Irish Genealogy News publishes its final blogpost

And so it ends.

After 14 years and 5,764 blogposts, Irish Genealogy News is taking its leave. Kind of. There will be no new blogposts but those that have already been published will remain online for a while... probably until the domain name comes up for renewal.

My website – Irish-Genealogy-Toolkit.com – will also be continuing for the time being. It will be receiving some much-needed attention over the next couple of months but should then be able to stand on its own legs without taking up too much of my newly-discovered liberty.

Many thanks to all those who have supported the blog over the years, recommending it to new researchers, sending me tip-offs, and whizzing off messages to make me aware of my latest typing blunder or broken links.

Bye. Bye. Bye.

Image by storyset on Freepik

Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland: 1922 Fire - Anniversary gifts for genies: Part II

The second week of the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland's release of records delivered the promised Census records (see teaser in Part I of Anniversary Gifts for Genies blogpost) and more.

So let's get down to it. The following releases and plans for their expansion will delight Irish genealogists:

1821 Census of Ireland transcripts: There's been a lot of detective work going on to make sense of paper scraps and scribbled notes to reveal names and places from this pre-Famine census. The resulting release sees the names of more than 4,000 individuals enter the public realm for the first time. These are sample households from each of the island's four provinces.

The team working on this collection has already gathered 50,000 names and research suggests this could rise to 200,000. Every name that can be deciphered and placed in a precise location will come on stream in 2025. In the meantime, check out the team's report – Census Gleanings – for more explanation and detail about this wonderful collection of previously lost family history.

Among the highlights is a partial (c35%) reconstruction of the 1821 census entries for Desertegny parish in County Donegal (most of the individuals are named Dougherty). Check out the townland-by-townland transcriptions here, and transcripts for Drogheda's St Peter's parish and St Mary's parish.

For an understanding of how the research team have been able to reconstruct populations by combining different source materials, see the 'Scope and Content' info for Clonmel Town.

Deeds, Wills and Memorials: Volume 2 of the Registry of Deeds Transcript Books series is the latest addition to the VRTI from Tailte Éireann. Dating from March 1708, some 400 new items are ready to be explored. The update also includes the 'Deeds, Wills and Memorials' curated collection with its explanatory text; three printed volumes of the Irish Manuscript Commission's abstracts of wills 1708–1832; and ...drum roll... the collection is now fully searchable online.

By 2025, the Tailte Éireann collection will hold 20 volumes from the Registry of Deeds Transcript Book series, consisting of about 11,300 pages, some 10,300 memorials and 6.7million words of searchable content!

Go crazy!

A quickie round up of recent Irish genealogy news snippets

A few quick fire news items for you:

Landmark research on Irish Civl War fatalities has been published online by University College Cork. The project represents the first real attempt to investigate the number of all combatant and civilian death from the opening shots of the Civil War on 28 June 1922 and the ceasefire and dump arms order on 24 May 1923s. In collaboration with UCC’s Atlas of the Irish Revolution Team, the research findings have been cartographically represented in a searchable, interactive Civil War Fatalities map. Check it out here

CavanTownlands, an essential site for anyone with ancestors from County Cavan, has moved to an 'ie' domain. You can now freely enjoy all the maps, stories, insights and historical statistics at https://cavantownlands.ie.

Cork/Corcaigh: Irish Historic Towns Atlas, no. 31, by Howard B Clarke and Máire Ní Laoi, has been published by the Royal Irish Academy. It explores the city from its origins to the present day. The emergence of Cork from a monastic settlement on a marshland site through to today's thriving city is explained in a thoroughly researched text and is illustrated with newly created thematic maps, early views and photographs. Historic maps are reproduced on large-format pages, showing how the topography transformed through time. A gazetteer of over 13,000 sites and an accompanying essay give the detailed topographical history of the city up to c1900.

The Irish Genealogical Research Society (IGRS) will be hostings its annual outing on August 2024. It's Dublin-based, so no coach required. It takes in a tour of the Royal Hospital at Kilmainham, a leisurely lunch at the Hilton Kilmainham, and a tour of Goldenbridge Cemetery from Richmond Barracks. For details and costs for members and non-members, see the IGRS website.

Land War to Civil War 1900-1924: Donoughmore to Cork and Beyond, by Gerard O'Rourke, was launched last month by Cork Lord Mayor, Cllr. Kieran McCarthy. Its 480 pages tell a story of conflict and perseverance leading to Irish Independence, a journey that starts in Donoughmore and continues to locations through the County and to Cork City and abroad. It includes the executions of Mrs. Lindsay and Compton Smith, the Wallace’s ‘little shop’, the Dripsey Ambush, Civil War, executions, prison life, sport, culture, economic life, all tempered with impromptu little nuggets guaranteed to enthrall. It is packed with fascinating details including images not seen previously and supplemented with intriguing table data along with names that may be your ancestors. €15 of each copy sold will be donated to cancer care services in Cork. On sale via donoughmore.ie.

The first week of September will see the return of the NIFHS DNA Summer School. Full details are not yet available but if this sounds just the ticket for your research, keep an eye on the NIFHS Education pages. The full menu of classes and presentations will be along shortly.

There's a good selection of discounts on newspapers and magazines, database subscriptions and DNA test kits running at the moment. Some of the offers are close to their expiry date so don't waste any time checking them out on my website: Irish-Genealogy-Toolkit.com.

