Sunday, 30 April 2023

FindMyPast's partnership with Living DNA comes to an end

FindMyPast has announced that its partnership with Living DNA, the UK-based provider of consumer dna test kits has come to an end. As of Friday, 28 April, researchers will no longer be able to purchase DNA kits via FindMyPast.

The arrangement with Living DNA began in July 2018 (see blogpost), but never seemed to really warm up or be strongly promoted. I would expect most family historians have either forgotten or have always been unaware that the partnership ever existed, so this announcement is unlikely to cause many ripples in the highly competitive consumer dna kits market.

Announcing the news, FindMyPast stated: "We are still committed to delivering the best possible experience for our members, and our core focuses will continue – enhancing our record collections and developing our product."


Friday, 28 April 2023

New/updated English, Scottish & Welsh records: 2-week summary

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, 11 April.)

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

BritishNewspaperArchives and FindMyPast
  • New titles in main collection ($£€)

FindMyPast

ScottishIndexes

UPDATED COLLECTIONS


Ancestry

DeceasedOnline

FindMyPast

ScottishIndexes
  • Prison records (104,369 records added from prisons in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Paisley, Dundee, Ayr and Fort William)

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, 25 April 2023

RCB Library announces new opening and access arrangements

The Dublin-based RCB Library, home to the Church of Ireland's archive, has announced changes to its opening hours and access arrangements.

The Library is open from 10am to 4:15pm from Tuesday to Thursday, with the Library closing for lunch from 12:45pm to 1:30pm. Members may visit during the open hours, to read, browse, borrow and return print items, the Library will be closed to non-Members on Mondays and Fridays.

Additionally, unscheduled visits by researchers will no longer be facilitated. Researchers wishing to view archives and manuscripts must book in advance of their visit. 

The new online booking system, which will release slots for any given month on the last Friday of the previous month, can be booked here.

Click the image to see full details.


RootsIreland adds Church of Ireland baptisms for Mayo parish

RootsIreland, the online database managed by the Irish Family History Foundation and its network of genealogy centres across the island, has uploaded a small but long-awaited package of baptismal register transcriptions for the Church of Ireland parish of Aglish.

They date from 1840 to 1922 and total 380 precious records. They join the parish's marriage records from 1845 to 1918.

The County Mayo database on RootsIreland holds records gathered and transcribed by two Genealogy Centres: The North Mayo Heritage Centre and the South Mayo Family Research Centre.

They are located at Crossmolina and Ballinrobe respectively and cover the county either side of a line that extends from Newport to Kilovee.

Together they have a huge 1.5million records available to search, covering collections of Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland, Presbyterian and Methodist church records, census substitutes, civil registrations of births, marriages and deaths, and more than 115,000 gravestone inscriptions. To view the up-to-date list of sources for county Mayo, click the logo above, or login/subscribe at RootsIreland.ie.

Monday, 24 April 2023

Irish genealogy, history and heritage events, 24 April to 7 May

Until 24 July: Ulster-Scots and the Declaration of Independence, an in-person exhibition, launched on 21 April and hosted by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. Free. All welcome. No need to book. Visit during PRONI's normal opening hours.

Monday 24 April: The Business of Death, with Natalie Greenwood and Claire Cock Starkey. An online event hosted by Grave Matters featuring three speakers on topics related to death. 6pm. Free. All welcome. Details.

Tuesday 25 April: The Genealogy of Rathlin Island, Ballycastle and the Glens, a hybrid event with Dr Nic Wright. Hosted by North of Ireland Family History Society, Causeway C&G Branch. Venue: Sandel Centre, Knocklynn Rd, Coleraine, NI. 8pm. For online access, email branch secretary at causeway @ nifhs.org for zoom link. Details.

Tuesday 25 April: Connecting cartography: 'The Looney Map' of Tipperary, with Dr Catherine Porter. An in-person event hosted by Tipperary County Council Library Service. Venue: Tipperary Studies, Gallery, The Source Library, Thurles. Admission free. For details, Tel (052) 6166123 or email studies @ tipperarycoco.ie.

Tuesday 25 April: WikiTree, a hybrid event with Anne Johnston. Hosted by the North of Ireland Family History Society, Belfast Branch. In-person venue to be confirmed. 7:30pm. For online link, email Belfast @ nifhs.org. Free. All welcome.

