This Christmas and New Year, I shall be on extended festive manoeuvers, so unless something really major occurs in the world of Irish genealogy, you won't be hearing from me until the second week of January 2024.
In the meantime, I hope all Irish Genealogy News readers enjoy a happy and safe Christmas holiday, get to spend time with family and/or ancestors, and ring in the New Year with vigour and aplomb.
See you next year!
Regular readers of Irish Genealogy News will remember this October's now-you-see-it-now-you-don't upload of more than 700,000 records relating to burials at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin.
For those who may have missed the story, here's the essence: a contributor to FindAGrave uploaded some 700,000 burial records to the free database. The source of the records was not, to my knowledge, made public. The Dublin Cemeteries Trust, who manage Glasnevin Cemetery and its pay-to-view database of records, demanded the contributor remove his uploads. This was promptly done. (See IGN blogposts here and here.)
Since then, the contributer known only as '!woowoo' has uploaded two new record collections to FindAGrave, adding 150,000 burial records. They are for burials at Shanganagh Cemetery (16,700 records) and Deansgrange Cemetery (134,250 records), both in south County Dublin.
These two record sets are already available, free of charge, via the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council website. Since there is no income loss involved, I think we can safely assume there will be no issue with their upload to FindAGrave, where they will reach a larger audience and benefit more researchers.
With thanks and a bow to reader KB
The BritishNewspaperArchive, the online database created in February 2014 in a partnership between the British Library and FindMyPast, is ending the year with more than 73 million pages of newsprint available to search and read.
Of these, fewer than one million (876,278 pages, to be precise) were published on the island of Ireland.
With 19 'new' titles added over the course of this year, there are now 264 Irish titles in the collection – 192 published in what is now the Republic of Ireland, and 72 published in Northern Ireland.
The entire collection is shared with some FindMyPast subscription packages.
UPDATE: 20 December. Two Irish papers have been added to the BNA's list of free-to-view titles. They are the Dublin Hospital Gazette 1856-1862 and Freeman’s Journal 1820-1900. You need to register to view the free-to-view titles but you don't need a subscription.
The Irish Registry of Deeds Index Project has received what will probably be its last update of the year. It sees the main Index with 575,491 entries from just shy of 60,000 memorials of deeds, an increase of nearly 52 thousand and more than five thousand respectively over the course of the year.
As you can see from the counter image, right, both the townland index and the grantee databases have grown, too.
All the indexes are available to search free of charge. They are the work of volunteers – researchers, like you and me – who give up a bit of their time to help other Irish family historians.
The digitisation of the vast Registry of Deeds archive is still many years from becoming a reality. In the meantime, these volunteers are providing the only indexed access to the records. If you can help, please check out the Project's How-To Guide.
Maybe something to consider for a New Year's resolution?
Nick Reddan, the founder and manager of the Index Project, has chosen a lovely example for this month's highlighted memorial slot. It's dated 22 July 1776.
Another PRONI-sourced index has been uploaded to the Ancestry database. It has been given the name Ireland, Wills and Admons, 1515-1858 and, like the other record sets and indexes sourced from the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland this year, it is free to search.
Wills, letters of Administration Bonds and other probate related records can provide important genealogical data about your ancestors as well as clues as to their financial status. The records in this collection may include the following: name, will date, probate date, death date, court name and event type.
A couple of things to note: This is an index. Although it links to PRONI's online catalogue, there are no document images to view. Many of the records do not exist in their original state. The search result will provide a PRONI reference if the archive holds documentation relating to the entry but this is more likely to be a transcription than the original material, and you would need to visit PRONI's search room in Belfast to view it.
The Index has more than 87,000 entries and has island-wide interest. There are, for example, nearly 1,450 entries relating to County Cork, 175 for County Leitrim, and 1,520 for County Dublin, so don't overlook this collection just because it is curated in Northern Ireland.
You may find PRONI's article about pre-1858 probate records helpful, too.
