Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives: late June updates

Below are the latest additions to the Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives. Donated by volunteers, they've joined the free site in the last two weeks and include a good number of headstone photos and inscriptions, plus a transcription of 356 births recorded in the registers of the Presbyterian congregation of Maguiresbridge.

McNeill headstone, Clanabogan
Photo courtesty Bridgid Wilson and IGP

CARLOW Genealogy Archives
Headstones:
   Newtown, RC Church Cemetery (partial)

FERMANAGH Genealogy Archives
Church Records:
    Maguiresbridge Presbyterian Births 1860-1930
Headstones:
   St. Mary's Ardess Church Cemetery (additional)

MAYO Genealogy Archives
Headstones:
   Leigue Cemetery, Ballina (partial)
   Old Kilmeena (CoI) Graveyard, Westport

SLIGO Genealogy Archives
Headstones:
   Sligo Cemetery - Old Part, Section 3

TYRONE Genealogy Archives
Headstones:
   Clanabogan Parish Cemetery (CoI), Omagh.

More on the Bishop's Bank of Philadelphia collection

My post last week about the Bishop's Bank of Philadelphia (you can read it here if you missed it) seems to have caused some excitement. It really is a fabulous resource and is sure to be knocking down brickwalls for many US-based family historians thanks to its inclusion of a county of origin in Ireland for many of the Bank's customers.

But some researchers may be even luckier and find the parish of origin included, too. See the example below, sent to me by Sharon Carberry, who came across an entry for a John Claby, aged 27 in 1852, and from King's County (now Co. Offaly). The entry additionally notes that he came from the parish of Castlejordan (spelt Castel Jordan by the clerk). You just have to hope that his descendents, if they are searching for their Irish roots, come across this collection.

Several readers have also pointed out that there is a 'soft' alphabetical surname index at the front of each of the tree volumes ie all the surnames beginning with C are gathered together, but are unsorted.  The index refers to the page number where you can view the full account details for each of these customers. This saves studying all 700-odd pages of each ledger. It should also be noted that the volumes are not in strict chronological order.

Here's Sharon's example of an entry showing parish of origin:

Digital Library@Villanova University

Free access to 1billion US, Irish and UK records

FindMyPast.com is allowing free access from today until Wednesday 6 July to a collection of more than one billion records.

The free access includes 118m travel and migration records, 112m US marriages, all US, Canadian, Irish and UK censuses, convict transportation records, plus over four hundred years of ship passenger lists from all major US ports.

More than 7m new US Naturalisation Petitions and more than 1.7million US Passport Applications and Indexes (1795-1925) have also been released, marking the first phase of two brand new collections for uncovering early immigrant ancestors.

To take advantage of the free access period, you'll need to have a registered account with FindMyPast.com and sign into that account. Registration is straightforward and doesn't require you to provide any more detail than your name, email address and country of residence. No financial information is requested.

The free access will continue until 11:59pm EST on Wednesday 6 July (this'll be 04:59am on Thursday 7 July in Dublin/London).

This offer is available only via FindMyPast.com.

A separate offer of free access to all FindMyPast's Military records plus Irish and UK censuses is available at FindMyPast.co.uk, FindMyPast.ie, and FindMyPast.com.au (see blogpost).

Only four spaces left on Irish Genealogy workshop for intermediate/advanced researchers in London

As of this morning, there are just four spaces left on the full-day Tracing Irish Ancestors workshop for Intermediate to Advanced Researchers to be held at the Society of Genealogists in London on Saturday 23 July.

The programme will focus on records from the 17th to 19th centuries, plus 20th-century military records. You can see a fuller description and other details on the SOG's booking page. The workshop costs £35 and will be presented by Jill Williams and Roz McCutcheon, both Fellows of the Irish Genealogical Research Society.

Times: 10:30am to 5pm.
Venue: Society of Genealogists, 14 Charterhouse Buildings, Goswell Road, London EC1M (Barbican and Farringdon Tube Stations).

Update 1 July: All places on this workshop now filled.

RCBLibrary will not be open this afternoon

The Representative Church Body Library (RCBL) will be closed this afternoon from 12:45pm to mark the retirement of Dr Raymond Refaussé who has been Librarian & Archivist of the RCBL for the past 35 years.

The Library, in Churchtown, Dublin 14, will re–open for normal hours tomorrow, Thursday 30 June.

FindMyPast Military Records: free until Monday 4 July

As advised on Friday (see blogpost), FindMyPast is making it collection of 65million Military Records available free of charge for seven days.

In addition, British and Irish censuses are free to access.

To access the free records you'll need to have a registered account, but you don't need a subscription.

NOTE: FindMyPast.com is running its own free access offer to mark Independence Day. Different collections of records are involved. See blogpost.

Irish genealogy and history events, 27 June to 10 July

Monday 27 June: Family Search - Website maintenance is scheduled from 6am UTC (7am Dublin/London, 12am MDT). Site may be down for as long as 24 hours.

Tuesday 28 June May: The fall of Dublin, with Liz Gillis. Host and venue: Castletown House, Celbridge, Co Kildare. €5, includes refreshments. 7:15pm. Booking required: T (0)1 628 8252 or E castletwon@opw.ie. 8pm. Lecture held in the Hunting Room.

Wednesday 29 June: The RCB Library in Churchtown, Dublin, will be closed from 12:45pm. Reopening normal hours Thursday 30th.