The National Library of Ireland's Main, Microfilm and Manuscript Reading Rooms, and the NLI Ticket Office will be open onthe following two Saturdays this month: 13 and 27 July from 9:30am to 1pm. These are in addition to their regular Monday to Friday openings.

Northern Ireland will have a bank holiday this Friday, 12 July, marking the Battle of the Boyne. PRONI and most other repositories and businesses will be closed on this Friday and Monday 15th.

Savings on Ancestry DNA test kits for IE and UK researchers

Genealogists in Ireland and the UK can take advantage of a special sale price on Ancestry DNA test kits until 11:59pm on Monday 15 July.

Ancestry DNA is the number one selling dna test kit and gives you access to the world's largest consumer dna network, so you've more chance of matching up with your genetic cousins and extending your family tree.

With this generous 30% discount, the kits cost £54 in the UK and €64 in Ireland (plus shipping, of course). Select your preferred 'territory' and currency below.

Ireland: Ancestry DNA kits reduced from €95 to €64, plus shipping.

United Kingdom: Ancestry DNA kits reduced from £79 to £54, plus shipping.

Don't forget to place your order before the expiry date above!

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.

Excellent Limerick Local Studies website continues to grow

Limerick Libraries has been busy digitising and developing its new local studies website at limericklocalstudies.ie.

Among the wide range of material now freely available on the site are 23 publications in the free digital books collection. These include Margaret Franklin’s Bibliography of Limerick, Tom Toomey’s definitive account of the history of The War of Independence in Limerick, Limerick City Street Names by Gerry Joyce, and Limerick Snapshots of the Treaty City and County 1840 - 1960, by Tom Donovan and Vincent Carmody.

The latter (here) is a heavily illustrated book containing informative articles about a range of industries and retail outlets, including Limerick's Bacon Merchants, Undertakers, Jewellers, Furniture makers, Brewers and Iron foundrys, and will be of certain interest to those with ancestral connections to the city. 

Added only a couple of days ago is a rare book – Historical Notes on Adare, by Rev. T. E. Bridgett that was published in 1885.

Separately, there is also (here) the downloadable Histories of Protestant Limerick 1912–1923, a collection of ten original essays edited by Seán William Gannon (Limerick City and County Library Service) and Brian Hughes (Department of History, MIC) which explores the experience of Limerick’s Protestant communities during the Irish revolutionary period.

Family historians should also be sure to check out the Genealogy section of the site as this includes online indexes to the following:

• 1829 Freeholders in Limerick City and Environs (4,275 entries) 
• 1837 Electors List
• 1885 Register of Electors (5949 entries)
• Trades and Street Directories, 1769 to 1976, of Limerick City and County (78,491 entries to 1969
• Obituaries: All notices of deaths contained in the Limerick Chronicle (and other local newspapers) from 1781 to 1951. The database consists of death notices, obituaries, funeral reports and news stories pertaining to the death of Limerick persons. (34,310 entries) 

I could go on...

Dive in, but be sure to come up for air every now and again.

Irish Registry of Deeds Index Project: July 2024 update

The Irish Registry of Deeds Index Project has been updated and the main Index now holds 595,067 index records from 61,422 memorials of deeds. They are freely searchable.

Every one of these memorials has been indexed by a volunteer, releasing fascinating genealogical information unlikely to be available elsewhere, and likely to remain hidden away, undigitised, in Dublin's Registry of Deeds for many years yet. This Index Project, set up in 2007 by Nick Reddan FIGRS, has moved on a pace since 2016 when FamilySearch uploaded its library of microfilmed images created many years ago.

These images are free to view at the FamilySearch site, allowing volunteers to index memorials from their own device in their own home, rather than having to visit the Dublin repository.

Volunteers can index a single memorial – perhaps one they have used in their own ancestral research – or index a batch of memorials at a time. There is no rigid commitment required of volunteers: each works at their own pace. If you'd like to join the indexing team, please check out this incredibly worthwhile Project (see this How To Index page). Its website offers many detailed guides to help volunteers, and being involved in it means you'll be helping other researchers learn about their ancestors. You'll also be gaining useful skills.

The Dublin Repository's official digitisation project is still, sadly, years away.

Irish Newspaper Archives offers up to 40% discounts

The Dublin-based Irish Newspaper Archives is running its annual summer sale and marking Independence Day 2024 with big discounts.

The family-owned database holds more than six million pages of newspaper content from 249 titles published both North and South of the Irish border over a period of c280 years.

It includes a mix of historical and current titles.

This material is split across two distinct collections:

• The Radical Archive holds 97 titles aimed at publicising developments and encouraging support for the island's various protest groups during a period of great political tension. Most date from the late 19th century to the 1930s.
• The main Irish News Archive holds 152 titles from across the island. They include national, regional and local publications with a mix of news and political viewpoints, plus some specialist interest papers.

There are two subscriptions packages: The Gold sub gives you access to all the titles in both archive collections. The discount on this sub is 40% for both monthly and annual packages. The Silver sub gives you access to the main Irish News Archive and comes with a 35% discount, again for both monthly and annual plans.

To find out more, make a note of the promo codes above. Then click the image above and enter the code for your preferred subscription. Your discounted price will then be applied.

The discounts will expire on Monday 8 July 2024.

If you already have a current subscription you can still take advantage of these discounts by using the promo code to buy a Gift membership; when your existing sub expires, you can then activate the discounted Gift membership.

