Thursday 29 September 2022

An Irish Folklore Treasury, edited by John Creedon, published today

Most Irish family historians will be aware of The Schools' Collection, a sizeable record-set of stories about Ireland and its inhabitants gathered by children in the Republic of Ireland in the 1930s. The schoolchildren were asked to speak to their parents, grandparents, older neighbours and family friends and record their folklore tales, local customs and traditions, words of wisdom, memories of events and recollections of how they and their communities used to live.

Click image to find out more at Gill Books    

The resulting collection includes some genealogical information (some details of the 'informants' are recorded with each 'story'), but the content of the stories attracts a much wider audience. It is digitised and available free on the Duchas.ie, the website of the National Folklore Collection held at University College Dublin.

Launching today is a 400-page book edited by John Creedon, one of Ireland's best-known broadcasters, entitled An Irish Folklore Treasury. It is a 'best of' selection that includes chapters telling stories of ghosts and supernatural beings, life on the land, life at home and at the table, forgotten trades, school routines, weather lore, religion, celebrations and local pastimes. It is great illustrations, too.

It is, John hopes, a book that Irish households around the world will dip into and enjoy for generations.

The book is published by Gill Books with a recommended price of €24.99 (click the cover image above) and should now be on sale in good bookshops in Ireland, and online at Amazon, Blackwells, Eason, Kenny's etc.

ISBN 9780717194223

Wednesday 28 September 2022

EXTENDED - Flash Sale on FindMyPast subscriptions: 20% off

FindMyPast is offering 20% off most of its subscription packages.

This was originally intended to run until this morning but it has been extended to continue across the weekend. 

The Flash Sale will now expire on Monday 3 October at 10am Irish/British Summer Time (IST/BST).

Choose from the FindMyPast 'territories' below and then select your preferred subscription. The sale savings will have been applied so you can see the discounted price you'll pay.

The Flash Sale has closed.



FindMyPast Ireland – 20% off any 1- or 12-month subscription.


FindMyPast USA/Canada – 20% off any 1- or 12-month subscription.


FindMyPast UK – 20% off any 3- or 12-Month subscription.


FindMyPast Australia/NZ – 20% off any 1- or 12-month subscription.


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

 

Tuesday 27 September 2022

Tipperary Studies releases Cashel NS Boy's registers, 1868-1917

Hot on the heels of another wonderful addition to their digital archives (ledgers of a Thurles Watchmaker), Tipperary Studies, the local history department of the county's library service, has uploaded five good quality pdf copies of Cashel National School's boys' registers.

Click for enlarged view of this sample page from 1873

They span 1868 to 1917 and are full of genealogical information. Beyond the basics of name, age and townland of residence of each boy pupil, the registers provide information about the family's religion, father's occupation, when the child joined and left the school, and their examination results across a range of subjects.

The pdf are not small – the smallest is a littly shy of 36Mb – so they take a while to 'unroll' when you download them. Go to https://tippstudiesdigital.ie/items/show/4625 to find out more.


Monday 26 September 2022

Irish genealogy, history and heritage events, 26 Sept. to 9 Oct.

Monday 26 September: Dublin Festival of History 2022 continues. This annual free festival, brought to you by Dublin City Council, and organised by Dublin City Libraries, in partnership with the Dublin City Council Culture Company, offers 130+ events, some online, some in-person, including talks, exhibitions, tours, all free. A few are already fully booked. Programme.

Monday 26 September: Derry’s Wonderful Opera House, with Ken McCormack. A hybrid event hosted by NIFHS, Foyle Branch. 7pm - 8:30pm BST. Free. All welcome. Venue: Lecture Room, Derry’s Central Library, 35 Foyle Street, Derry, BT48 6AL. Non-members wishing to attend online should e-mail the branch secretary at foyle@nifhs.org and they will be sent the link.

Tuesday 27 September Genealogy in Fermanagh, an online talk with Frank McHugh. Hosted by North of Ireland Family History Society, Belfast Branch. 7:30pm–9pm BST. Free. All welcome. Non-members wishing to attend should e-mail the branch secretary at Belfast@nifhs.org and they will be sent the link.

Tuesday 27 September The Derry Central Railway, with Eric Lake. An in-person and online meeting hosted by the North of Ireland Family History Society, Causeway &Glens Branch. 8pm–9pm. Free. All welcome. Venue: Sandel Centre, Knocklynn Road, Coleraine, Co LondonDerry. Online: Those wishing to attend on zoom should e-mail causeway@nifhs.org.

Tuesday 27 September The East Wall School Boys Strike of 1911, with Joe Mooney. An in-person event hosted by the Dublin Festival of History. Venue: Charleville Mall Library, Charleville Mall, North Strand, Dublin 1. Free. All welcome. Need to register.

Tuesday 27 September The Treaty, an online lecture with Dr Alan McCarthy. Hosted by the London Irish Centre. 7pm – 8.30pm. All welcome. £5 per lecture. Details.

Wednesday 28 September: Kate O'Brien and her sisters: Archives, Fictions and families, with Dr Gerardine Meaney MRIA. In-person lecture at Royal Irish Academy, 19 Dawson Street, Dublin 2. Part of the Sisters series of lectures which celebrates sisterhood by exploring the lives and achievements of four families of sisters who made their mark on Irish life. 1pm. Free. All welcome. Booking recommended.