Wednesday 29 June: DNA Workshop, with Dr Maurice Gleeson. Host: Ancestral Connections Summer School. Venue: Western Gateway Building G05, University College Cork. 2–5pm. Suitable for all levels of dna researcher. €35.00. All welcome. To book, contact Summer School Co-Ordinator: Lorna Moloney, l.moloney@ucc.ie, T: 085-8721184 / 021-4904700.

Thursday 30 June: O’Neill, Tone, Casement & ‘gallant allies in Europe’, a History Ireland Hedge School. Host: Merriman Summer School, glór, Causeway Link, Ennis, Co. Clare. History Ireland editor Tommy Graham wil be joined for a lively round table discussion with Angus Mitchell, Sylvie Kleinman, Mike Cronin and Hiram Morgan. 10am. €15. Details. Booking advised but can pay on door if spaces remain.

Thursday 30 June: 1916 Commemorative Cultural Event, with Turtle Bunbury discussing his latest book – 'The 1916 Rising - The Photographic Record' – plus music and a cocktail reception. Host: The Irish Georgian Society. Venue: Chicago Cultural Center, 78 East Washington Street, Chicago, IL 60602, USA. Booking essential: E info@irishgeorgiansociety.com or T Michael Kerrigan at 312-961-3860. pin

Friday 1 July: A regular hell: World War Ireland and the Battle of the Somme, a themed tour of the NLI's exhibition 'World War Ireland: Exploring the Irish Experience', which explores the uniquely Irish experience of the First World War with a special focus on the centenary event of the Battle of the Somme. Host and venue: National Library of Ireland (NLI), Kildare Street, Dublin 2. All welcome. 1pm. Free. Booking not required.

Friday 1 July: The Battle of the Somme, 1 July 1916, with the 36th Ulster Division, a cloth model re-enactment with Col. Declan O’Carroll. Host: Donegal County Museum. Venue: Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny, Co Donegal. Admission free. All welcome. 7:30pm. For further information contact Donegal County Museum, 074 9124613; museum@donegalcoco.ie.

Sunday 3 July: Special screening of the 1916 film 'The Battle of the Somme'. Host: Donegal County Museum in partnership with Imperial War Museums and Century Cinema. Venue: Century Cinema, Letterkenny, Co Donegal. Free but need to book tickets via Century Cinema in person or telephone 074 9121976. Four tickets max per person. Not suited to under 11s. 3pm.

Wednesday 6 July: Newgrange and the Bend in the Boyne, Dr Geraldine Stout. The Hill of Tara Lecture Series. Venue: Hill of Tara Visitor Centre, Tara, Co Meath. No booking but seating is limited so come early. Free. 8pm.

Sunday 10 July: Women of the Irish Revolution. Film - Guns and Chiffon, followed by a talk - Rebel Sisters, with Dr Sonja Tiernan, plus launch of Manchester's Irish Story. Also Irish book stall, bar, tea & coffee. Hosts: Manchester Irish Film and Chorlton Irish Club. Venue: Chorlton Irish Club, Irish Association Social Club, 17 High Lane, Manchester UK, M21 9DJ. Doors open at 2pm. Entry £4.

FindMyPast to mark Somme centenary with free access

To mark the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, FindMyPast will be giving free access to its World collection of 65million military records. This free access will run from Monday 27 June at 9am to Monday 4 July. I'll be back with more details after the weekend (see subsequent blogpost).

The WW1 Battle was a major event in the history of the island. Among the dead were more than 3,500 Irish soldiers (the figures are not certain) and many additional thousands were physically injured or mentally scarred from their experiences.

On the first day alone, the 36th Ulster Division suffered 5,500 casualties, all of them Protestants, including 2,069 soldiers killed. Two months later, as the Battle continued with another British offensive, some 1,200 men from the mainly Irish Catholic 16th Division were killed and 3,100 injured, nearly all of them coming from the other three provinces of Ireland.

Before you start digging into FindMyPast's collection for your own family's military history, you might like to read a more detailed account of the Battle of the Somme and its legacy across the island. A good factual overview can be found on the Department of the Taoiseach's website, together with a useful list of the Irish Regiments and their recruiting areas.

Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives: latest update

McGarry / Conlon headstone, Sligo Town Cemetery.
Photo courtesy Kev Murray
Click image for larger view.

A little later than usual, here's your summary of the records and photos submitted by volunteers and uploaded to Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives in the first half of the month.

MAYO Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Balla Old Cemetery
Teampall Maol Cemetery, Foxford
Westport Road (CoI) Cemetery

SLIGO Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Ahamlish Cemetery - Old, H-W (Transcribed)
Sligo Cem. Middle Pt, Section C (A-Lo)

TIPPERARY Genealogy Archives -
Newspaper Records:
Vindicator, Evicted from Lattera 8 May 1844
Vindicator, Intent to Register to Vote 1846
Miscellaneous:
Vindicator, Licenced for sale of spirits 7 Oct 1846

WESTMEATH Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Crowinstown (Parish of Delvin)

Last shout for Ancestral Connections Summer School

Ancestral Connections:  Roots to the Rising 2016.
UCC's Summer School is now in its fourth year.

Ancestral Connections, the genealogy summer school held at University College Cork (UCC), will be getting underway in just a couple of days time. There's a meet and greet reception on Sunday (26th) evening, with five days of lectures and field trips (not to mention some fun social events) starting on Monday morning.

There are still a few non-residential places available on the course, so if you live locally or can make your own accommodation arrangements, take a look through the timetable and see which day or days you might like to attend.

The full details and costs of the summer school, which is presented by some of Ireland's best-known genealogists, can be found on the UCC website.

Last minute bookings can be made by contacting course co-ordinator Lorna Moloney – E: l.moloney@ucc.ie T: 085-8721184.