Tuesday 25 April: 'The government wants a terrible lot of light': Clearing the 'slums' in 1930s Kilrush, an in-person presentation by Peter Connell. Host: Kilrush and District Historical Society. Venue: Teach Ceoil, Kilrush, Co Clare. 8pm. Free to members / €5 for non-members, payable on the night only.

Wednesday 26 April: The Powers of Co. Waterford, with Julian Walton FIGRS. An in-person event hosted by the Barony of Gaultier Historical Society. 8pm. Venue: The Gaultier Room, Woodlands Hotel, Dunmore Road, Waterford. All welcome.

Thursday 27 April: Emigration to Australia & New Zealand, with Mike McKeag. A hybrid event hosted by the North of Ireland Family History Society, Ballymena Branch. In-person venue: Michelin Arts Workshop, Braid Arts Centre, 1-29 Bridge Street, Ballymena. 7:15pm. For zoom link, email Ballymena @ nifhs.org. All welcome. Free.

Saturday 29 April: National Library of Ireland's Reading Rooms and Readers Ticket Office open to in-person visitors from 9:30 to 1pm. Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

Monday 1 May: May Day Bank holiday across the island. All libraries and archives, businesses and educational institutions closed.

Wednesday 3 May: The ‘arms dump’ that ended the Civil War in May 1923, with Dr Mary Muldowney. An in-person event hosted by Dublin City Libraries at Dublin Central Library, Ilac Centre, Henry Street, Dublin 1. 1pm. Free. All welcome but booking is required by T 01-2228300 or E centrallibrary@dublincity.ie.

Wednesday 3 May: Great Famine Voices Roadshow, with Caroilin Callery, an in-person lecture hosted by the National Famine Museum, Strokestown Park, Co Roscommon at the London Irish Centre, 50-52 Camden Square, London NW1 9XB, UK. Free. 7pm (doors 6:30pm) Free. Need to book/reserve your seat.

Thursday 4 May: History of the Abbey Theatre, with Mairead Delaney. An in-person event hosted by Mount Merrion Historical Society. Venue: Fitzwilliam Rooms, The Community Centre, North Avenue, Mount Merrion, Dublin. 8pm. Admission: Members Free / Non-Members €4 / Students €2.

Friday 5 May: Tips for Breaking through Brickwalls, an online class with Martin McDowell. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society. 7pm. All welcome. £10. Need to book.

Saturday 6 May: Stories beyond the stones – Commonwealth War Graves Commission Graves in County Cork, with Fiona Forde. An in-person event hosted by Cork Public Museum, Fitzgerald Park, Mardyke, Cork. Part of the museum's 2023 lecture series. Starts at 1pm. Free but need to book by email (museum @ corkcity.ie) or phone 021-4270679).


Friday, 21 April 2023

FindMyPast adds 132,000 records to two of its Irish collections

FindMyPast has updated two of its collections with a total of 132,920 records. Exactly how and where these additional records have been discovered is not explained in today's FindMyPast Friday blogpost, so I'm at a loss as to where they have come from. Redigitisation? Extra pages from the indexed sources being located? I don't know, but the second option is hardly likely since the source documents were published in 1890.

The collections are already widely available online; in the absence of any explanation as to what might set the FindMyPast versions apart, I'll just leave it here.

They are as follows:

Ireland, Diocese Of Dublin Marriage Licences, 1638-1858 (98,470 records added)

Ireland, Diocese Of Dublin Wills and Grants, 1270-1858 (34,450 records added)


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, 18 April 2023

Dublin City Libraries adds free access to INA's Radical Newspaper Collection

Dublin City Libraries has added the Radical Newspaper Archive (RNA) to its free e-resources at all branches. This means that library readers now have access to 115+ radical and political newspapers, journals, pamphlets and bulletins, in addition to the main Irish Newspaper Archive database, which holds publications dating from the 1700s to the present.

Like the main database, the RNA collection is fully searchable.

The same development took place in all Kildare Libraries back in 2019. As far as I'm aware these are the only two public library services offering both the main database and the Radical collection. (A number of 'research libraries', most of them educational institutions, offer both.)