Thursday 29 September History of Surnames in Ireland, with Natalie Bodle. A hybrid meeting hosted by North of Ireland Family History Society, Ballymena Branch. 7:15pm–8:45pm BST. All welcome. In-person venue: Michelin Arts Workshop, Braid Arts Centre, 1-29 Bridge Street, Ballymena BT43 5EJ. Online: Those wishing to attend on Zoom should e-mail the branch secretary at Ballymena@nifhs.org and they will be sent the link.

Monday 3 October to 16 October: Dublin Festival of History 2022 continues. This annual free festival, brought to you by Dublin City Council, and organised by Dublin City Libraries, in partnership with the Dublin City Council Culture Company, offers 130+ events, some online, some in-person, including talks, exhibitions, tours, all free. Some are already fully booked. Programme.

Monday 3 October: War Graves of the City & County, with Mark Walmsley. A hybrid event hosted by North of Ireland Family History Society, Foyle Branch. 7pm to 8:30pm. All welcome. In-person venue: Lecture Room of Derry City’s Central Library, 35 Foyle Street, Londonderry BT48 6AL. Online: Those wishing to attend online should e-mail the branch secretary at foylenifhs.org and they will be sent the link.

Tuesday 4 October:: Women and the Years of Revolution: Not just "victims" or "heroines", an online lecture with Professor Louise Ryan. Host: London Irish Centre. All welcome. Tickets £5. 7pm – 8.30pm (incl Q&A). Need to book

Tuesday 4 October:: Memorials and Transcripts at the Registry of Deeds: A New Guide. An in-person presentation with Dr Patrick Walsh outlining a new ‘typology’ to deeds which aims to assist researchers in identifying and interpreting C18th-deeds held in the Irish Registry of Deeds. Host: the Property Registration Authority of Ireland. 6pm to 7pm. Details and booking. The talk will conclude with the formal launch of 'Guide to the Registry of Deeds Memorials and Transcripts' via the prai.ie website.

Wednesday 5 October: Guardians of the Peace: The Early Years of the Irish Police Force, an online talk by Conor Brady. Host: Dublin Festival of History. Free. 6pm to 7pm. All welcome. Need to register.

Wednesday 5 October: The 1718 migration to New England, an online talk with Dr William Roulston. Part of the Heritage from Home 3 lecture series. Hosts: Libraries NI and the Ulster Historical Foundation. 12:30pm to 1:30pm. Free. All welcome. Need to register.

Thursday 6 October: Democracy and the Legacy of Revolutionary Violence, the Annual Edmund Burke Lecture 2022, and in-person event with Professor Michael Ignatieff. Host: The Trinity Long Room Hub. Venue: Edmund Burke Theatre, Arts Building, Fellows Square, Trinity College Dublin. 6:30pm-8pm. All welcome. Free but registration necessary. Details.

Thursday 6 October: Jim Larkin, his life and commemoration in Dublin and Belfast. An in-person event with James Curry, Historian in Residence to Dublin City Council. All welcome. Venue: Cabra Library, Navan Road, Dublin 7. 1pm. All welcome.

Thursday 6 October: The Red Cow Murders and the Civil War in South Dublin County, with Liz Gillis. Part of the Decade of Centenaries programme from South Dublin County. Hosted online by Clondalkin Library. 7pm to 8pm. Free. Details and booking.

Saturday 8 October: Gold seam — the IMC treasure in the Beyond 2022 Virtual Record Treasury: Books of Survey and Distribution, an in-person demonstration and workshop hosted by the Irish Manuscripts Commission. Venue: IMC, 45 Merrion Square East, Dublin 2. 11am to 1pm. All welcome. Free. Need to register.

Saturday 8 October: Tackling Sequential Brick Walls with DNA in an Irish Family Tree, an online workshop with Dr Maurice Gleeson. Host: Irish Genealogical Research Society. 2:30pm–5pm. Members free. Non-members €5. Need to register.


Thursday 22 September 2022

Northern Ireland Census 2021 - More statistical results published

The Northern Ireland Statistical and Research Agency has today released its second* set of results from the Northern Ireland Census of 2021. It includes statistics relating to ethnicity; country of birth; passports held; religion; religion or religion brought up in; national identity; and language of its population.

Here are some of the main findings:

Passports: More than 67% and 63% of residents living in the Ards & North Down and Mid & East Antrim districts respectively hold only a UK passport. The lowest proportion of residents holding a UK passport and no other was found in the Derry and Strabane area (29%), where some 48% of residents held only an Irish passport, and only 3.47% held both passports.

Ethnicity: Among Northern Ireland's residents, nearly 32% identified as 'British only' (down from 40% in 2011), just over 29% considered themselves to be Irish only (25% ten years ago), while nearly 20% described themselves as Northern Irish only (previously 21%). Nearly 8% identified as British and Northern Irish only. Some 3.4% (65,600 people), said they belong to ethnic minority groups.

Language –

Irish: Some 12.45% of people over the age of three have some ability in speaking, writing, reading or understanding of Irish. The highest percentage regionally was found in Mid-Ulster (20%), closely followed by the Newry, Mourne & Down area ((18%) and Fermanagh & Omagh (17%). In contrast, nearly 96% of those living in the Ards & North Down district declared themselves to have no ability in Irish. Mid & East Antrim and Lisburn & Castlereagh districts were very close behind.

Ulster Scots: More than 10% (190,613) of people aged three and over have some level of ability in Ulster Scots. Of this total, more than 20% live in Mid & East Antrim and 19% in Causeway Coast & Glens.

Household size: Northern Ireland's population lives in 768,804 households, making an average household size of 2.44 residents. This is the lowest ever recorded. In 1841, the average was 5.18 persons and was still more than 4 in 1851. In 2021, more than 60% of households consist of just one or two persons. The areas with the largest percentage of households consisting of 6 or more persons are in Mid-Ulster (5.3%), Newry, Mourne & Down (4.1%), Fermanagh & Omagh (383%) and Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon(3.3%).