June 2024 updates to Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives

It was all about headstones last month! Each one of the seven bundles of records added to Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives in June delivered a package of headstone photos and inscriptions. Those records are, as always, now freely available to Irish genealogists, having been collected and donated by other family historians for the benefit of our research community.

Gravestone to the Fleming and Underwood families
in Kilmacree RC graveyard in Piercestown, Co Wexford.
Click image for enlarged view. Photo courtesy of IGP Archives
and the photographer Michelle Meadows-Rousseau.

 

CLARE Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Killilagh Old Graveyard, Killilagh

FERMANAGH Genealogy Archives – Headstones
St Patrick's CoI Cemetery, Castle Archdale

KERRY Genealogy Archives – Headstones
Murhur Burial Ground Part 2, Newtown Sandes

KILKENNY Genealogy Archives – Headstones
Regina Caeli Cemetery, Mooncoin

LIMERICK Genealogy Archives – Headstones
Loughill Graveyard

OFFALY Genealogy Archives – Headstones
Rathlihen Graveyard, near Mountbolis

WEXFORD Genealogy Archives – Headstones
Kilmacree Graveyard RC, Piercestown

RootsIreland.ie offers 20% savings on 12-month subscriptions

RootsIreland.ie is offering a 20% saving on 12-month subscriptions to its database to those who order one before 11:59pm (GMT+1) on Tuesday 16 July 2024.

The RootsIreland database is managed by the Irish Family History Foundation (IFHF), a not-for-profit organisation that has been co-ordinating a network of 32 genealogy and heritage centres across the island for 30+ years. It currently holds more than 23 million records and continues to expand.

In the first six months of this year, the database has grown by more than 83,500 records from Kerry, Monaghan and Tipperary, and there's plenty more to come in the second half of the year.

While this database holds civil BMDs, census records, headstone inscriptions and census substitutes, RootsIreland is probably most appreciated for its fabulous collection of church records.

Its Roman Catholic church record collection is widely considered the most complete and most accurate set available online, and its impressive holding of Protestant records including Church of Ireland, Baptist, Methodist, Congregational, Quaker and Presbyterian records is second to none. Most of the Protestant records are not accessible online anywhere else while the Roman Catholic collections typically extend beyond those in other online holdings by more than 20 years.

To take up this offer, click the logo above. Alternatively, go directly to the website to explore details of the online sources for each county, or to subscribe.

New and updated GB genealogy releases: three-week summary

Listed below is a summary of newly-released and -updated genealogy collections for England, Scotland and Wales from the major genealogy databases. For previous list see 12 June blogpost.)

These regular listings are designed to help researchers whose Irish ancestors migrated, temporarily or permanently, to England, Scotland or Wales.

By default, they will also be useful to anyone carrying out research in those three nations, regardless of the origin of their ancestors.

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

NEW COLLECTIONS

Figures in parentheses are the numbers of records (or images, if browse-only) in each new collection.

Ancestry

• Web: Scotland, Court of Session Index, 1616-1920 (614,344)
• United Kingdom, Military Roll of Honour, 1945-2022 (37,920)
• Buckinghamshire, England, Napoleonic Register: Posse Comitatus, 1798 (26,903)

BritishNewspaperArchive (BNA) and FindMyPast (FMP)

• Shoreham Herald   |   Lancing Herald   |   Boston Independent and Lincolnshire Advertiser

FindMyPast

• Home Children Hazelbrae Barnardo Home Index, 1883-1923 (9,050)
• Home Children Burial Index (10,706)
• Home Children, Enlistments and Military Deaths (6,653)
• British Home Children – overview of collection
• Royal Navy, H.M.S. Alceste Mission To China, 1817 (256 transcriptions)
• Peninsular War (Napoleonic Wars), Battle Of Barrosa 1811 (5,331 transcriptions)

Scotland's People

• Church of Scotland Additions incl records from General Assembly, synods & presbyteries

TheGenealogist

• Obituaries, 1600s–1800s From the Index Society, Musgrave's Obituaries, Society of Friends (20,000+)

UPDATED COLLECTIONS

Ancestry

• UK & Ireland, Find a Grave Index, 1300s-Current (452,327 records added since mid-May)
• Hampshire, England, CofE, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921 (991,113)
• Hampshire, England, CofE, Baptisms, Marriages & Burials, 1536-1812 (2,971,352)
• England & Scotland, Select Cemetery Registers, 1800-2024 (3,739,794)

FamilySearch

• Scotland, Civil Registration, 1855-1875, 1881, 1891 (286,111 / 1,357,397)

FindMyPast

• British Army Coldstream Guards 1800-1961 (14,293 images)
• Bedfordshire Baptisms 1538–1812 (10,239 images and transcriptions/716,634)
• Bedfordshire Marriages 1538–1812 (5,529 / 417,307)
• Bedfordshire Burials (7,748 / 111,181)

FreeBMD

• England & Wales Civil Registration Index Births/Marriages/Deaths (182,964/294,494,713)

Scotland's People

• Church of Scotland Kirk Sessions (3,000+ kirk session records)

TheGenealogist

• Deaths & Burials: Obituaries (20,000) From the Index Society, Musgrave’s Obituaries, and the Society of Friends.

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.

