 July: The land question and revolution in Monaghan, with Professor Terence Dooley. Host: Monaghan's War of Independence lecture series from Monaghan County Museum. Free lecture on Facebook and YouTube, 7pm. All welcome.

Wednesday 30 June: Deep Histories, Deepening Connections: The UK and Ireland's Lost Records, an afternoon conference hosted by The National Archives (UK) to mark the 99th anniversary of the destruction of the PROI in the opening battle of the Irish Civil War. Starts 2pm. Ends 5pm. Free. In a series of discussions and presentations, the converence will reveal the surprising stories behind medieval tax finance and the accounting scandals that led to centuries of Irish records being sent to England, and tackle the conservation challenges of providing access to premodern collections. Need to register.

Wednesday 30 June: "Sheep stealers from the north of England” – the Riding Clans in Ulster, with Robert Bell, author of The Book of Ulster Surnames. Host: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. Online lecture, free. 2-3pm. Need to register.

Thursday 1 July: The land question and revolution in Monaghan, with Professor Terence Dooley. Host: Monaghan's War of Independence lecture series from Monaghan County Museum. Free lecture on Facebook and YouTube, 7pm. All welcome.

Friday 2 July: What happened to Limbo? with Dr Christy Cunniffe exploring Limbo's significance with reference to the traditions and practices around death and burial in Ireland with a special focus on deviant burial. Host: Irish Workhouse Portumna's First Friday Series of lectures. Online. 8pm. Tickets €5. Details.


Two more Irish titles join the BritishNewspaperArchive

Two new Irish titles have joined the BritishNewspaperArchive, the online database of the British Library's newspaper collection. The database is shared with some subscription packages at FindMyPast.

The new additions are:

  • Larne Reporter and Northern Counties Advertiser: This was County Antrim's first dedicated newspaper when it started publication in 1865. It was a weekly title. Some 1,233 editions spanning 1865 to 1904 (with gaps) are now available to search.
  • The Gorey Corrrespondent & Arklow Standard: Published in the Wexford town of Gorey on Saturdays from 1855, the ciculation area was officially extended to Arklow in 1876. It carried local and miscellaneous news and was neutral politically. It continued publication until 1892. When complete, the BNA holding will span 1861 to 1892.

With these additional titles, the BNA database holds 212 Irish newspapers (57 of them from Northern Ireland). The full database, holding papers from Britain and its former colonies, now offers a total of 43,139,022 pages.



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.

Friday 18 June 2021

Ancestry adds staff books (1862-1969) for Jameson Distillery, Dublin

A second gift from Ancestry* this week comes in the form of a new collection of staff records from Jameson Distillery in Dublin. It's called the Jameson Distillery Staff Wage and Employment Books, 1862-1969 and includes those working at the Irish whiskey distillery at its original site in Bow Street which provided work for a wide range of craft skills to the artisans of the capital. 

Part of the Time Book showing who worked at the
Jameson Distillery during this week, 170 years ago.
Click for enlarged image.


The site, which quickly spread to cover five acres, included a Smithy, Cooperage, saw mills, engineers, carpenters, painters and coppersmith's shops, in addition to several still rooms and vast storage cellers.

The collection includes some 1,039,997 indexed records, and browseable images of the following books:

  • Insurance Books 1918-1950
  • National Health Insurance and Unemployment Book 1914-1952
  • Stamp Book 1821-1851 
  • Time Book 1875-1897
  • Unemployment Book 1932-1952 
  • Wage Book 1862-1969 

*For the first, The Casey Collection, see blogpost.


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 16 June 2021

Ancestry has indexed the Casey Collection: a glorious, if chaotic, 16-volume parcel of Irish genealogical records, history and more

Better known by the not even slightly catchy title of O'Kief, Coshe Mang, Slieve Lougher and the Upper Blackwater in Ireland, Albert E Casey's 16-volume series of books made its debut on Ancestry yesterday as a partially indexed and fully browseable record-set called the Ireland, Casey Collection Indexes, 1545-1960.

Casey himself estimated there were about 300,000 personal names in each of Volumes 6, 7, 8, 11, 14 and 15, and calculated that some 3million individuals were listed across the entire series. So we're talking a big collection.

Albert E Casey, an Irish American pathologist from 
Alabama, is responsible for this remarkable work

One of the many outstanding features about the contents of his magnum opus is that the records, history and other information he gathered and documented comes from only a small area of Ireland's southwest. Casey's ancestors came from an area known as Sliabh Luachra. It straddles the border of Northwest Cork and East Kerry, roughly contained by the marker towns of Macroom, Killarney, Tralee and Newcastle.