Religion: The census of 2021 shows the population of Northern Ireland is becoming less religious. Some 17.39% (330,983 individuals) reported themselves to have no religion. Those claiming to belong to a particular denomination were: (Roman) Catholics making up 42.31% of the population; Presbyterian Church in Ireland 16.61%; (Anglican) Church of Ireland, 11.55%; Methodist 2.35%; Other Christian related groups, 6.85%; Other beliefs, 1.34%. Just 1.6% did not answer this question.

The other standout finding is truly historic: the proportion of the resident population from a Catholic background (45.7%) now outnumbers those from a Protestant background (43.8%); this is the first time this has happened since Northern Ireland was created 101 years ago. The numbers of people from a Protestant background has falled by more than 10% over the last two decades, while the numbers of Catholics has risen by about 3% over the same period. The Guardian has a good analysis of this issue here.



* The first release (published in May) and available to view here, showed the total population to have grown by 5% since 2011 and dealt with ages, household size and type of residence.


Wednesday 21 September 2022

Roz McCutcheon named a Fellow of the Society of Genealogists

I was thrilled to read in the September issue of the Society of Genealogists (SOG) Newsletter that Roz McCutcheon has been named a Fellow of the SOG. Roz and I were colleagues on the Council of the Irish Genealogical Research Society some years ago – she is now an IGRS Vice-President, and remains one of that society's hardest working volunteers – and we still bump into one another at online IGRS events.

Roz McCutcheon FIGRS, FSG in full flow

Fellowship of the Society of Genealogists recognises distinguished service to the world of genealogy, and the SOG's announcment sets out some of the reasons Roz has been awarded this status, as follows:

'Roz’s unique contribution to Irish genealogy is her free-to-all Early Irish Marriages Index, which is hosted online by the Irish Genealogical Research Society. Given the destruction in 1922 of so much source material in Ireland, Roz recognised that a ‘sign posting’ index to alternative [pre-civil registration] sources for evidence of marriage would be of great assistance to those exploring Irish genealogy.

'The database, which draws on information locked away in otherwise under-used and rare sources, now notes more than a quarter of a million names. It grows in size constantly and is highly regarded. It has since been joined by similar such indexes pointing to alternative early sources for births* and deaths* and which collectively note more than a third of a million names of Irish persons who were born, married or died between the years 1600 and 1864.

'She is very likely the current leading expert in the use of Ireland’s Registry of Deeds as a source for genealogists. She is by far the most prolific contributor to the online Registry of Deeds Index Project Ireland which, through voluntary collaboration, aims to create a much more detailed index to the RoD’s Memorials than currently exists in hardcopy form. To date, the Registry of Deeds Index Project Ireland website shows that Roz has contributed about 130,000 index entries to the Project out of a total of 498,373.'

Those who follow IrishGenealogyNews will be aware that the Irish Registry of Deeds Index Project cracked through the half-a-million entries milestone a matter of days ago. This evening, Roz will be among those speaking at a special event to celebrate the project to which she has generously donated so much of her time over the last decade and more. It's a free, worldwide event (see start times around the globe below). To see Roz talking about the Project, book your place at Eventbrite. Booking closes in the next few of hours.

Start Times:

  • Ireland and UK – 21:00 on Wednesday 21 September 2022
  • New Zealand – 08:00 on Thursday 22 September 2022
  • Eastern Australia – 06:00 on Thursday 22 September 2022
  • Halifax, Canada – 17:00 on Wednesday 21 September 2022
  • Vancouver, Canada – 13:00 on Wednesday 21 September 2022
  • Winnipeg, Canada – 15:00 on Wednesday 21 September 2022
  • New York, USA – 16:00 on Wednesday 21 September 2022
  • Salt Lake City, USA – 14:00 on Wednesday 21 September 2022

* These Early Births and Early Deaths Indexes are open to IGRS members; non-members can make only a limited search by surname. Only the Early Marriage Index is open to all.

Monday 19 September 2022

More Co. Kerry Roman Catholic marriage records join RootsIreland

RootsIreland.ie has added nearly 7,500 Roman Catholic marriage records to its County Kerry database. They are:

  • Ballyferriter RC marriages, 1808-1895 (3,306 records)
  • Dingle RC marriages, 1821-1900 (4,132 records)

This brings to 189,163 the number of marriage records available for the county.

For details of the parishes covered, click the link above and select Online Sources.

Irish genealogy, history and heritage events, 19 Sept. to 2 Oct.

Monday 19 September: Bank Holiday in Northern Ireland.

Monday 19 September: Derry’s Wonderful Opera House, with Ken McCormack. An online and in-person event hosted by North of Ireland Family History Society, Foyle BranchRe-scheduled to Monday 26 September.

Monday 19 September: How to do your family research in stages, a presentation by Branch Committee Members. An online and in-person event hosted by the North of Ireland Family History Society, Larne Branch. 7:15pm - 8:45pm BST. Venue: Larne Museum and Arts Centre, 2 Victoria Road, Larne, BT40 1RN. Those wishing to attend, either on-site or on zoom, should e-mail the branch secretary. Cancelled.

Tuesday 20 September: Executions and reprisals: the atrocities of the Civil War, an online lecture with Myles Dungan. Part of the Decade of Centenaries programme of South Dublin County. Hosted by Lucan Library. Free. All welcome. 7pm to 8pm. Registration required.