MyHeritage opens free access to 135m Canadian historical records

         Click image to search the Canada collection

To mark Canada Day, MyHeritage has opened up its Canadian historical records – all 135m of them – with free access until Tuesday 2 July.

This is a great opportunity for any genealogist whose Irish ancestors emigrated to Canada to explore their lives through all the country's censuses; identify births, marriages and deaths in a number of regional record-sets; find out if they served in the military; check out directories, obituaries, newspaper reports, local histories and more.

You'll need to have a registered account. If you don't already have one, this is quick and easy to set up and doesn't require you to provide financial details.

Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland: 1922 Fire - Anniversary gifts for genies: Part I

Over the last week and continuing this week, the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland (VRTI) team has been making daily releases of newly digitised material and resources available on its website. This feverish activity is to marks the 102nd anniversary (on 30 June) of the 1922 fire which destroyed the Public Record Office of Ireland, then housed at the Four Courts in Dublin. Much of the island's genealogical and other documentary heritage went up in flames that afternoon.

The VRTI or VirtualTreasury.ie is a digital representation of a lost archive. The team, and its partners around the world, are using digital technologies to reconstruct materials and release historical memories previously thought lost.

Below you'll find brief details of some of the newly added records and resources released so far during this exciting anniversary event. It is not comprehensive. I have included only those gifts that I think genealogists will want to dive into.

The releases will continue to roll out until next week, I think, so I'll do a Part II to this blogpost when all is online. In the meantime, I'll urge all you Irish family historians to keep an eye out on social media (#VirtualTreasury102).

Although I don't know the details, I can tell you there is definitely one release yet to come that has 'Census of Ireland' all over it.

Dublin Gazette: This publication was the official newspaper of Dublin Castle. It was published between 1705-1922 and while no complete run of all published issues survives, the VRTI is working to reassemble this unique source by combining the holdings of the team's archival partners. The curated collection now online highlights the mid-eighteenth century, reflecting not only elite politics but also daily life, from street-crime to food prices and shipping news. Find out more.

1798 Rebellion Papers: This curated collection comprises a searchable database to the Rebellion Papers, a key collection held by the National Archives of Ireland. The Rebellion Papers are a unique collection of letters, mostly relating to the years surrounding the 1798 Rebellion, and consists of letters sent to the Chief Secretary’s Office in Dublin Castle, written by a range of correspondents: from postmasters and magistrates, to military generals and police constables. The papers mostly date from 1790 to 1808. The curated collection gives a comprehensive overview of this complex set of documents, and provides item-level descriptions of their contents. Find out more.

Map Room: The 1922 Fire is not the only anniversary in town! The Ordnance Survey of Ireland (OSI) marked it 200th birthday yesterday. The VRTI's new curated collection – Map Room – has an outstanding collection of more than 6,000 beautiful historical maps and charts representing all parts of the island. It is divided into three elements: Pre the Down Survey of the 1650s; between the Down Survey and the first Ordnance Survey of the 1840s; from the 1840s to 1922. Visit the curated collection here and the newly launched full collection, including Letters, Memoir Drawings, Memoirs and Name Books, at DRI.ie.

Exploring the Age of Revolution, 1760-1830: A spanking-new image gallery resource highlighting some of the amazing material held by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. The documents include reports covering a variety of types of unrest. These range from food riots and social protest, to revolutionary conspiracy and political agitation. Find out more.

Genealogy Resources on VTRI: This new and expanded Genealogy page provides guidance aimed specifically at family historians and is designed to help you when researching some of the name-rich records in the Virtual Treasury. Check it out here.

See blogpost Part II.

British Newspaper Archive's holding hits 80-million-pages milestone

The BritishNewspaperArchive has clocked up more than 80 million pages of historical newspapers in its database.

Within this impressive collection, the bulk of which holds local, regional and national newspapers published in England, Scotland and Wales, plus many titles from former British Empire colonies, is a fabulous holding of papers published on the island of Ireland. And there's gold inside it for researchers exploring their family history!

As of today, there are 328 titles in this holding, 254 titles published in towns and cities that are now in the Republic of Ireland, and 74 from across what is now Northern Ireland.

Sourced from The British Library, the BNA collection is available on subscription. Click the link above to find out more.

It is also available as part of some FindMyPast Pro/Ultimate and Premium subscriptions. (You might like to know there's a 30% saving on offer for researchers taking out a new 12-month Premium sub before 11:59pm (London/Dublin time) on Thursday 27 June - click one of the links below to find out more.)

• FindMyPast.ie
• FindMyPast.co.uk
• FindMyPast.com
• FindMyPast.com.au

General Register Office Ireland closes walk-in service for 6 weeks

The General Register Office of Ireland has announced that its Research Rooms in Dublin's Werburgh Street will be closed for six weeks, with immediate effect.

The closure is to facilitate urgent repair works.

Usual service (walk-in service operates only on Tuesdays) will be resumed on Tuesday 13 August. In the meantime, GRO staff will continue to offer a full Monday to Friday email service, allowing researchers to request searches of Ireland's civil registration records and/or photocopies of birth, marriage and death register entries.

Full details are on the Irish Government website.

Newspapers.com's Stories & Events Indexes cross the pond

Ancestry recently repurposed some material held in its sister database Newspapers.com into a number of geographically arranged collections tagged as Stories and Events Indexes. One is called Ireland and Northern Ireland, Newspapers.com Stories and Events Index, 1880s to current.