If your local library doesn't offer the same, perhaps you should be having a chat with the local council about upgrading their offer....!)

Monday, 17 April 2023

RootsIreland adds more RC marriage records from County Kerry

RootsIreland.ie has added more than 3,300 Roman Catholic marriage records to its growing County Kerry database.

They include transcriptions of locally-held registers and link to the National Library of Ireland's images for pre-March 1881 records. After that date, the records are transcription-only.

They come from two parishes, as follows:

  • Annascaul marriages, 1809-1911 (960 records): A coastal parish on the Dingle peninsula, variant parish name Ballanvohir
  • Lixnaw marriages, 1810-1901 (2372 records): A north Kerry parish between towns of Listowel and Tralee.

Click logo to view listing of online sources.

Irish genealogy, history and heritage events, 17-30 April

Monday 17 April: Larne in the Northern Ireland Screen Archives, a hybrid event hosted by the North of Ireland Family History Society, Larne Branch. In-person venue: Larne Museum and Arts Centre, 2 Victoria Road, Larne, Co Antrim. To attend, either in-person or online, contact Larne@nifhs.org. Free. Starts 7:15pm. Details.

Monday 17 April: Rough Justice - Crime and Punishment in 1800s Dublin, an in-person event with James Scannell. Hosted by Ballyfermot Library, Ballyfermot Road, Dublin 10. 6:30pm. Free. Book to attend.

Monday 17 April: Spiritual Wounds: Was there a silence about the Irish Civl War, with Dr Siobhra Aiken. A hybrid event hosted by Offaly Historical and Archaeological Society. In person: Big Screen show at Offaly History Centre, Bury Quay, Tullamore. 8pm. Also on zoom. Non-members welcome; email info @ offalyhistory.com for zoom access code. Cost: €2 members / €5 non-members.

Tuesday 18 April: The Role of the Land Agent in C19th Ulster, with Anne Casement. An in-person event hosted by NIFHS, Lisburn Branch. Bridge Community Centre, Railway St, Lisburn BT28 1XP. 7:30pm. Free. All welcome.

Tuesday 18 April: Rough Justice - Crime and Punishment in 1800s Dublin, an in-person event witgh James Scannell. Hosted by Dublin City Libraries. Venue: Drumcondra Library, Millmount Avenue, Dublin 9. 6:30pm. Free. Book here.

Wednesday 19 April: Kilkenny Tweed/Kilkenny Lace; Textiles in the 16th century, with Siobhan Corrigan. An in-person lecture hosted by Kilkenny Archaeological Society at Rothe House, Parliament St, Kilkenny. Fee: KAS Members €8 / Non-members €10. Details.

Wednesday 19 April: One Dublin, Multiple Crimes, with Myles Dungan exploring the early history of forensic science. An in-person event hosted by Tallaght Library County Library, Tallaght, Dublin,. 7pm. Free. All welcome. Book here. Fully booked.

Thursday 20 April: Getting Started Workshop: Using Online Resources, an online workshop hosted by PRONI. 12:30pm to 1:30pm. Free. All welcome. Need to register.

Saturday 22 April: Slaughter on the Somme – Britain's bloddy battle of 1916, with Gerry White. An in-person event hosted by Cork Public Museum, Fitzgerald Park, Mardyke, Cork. Part of the museum's 2023 lecture series. Starts at 1pm. Free but need to book by email (museum @ corkcity.ie) or phone 021-4270679.

Saturday 22 April: West Cork Railways – birth, beauty and betrayal, with Chris Larkin. An in-person talk hosted by Cork City Libraries. Venue: Glanmire Library, Hazelwood Shopping Centre, Glanmire, Co. Cork. 2:30pm to 3:30pm. Booking essential; call library on 021 492 9795.

Saturday 22 April: Drogheda Remembers the Irish Civil War 1922-23, an in-person conference hosted by Drogheda Civic Trust. The conference commemorates the Civil War and its impact on Drogheda. Speakers: Lt-Colonel Stephen Mac Eoin, Liz Gillis and Sean Collins MA. Venue: St. Peter's Church, Peter Street, Drogheda, Co Louth. 10am to 1pm. Need to book but tickets are free. Details.