Tuesday 20 September: The Big Houses in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown as Religious Institutions, an in-person lecture with Deirdre Rafferty. Host: Foxrock Local History Club. Venue: Parish Pastoral Centre, Foxrock. 8pm. All welcome. Non-members €5 on the door.

Wednesday 21 September: The history and traditions of Brotherhoods and Friendly Societies in Ireland, an online seminar hosted by Armagh Robinson Library during Northern Ireland Good Relations Week. The event will include talks on the Apprentice Boys of Derry, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Foresters, Freemasonry and the Orange Order. Among those taking part will be Robert Bamford, Provincial Grand Librarian for the Province of Antrim (Freemasonry), Billy Moore, BEM (General Secretary of the Apprentice Boys of Derry and Chairman of The Siege Museum), David Scott (the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland’s Outreach and Services Manager) and Dr Robert Whan, Director of Armagh Robinson Library. 10.30am to 3pm. All welcome. Details. Booking essential. Tickets: £6.

Wednesday 21 September: Celebrate the Registry of Deeds Index Project's milestone as the database races past a half a million entries (all free to search). Online event is free. All welcome. Need to register at eventbrite. Times: Ireland and UK: 9pm on 21st | USA, New York: 4pm on 21st | USA, Salt Lake City: 2pm on 21st | Eastern Australia: 6am on 22 September).

Wednesday 21 to Friday 23 September: National Archives of Ireland's Reading Room and Genealogy Advice Service closed to the public to facilitate an IT upgrade. Reopening Monday 26 September. See NAI home page for any updates/changes.

Friday 23 September: Culture Night. Organised by the Arts Council, in partnership with local authorities and cultural organisations, this is the island's annual cultural feast of late openings and tours, performances, etc. They are delivered nationwide in cities, towns, villages and rural locations, and some are online. Dig in at culturenight.ie.

Friday 23 and Saturday 24 September: Military aspects of the Civil war, a two-day conference hosted by MilitaryArchives.ie in collaboration with the Military History Society of Ireland and supported by the Department of Culture. The event will be live streamed (free, no registration required) with a limited number of in-person €17 tickets also available here (price includes lunch and refreshments. Live stream link, programme and details.

Saturday 24 September: Exploring Christianity through Denominations, a full-day in-person workshop during Northern Ireland Good Relations Week. Host and venue: Armagh Robinson Library, 43 Abbey St, Armagh BT61 7DY. The workshop will consider a range of topics including the history of the denominations found in Ireland, their doctrinal positions, worship and liturgy, leadership and governance, and places of worship. The day includes a guided tour of St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral, which is situated beside the Library. 10am to 5pm. Tickets £12. (Lunch 1pm–2pm not included.) All welcome.Details and booking.

Monday 26 September: Three-week Dublin Festival of History 2022 starts. This annual free festival, brought to you by Dublin City Council, and organised by Dublin City Libraries, in partnership with the Dublin City Council Culture Company, runs to 16 October. It offers 130+ events, some online, some in-person, including talks, exhibitions, tours, all free. A few are already fully booked. Programme.

Monday 26 September: Derry’s Wonderful Opera House, with Ken McCormack. Re-arranged event originally scheduled for 19 September. An online and in-person event hosted by North of Ireland Family History Society, Foyle Branch. 7pm to 8:30pm. All welcome. In-person venue: Lecture Room of Derry City’s Central Library, 35 Foyle Street, Londonderry BT48 6AL. Online: Those wishing to attend on zoom should e-mail the branch secretary at causeway@nifhs.org and they will be sent the link.

Tuesday 27 September Genealogy in Fermanagh, an online talk with Frank McHugh. Hosted by North of Ireland Family History Society, Belfast Branch. 7:30pm–9pm BST. Free. All welcome. Non-members wishing to attend should e-mail the branch secretary at Belfast@nifhs.org and they will be sent the link.

Tuesday 27 September The Derry Central Railway with Eric Lake. An in-person and online meeting hosted North of Ireland Family History Society, Causeway C&G Branch. 8pm–9pm. Free. All welcome. Venue: Sandel Centre, Knocklynn Road, Coleraine, Co LondonDerry. Online: Those wishing to attend on zoom should e-mail the branch secretary at causeway@nifhs.org and they will be sent the link.

Tuesday 27 September The East Wall School Boys Strike of 1911, with Joe Mooney. An in-person event hosted by the Dublin Festival of History. Venue: Charleville Mall Library, Charleville Mall, North Strand, Dublin 1. Free. All welcome. Need to register.

Tuesday 27 September The Treaty, an online lecture with Dr Alan McCarthy. Hosted by the London Irish Centre. 7pm – 8.30pm. All welcome. £5 per lecture. Need to book.

Wednesday 28 September: Kate O'Brien and her sisters: Archives, Fictions and families, with Dr Gerardine Meaney MRIA. In-person lecture at Royal Irish Academy, 19 Dawson Street, Dublin 2. Part of the Sisters series of lectures which celebrates sisterhood by exploring the lives and achievements of four families of sisters who made their mark on Irish life. 1pm. Free. All welcome. Booking recommended.

Thursday 29 September History of Surnames in Ireland, with Natalie Bodle. A hybrid meeting hosted by North of Ireland Family History Society, Ballymena Branch. 7:15pm–8:45pm BST. All welcome. In-person venue: Michelin Arts Workshop, Braid Arts Centre, 1-29 Bridge Street, Ballymena BT43 5EJ. Online: Those wishing to attend on Zoom should e-mail the branch secretary at Ballymena@nifhs.org and they will be sent the link.

