Tuesday 1 August 2023

Eight short and sweet items of Irish genealogy news

General Register Office of Ireland: The Research Room in Werburgh Street, Dublin will not be operating for the next five weeks. It will re-open on Tuesday 5 September. The email service for copies of bmd certificates will function as normal from its base in Roscommon. Details.

The Genealogist database has added a sizeable bundle of WW1 editions of The Jewish Chronicle and, from the years during the build up to WW2, The Jewish Echo. The latter was the only Jewish paper circulating in Ireland and Scotland during this period. Details.

General Register Office of England and Wales: A new service makes digital images of birth registrations (1837 to 100 years ago) and death registrations (1837-1887) available online. Each digital image of an entry costs £2.50. As previously, pdf copies of registrations and copies of original birth certificates are also available; they cost £7 and £11 respectively. More.

Were any of your ancestors German Palatines who settled in Ireland? Ancestry has added the Palatine German Immigration to Ireland and USA, Hank Z Jones collection, 1654-1878. The Palatine were German refugees who fled religious persecution to England and then moved on to the USA. Nearly 3,000 decided to settle in Ireland (mainly in counties Cork, Limerick and Wicklow). Index holds 76,437 entries.

PRONI's Transcribathon events are fully booked: As PRONI is marking its 100th birthday, the repository compiled a list of 100 documents from its holdings for this year's CollabArchive programme and organised three morning events for volunteers to take part in a mass transcription project. The materials include diaries, registers and lists, minute books, court files, letters and much more. The first Transcribathon was held last week, and all spaces have been booked for the August and September events.

Summer Sale announced by FTDNA. FamilyTreeDNA is offering discounts across its range of Autosomal (FamilyFinder)DNA, Mitochondrial DNA and YDNA test kits, with savings of up to US$30, US$30 and US$50 respectably. If you purchase a 'bundle' – two or more types of product – the savings may be even bigger. Details.

Accredited Genealogists Ireland Open Day and Workshop: AGI will be hosting an Open Day and Workshop in Dublin on Saturday 7 October. It's aimed at those who are already practising as a professional genealogist or thinking about a future career as such. It will provide information on credentials for professional genies, on the AGI Affiliate programme, and on the process of seeking accreditation as a Member of AGI. Spaces are limited and likely to be book up early. Details.

It's busy, busy, busy at Dublin-based IrishNewsArchive: Thefamily owned firm has advised that it will soon be starting digitisation of two papers published in Belfast: The Irish News from 1891-to-current, and Andersonstown News 1972-to-current. Before then, no less than nine new titles will be joining the INA database during August. Details will be published on IrishGenealogyNews in the next few days.