Sunday 23 April: Mill Road Manors, a walking tour with Dr Paul O'Brien exploring the history of the houses and the merchants who built them. Free. Meet up in front of Scoil Íde, Corbally Road, Limerick City at 2pm. All welcome.

Monday 24 April: The Business of Death, with Natalie Greenwood and Claire Cock Starkey. An online event hosted by Grave Matters featuring three speakers on topics related to death. 6pm. Free. Details.

Monday 24 April: 1923 - The End of the Civil War, a centenary lecture with Dr Mel Farell. Host and venue: Carlow College, St Patricks, College Street, Carlow Town. 1:45pm to 2:45pm. Free. Booking required.

Tuesday 25 April: The Genealogy of Rathlin Island, Ballycastle and the Glens, a hybrid event with Dr Nic Wright. Hosted by North of Ireland Family History Society, Causeway C&G Branch. Venue: Sandel Centre, Knocklynn Road, Coleraine, Northern Ireland. 8pm–10pm. For online access, email the branch secretary at causeway @ nifhs.org for zoom link. Details.

Tuesday 25 April: Rough Justice - Crime and Punishment in 1800s Dublin, an in-person event witgh James Scannell. Hosted by Dublin City Libraries. Venue: Kevin Street Library, 18 Lower Kevin Street, Dublin 8. 6:30pm. Free. Book here to attend.

Tuesday 25 April: Connecting cartography: 'The Looney Map' of Tipperary, with Dr Catherine Porter. An in-person event hosted by Tipperary County Council Library Service. Venue: Tipperary Studies, the Gallery, The Source Library, Thurles. Part of the People and Places Lecture Series. Admission is free. Tea and coffee served. For details, Tel (052) 6166123 or email studies @ tipperarycoco.ie.

Tuesday 25 April: WikiTree, a hybrid event with Anne Johnston. Hosted by the North of Ireland Family History Society, Belfast Branch. In-person venue to be confirmed. 7:30pm. For online link, email Belfast @ nifhs.org. Free. All welcome.

Wednesday 26 April: The Powers of Co. Waterford, with Julian Walton FIGRS. An in-person event hosted by the Barony of Gaultier Historical Society. 8pm. Venue: The Gaultier Room, Woodlands Hotel, Dunmore Road, Waterford. All welcome.

Thursday 27 April: Emigration to Australia & New Zealand, with Mike McKeag. A hybrid event hosted by the North of Ireland Family History Society, Ballymena Branch. In-person venue: Michelin Arts Workshop, Braid Arts Centre, 1-29 Bridge Street, Ballymena. 7:15pm. For zoom link, email Ballymena @ nifhs.org. All welcome. Free.

Saturday 29 April: National Library of Ireland's Reading Rooms and Readers Ticket Office open to in-person visitors from 9:30 to 1pm. Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

Friday, 14 April 2023

Irish Registry of Deeds Index Project - April update

The Irish Registry of Deeds Index Project has been updated with some 2,000 entries added over the last two weeks.

The total number of entries in the main database is now 547,649, all transcribed from 56,465 memorials of deeds. They are free to search, just click the image, right.

Index founder and manager Nick Reddan FIGRS has highlighted one of the memorials, no. 178046, a marriage settlement dated 9 October 1769. See the abstract here and an image of the memorial here, image no. 5.

More volunteer indexers are needed. If you can spare a little time, please see the how-to guides and videos on the site at https://irishdeedsindex.net/how_to/index.php.

Thursday, 13 April 2023

Stories from Census 1911: Wealth and poverty across the island

The Central Statistics Office (CS0) has been digging deeper into the 1911 Census of Ireland to find stories that tell us more about how our ancestors lived at that time.

CSO's Census 1911 Valuation per person (VPP) visual.
Click for enlarged image and to view
Table 2.1's VPP by county.

In the first release from the new project, and working with their colleagues in NISRA (the CSO's counterpart in Northern Ireland), statisticians were looking to gain insights into wealth and poverty across the island.

To do this, they have used valuation (land and buildings) reports, which were not collected on the Census forms but were maintained by the Valuation Office for tax purposes, and have divided the valuation for the area by the population in the area.