In his introduction to the 15th volume, Casey describes the contents of his series as containing 'births, deaths, marriages, tombstone inscriptions, deeds, leases, mortgages, administrations, landowners, newspaper items, maps, tax lists (1851-1876), statistics (1671-1960), topography, biographies, genealogies, historical contributions, bibliography, lists of source materials, translations of Ogham stones, physical anthropology, and blood groups relating to counties Cork and Kerry.' He doesn't even mention the maps, photographs, court proceedings, family and county histories!

The area covered by Casey's Collection is indicated
It is a magnificent collection, no doubt about that. And if you have family - be they Roman Catholic, Protestant or Quaker – from the area covered, you are highly likely to find records for them.

You can probably tell there's a great big BUT coming. So I'll hand over to my friend and fellow Fellow of the Irish Genealogical Research Society, Jill Williams, to tell you more about the collection.

"When researchers arrived at the IGRS Library and said they were interested in the North Cork/Kerry/Limerick area covered by O’Kief, those of us on duty would say to them: 'The good news is your ancestors will be in O’Kief; the bad news is your ancestors will be in O’Kief'.

We would sometimes bet on how long researchers would last studying O'Kief. We have yet to find anyone getting beyond two hours without developing a headache with the small print (some is miniscule), and having to flick through page after page to find the correct subject headings or even column headings for a record they'd found. A large magnifying glass often helped.

"There was also the difficulty of establishing which of the volumes they needed to consult. Casey alone could not collect all the information he needed, so he employed local researchers, transcribers, copy-typists, school teachers and even gardai to collect data for him; as soon as he received a wadge of solid information from his helpers, he simply stuck it into the next volume, hence the mix of items from the same area across different volumes."

Many of these difficulties will remain with the online browseable collection. On the plus side, the records gathered by Casey and his elves can now reach more people because the entire set of 16 volumes can be viewed in one place (only a few libraries, including the IGRS, holds the full set). While many of the records gathered by Casey and his elves have since been digitised from original documents, Ancestry's newly indexed collection pulls an impressive chunk of its data together into one place, rather than researchers having to visit different websites. Also the records documented may cover a longer time span than is currently available elsewhere online, and many of the memorial inscriptions recorded by Casey's team can now be easily discovered, even if the headstone is no longer legible.

While the browse collection appears to be complete, the indexed collection is noted by Ancestry as containing 1,037,567 searchable records, and it's been catalogued as a Birth, Marriage and Death record set. When test searching last night by name and place, I certainly found plenty of civil and church records, as well as headstone inscriptions. I also spotted a page of Griffiths Valuation. Just the one.

As you'd expect, using the indexed records is a lot better than spending hours scanning page after page of the book, looking, hoping.... At least the search engine takes you to a specific page that matches your search. Trouble is, you don't know where on the page to find the name, and even when you find it, the lack of column and subject headings mentioned above is encountered... back one page, back another page, back one more page etc. Just as Jill described. And there's really very little Ancestry's viewing widgets can do to improve the blurry print produced at a time when reproduction standards were so much lower.

Ancestry's description of their new collection is rather light for such a extensive record-set so, if you have ancestors from the relevant areas of Sliabh Luachra, I would recommend you first learn a bit more about its contents, the peculiar placement or order of their presentation, and some of topics you might prefer to avoid. As Jill says, "There's some seriously weird stuff in there. It can be a real rabbit hole."


Note: In its description, Ancestry provides a bibliography consisting of two items. Michele Patin's feature is informative and worth a read but bear in mind it was written in 2001 and a huge proportion of Irish genealogy records are now online.

Jill suggests the following two sources:



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 14 June 2021

New and updated British genealogy collections in last 7 days

Below is a summary of new and updated family history record collections for England, Scotland and Wales released by the major genealogy databases over the last week (for the previous summary, see 7 June blogpost).

This regular summary of releases and updates 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. Where two figures are given, the first is the number of additions, the second is the new total.

Please note that I don't usually include updates of fewer than 1,000 records.


NEW COLLECTIONS

Ancestry


BritishNewspaperArchive (now at 43m pages, all shared with some FindMyPast subscriptions)

 

UPDATED COLLECTIONS


Ancestry
FamilySearch
FindMyPast
FreeBMD


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.