Each index holds brief details of published news items, features and advertisements loosely sorted into groups that include crime, arts and culture, military, politics, sport, accident/emergency, health and disaster. A full list is provided under the 'General collection information' heading on the search page. It is possible to search by topic or by individual but I had mixed success with narrowing down the index. I tested it with the place as Dublin, the topic as Accident, and used the keyword 'quarry'. I received 880 search results; all had the surname Quarry. Who knew Quarry was even/ever a surname?

On the other hand, a search for Ted Coakley, Waterford, Crime returned a Ted and an Edward who fitted the bill, but also several others that didn't.

The indexes have been created using artificial intelligence. The spelling of surnames and places is pretty dire.

In addition to the collection covering the island of Ireland (it holds 24,406,691 records), similar collections have been created for England, Scotland and Wales. I'm including these links for those with shared heritage.

• England, Newspapers.com™ Stories and Events Index, 1800's to current (964,449,912)
• Scotland, Newspapers.com™ Stories and Events Index, 1800's to current (70,696,188)
• Wales, Newspapers.com™ Stories and Events Index, 1800's to current (91,690,301)

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.

30% savings on 3- and 12-month Premium subs to FindMyPast

FindMyPast is offering a 30% discount offer on new quarterly and annual Premium subscriptions.

Premium is the sub that gives you access to all areas of the database, including the Irish and British historical newspaper collections, which will hit the 80-million-page milestone this week, the 1921 Census of England and Wales (it's not available anywhere else online), and everything held in the huge FindMyPast database.

The discount will expire at 11:59pm (Dublin/London time) on Sunday 23 June.

Select your preferred FindMyPast 'territory' below. The links will take you to the 12-month subscription offer. Just click the '3 months' button on that page to switch offer.

FindMyPast.ie
Annual Premium: 30% off – Access everything for 12 months – €165.19
Quarterly Premium: 30% off – Access everything for 3 months – €48.99

FindMyPast.co.uk
Annual Premium – 30% off – Access everything for 12 months – £139.99
Quarterly Premium – 30% off – Access everything for 3 months – £41.99

FindMyPast.com
Annual Premium – 30% off – Access everything for 12 months – $209.99
Quarterly Premium – 30% off – Access everything for 3 months – $62.99

FindMyPast.com.au
Annual Premium – 30% off – Access everything for 12 months – $258.99
Quarterly Premium – 30% off – Access everything for 3 months – $76.99

Some of the above content contains affiliate links. This means I may earn a small commission if you buy via these links. This does not affect the price you pay as a consumer, but it does contribute to keeping Irish Genealogy News online. See Advertising Disclosure tab above. 

 

Irish Railway Employment Records make online debut on Ancestry

If you have ancestors who worked for the Irish railways (or even a tram or bus company), your genealogy research may be about to get a little easier thanks to a partnership between the Irish Railway Records Society (IRRS) and Ancestry.

Some 306,000 personnel records, previously held in the IRRS HQ just behind Dublin's Heuston Station, have been digitised and indexed, making a search of the once un-catalogued archive of registers a breeze.

The collection is called the Ireland Railway Employment Records, 1870-1940.

The records have been indexed in several fields. You can search by your ancestor's names, the stations or depots where he or she worked or was based, or by occupation (stationmaster, telephonist, clerk, driver, porter, bus driver etc) or by employment start and end dates, or a mixture of these. Note that the records are not exclusively from the railway companies; a small proportion include personnel working on the tramways and bus network.

Not all of the original registers survive or are held in the IRRS archive. The transport companies who feature in the collection are:

• Cavan, Leitrim and Roscommon Light Railway
• Corus Iompair Eireann
• Cork, Blackrock & Passage Railway
• County Donegal Railways Joint Committee
• Dublin & South Eastern Railway
• Dublin United Tramways Companies
• Great Northern Railway (Ireland)
• Great Southern & Western Railways
• Great Southern Great Southern Railways & Cora Iompair Eireann
• Irish Omnibus Company
• Midland Great Western Railway
• Midland Great Western Railway and Cavan and Leitrim Railway
• Waterford & Limerick Railway

Be sure to read through the description of this collection before you start searching.

As of now, this collection has not appeared in Ancestry's catalogue. During the afternoon, I've been merrily playing with the records, downloading images and checking up on my maternal grandad's colleagues when he was working as a Relief Officer in the 1930s. I've noticed a few search result links have returned 404 messages, so it may be that some of the records are still bedding down or something....  I dare say it'll quickly settle down.

In addition to this now digitised resource, the IRRS holds manuscripts, photographs, films, drawings, maps and memorabilia of Irish railways and the public are welcome to contact the society to learn 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.

Did you hear the groan? Data Protection concerns strike again

The 1899 and 1908-1915 Dublin Voters Lists remain
available to view. Only the lists from 1938-1964
have been removed.

Two weeks ago, on the fine morning of Tuesday 28 May, the Irish genealogy world woke to learn that five incredibly useful Dublin databases – all previously accessible Dublin City Council's website until unceremoniously taken offline in March – had found a new online home thanks to genealogist John Grenham. (Read my blogpost here.) Oooo. There was much happiness and skipping.

It didn't last. By the end of the day, one of those databases had again been taken offline. It holds the Dublin Voters’ Lists 1938–1957.

Seriously? Names of individuals with their residences back 90-odd years ago? These people had to be 21 to have half a chance of being recorded as a voter, so most of them would have appeared in at least one Irish census.