The release strives to remain true to the original publication in as far as possible. For example, place names and monetary denominations from the original publication were retained, with occasional decimalisation of pounds, shillings, and pennies for ease of reading.

Internal inconsistencies in the original data tables are also retained rather than corrected.

When looking at wealth and poverty in Ireland in 1911 it was found that nine of the top ten wealthiest counties in 1911 were in Leinster and seven of the ten poorest counties were towards the West of the country. 

Eight of the top twenty wealthiest District Electoral Divisions (DEDs) were in Meath alone, while eight of the twenty poorest DEDs were in Donegal.

Some specifics:

  • Meath was the wealthiest county at that time with a valuation per person of £8 10s 2d (£8.51) (See Table 2.1). Culmullin in Dunshaughlin was the DED with the highest valuation per person of £20 19s 5d (£20.97) (See Table 2.2). 
  • The poorest county was Mayo with a valuation per person of £1 13s 7d (£1.68) (See Table 2.1). 
  • Annagary in Glenties, Donegal was the DED with the lowest valuation per person of 4s 7d (£0.23) (See Table 2.3). 
  • My paternal grandfather's cottage near Clonakilty was one of only 123 houses housing a total population of 584 people in Coolcraheen DED. The valuation per person came in at £2.06.
  • My maternal grandmother, just two years old in 1911, was born in a house on High Street Bagenalstown in County Carlow, where the valuation per person was a few3 pennies less at £2.03.

To explore the new data or to calculate the valuation for where your ancestors lived, see the full press release from the CSO. Alternatively, click the map and show Table 2.1, which provides a county by county breakdown of valuations.

Wednesday, 12 April 2023

National Library of Ireland: access issues on Thursday 13 April

If you were planning a trip to the National Library of Ireland (NLI) on Thursday 13 April, be aware that you may experience traffic and access disruption thanks to the US President's visit to Government Buildings.

Security procedures and concerns have already closed the National Museum of Ireland (NMI) – Natural History in Merrion Street and the NMI – Archaeology in Kildare Street (both will reopen as normal at 10am on Friday 14 April), and there will be no public access to the National Library's exhibition Yeats: The Life and Works of William Butler Yeats, also in Kildare Street.

However, registered readers with a current valid Readers Ticket will be permitted access to the Library through the security. So don't forget to bring your valid Reader's Ticket!

NLI exhibitions Seamus Heaney: Listen Now Again on Westmoreland Street, and People and Places at the National Photographic Archive in Temple Bar, will be open as normal.

Ancestry adds fourth Irish medical collection from RCPI

Irish family historians with medical ancestors must be thinking Christmas lasts longer than it used to! After a debut collection – Royal College of Physicians of Ireland Registers, 1667-1920 – landed in the Ancestry database last October, a delivery in March brought Ireland, Apothecary Records, 1736-1920 and only last week another collection turned up: UK & Ireland, Medical Registers, 1859-1943.

And today, even more tinsel arrived in the shape of Ireland, Kirkpatrick Index of Physician Biographical Files, 1826-1952.

This latest collection provides information not only on Royal College of Physicians of Ireland members, but also on doctors across the island. It holds a total of 22,615 records relating to about 12,000 doctors and contains a mix of newspaper cuttings, manuscript notes and extracts from printed works relating to individual Irish medics.

The biograpical data it provides may include the following information: name, birth surname, alias, birthdate and place, marriage date and place, age at marriage, spouse's name, parents' names, place of residence, education year, death date and place and age.

An example from the Kirkpatrick Files is below. It relates to one William Tobin, who was born in 1847 and practised in Nova Scotia.


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, 11 April 2023

England, Scotland & Wales genealogy updates: 3-week summary

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, 24 March.)

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 and FindMyPast (66,621,840 pages)
  • New titles in main collection ($£€)

Lloyds Register

MyHeritage

UPDATED COLLECTIONS


Ancestry

FindMyPast

FreeBMD

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, 6 April 2023

New Irish Genealogy Resources 2011-2023 ebook published

The latest edition of my ebook, New Irish Genealogy Resources 2023, has been published. As in previous years, the ebook carries brief details of Irish genealogy collections released since 2011, the year digitisation of Ireland's family history records really started to boogie.