This week has also seen an update to Ancestry's UK and Ireland, Newspapers.com™ Marriage Index, 1800s-current collection.
Having added more than 183,500 entries this month, this index holds just under 9million names from marriage announcements that were published in the UK and Ireland or mention some connection with the UK or Ireland, especially places of birth of the bride and groom. Details provided by the index search results are sometimes generous but you'd need a subscription to Newspapers.com to view the full announcement or report of the event.
The source publications for Ireland are in Belfast and Dublin only.
Unfortunately for Irish genealogists, the number of entries in the index that relate to Ireland is small, possibly fewer than 19,000. Nonetheless, worth checking, even if deciphering the computer-generated spellings can be tiresome.
Below is an overview of newly-released and updated genealogy collections for England, Scotland and Wales from the major family history database providers. (For previous list, see 4 December blogpost.)
My regular summary of releases and updates relating to British collections is designed to help researchers 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 parentheses in the New Collections section are the numbers of records (or images, if browse-only) in the new record set.
Unless otherwise stated, the figures in parentheses 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 so the figure is the new total. 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.
The National Library of Scotland has been busy over the last few weeks adding more material to its online collection of maps covering the island of Ireland. Dating from 1859 to 1942, one bundle of 1,400-odd additions comes from the one-inch-to-the-mile scale and include towns and villages and land-use. By comparing map editions, you can readily see changes over time.
A second bundle dates from 1962–1971 and covers Northern Ireland.
Here's a bit more detail of the additions:
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Engraved topographic maps - 1859–1917: Ordnance Survey's one-inch-to-the-mile engraved maps of Ireland total 1,069 sheets. These were the earliest maps at this scale covering all of Ireland, laid out in 204 sheets from north to south. For most areas, there were three main editions, as well as different styles of maps, sometimes showing relief with contours, or with hachures. The multiple editions of the series are particularly useful in providing an overview of significant landscape changes relating to villages and towns, the development of roads and railways, and changing patterns of woods and estate parkland.
Administrative maps - 1898–1902: A set of administrative maps at one-inch-to-the-mile scale, covering all of Ireland. These show the boundaries of Urban Districts, Rural Districts, County Boroughs, and County Boundaries, as defined by the Local Government (Ireland) Act of 1898. This upload covers 202 sheets.
Coloured topographic military maps - 1940–1942: From the War Office, this military map series was rapidly compiled during the Second World War from the latest available Ordnance Survey one-inch and half-inch to the mile mapping. It provides a useful overview of the landscape, with some sheets revised to show the latest road information, whilst others carry an overprint showing bogs, and relief in layer-colours.
Northern Ireland Grid Series, 1962–1972: Mapped at 1:10,560 / 1:10,000, the Grid Series is the largest topographic mapping covering all areas in Northern Ireland from the 1960s to the present day. These 285 sheets provide a clear, detailed view of the landscape, including roads, buildings, fields, administrative boundaries, water features and vegetation.
View these maps on the Library's interactive map of Ireland,
RootsIreland.ie has added some more County Tipperary records to its database.
These latest uploads are 1,539 baptism and 362 marriage transcriptions spanning 1852–1900 from the Roman Catholic parish of Clerihan, which is located to the north of Clonmel and is in the Diocese of Cashel and Emly.
Those dating to 1881/82 are linked to the National Library of Ireland's online parish register images.
For an up to date list of sources for South Tipperary and to search these records, click the logo, above, and login or subscribe as required.
TipperaryStudies.ie, the local history department of Tipperary Libraries, has added two new collections to its free digital archive.
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| Colorised photo of the Clonlea National Schools, Co Waterford. From the Cash Postcards Collection. Click for larger image. |
The first is the John James Quinn (1873-1944) Collection. It contains photographs, postcards and personal letters created and collected by Irish photographer John James Quinn of Ballypatrick, Clonmel and consists of 421 items dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The material has been digitised and made available online through the generosity of Quinn’s granddaughter, Carol Hennessy.