Irish family history and heritage events from 14 June to 27 June

Tuesday 15 June: The Land War and evictions on the Vandeleur Estate in 1888, with Ed O'Shaughnessy, whose great grandfather witnessed the events and handed down extensive family archives, photos and memories. Host: Kilrush and District Historical Society. An online talk via Zoom at 8pm. Details and instructions for joining the meeting here.

Wednesday 16 June: Using Online Resources, a Getting Started workshop. Host: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. 12:30 to 13:30. Free. Online. Need to register.

Wednesday 16 June: The Mills of Drumgriffin & Cregg, with Irene McGoldrick. Hosted by Annaghdown Heritage Society. All welcome to join this Zoom talk. 8pm to 9:30pm. See website for details.

Thursday 17 June: IRA activity in the War of Independence, with Professor Terence Dooley. Host: Monaghan's War of Independence lecture series from Monaghan County Museum. Free lecture on Facebook and YouTube, 7pm. All welcome.

Friday 18 June: Species of Domestic Spaces: House and Home in Eighteenth-Century Ireland, a day-conference from University College Dublin's Humanities Institute. Free online lectures. 9am–3:30pm. Booking.

Friday 18 June: The Military Archives Oral History Collection, with Noelle Grothier, archivist. Free, online Military Seminar 2021 hosted by Kildare Library Services. 7:30pm to 8:30pm. Need to book.

Saturday 19 June: Virtual 2021 DNA Discovery Day, with the Genealogical Society of Queensland. 9am–4:30pm. Tickets: $2.00–$75. Lectures include: Maximising Messages, with Michelle Patient; Ask the Wife! A DNA Analysis Strategy, with Diahan Southard; How Healthy is your DNA, with Dr. David Fairbairn; A Case Study in Clustering, with Greg Carlill; DNA: Another Genealogical Tool, with Helen Smith; BigY & Using BigY results in Family History, with James M. Irvine. Lectures followed by Live Q&A. Details and booking.

Saturday 19 June: Military Seminar 2021, hosted by Kildare Libraries Services. Three lectures: Strongbow and the Normans, with Dr Conor Kostick at 10am; Rows and Ructions: military-civilian violence in Irish garrison towns, with Dr Aoife Bhreathnach at 11am; Guerilla Warfare During The War of Independence, with Lorcan Collins at Noon. Need to book. Free, online seminar.

Saturday 19 June: The Family History Show, Online, organised by Discover Your Ancestors (UK) magazine. Free talks. Speak to 100+ family history societies and genealogical suppliers by text, audio, video chat or email from the comfort of your own home. Submit questions to Ask the Experts panel before the show. 10am to 4:30pm. £6/£8. Details.

Saturday 19 June: The Vikings and Cork: Raiding, Trading and the Development of the Town, an online conference. Host: Cork Historical and Archaeological Society. To be held online from 10am to 4:15pm. Register and view full programme here.

Saturday 19 June: The Family History Show. Online day event with seven lectures (available to view for 72 hours), exhibitors hall, ask the experts and more. Advance tickets £6. On the day tickets £8. Mainly UK focused but with some generic themes and exhibitors relevant to Irish research. Details.

Tuesday 22 June The Marianna O’Gallagher Memorial Session: Strokestown Famine Orphans in Quebec. Part of the Canadian Association for Irish Studies Annual Meeting. 10am–11:30am EDT. Dr. Mark McGowan will be joining Caroilin Callery and Dr. Jason King to discuss a recent short film entitled “Strokestown Famine Orphans in Quebec and New York.” Need to register. (The film may be viewed prior to the session on YouTube.)

Thursday 24 June: Children during The War of Independence, with Liz Gillis. Host: Donegal County Library Service. Free online lecture. All welcome. Register here.

Thursday 24 June: The Protestant experience of the War of Independence, with Professor Terence Dooley. Host: Monaghan's War of Independence lecture series from Monaghan County Museum. Free lecture on Facebook and YouTube, 7pm. All welcome.

Thursday 24 and Friday 25 June: Dwelling(s) in Nineteenth-Century Ireland, a two-day virtual conference hosted by the Society for Study of Nineteenth-Century Ireland (SSNCI) and University College Cork. Programme and details. All welcome, but registration is required.