If there is such concern about database protection, so be it, but surely a partial removal – of those individuals born less than 100 years ago – would suffice.

Latest new and updated record collections for UK genealogy

Please find below a three-week summary of newly-released and updated family history collections for England, Scotland and Wales from the major genealogy databases. (Previous list 24 May blogpost.)

These regular listings are designed to help researchers whose Irish ancestors migrated, temporarily or permanently, to England, Scotland or Wales.

By default, they will also be useful to anyone carrying out research in those three nations, regardless of the origin of their ancestors.

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

NEW COLLECTIONS

Figures in parentheses are the numbers of records (or images, if browse-only) in each new collection.

Ancestry

• Web: Scotland, Select Poor Register Indexes, 1845-1930 (8,603)
• England, Newspapers.com-Stories/Events Index, 1800s-current (964,449,912)
• Scotland, Newspapers.com-Stories/Events Index, 1800s-current (70,696,188)
• (Ireland &) N.Ireland, Newspapers.com-Stories/Events Index, 1800s-current (24,406,691)
• Wales, Newspapers.com-Stories/Events Index, 1800s-current (91,690,301)

BritishNewspaperArchive (BNA) and FindMyPast (FMP)

• Hunts County News | Pudsey & Stanningley News | Ellon Times & East Gordon Advertiser |Spilsby Standard

FindMyPast

• Yorkshire, Leeds City Police 1899-1939 (513)
• British Army, Royal York Rangers (2,941)

UPDATED COLLECTIONS

Ancestry

• UK and Ireland FindAGrave (151,944/20,057,024
• UK & Allied Countries, WW2 Liberated Prisoner of War Questionnaires, 1945-1946 (129,525)

FindMyPast

• WW2 Allies Collection Rolling 3yrs of releases. Mixed content. (566,000 /15,811,779)

FreeBMD

• England and Wales Civil Registration Index (218,813 / 294,311,749)

TheGenealogist

• Army Lists, 1837–1959 (1.8 Million individuals 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.

Bumper edition of Irish Genealogy Matters newsletter published

A new edition of the Irish Genealogy Matters newsletter has been published.

Produced by the Irish Family History Foundation (IFHF), the organisation behind RootsIreland.ie and an island-wide network of 34 genealogy/heritage centres, the publication provides an overview of recent uploads to the RootsIreland database and brings us news of activities from the centres.

Among the latter is news of a Symposium to be held at the Mellon Centre on 20-21 June which will explore how Irish migrants accomplished their journeys across the Atlantic Ocean; a helpful guide to the family history value found in national school records; an article about the Irish origins of Maggie Hinchey 'The Thrush of Suffrage', and a listing of OffalyHistory events (in person and online) until the end of the year.

There's plenty more... It's a bumper 11-page edition. Be sure to check it out.

The newsletter can be downloaded from the RootsIreland blog. Click the image above.

Free access to all* records on FindMyPast this weekend

Marking D-Day's 80th Anniversary, FindMyPast has opened up nearly all* of its database to free access from now until 10am (GMT) on Monday 10 June.

The free access includes billions of historical records, huge numbers of more recent Electoral Registers, plus the entire British Newspaper Archive. The latter holds just under 80million pages of digitised newsprint including a collection of 266 titles from the island of Ireland.

*The only exclusions are the 1921 Census of England & Wales collection and FMP's Tree Search.

Click your preferred 'territory' below

Other than those two no-go areas, you can fill your boots! And you can use your choice of FindMyPast's geographical sites – just click your preference below.

Although you will need to log-in (or register, if you have not done so previously) you will NOT be required to provide payment information. If you don't have a FindMyPast account, all you'll be asked for is your email address, your choice of password and your name. That's it. It's a speedy process, and then you can get stuck into the database straightaway.

If you've not previously had a subscription or haven't had one for some time, this weekend provides you with a great opportunity to find out what FindMyPast can offer your family history research. Don't miss it!

Select your preferred FindMyPast territory:

	FindMyPast.ie		FindMyPast.com
	FindMyPast.co.uk		FindMyPast.com.au

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. 

 

June dates for your Irish genealogy research diary

Some dates to note if planning any Irish family history research visits in Dublin this month.

National Archives of Ireland
The NAI's Reading Room in Bishop Street will be closed to the public on Wednesday 12 June for staff training. It's a full day closure, reopening on the Thursday morning at 10am.

Lunchtime tours of the 'Society & State – Ireland Through its Records' exhibiton (Coach House Gallery, Dublin Castle) will be held on Wednesdays 12, 19 and 26 June from 1.15pm to 1:45pm. They are free but you need to book.

National Library of Ireland
The NLI's Main, Microfilm and Manuscript Reading Rooms, and the NLI Ticket Office will be open on two Saturdays: 8 and 22 June from 9:30am to 1pm. These are in addition to their regular Monday to Friday openings.

Dr Audrey Whitty, the Director of the NLI, will give a Tour of the Library's Victorian building at 7/8 Kildare Street, Dublin on Thursday 6 June (6pm to 7pm). It is free, but you need to book.

Another bundle of RC records from Co. Kerrry joins RootsIreland

RootsIreland.ie has added 6,225 baptismal and marriage records for Sneem parish in County Kerry.  They breakdown as follows:

• Baptisms  – 5,497 records (1813—1899);
• Marriages –    729 records (1858—1900).