John James Quinn was an avid photographer who documented his life in both Ireland and abroad through images. Between 1906-1914, he worked in Derby, England and Ipswich, Australia, photographing local people and places. The collection includes images from his voyages along with scenes of daily life in rural Ballypatrick, Ireland where Quinn farmed after returning to Ireland sometime before 1920.
The second batch of material is the Cash Postcards Collection, created by Cash Printers of Carrick on Suir. It's a small collection of just 35 postcards featuring buildings, places and people from South Tipperary, Waterford and Kilkenny from around the turn of the 20th century. A handful are colorised but the majority are in black and white.
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| Click image for free pdf download link from MilitaryArchives.ie |
In addition to making its 15th release from the Military Service Pensions Collection (MSPC) a couple of weeks ago (see blogpost), the Military Archives has launched another milestone publication through which we can hear the voices of those who lived through the nation's struggle for independence.
A Very Hard Struggle - Lives in the Military Service Pensions Collection comes with a Foreward by Tánaiste and Minister for Defence, Micheál Martin, TD, an excellent must-read Introduction by Anne Dolan, and a series of essays (see below) that examine the social, economic and political issues of this bleak period and how individuals and families responded to the trauma and difficulties they faced.
The book's editors are Anne Dolan, Associate Professor in Modern Irish History and a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin, and Catriona Crowe, historian and former Head of Special Projects at the National Archives of Ireland.
These are the titles of the 17 essays:
Topics covered in this volume include: the theme of light in early Irish texts; festive feasting and fighting in the Middle Ages; the Kilmore carols of County Wexford; the history of Irish Christmas food through the centuries; crimes of Christmas past; Christmas on the Blasket Islands; the claim that 'Santa's Grave' is in County Kilkenny; why Irish missionaries in Zimbabwe regularly missed out on their Christmas dinner; the origins and early life of the Late Late Toy Show; the Wren Boys; 'Women's Christmas'; Irish links to popular Christmas carols; and the curious custom of reciting 4,000 Hail Marys in the lead up to the big day.
Edited by Professor Salvador Ryan, and following the success of his three-volume series on Birth, Marriage and Death and the Irish (2016-2021), this anthology will prove a fascinating read for all who are interested in the social, cultural, and religious history of Ireland.
The launch will be hosted by Tipperary Studies at The Source Library in Thurles, County Tipperary, on Thursday 12 December from 7pm. Copies of the 388-page paperback will be available to purchase on the night, but if you can't attend, you can purchase online via Wordwell (the publisher), Barnes and Noble, O'Mahony's, or visit other good bookstores.
Today's FindMyPast Friday announcement brings news that its Irish Roman Catholic parish marriages collection, which remains free to access, has been improved.
A precise description of the improvement process has not been provided by FindMyPast. Instead, the company says that transcripts have been improved and some names previously not transcribed have now been included, which should mean there are now more individuals available to search.
It says significant improvements have been made to 19,000 records in the collection.
You'll find a list of RC parishes covered by this collection here. It includes the maximum time-span of records for each parish and there may be gaps within them.
FindMyPast also has indexes to both the NLI-sourced baptisms and burials. Whether these will be subjected to similar quality control efforts in the future, I don't know.
A free online interactive map of Cork City was launched today. The Digital Atlas of Cork/Corcaigh invites visitors to discover the city of Cork in a new way by exploring early maps of different dates and detailed historical information for 6,245 sites dating from AD623 to 1900. It includes descriptions of more than 800 streets, including their names in Irish and English, as well as historical varients.
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| Screengrab from the Digital Atlas of Cork/Corcaigh. Click image to learn more. |
Additional map layers will be released over the coming months, providing access for the first time to digitised town plans by the Ordnance Survey (1842) and Valuation Office (1852–64).