Saturday 1 October: Gold seam — the IMC treasure in the Beyond 2022 Virtual Record Treasury – Books of Survey and Distribution . An in-person event hosted by the Irish Manuscript Commission. Venue: 45 Merrion Square East, Dublin 2. 11am–1pm. Free. Details and booking.


Friday 16 September 2022

DungannonWorkhouse.com sheds light on inmates' experiences

A new website has launched as a memorial to those who died in Dungannon Workhouse. It has been set up by Donaghmore Historical Society, with assistance from Mid-Ulster Council, and displays the names of all 4,000 who perished at the County Tyrone complex from its opening in 1842 until the end of the 19th century.

The site is practically bulging with information about the Workhouse, its history, architecture, residents and place within the local economy.

In addition to the names of those who were born and died within its walls, there are features about life inside and outside, the routines, the diet, Christmas, punishments, the Poor Law and more. Emigrant schemes and the system of Boarding Out are explained; a list of names of staff and details of their employment is provided, as are lists of the inmates who applied (successfully or not) for an Old Age Pension in 1910.

It's a deep and accessible presentation of well-researched material.

While it is primarily intended as a memorial, the site's scope will make it a useful stop for any researcher with ancestors who spent time in a workhouse in Ireland, and for those studying pre- and post-Famine Ireland.

Visit dungannonworkhouse.com, or click the image above.

New releases and updates for English, Scottish & Welsh genealogy

Below is a summary of newly released and updated family history record collections for England, Scotland and Wales from the major genealogy databases. (Previous summary, 29 August.)

My 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 (£££ subscription); shared with FindMyPast Ultimate and Pro subs. More than 57m pages.

FamilySearch

MyHeritage


UPDATED COLLECTIONS


FamilySearch

FindMyPast

TheGenealogist


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 15 September 2022

Tipperary Studies releases family history gem for researchers

Seven volumes of watch job books from John Rudd, Watchmaker and Jeweller, Thurles, Co. Tipperary have been digitised and made accessible online by Tipperary Studies, the local history department of the county's library service.

The volumes hold 27,548 names and addresses of people who left an item for repair at Rudd’s Watchmakers & Jewellers from 1901 to 1930. Some of the names appear on several occasions, and will be of great interest to researchers trying to track down their ancestors in the mid-Tipperary area and beyond.

While the majority of names are of people who lived in and around Thurles, there are also names of residents from other parts of Tipperary, and even addresses in Counties Kilkenny and Laois.

Some of those named in the job books are also recorded in other collections on the Tipperary Studies Digital platform. For example, Mrs Benson of Main Street, Thurles (1914) also appears in a photographic collection from the late 1930s, and Tom Semple, a noted captain of the famed Thurles Blues, is referenced in the Tipperary GAA Yearbook collection.

Researchers can download pdfs of each of the seven chronologically-arranged volumes free of charge. To view the collection, click the image above.


Celebrate the Registry of Deeds Index Project's major milestone

A few days ago, the main names index of the Registry of Deeds Index Project broke through the half-a-million-entries mark. It's taken 15 years for the Project to reach this exciting point, with 501,166 entries transcribed from more than 52,239 memorials of deeds by a band of generous volunteers and researchers.

Their donations of their free time enable other family historians around the world to search the index free of charge.

The number of names held in some 17,000 mighty tomes on the shelves at Dublin's Registry of Deeds is thought to run to several million, so the volunteer project still has plenty of work ahead!

It is already providing access to these records a lot more easily than it used to, and the growth of the main index over recent years has sped up enormously since 2017 when FamilySearch.org released online page-by-page images of the memorial volumes it microfilmed back in the 1960s. Using these images, accessible to anyone, anywhere, with an internet connection, has allowed more volunteers to come forward.

To celebrate this month's major milestone the Index Project team has arranged for four experts on the Registry of Deeds to offer their experience of using the Registry and its priceless archive.

The event will consist of four 20-minute presentations, each followed by a question and answer session. The presenters will be:

  • Nick Reddan – project webmaster
  • Rosaind McCutcheon – the project's greatest contributor
  • David Rencher – Chief Genealogical Officer, FamilySearch
  • Steven C. Smyrl – Chairman Irish Genealogical Research Society

Each of these experts is a Fellow of the Irish Genealogical Research Society (IGRS).

This will be a great opportunity to learn about using the Registry of Deeds and ask questions about the collection and its value to Irish family history.

The event will be held online and is free to attend. Its timing has been chosen to allow the widest possible audience from Irish genealogists around the globe. See Start Times below.

Registration is via Eventbrite, here. Tickets are limited in number, so be sure to book your place in good time.

Start Times:

  • Ireland and UK – 21:00 on Wednesday 21 September 2022
  • New Zealand – 08:00 on Thursday 22 September 2022
  • Eastern Australia – 06:00 on Thursday 22 September 2022
  • Halifax, Canada – 17:00 on Wednesday 21 September 2022
  • Vancouver, Canada – 13:00 on Wednesday 21 September 2022
  • Winnipeg, Canada – 15:00 on Wednesday 21 September 2022
  • New York, USA – 16:00 on Wednesday 21 September 2022
  • Salt Lake City, USA – 14:00 on Wednesday 21 September 2022

Wednesday 14 September 2022

Four more Irish titles join the online BritishNewspaperArchive

Four new Irish historical newspapers have made their debut in the online BritishNewspaperArchive (BNA) over the last week.

Their addition has helped push the BNA (the British Library's online newspaper collection) through the 57 million pages milestone.

The new titles are:

The dates shown are the periods each holding is expected to cover when complete.