Each entry relates to a release or update that was reported here, on IrishGenealogyNews, over the last 12 years and three months; the last entrant to this year's editon was The Donegal Vindicator, which I posted as having joined the BritishNewpaperArchive on 23 March, just two weeks ago today.

The format hasn't changed from previous editions. The first third of the ebook is arranged thematically – Birth, Marriages and Death records; census and census substitutes; military records; occupational records and so on. The second half of the book sees a county-by-county breakdown of local and regional (and some national) collections.

The new edition has been fully updated, with all links checked. The only significant difference is that I've removed many (but not all) illustrations; with so many additional entries from the last two years, the pagination was growing too fast and might have resulted in the pdf being 'overweight' by gmail's and yahoo's standards

It's the information on the pages, not the pretty pictures, that make the ebook useful to researchers, so the pix had to go. Regardless, this year's edition runs to 150 pages, up 20 pages on the previous edition (2021).

What hasn't increased is the price. New Irish Genealogy Resources 2023 is now on sale, exclusively from my website, for €9.20 / US$9.99 / £8.90, payable via PayPal.

To find out more and to buy the ebook, click the front cover image.

 

Testimonials received in the last few days, since the 'pre-order' copies were issued:

'Congrats on such a lovely looking publication. It could have been very dry and boring but somehow you made "lists" look great!'   DS, Australia

'I perused this quickly and saw several possible new sources. Hopefully, I will get to the bottom of my brick wall.'  MM, USA

'This is going to keep me VERY busy for some time. I hope the kids don't want feeding.'  SJ, UK

Certificate in Irish Family History Foundation Course: starts soon

A ten-week online Irish Family History course, run by City Colleges and presented by members of Accredited Genealogists Ireland (AGI), starts on Thursday 27 April.

The Certificate in Family History Research Foundation Course is aimed at beginners and will provide a solid foundation in ancestral research for researchers looking to pursue genealogy as a hobby or even a career*.

Students are introduced to the building blocks of genealogy – civil, church and census records, and then guided through sources such as land surveys and historic newspapers. Each weekly 3-hour learning session (6:30pm to 9:30pm on Thursdays) has an emphasis on building practical skills and familiarity with relevant records and has time for discussion and questions.

Minor projects during the course will reinforce taught principles and in the final weeks each student has the opportunity to compile their own miniature genealogical report with the professional edge learned during the course.

For more information and for details of how to apply visit: www.citycolleges.ie, or phone: 00 353 1 4160034. Note: The Summer Term Course is a Foundation Course (City Colleges includes it within its 'Professional' brand).

*An Advanced course for those looking to take their research to the next level or considering setting up as a professional genealogist will be offered by City Colleges and Accredited Genealogists Ireland in the Autumn term.

Wednesday, 5 April 2023

Any shipowners, shipbuilders or master mariners in your tree?

Last week, Lloyd's Register Foundation's Heritage Centre released an enormous one million records online from the Ship Plans and Survey Reports collection. This is the first time this set has been online – it marks the start of a five-year digitisation programme – and allows researchers to seek out ancestors who were shipbuilders, shipowners and master mariners. You can look at diagrams and pictues of ships, too, if that's what rocks your boat. (Sorry.)

I've been lost in the collection for hours, and so will others with shipowners among their ancestors. This morning I found documents relating to ships owned by my 3 x great grandfather Edward Doolittle and his brothers John and Thomas. Edward was born in 1812 in Wicklow Town and seems to have been quite a character.

When he died in 1886, the locals named the street where he had lived 'Monkton Row'. Monkton was the name of his ship in which he traded across the Irish Sea to Milford Haven in Wales, to Liverpool in England and other small ports between. The family's other ships had pretty regular names such as Ellen and Bess, but I've long wondered where the 'Monkton' came from. None of my family research had yielded any clues.

The papers I found today for Edward's ship finally solved the mystery, and the Monkton doesn't have a genealogical connection; I can put that notion to bed. The documents were dated 14 April 1848 and showed the two-year-old 51-ton coaster schooner had been named after the place where it was built: Monkton near Pembroke in Wales. See image below.

Thanks to the Pembroke and Monkton Local History Society, I now also know that there used to be a small quay on the shallow Pembroke River at Monkton where the Hurlow family of merchants and shipbuilders were based. Indeed, they were also the builders of other schooners and brigs that the Doolittles captained, even if they didn't own them.