The digital atlas is based on research carried out for Irish Historic Towns Atlas, no. 31, Cork/Corcaigh by H.B. Clarke and Máire Nà Laoi, which will be published in print by the Royal Irish Academy in May 2024.
The Irish Historic Towns Atlas (IHTA) was established in 1981. The aim of the programme is to record the topographical development of a selection of Irish towns both large and small.
Each town is published separately as a fascicle or folder and includes a series of maps complemented by a detailed text section. The IHTA is part of a wider European scheme, with towns atlases containing broadly similar information available for a number of countries, allowing Irish towns to be studied in their European context.
See the Lord Mayor of Cork's brief video introduction to the publication below.
Please see below the new and updated records and photos donated and uploaded to Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives during November.
If you have any records or headstone photographs to contribute to this growing free database, check out the website at www.igp-web.com/IGPArchives/.
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| Entrance to St Mary's Graveyard, Ballyneale, Co. Tipperary Photo courtesy Joanne Jacobsen Davin and IGPArchives. |
CAVAN Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Loch Gowna R.C. Cemetery Pt 1, Loch Gowna
Our Lady of Lourdes, Ballyconnell - Additional
DONEGAL Genealogy Archives - Church Records
St Johnston Presbyterian Marriages - 1845-1921
KILKENNY Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Christus Rex Cemetery, Mooncoin Part 2
TIPPERARY Genealogy Archives - Headstones
St Mary R.C. Graveyard, Ballyneale Part 1
St John the Baptist, Powerstown (Partial)
TYRONE Genealogy Archives - Church Records
Clady Presbyterian Marriages 1845-1921
Donemana Presbyterian Marriages 1845-1921
WEXFORD Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Ishartmon Graveyard, near Butlerstown
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| Reading Room of the National Archives of Ireland Photo courtesy of NAI |
A quickie reminder that the National Archives of Ireland will be closed to researchers throughout this week. Normal opening hours will resume on Monday 11 December.
The closure is to facilitate the annual Media Preview, when the reading room is taken over by newspaper and press agency journalists exploring documents and other material from government departments that will be released to the public in the New Year.
Most of the material relates to the year 1993 and will be released to the public for consultation in the Reading Room on Tuesday 2 January 2024.
Below is an overview of newly-released and updated genealogy collections for England, Scotland and Wales from the major family history database providers. (For previous list, see 14 November blogpost.)
My regular summary of releases and updates relating to British collections is designed to help researchers 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 parentheses in the New Collections section are the numbers of records (or images, if browse-only) in the new record set.
Unless otherwise stated, the figures in parentheses 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 so the figure is the new total. 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.
The final 2023 edition of Irish Roots, Ireland's only independent genealogy magazine, has been published. As always it includes helpful guidance and tips on researching Irish family connections by both traditional means and dna testing, details of specialist archives and localised resources in the island of Ireland and beyond, articles focussing on historical events and times our ancestors may have lived through, news of recent record releases and genealogy society activities, as well as comment, observations, answers to research queries, and a whole lot more.
Here are some of this issue's main features:
Irish Roots is published quarterly and is available in digital format as single edition downloads or via one- or two-year subscriptions, and in printed format by annual subscription only. Click this edition's cover image above to find out more and get reading and learning more about Irish genealogy, history and heritage.
FindMyPast added three Church of Ireland record-sets to its database a few weeks ago. For some reason, I missed them at the time. Apologies. Here are the details.
Each of the trio include transcriptions from the registers of six churches (see below), all in Dublin City, and were originally published by the Parish Register Society. They are:
Church of Ireland Baptisms, Dublin City. This record set consists of 23,914 images and transcriptions spanning 1619–1865. The entries provide the child's gender, the parents' names and the father's address.
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| Sample from a 1789-1790 marriage register |
Church of Ireland Marriages, Dublin City. Details from the 23,101 images and transcriptions within this collection include the names and occupations of both spouses, their marriage date, the groom's residence, and the parish in which they were married. They span 1619–1800.