The records link to images of the relevant registers held on the National Library of Ireland's website. Note that these records run later than the images on that site, which stop at 1880/1.

For an up to date list of sources for Kerry and to search these records, go to kerry.rootsireland.ie and login or subscribe as required.

Father's Day 2024: Save 30% on Ancestry DNA kits (UK & IE only)

Father's Day is approaching (it's on Sunday 16 June) so if you're looking for a rather less obvious gift than socks, booze, or a laugh-a-minute book, why not consider an Ancestry DNA test kit to encourage his natural curiosity about his (and your) heritage?

This year, Ancestry is offering a 30% saving on the regular test kit price to researchers in the UK and in Ireland. 

Find out more by choosing from the options below. 

Be sure to place your order before 11:59pm on Father's Day itself. After that time, the discount disappears.

	Ireland: AncestryDNA test kit €64, reduced from €95. Shipping extra.
	UK: AncestryDNA test kit £54, reduced from £79. Shipping extra.

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.

Summer edition of Irish Roots Magazine published

The summer edition of Irish Roots – Ireland's only independent magazine designed to help family historians research and explore their Irish heritage – is now available to purchase.

Published in County Wicklow, each quarterly issue of Irish Roots delivers a wide range of advice, guidance and tips from experienced genealogists, historians, dna experts and columnists, as well as news of recently released record collections, activities by genealogical societies, letters to the editor, selections of new books, events and dates for your diary, readers' experiences and a Q&A.

Among the articles in this edition are:

• Local resources for tracing County Waterford ancestors
• Shared genes; the role of siblings in genetic genealogy research
• Irish naming conventions strategies using Catholic Church records
• Accessing Irish ancestral records at the National Archives, Kew, UK
• Discover the history and origins of many surnames from Waterford
• Helpful ancestral research tips from the IGRS
• Australian Irish Connections; establishing settlement
• A review of the latest Irish genealogical record releases
• And another thing - genealogical observations and commentary by Steven Smyrl

Digital format:
Individual editions: €6 | US$6.48 | £5.09 | CAN$8.86 | NZ$10.58 | AUD$9.77
1-year subscription (4 editions): €19.99 | US$21.63 | £17 | CAN$29.59 | NZ$21.63 | AUD$32.59

Paper format including p&p:
Individual editions: €12 | US$14 | £12
1-year subscription (4 editions) €35 | US$49 | £35 |CAN$54 | AUD$54.

NOTE: Currency figures quoted relate to today's exchange rates.

May 2024 updates to ireland Genealogy Projects Archives

During May, volunteers donated records sourced from eight burial grounds across the island, each from a different county. While one of these files includes only basic genealogical information transcribed from the gravestones, the other files have photos of the headstones plus full transcriptions of the inscriptions.

As always, these donations are provided free of charge by researchers for the benefit of other researchers. If you'd like to help this huge online archive continue to grow, please consider donating records or photos or other material useful to Irish family historians. See these two pages of the IGP website: headstones project and submission forms.

   Headstone in Kilbride graveyard, Co Offaly
   Gloria In Excelsis Deo | Erected by MARGARET BRACKEN |
in memory of her Husband |IOHN BRACKEN
    Who Deptd This | Life 10th April 1854 aged 66 years.
   Photo courtesy of the photographer Bernard M Doheny
   and IGPArchives.

 

 

CARLOW Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Lismaconly Cemetery Part 1, Myshall

CAVAN Genealogy Archives - Headstones
St Mary's RC Graveyard Part 3, Crosserlough (Updated)

FERMANAGH Genealogy Archives - Cemeteries
St Patrick's CoI, Castle Archdale

KERRY Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Murhur Burial Ground Part 1, Newtown Sandes

LIMERICK Genealogy Archives - Headstones
St Michaels Graveyard (CoI), Limerick City

MAYO Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Castlebar Old Cemetery (Partial)

OFFALY (KINGS), Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Kilbride aka Killiskea Graveyard

WEXFORD Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Rathspick Graveyard, Murntown (Update)

Find your Irish ancestors in FindMyPast's newest maritime records

Whether they worked principally at sea or on shore, your Irish ancestors might have just sailed into the FindMyPast database.

More than 313,000 new records across two collections are now available, both sourced from The National Archives (TNA) in Kew, London, and they feature sizeable contingents of Irish-born men.

Among them are some of my extended paternal family, and while I knew from earlier discoveries that they were employed in maritime services, these new records have provided new information about their careers and lives. In one case, a pre-civil registration death-by-drowning register entry was a surprise.

Some details of the new records:

Coastguards 1801-1952: As far as I'm aware, this collection has previously been available only via TNA. It holds 212,426 images and transcripts of men who worked as a coastguard between 1801 to 1952. If your ancestor appears in the records, you'll probably find several entries in the index. Some may provide duplicate information while others may be one-offs showing particular journeys with multiple stops enroute. I'd expected coastguards to have been based principally at one station but these records suggest otherwise, unless some of these voyages had more of a policing purpose. I shall have to investigate.

British Royal Navy & Royal Marines Service And Pension Records, 1704-1939: Some 101,555 transcriptions have been added to this existing wide-ranging collection. The new arrivals comprise series ADM 139, a record-set holding service records dating from 1853 to 1872. Again, one of the records looks very exciting, allowing me (if I can confirm it) to drop back another generation on a close branch of my 4xGGF's brother, born 1786. Busy weekend ahead!