I've hardly got a blink of work done this morning, but I've thoroughly enjoyed myself. It's always great to welcome some fresh new records.


National Library of Ireland: Saturday openings, April to August 2023

The National Library of Ireland has announced the Saturdays when its Reading Rooms and (Readers') Ticket Office will be open over the spring and summer period. They are:

  • Saturday 15 April
  • Saturday 29 April
  • Saturday 13 May
  • Saturday 27 May
  • Saturday 10 June
  • Saturday 24 June
  • Saturday 8 July
  • Saturday 22 July
  • Saturday 12 August
  • Saturday 26 August

Opening hours on these Saturdays are 9:30am to 1pm for the Main, Microfilm and Manuscripts Reading Rooms and the Ticket Office in Kildare Street. The Family History Research Room is not open. The NLI Exhibition, currently YEATS: The Life & Works of William Butler Yeats, is open on All Saturdays as standard.

See the regular Monday to Friday hours for the NLI here.

Tuesday, 4 April 2023

RootsIreland adds more headstone inscriptions from East Galway

Click to view the full menu of genealogy collections

RootsIreland's East Galway database has seen the additions of 2,785 headstone records from the following graveyards:

  • Abbey: 1,078 records
  • Ballinafad: 406 records
  • Ballygar: 714 records
  • Boyounagh: 587 records

These records join an impressive existing collection of headstone inscriptions from more than 20 burial grounds, as well as Roman Catholic church records from 40 parishes, nearly all of which run to 1900+, Church of Ireland registers from 15 parishes (most running to c1900), civil BMDs, census records including the Woodford Census of 1889, and 24,000 census substitute records from lists, directories, the Galway Emigrant Index 1828-1866, and the Productive Loan Index.

See the full line-up of RootsIreland's online records for East Galway by clicking the local centre's logo above, or start searching here.

Monday, 3 April 2023

Ancestry adds two new record collections of Irish interest

Ancestry has uploaded two new record collections of interest to Irish family historians. They are:

UK and Ireland, Medical Registers, 1859-1943: This collection, sourced from the Royal College of Ireland in Dublin, contains published registers of medical doctors living in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The registers were published annually by the General Council of Medical Education and Registration of the United Kingdom and served as directories for the medical profession. The index offers information about 2,991,949 individuals, and links to images of the original registers.

UK, Criminal Records, 1780-1871: This record set of 454,826 entries, which includes a good number of Irish men and women, is comprised of a mix of material held by The National Archives in Kew. These include Registers of Criminal Petitions, Prison Registers, Criminal Entry Books and Judges Reports on criminals. The sentences meeted out included transportation, execution, and life imprisonment.

The following Ancestry collections have also been recently updated with new records:

UK and Ireland, Obituary Index, 2004-Current

UK and Ireland, Newspapers.com™ Marriage Index, 1800s-current

UK and Ireland FindAGrave Index


Sunday, 2 April 2023

Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives: March additions

Last month's package of goodies from the volunteers of Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives included headstone photos and inscriptions from four burial grounds in four counties across the island, and three bundles of transcribed registers from three parishes, one of which straddles the border between Fermanagh and Monaghan. Dig in.

This flamboyant and skilful lettercarving can be
seen on several headstones in the small restored
cemetery of Knockmant, Killucan.
Photo courtesy of IGP Archives and Joan Bailey.
Click for larger image.

CORK Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Holy Rosary Cemetery (R.C.), Midleton, Part 8

LondonDERRY Genealogy Archives - Headstones
St. Mary's Graveyard, Tamnaherin Part 1

DUBLIN Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Mount Jerome Cemetery, Part 283

FERMANAGH Genealogy Archives - Church Records
Mullaghdun CoI Marriages - 1845-1921
Roslea RC Baptisms/Births, 1862-1881*

MONAGHAN Genealogy Archives - Church Records
Sacred Heart Baptisms, Clones 1855-1880
Sacred Heart Marriages, Clones 1820-1881
Roslea RC Baptisms/Births, 1862-1881*

Westmeath Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Knockmant, Killucan (Restored Cemetery)

 

 * Diocese of Clogher