Church of Ireland Burials, Dublin City These 44,175 images and transcriptions span 1618–1800. Because the CoI was responsible for all of the City's official graveyards at the time, these registers record those of all denominations who were buried in the city in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.
The records were transcribed from registers of the following churches:
While up to 80% of the city's residents would have been Church of Ireland in the late 17th century, by the 1760s that number had fallen to 40% following a huge influx of Catholics in search of work.
The Military Archives has today published its 15th release of records from the Military Service (1916-1923) Pensions Collection (MSPC). It is the second release this year (for details of the June release, see blogpost).
The 2,200 new files relate to claims lodged by 863 individuals/veterans or their dependents. They contain new information on the War of Independence and the Civil War and provide significant insights into post-conflict lives. They include:
This release brings the number of individuals included in the MSPC online database to 18,235.
Taking into account all the MSPC file series, about 121,900 files have now been catalogued and approximately 80,200 are now fully digitised.
You can download a pdf list of the individuals (involved in this 15th release) who lodged claims.
Highlights of this latest release can be found on the Military Archives blog here.
Historical documents from the Irish Distillers Archive are to be digitised and released with free access in the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI). This is the first such DRI partnership with an Irish commercial company.
Irish Distillers produces some of the world’s most well-known and successful Irish whiskeys. Its Archive is based in Midleton, County Cork, and is home to extensive records documenting the history and heritage of the company, including records dating back to the 18th century created by John Jameson & Son, John Power & Son and the Cork Distilleries Company before the companies merged to form Irish Distillers in 1966.
Preserved in the archive are items such as minute books documenting the workings of the historic distilleries and the companies that ran them, handwritten ledgers containing financial records, some dating from the late 1700s, as well as more modern commercial records, historic mashbills and labels from all over the world which show the global reach of Irish whiskey over 100 years ago.
Preserving these important records for the long-term will offer researchers and the public alike a unique insight into social and industrial heritage, food and drinks history, as well as design culture. I would expect that, as with the Guinness and Jameson archives (both of which have some of their archives available online), there will be a considerable amount of genealogical detail and stories to be discovered within the material.
Work has already begun on identifying suitable archives from the collection at Midleton. Once digitised, the selected materials will be uploaded to the Repository over the next 18 months.
Four Courts Press has published its 16th title in its popular Irish Revolution series. This time it is the turn of County Fermanagh, which in 1912 had an even population split between two hostile communities, making it one of the few counties in which a true political and later military contest between unionism and nationalism took place.
Written by Dr Daniel Purcell, thi 224-page illustrated paperback is the first in-depth examination of the Irish Revolution in Fermanagh and its political, economic and social context. It reveals how political tensions initially played out on the political trail and at local government level rather than in militant action. The initial radicalization of the Ulster unionist movement in the county and the response from nationalists are assessed, as are various legal and illegal electoral strategies deployed by both sides to secure local political dominance.
The First World War saw strong recruitment in Fermanagh as both communities, particularly unionists, answered the call of their political leaders to enlist. Although the county appeared calm and seemed to have been spared the violence witnessed in other counties after 1916, in reality tensions were running high as both communities strove to avoid direct provocation of the other.
The Government of Ireland Act (1920), which divided Ireland into two jurisdictions, placed Fermanagh in the new state of Northern Ireland and ushered in a more militant phase. In the aftermath of the establishment of the border, the key events of the revolutionary period in the county included the sack of Roslea, the IRA’s ‘invasion’ of Belleek and the formation of the Ulster Special Constabulary.
During 1920–3 unionists in Fermanagh vigorously defended what they held, while nationalists proved surprisingly willing to accept their situation in the misplaced hope that the Boundary Commission would resolve the border issue.
Title: Fermanagh – The Irish Revolution 1912-23
Catalogue Price: €24.95. Currently reduced to €22.45.
ISBN: 978-1-84682-977-2
Publication date: December 2023. 224pp; ills.