The titles are also fully searchable within the FindMyPast database to those with a PRO subscription.

The total number of historical Irish papers now held in the BNA is 254 (174 Republic of Ireland / 80 Northern Ireland).



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 12 September 2022

Irish genealogy, history and heritage events, 12-25 September

Sorry for the unannounced summer break in events listings. I was overwhelmed with other matters and had to set priorities for how to best use my desk time. My weekly events listing is easily the most time-consuming regular post on IrishGenealogyNews; contrary to most people's assumptions, fewer than 5% of the entries in my listings are actually notified to me by the hosts. With Irish genealogy's quiestest period of the year coinciding with a personally fraught time, it made sense to temporarily drop the weekly listing. Fingers crossed, the regular schedule can now return. Here we go:

Monday 12 September: Olympic and Aquitania: Eyeing Up the Competition – Cunard’s "White Star Liner, an in-person lecture with Mark Chirnside. Hosts: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and the Belfast Titanic Society. Venue: PRONI Lecture Theatre, 2 Titanic Boulevard, Titanic Quarter, Belfast BT3 9HQ. 7pm to 8pm. All welcome. Free but need to register. Details.

Tuesday 13 September: Stories from Old Blaris Burying Ground, an in-person event with Elizabeth Scott. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Lisburn Branch. Venue: Bridge Community Centre 50 Railway Street, Lisburn, County Down BT28 1XP. 7:30pm–9pm BST. All welcome.

Tuesday 13 September: Lorrha in the Great War, an online talk by Gerard O’Meara. Hosted by the Genealogical Society of Ireland (GSI). 8pm. All welcome. Non-members can obtain zoom links by emailing Membership@Familyhistory.ie

Tuesday 13 September: George McElroy: Irelands Forgotten First World War Fighter Ace, an online talk by Philip Lecane. Host: Foxrock Local history club. 8pm. Free. All welcome. Non-members can email info@foxrocklocalhistory.ie for zoom details.

Wednesday 14 September: Book Launch: The Prisons Memory Archive: a Case Study in Filmed Memory of Conflict, (Vernon Press 2022). Speakers will include contributors to the book, which contains the memories of those who experienced the prisons of Armagh Gaol and the Maze and Long Kesh during the conflict known as the ‘Troubles’. 2pm to 3pm. In-person venue: PRONI, Belfast. Light refreshments will be provided after the event and attendees can purchase copies of the publication on the day. Online event: The presentations will be live streamed via the PRONI Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/publicrecordofficeni. Details

Wednesday 14 September: Petticoat Pilots: an in-person talk by Michael Traynor about Irish women who were at the cutting edge of the aeronautical revolution in the 1920s an 1930s. Free. All welcome. 6:30pm. Venue: Walkinstown Library, Percy French Road, Dublin 12. Need to book: Tel 01 222 8890 | Email walkinstownlibrary@dublincity.ie.

Wednesday 14 September: The English and Irish domestic football leagues during the Great War, an online lecture with Dr Alexander Jackson, curator at the English National Football Museum. Hosts: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and the Antrim and Down branch of the Western Front Association. 7pm to 8pm. All welcome. Free but need to register in advance. Details.

Wednesday 14 September: The architcture, art and history of Collins Barracks, an in-person talk with Gerry White. Host: CorkDFAS and Cork City Libraries. Venue: Cork City Library, Grand Parade, Cork. 7pm to 8pm. Non-members are welcome. No need to book.

Saturday 17 September: Left in the lurch: Irish WW1 ex-Service men and women in post-war Ireland, a seminar to be held at Pearse Street Library, Dublin 2. Host: National Library of Ireland. The in-person event will mark the centenary of the disbandment of Irish regiments of British Army in 1922. Speakers: Dr Patrick McCarthy, Arthur Cagney, Dr Emmanuel Destenay, Tom Burke MBE, and Dr Fionnuala Walsh. 11am – 4.50pm. All welcome. Details Fully Booked.

Wednesday 18 September: Kate O'Brien and her sisters: Archives, Fictions and families, with Dr Gerardine Meaney MRIA. In-person lecture at Royal Irish Academy, 19 Dawson Street, Dublin. Part of the Sisters series of lectures which celebrates sisterhood by exploring the lives and achievements of four families of sisters who made their mark on Irish life. 1pm. Free. All welcome. Booking recommended.

Monday 19 September: Bank Holiday in Northern Ireland to mark the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

Monday 19 September: Derry’s Wonderful Opera House, with Ken McCormack. An online and in-person event hosted by North of Ireland Family History Society, Foyle Branch. 7pm to 8:30pm. All welcome. In-person venue: Lecture Room of Derry City’s Central Library, 35 Foyle Street, Londonderry BT48 6AL. Online: Those wishing to attend on zoom should e-mail the branch secretary at causeway@nifhs.org and they will be sent the link.

Monday 19 September: How to do your family research in stages, a presentation by Branch Committee Members. An online and in-person event hosted by the North of Ireland Family History Society, Larne Branch. 7:15pm - 8:45pm BST. Venue: Larne Museum and Arts Centre, 2 Victoria Road, Larne, BT40 1RN. Those wishing to attend, either on-site or on zoom, should e-mail the branch secretary at Larne@nifhs.org and they will be sent the link. Emails need to be received by 12pm on Saturday prior to each meeting.

Tuesday 20 September: Executions and reprisals: the atrocities of the Civil War, an online lecture with Myles Dungan. Part of the Decade of Centenaries programme of South Dublin County. Hosted by Lucan Library. Free. All welcome. Registration required.