Friday 25 and Saturday 26 June: The Genealogy Show 2021. Organised in the UK, the event includes speakers from around the world and includes talks on many 'international' topics, ie Irish, German, Jamaican, Dutch and Australian family history research, as well as how-to advice on techniques, DNA results, using archives or specific software, occupations and, of course, research guidance on English, Scottish and Welsh record collections. Talks are broadcast every 40 minutes around the clock for 48 hours and then become available on demand for 30 days, so you can watch lectures in your own time zone and at your convenience. Tickets £20-£30. Website.


Friday 11 June 2021

Big savings for Father's Day on Ancestry DNA test kits (and more)

Ancestry DNA is the world's largest consumer DNA network       
With Father's Day approaching on both sides of the Atlantic (and probably further afield, too, family historians in Ireland, the UK and USA can take advantage of big savings on Ancestry DNA test kits if they place their orders in the next week or so.

(As far as I'm aware, there are currently no discounts for researchers living in other countries. To them, I'd suggest they check their local 'territory' early next week, just in case savings become available nearer the day itself.)

The following discounts and offers are now live:

  • Ireland residents: The offer reduces the price of a test kit from €95 to €69, a saving of €26. Shipping is extra.
  • UK residents: The offer reduces the price of a test kit from £79 to £59, a saving of £20. Shipping is extra.
  • USA residents:
    Offer 1: The offer reduces the price of a test kit from $99 to $59 plus tax and shipping, giving you a saving of $40.
    Offer 2: For just $1 more than Offer 1, this option will give the recipient not only the test kit, but also a 3-month World Explorer Membership. Offer 2 costs just $60 (the standard price for the kit and membership would be $178!!) plus tax and shipping.

All these offers will expire at 11:59pm, Sunday 20 June (EST in the USA / GMT+1 in Ireland and UK).



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.

New and updated USA genealogy collections - 3-week summary

Below is a summary of US family history collections that have been released or updated by the major genealogy databases in the last three weeks. (The previous summary list was published on 20 May, 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, if provided by the database.

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

MyHeritage

UPDATED COLLECTIONS


AmericanAncestors

Ancestry

FamilySearch
  • Some 27 state or smaller collections + 5 USA-wide collections have been updated. Follow this link, then click the (bold blue) 'Last Updated' option twice for listing of recent updates.

Fold3

MyHeritage

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 10 June 2021

Summer edition of Irish Roots magazine is now available

The Summer Issue of Irish Roots magazine is now available. As always, the independently produced quarterly publication is full of articles designed to help family historians make progress in their research, as well as bringing an interesting selection of other features exploring Irish history, the life stories of readers' ancestors, educational opportunities, new book releases and plenty of comment and recent news from around the Irish genealogy community. 

      Click image for details of paper and digital subscriptions,
     one-off purchases, and a sample of the summer edition.

Here's a quick run-though of this edition's main articles:

  • Five commonly asked Irish genealogy research questions - answered
  • Local resources for research in County Cork.
  • Why the future for Irish ancestral research is positive
  • Studying 'The History Of Family' - What it entails
  • Five strategies for using DNA to get back to the 1700s
  • Tipperary People Of Great Note: book launch
  • A reader's tribute to his ancestor: Captain Frank Hurley
  • Using 19th-century Colonial Australian Musters
  • What's New? Review - The latest record releases

In addition, there's the Letters page, a round-up of recently published books, news and observations of developments in genealogy generally and Irish genealogy in particular, and the ever-enlightening 'Your Genealogy Queries Answered' by Nicola Morris MAGI.

It's an enjoyable and informative read for Irish genealogists of all levels. It's also great value and available in both digital and paper format as one-off purchases and one- or two-year subscription packages. Click the cover image above to find out more.

Accredited Genealogists Ireland welcomes new Affiliate

Accredited Genealogists Ireland (AGI), the island-wide representative and accrediting body for professional Irish genealogists, has welcomed another Affiliate: Eilish Feeley. You can read a short bio with information about Eilish's qualifications, special areas of genealogical interest, and contact details on AGI's website.

She is the 18th person to be accepted as an AGI Affiliate since the group's Affiliate Programme was introduced some twelve years ago.

AGI Affiliates are reputable genealogists, in the early stages of their transition to professional research, who have not yet applied for accreditation. They are, however, bound by AGI’s Code of Practice.

Congratulations, Eilish.

Tuesday 8 June 2021

Overnight maintenance to RootsIreland.ie's network infrastructure

RootsIreland.ie has advised that scheduled maintenance will be carried out on its network infrastructure tonight from midnight to 4am, Irish time (GMT+1).