Here is the breakdown, with the years added for each parish:
| Parish | Baptisms | Marriages |
|---|---|---|
To access these records, click the Mallow Heritage Centre logo above and login or subscribe as required. Or view the full north-east Cork menu of records held on RootsIreland.
Mallow Heritage Centre holds the records for the Diocese of Cloyne. These include 46 of the 120 parishes in County Cork. Mallow Heritage Centre provides a genealogy Research Service as well as the online service.
As part of its centenary celebrations, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) is making a tour of libraries across Northern Ireland.
The idea is to display and discuss historical documents specific to the region at each stop and help locals delve into the history of their area, uncover details of their family tree, and answer questions about records held in PRONI's vast archive.
The first event took place yesterday at Derry Central Library and there was a wide range of material for visitors to explore. The documents included:
The second tour event will be on Thursday 14 December (10am–4pm) at Enniskillen Library, with further visits, including to Lurgan Library, planned for the New Year. Keep an eye on PRONI's website or check dates on LibrariesNI
The Dublin-based Irish Newspaper Archive has a whopping Black Friday discount on offer. All subscriptions, monthly and annual, Gold and Silver, they're all eligible for a 50% saving if you order before the expiry date: Monday 27 November.
Even Gift subscriptions attract the same level of discount. As well as making a great Christmas Gift for the researcher in your life, existing subscribers can also take advantage of this Gift Voucher arrangement; they can redeem their voucher code when their existing sub ends.
Just click the image right, decide whether you need a Silver or Gold membership, and then choose the period you want your membership to run. You don't need any discount codes.
IrishNewspaperArchive.com now hosts more than 12million pages from 252 Irish publications.
Newly added content includes the Connaught Journal 1793 - 1828; Celtic Times, 1887; Rights of the Irishmen, 1792; The Press 1797 - 1798; Sligo Weekender 2005 - 2008; Belfast Newsletter 2006; Andersonstown News, 1972 - 2000; Post, 1955 and 1958-1959; Evening Echo, 2001-2002; Evening Telegraph, 1916 - 1919; and digitisation work will be starting soon on the Irish News from 1891 to current.
The volunteer-led Irish Registry of Deeds Index has been updated. The main Index now stands at 571,225 entries from 58,984 memorials of deeds, while both the Townland and Grantee indexes have also seen worthwhile additions.
Nick Reddan, the founder and manager of the Project, has recently published a new page (here) showing the proportion of index entries with direct links by volume and cumulatively.
One-off donations of entries to the index are always welcome, but if you want to become a regular submitter, you'll be joining a really worthwhile project that is providing genealogical information that is unlikely to be released in a searchable manner any time soon. The Project is completely free to users.
Find out more at irishdeedsindex.net/.
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| Click image for download link of guide |
This much enhanced edition includes details of the many sources on textiles produced since then and includes archives from some 430 businesses working in the Linen, Cotton and Woollen industries in the North of Ireland.
It runs to 124 pages and is free to download.
The Guide's Introduction advises researchers to refer to the PRONI ecatalogue before using any of the records, as it will almost always provide a fuller description of the documents held by the Belfast-based repository. It also gives sub-numbers for ordering particular items from large collections.
Below is an overview of newly-released and updated genealogy collections for England, Scotland and Wales from the major family history database providers. (For previous list, see 24 October blogpost.)
My regular summary of releases and updates relating to British collections is designed to help researchers 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 parentheses in the New Collections section are the numbers of records (or images, if browse-only) in the new record set.
Unless otherwise stated, the figures in parentheses 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 so the figure is the new total. 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.
Carrick Times and East Antrim Times Nearly 4,500 pages of news dating from 1987 to 1999 are now available to search for this new title.
The Ulster Star. Published in Lisburn, this weekly title reported local news from the town (now a city), which lies on the River Lagan. Some 95,000 pages dating from 1957-1987 and 1989-1999 can now be searched.