Tuesday 20 September: The Big Houses in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown as Religious Institutions, an in-person lecture with Deirdre Rafferty. Host: Foxrock Local History Club. Venue: Parish Pastoral Centre, Foxrock. 8pm. All welcome. Non-members €5 on the door.

Wednesday 21 September: The history and traditions of Brotherhoods and Friendly Societies in Ireland, an online seminar hosted by Armagh Robinson Library during Northern Ireland Good Relations Week. The event will include talks on the Apprentice Boys of Derry, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Foresters, Freemasonry and the Orange Order. Among those taking part will be Robert Bamford, Provincial Grand Librarian for the Province of Antrim (Freemasonry), Billy Moore, BEM (General Secretary of the Apprentice Boys of Derry and Chairman of The Siege Museum), David Scott (the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland’s Outreach and Services Manager) and Dr Robert Whan, Director of Armagh Robinson Library. 10.30am to 3pm. All welcome. Details. Booking essential. Tickets: £6.

Wednesday 21 September: Celebrate the Registry of Deeds Index Project's milestone as the database races past a half a million entries (all free to search). Online event is free. All welcome. Need to register at eventbrite. Times: Ireland and UK: 9pm on 21st | USA, New York: 4pm on 21st | USA, Salt Lake City: 2pm on 21st | Eastern Australia: 6am on 22 September).

Wednesday 21 to Friday 23 September: National Archives of Ireland's Reading Room and Genealogy Advice Service closed to the public to facilitate an IT upgrade. Reopening Monday 26 September. See NAI home page for any updates/changes.

Friday 23 September: Culture Night. Organised by the Arts Council, in partnership with local authorities and cultural organisations, this is the island's annual cultural feast of late openings and tours, performances, etc. They are delivered nationwide in cities, towns, villages and rural locations, and some are online. Dig in at culturenight.ie.

Friday 23 and Saturday 24 September: Military aspects of the Civil war, a two-day conference hosted by MilitaryArchives.ie in collaboration with the Military History Society of Ireland and supported by the Department of Culture. The event will be live streamed (free, no registration required) with a limited number of in-person €17 tickets also available here (price includes lunch and refreshments. Live stream link, programme and details.

Saturday 24 September: Exploring Christianity through Denominations, a full-day in-person workshop during Northern Ireland Good Relations Week. Host and venue: Armagh Robinson Library, 43 Abbey St, Armagh BT61 7DY. The workshop will consider a range of topics including the history of the denominations found in Ireland, their doctrinal positions, worship and liturgy, leadership and governance, and places of worship. The day includes a guided tour of St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral, which is situated beside the Library. 10am to 5pm. Tickets £12. (Lunch 1pm–2pm not included.) All welcome.Details and booking.

Thursday 8 September 2022

Diary Note: National Archives of Ireland closed 21-23 September

The National Archives of Ireland has advised that its Reading Room will be closed to the public for three days from Wednesday 21 to Friday 23 September.

As a result, the NAI's free walk-in Genealogy Advisory Service will also not be operating.

The closure will facilitate essential upgrading of the NAI's IT systems.

All being well, normal opening hours (Mon-Fri 10am–5pm) and services should resume on Monday 26 September.

Wednesday 7 September 2022

Online Irish family history workshop for beginners and refreshers

The Society of Genealogists is to host a half-day session aimed at beginners in Irish family history research on Saturday 10 September.

It will be held (live) online from 10:30am to 1pm (BST) and will be presented by Rosalind McCutcheon and Jill Williams, both of them Fellows of the Irish Genealogical Research Society and highly experienced family historians, who will set you on the right path to understanding Irish records and finding your ancestors from Ireland. Among the research areas they will explore are:

  • The context and background of Irish records
  • The records you need to get started with your Irish family research, including civil registration, church and census records
  • Where to find the records
  • How to use the records
  • The latest additions to Irish records online.

The fee is £20.00 including VAT (SoG Members £16.00). To find out more and to book your space, see the SoG's website.

Tuesday 6 September 2022

Irish emigration to Newfoundland collection, 1765-1835, now online

Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD was in Cork City Hall today to launch The Mannion Collection project. The project has resulted in a dedicated website – www.mannioncollection.ca – holding the digitised version of extensive records held by Dr John Mannion, retired Galway-born Professor of Geography at Memorial University of Newfoundland, and his wife and research partner, Maura, reflecting their lifetimes' work on Irish emigration to, and settlement in Newfoundland.

Now available on a free to access online portal for the first time, the collection holds extensive information on the largest single migration from a small confined geographical area – that of Southeast Ireland – to another small confined geographical area in Newfoundland.

The project was jointly funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade and the Provincial Government of Newfoundland & Labrador and contains almost 160,000 records of individuals and families who migrated from South-East Ireland and settled in Newfoundland, primarily in the years 1765 - 1835.

Speaking at today's launch An Taoiseach said: “I was delighted to be asked to officiate at this launch which expresses the spirit of the second sentence of Article 2 of our Constitution, revised as part of the Good Friday Agreement, that now reads: ''... the Irish nation cherishes its special affinity with people of Irish ancestry living abroad who share its cultural identity and heritage.

"Moreover, I thoroughly enjoyed the examples of genealogy and that ‘completion of the circle’ of information which this dataset allows. We are seeing names and details and information here that will go a long way in strengthening relations and cultural ties between our two islands, and that can only be a positive thing.”