For most researchers on this side of the Atlantic, the dead-of-night timing is unlikely to present problems, but those based elsewhere may be less fortunate. You can check your equivalent time here.

If you are trying to use the site during the maintenance period, you may experience several brief spells (up to minutes each) when connection fails.

Monday 7 June 2021

Irish genealogy, DNA and history events (online): 7-20 June

Monday 7 June: Bank holiday Republic of Ireland. Business as usual in Northern Ireland

Tuesday 8 June: The Military Archives Pensions Collections, with Michael Keane, civilian archivest at Military Archives. Host: Kildare Military Seminar 2021. Live online presentation at 7:30pm. Free. Need to register.

Wednesday 9 June Ground-breaking developments in treatment of wounded on the Western Front, with Tom Scotland. Hosts: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and the Western Antrim & Down Branch of the Western Front Association. Free, but need to register. 8pm to 9pm.

Wednesday 9 June: Mapping the Irish Revolution 1912-1923, a Lifelong Learning Course from the National Library of Ireland in partnership with UCC's School of History. A four-week programme (Wednesday afternoons 2pm to 4pm) providing an overview of the Irish Revolutionary period. Free, online course over Zoom. Details and Booking.

Thursday 10 June Representing the Last Moments of Irish Revolutionaries in Museums, with Dr Siobhán Doyle from the National Museum of Ireland. Host: Kildare Military Seminar 2021. Live online presentation at 7:30pm. Free. Need to register.

Friday 11 June: The Diaspora and the Irish Revolution, 1916-1923, a one-day conference. Host: Carlow College. Online. Free. Download full programme. Need to register. Full programme here.

Wednesday 16 June: Using Online Resources, a Getting Started workshop. Host: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. 12:30 to 13:30. Free. Online. Need to register.

Friday 18 June: Species of Domestic Spaces: House and Home in Eighteenth-Century Ireland, a day-conference from University College Dublin's Humanities Institute. Free online lectures. 9am to 3:30pm. Need to book.

Friday 18 June: The Military Archives Oral History Collection, with Noelle Grothier, archivist. Free, online Military Seminar 2021 hosted by Kildare Library Services. 7:30pm to 8:30pm. Need to book.

Saturday 19 June: Virtual 2021 DNA Discovery Day, with the Genealogical Society of Queensland. 9am–4:30pm. Tickets: $2.00–$75. Lectures include: Maximising Messages, with Michelle Patient; Ask the Wife! A DNA Analysis Strategy, with Diahan Southard; How Healthy is your DNA, with Dr. David Fairbairn; A Case Study in Clustering, with Greg Carlill; DNA: Another Genealogical Tool, with Helen Smith; BigY & Using BigY results in Family History, with James M. Irvine. All lectures are followed by Live Q&A. Details and booking.

Saturday 19 June: Military Seminar 2021, hosted by Kildare Libraries Services. Three lectures: Strongbow and the Normans, with Dr Conor Kostick at 10am; Rows and Ructions: military-civilian violence in Irish garrison towns, with Dr Aoife Bhreathnach at 11am; Guerilla Warfare During The War of Independence, with Lorcan Collins at Noon. Need to book. Free, online seminar.

Saturday 19 June: The Family History Show, Online, organised by Discover Your Ancestors (UK) magazine. Free talks. Speak to 100+ family history societies and genealogical suppliers by text, audio, video chat or email from the comfort of your own home. Submit questions to Ask the Experts panel before the show. 10am to 4:30pm. £6/£8. Details.

Saturday 19 June: The Vikings and Cork: Raiding, Trading and the Development of the Town, an online conference. Host: Cork Historical and Archaeological Society. To be held online from 10am to 4:15pm. Register and view full programme here.

Saturday 19 June: The Family History Show. Online day event with seven lectures (available to view for 72 hours), exhibitors hall, ask the experts and more. Advance tickets £6. On the day tickets £8. Mainly UK focused but with some generic themes and exhibitors relevant to Irish research. Details.

New English, Scottish & Welsh genealogy records: latest updates

Below is a summary of new and updated family history record collections for England, Scotland and Wales released by the major genealogy databases over the last week (for the previous summary, see 28 May blogpost).

This regular summary of releases and updates 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. Where two figures are given, the first is the number of additions, the second is the new total.

Please note that I don't usually include updates of fewer than 1,000 records.


NEW COLLECTIONS

Ancestry


BritishNewspaperArchive (shared with some FindMyPast subscriptions)

 

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.