As well as the new titles, the database has been updated with additional years of coverage for six more titles, all covering Northern Ireland: The Larne Times (1985–1999, with gaps); Lurgan Mail (1988, 1990–1991); Mid-Ulster Mail (1991–1993, 1995 and 1999); Derry Journal (1975–1977, 1989); Portadown News (1956–1982); and The Belfast Newsletter (1991, 1993–1994).
The BritishNewspaperArchives database is available via its dedicated site (use link above) and is also shared with Pro, Premium and Ultimate subscribers to FindMyPast.
Marking Remembrance weekend, FindMyPast is opening up its databases to free access. *The only exclusions are the 1921 Census of England & Wales and the Tree Search collections; only subscribers will be able to access these.
The free access is now live and will run until 10am GMT on Monday 13 November. Researchers will be able to explore the military and war-time experiences of their ancestors, as well as records about their peace time lives, through a wide range of record collections including census, birth, marriage and death, migration, church, school and occupational records.
FindMyPast's Newspaper Collection, with its nearly 72million pages of digitised newsprint sourced from the British Library, is included in this free access period.
You'll need to register with FindMyPast to gain free access. It's a quick and easy process, and no financial details are required.
Select from the flags below for the most appropriate FindMyPast 'territory' for your research:
 | FindMyPast Ireland |  | FindMyPast USA/Canada |
 | FindMyPast UK |  | FindMyPast Australia/NZ |
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.
The state-managed IrishGenealogy.ie, which provides free online access to civil registration records and some church register collections, has a technical problem which is currently preventing entry into its databases. The Captcha – a real pain in the proverbial at the best of times – appears to have got itself stuck.
Reaching the appropriate techies is not an easy task because they do their work incognito: no contact links, emails or phone numbers are provided to allow malfunctions to be reported, and even when a contact is made with a real live individual, frequent staff changes means that individual may not be in-situ next time a problem arises.
All very frustrating, especially for professional genealogists who depend on round-the-clock access to these essential databases.
Anyway, I have attempted to reach the right officials and will update this blogpost if I hear anything or when the site is up and running again.
UPDATE, 10 November 2023. The following notice has been published on the site's home page:
UPDATE, 13 November 2023. Access has been restored. The Captcha has changed its appearance, but at least it's working.
Below you'll find a summary of the files and photos added to Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives last month. As usual, they have all been donated by researchers with the intention and hope that they'll help other family historians. If you have or can gather any suitable material to share, please see the IGP submission forms.
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| Headstone to Mary Dunlea and family at Holy Rosary RC cemetery in Midleton, County Cork. Photo reproduced courtesy of the photographer, Angela Gallagher, and IGPArchives. Click for larger view of image. |
CAVAN Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Our Lady of Lourdes RC, Ballyconnell (additional).
Holy Family, Pt 1, Loch Gowna
CORK Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Holy Rosary RC, Midleton, Pt 16. Completed.
DONEGAL Genealogy Archives - Church Records
Donaghmore COI Marriages - 1845-1921
KILDARE Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Confey, Sections Y-Z & Angels Plots
KILKENNY Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Christus Rex Cemetery, Mooncoin, Pt 1
LEITRIM, DONEGAL, SLIGO Church Records
Rossinver (Kinlough) CoI Marriages 1845-1921
LONGFORD Genealogy Archives - Headstones
St. Mary RC graveyard, Carra
TYRONE Genealogy Archives - Church Records
1st Donaghedy Presbyterian Marriages 1845-1921.
2nd Donaghedy (Sandville) Presb. Marriages 1845-1921
It being Halloween in a few days, MyHeritage is offering free access to all its death, burial, cemetery and obituary collections.
That's a total of more than 881 million records across 370 collections.
Should keep you quiet while the mayhem and spookiness plays out! The free access will continue into Wednesday 1 November. I don't know the precise time.
Click the image for the free access page.