The Cork launch was hosted by Waterford based group Ireland-Newfoundland Connections, who since 2005, along with its Canadian counterpart, Newfoundland and Labrador Irish Connections, has operated annual cultural and social gatherings in both places, alternating between South-East Ireland and the Irish heritage areas of Newfoundland, with over 60 communities in Ireland and 40 in Newfoundland and over 1,000 participants taking part so far.

The chairman of Newfoundland-Labrador Irish Connections, Councillor Ralph Tapper, said the value of this record set cannot be underestimated. "These are records from pre-Famine times that simply don’t exist elsewhere and are now available for researchers at home and abroad to fill in the gaps in their family history.”

The digitisation work was carried out by dedicated technical staff at the Newfoundland and Labrador Statistics Agency in St. John’s, the NL Government’s central statistics agency. The project was co-managed and led by the Agency and Memorial University’s Dr Sean Cadigan, with collaboration and support of the NL Irish Connections and Irish Newfoundland Connections groups.

Civil War Bluejackets Project to reveal lives of Irish Civil War sailors

Launching today is the Civil War Bluejackets Project which aims to help tell the stories of sailors in the American Civil War in ways never before possible.

Called the “Civil War Bluejackets” Project because of the distinctive uniform worn by U.S. Civil War sailors, the project hopes to reveal details of the thousands of Irish who departed these shores and ended up helping the U.S. battle the Confederacy on water.

It will also examine the large numbers of others – including thousands of recently enslaved African Americans – who donned the U.S. Navy’s famous bluejacket during the conflict. Additionally, the project team seek to reveal answers to questions about where the US Civil War sailors came from, their background and what they did before they enlisted, how they lived and interacted on board, and what became of some of them in the years after the conflict.

The project is a collaboration between Irish historians Professor David Gleeson and Dr Damian Shiels at Northumbria University; information and data scientists at the University of Sheffield and the University of Koblenz-Landau; and U.S. partners including the United States Naval Academy. It is funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council.

It is calling for citizen volunteers to help transcribe tens of thousands of Civil War Muster Rolls. These were documents carried on board U.S. ships and capture the personal details of the c.118,000 men who fought on water for the Union between 1861 and 1865. The online Zooniverse platform is being used to share these Rolls, and are asking the public to help in revealing their contents.

Speaking at the launch, Principal Investigator (and Tipperary native) Professor David Gleeson of Northumbria University said: “We are calling on people-power to help us tell the story of common sailors in the Civil War. We estimate that some 20 percent of these men were born in Ireland, many more were the children of Irish emigrants. With the public's help, we aim to create a new freely available database of these men, and use the information generated by citizen scientists to explore the social and military experiences of these ordinary people."

An additional advantage of this approach is that the public's transcriptions will be compared with the original 19th-century handwriting in order to train computers to assist in the reading and deciphering of historic documents. This will create an important tool for those interested in uncovering the past.

To find out more, click the project's logo above or go direct to the Zooniverse Civil War Bluejackets page.

Monday 5 September 2022

BritishNewspaperArchive adds one million more free papers

The online BritishNewspaperArchive.co.uk (BNA) has added another million pages of historical newspapers to its free-to-view collection. This doubles the free content, which was launched last year.

In this second instalment, 244 titles from across Britain, Ireland and India have joined, spaning four centries of history.

Among the 20,000+ pages added from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are the following titles:

  • Cavan Observer 1857-1864
  •  Cork Advertising Gazette 1855-1859 
  • Current Prices of Grain at Dublin Corn Exchange 1860-1861 
  • Drogheda News Letter 1813-1813
  • Dublin Shipping and Mercantile Gazette 1871-1871 
  • Dublin Weekly Herald 1838-1842 
  • Illustrated Advertiser of the Royal Dublin Society 1850-1850 
  • Journal of the Chemico-Agricultural Society of Ulster 1849-1854, 1856-1865, 1867 
  • Leinster Independent 1871-1872 
  • Meath People 1857-1863 
  • Missionary Herald of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland 1855-1855 
  • Skibbereen & West Carbery Eagle; or, South Western Advertiser 1861-1870 
  • Sligo Observer 1828-1831 
  • The Irish Racing Book and Sheet Calendar 1823-1841, 1849-1869 
  • United Irishman 1848-1848 
  • Waterford Chronicle 1827-1875 
  • Waterford News 1848-1869 
  • Weekly Gazette, Incumbered Estates Record & National Advertiser (Dublin, Ireland) 1854-1855

The collection will be further expanded to a total of five million free-to-view pages in the Archive over five years.

In the meantime you can view a list of the titles added last year here, and a list of today's additions here.

To mark the continued growth of the free collection, a 20% discount is also being offered on subscriptions to the BNA's full, pay-to-view collection, which now includes more than 56.5million pages of historical newspapers from Britain and its former colonies and the island of Ireland. Click the image above to find out more.


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 2 September 2022

25% savings on annual subscriptions to RootsIreland.ie

RootsIreland.ie is offering a 25% discount on annual subscriptions to its database of 23million+ multi-denominational church records, civil records, census substitutes, headstones and much more.

The site is an essential source for Irish genealogists, particularly for its church records collection which is more extensive than any other website provides.

The discount will expire at 11:59pm (Dublin time) on Saturday 17 September. Click the image to find out more.


Three-week summary of new & updated genealogy US collections

Below is a summary of US family history collections released or updated by the major genealogy databases in the last three weeks or so. (Previous summary list published 15 August, 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 or 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, and/or the revised total. I rarely include updates of fewer than 1,000 records.


NEW COLLECTIONS


Ancestry

MyHeritage

UPDATED COLLECTIONS


AmericanAncestors

Ancestry

FamilySearch

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.