Women's Royal Naval Service Officer Records, 1917–1919: Images of more than 59,000 records have been linked to existing transcripts from the series ADM 318. These records can't be searched by place, so I can't tell if any Irish women are included in the database. Given the dates, I think it unlikely, but I include a link for those who may wish to check it out.

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.

Registers from 40 Monaghan national schools join RootsIreland

The Irish Family History Foundation's RootsIreland.ie database has grown by more than 20,000 records from County Monaghan. They have been transcribed from the registers of 40 national schools in the county.

The earliest starting date for the registers in this collection is 1865; the latest is 1895. The most recent end date is 1925.

See the full list of schools and register dates here.

National school registers are a valuable source of genealogical information. They contain the vital detaiils of each pupil, along with a summary of their school attendance, the subjects they studied and their examination results over the years. Occasionally they also contain notes from teachers regarding departures from the school, their careers, migration, serious illness or death.

Registers occasionally contain notes on departures from the school, careers after leaving school, emigration, serious illness, or even death.

For the full menu of County Monaghan sources, click the logo above.

TipperaryStudies digitises more National Schools records

TipperaryStudies, the local history department of Tipperary County Council's Library Service, has been busy scanning and uploaded some new school records to its Digital Collection. They come from four schools, as follows:

Lisnamrock National School

• Boys' register 1875–1886
• Boys' register 1876–1901
• Boys' register 1911–1925
• Girls' register 1910–1925

Gaile National School

• Boys' register from 1911–1925
• Girls' register book for 1900–1925

Ayle National School

• Boys roll book 1917–1925

Gortagarry National School

• Girls' register 1880–1925
• Boys' register 1880–1925
• Examination roll, April 1899, listing subjects to be examined

These registers were loaned by the schools for digitisation. They have been scanned to a high quality and can now be downloaded, free of charge, in pdf format. Click the image above to browse the newly uploaded files.

Click here for TipperaryStudies' full National Schools Records collection.

Military Service Pensions (1916-23) Collection: 16th release is online

The Military Archives of Ireland has today released its 16th instalment of files from the Military Service Pensions (1916-23) Collection (MSPC). This collection, which consists of tens of thousands of files, is the largest in the Military Archives and is one of the flagship projects of the Decade of Centenaries.

This latest release sees some 2,350 scanned files entering the public domain. They relate to claims lodged by 967 individuals/veterans or their dependents; with their names now added to the database, alongside their detailed archival description, new information on the War of Independence and the Civil War is now available and providing significant insights into post-conflict lives.

The documentation contained in each file varies. For example, the newly released file relating to Daniel Santry from Currahevern in County Cork consists of 53 pages of scanned material relating to an (unsuccessful) appeal against his military pension being reduced for one short period during the Civil War. This is the fourth MSPC file to be released for Daniel.

In total, the number of individuals appearing in the MSPC online database is now 19,196.

For more information about today's release and to download the list of individuals included, see MilitaryArchives.ie.

Five free Dublin genealogy databases return online

All hail John Grenham, professional genealogist, database creater, author and all-round good egg.

Following the removal of Dublin City Council's 'Heritage Databases' from the dublincity.ie platform, John has today uploaded his own back-up copies (he created them) of five of the most genealogically useful databases to his Irish Ancestors site.

They are:

• Dublin Voters 1938-1957
• Dublin Municipal Voters 1899, 1908-1915 
• Dublin Graveyards Directory 
• Dublin Cemeteries - burial registers from Clontarf, Drimnagh and Finglas
• Dublin Freemen to 1774

These databases are now free to search and view at this page: https://www.johngrenham.com/dcla/.

This is a temporary step while DCC overcomes its compliance issues. See John's blogpost – Some of me oul' darlin' databases are back online – for more details.

Latest update from the Irish Registry of Deeds Index Project

Following its most recent update, the main index of the online Registry of Deeds Index Project Ireland holds the names of nearly 590,000 individuals recorded in memorials dating back to the early 18th century.

Some 88% of these memorials are linked to images of the original documents, which are available to view free of charge at FamilySearch.

The Townland Index is also free to search, allowing researchers to search for settlements made by people who lived or owned land in a particular townland, or for sales or other transfers of land parcels. This index holds more than 547,000 entries.

The project is volunteer led, and all the Indexes are free to search.

More volunteers are needed. Please consider donating a little of your time to help this important and increasingly useful project as it reveals the secrets of the Registry of Deeds collection to genealogists and other researchers around the world.

Treat yourself to a rare subscription discount from Ancestry UK

Goodness. When did you last see a discount offer for a subscription to Ancestry UK? I certainly can't remember when I did. So if you thinking of taking out a new sub, this may be the opportunity you're been hoping to arrive.

Until 11:59pm BST on Wednesday 29 May, you can take advantage of a 20% discount on a new six-month subscription to Ancestry UK. If you choose the Ireland and UK option, you'll be saving yourself £13 on the regular price of £69.99, with the reduced cost coming in at a rather more tidy £59.99.

If you prefer the 'all records' subscription, the standard price of £99.99 is reduced to £79.99. It includes all records in Ancestry's Ireland and UK collections AND all its international records, too.

Click the image right to learn more. Look out, too, for the current saving on AncestryDNA test kits. Just scroll down the landing page.