Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives: a bumper summer package of volunteer-contributed records

Summer makes the job of clambouring around graveyards taking photographs a little more enjoyable, so it's no real surprise that the latest two-week package from the volunteer team at IGP Archives is jam-packed with headstone photos and memorial transcriptions. Eleven burial grounds have been visited, and the number of names referenced in the resulting files tot up to more than 3,000. In addition, there are about 2,800 transcriptions from church registers and workhouse records.

Deaths at St Martin's Orphanage,
St Otteran's / Ballinaneeshagh, Waterford.
Click for larger image.
Photo courtesy IGPArchives / Valerie Ackroyd.

CARLOW Genealogy Archives – Headstones
Photos and inscriptions: Clonegal, St Brigids RC, Old Part

CAVAN Genealogy Archives – Headstones
Photos and inscriptions: St Michael's Graveyard, Potahee

DONEGAL Genealogy Archives – Headstones
Photos and inscriptions: Carnone Presbyterian Graveyard

DUBLIN Genealogy Archives – Headstones
Photos and inscriptions: Deansgrange Cem., St. Anne's, Pts 3 & 4

LIMERICK Genealogy Archives – Headstones
Photos and inscriptions: St Nicholas Cemetery, Adare

MAYO Genealogy Archives – Headstones
Photos and inscriptions: Mayo Abbey (partial)

MEATH Genealogy Archives – Headstones
Photos and inscriptions: St. Mary's, Navan (Right Side) (R-S)

MONAGHAN & FERMANAGH Genealogy Archives – Church Records
Photos and inscriptions: Clones Parish Marriages 1817-1820 (E. Division) Updated

WATERFORD Genealogy Archives – Headstones & Church Records
Photos and inscriptions: Waterford City, Ballybricken, Holy Trinity Without (Pts 1-3)
Photos and inscriptions: Waterford City, Patrick Street Graveyard
Photos and inscriptions: Waterford City, St Otteran's - Pt 6
Transcriptions of Burials at St. Patrick's Churchyard, 1723-1855 (over 2600 names)

WEXFORD Genealogy Archives – Headstones & Newspapers
Photos and inscriptions: All Saints Church (CoI), Killesk, Duncannon
Transcription: Wexford Independent - Workhouse Entries, 27 July 1864

Emerald Ancestors relaunches with new records

Check out the new-look site

After two or three years without any updates, the Emerald Ancestors website has been relaunched with a modern design, a new pricing structure, and plans for the release of new records to its database.

Getting the ball rolling is the upload of transcribed baptismal records for Faughanvale or St Canice’s Parish Church in the village of Eglinton, Co. Londonderry, which forms part of the Church of Ireland Diocese of Derry & Raphoe.

Dating from 1805 to 1885, records from the Baptismal Registers include the child’s name, date of birth and baptism; the father’s name and mother’s forename; and the townload in which the family lived. Occasional annotations in the registers about the family are also included.

Marriage records 1845–1935 for the same church are already included in Emerald Ancestor's marriage collection from 1845 to 1935.

In addition to new records, the refreshed site has a number of free resources available to family historians, as well as a tree builder.

It's good to see the site back!

Ancestry adds RAF Servicemen, 1918-1940 collection

Ancestry has added the UK RAF Airmen records 1918-1940 collection to its database.

More than 616,000 servicemen are included in these records, and nearly 4,000 of them are Irish-born.

The original records, which are held in AIR 79 by The National Archives in Kew, London, have been partially transcribed by Ancestry. Typically, a search delivers name, gender, age, birth date and place, service number and start date, next of kin and relationship to the airman. Sometimes the mother's name is also provided. See examples (right) of the search results for Bernard Trayner (sic) and William Carroll.

For additional details of the serviceman's record, you need to shift over to Fold 3, Ancestry's specialist military database. (A US$30 discount offer expires tonight, by the way.)

So what extra information is held in the full record? Here's the additional details discovered by viewing the images for these two randomly selected servicemen:

Bernard Traynor
Bernard was born in Tullow, not Tollon as the transcription would have it (no such place exists). The transcription of his surname is incorrect, too. His religion was Church of Ireland and he was an insurance agent when he joined the RAF. A physical description is provided but there are no details regarding his service because it lasted no longer than three and a half months; he deserted on 12 January 1919. His brother James was noted as living at 1 McGowen Terrace, Ranelagh, Dublin.

William Carroll
William's birthplace was noted as Kilcormac (again, the transcription is not correct), a town in King's County, now County Offaly. He was a Roman Catholic and a shop assistant when he enlisted for a two-year engagement as a Rigger. His character was good and his trade proficiency fair or satisfactory. He required treatment for a gum condition and spent part of his service in Egypt. A personal description is provided of William, while the address of Peter, his father, is written as Ballinacorry, which is probably Ballynacarrig, a townland about 4km outside Kilcormac. William was discharged in May 1921 with a total service towards a pension of 2 years and 220 days.

Irish Genealogy Essentials course: Belfast, October

Ulster Historical Foundation logo

The Ulster Historical Foundation (UHF) will be repeating its popular Irish Genealogy Essentials: A Family History course in October.

The course delivers a week of intensive learning, with practical demonstrations using relevant websites and other electronic resources, and a day and a half of guided research in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. Participants will have full access to the Foundation’s research and newspaper library, electronic resources, and the expertise of its staff and researchers. Course materials are included, and so is morning coffee! It is held in central Belfast.

This taught course is designed for those who are relatively new to Irish family history and wish to get to grips with research techniques, archives and genealogical sources in Ireland. It will also be useful to those with more genealogical experience who wish to learn more about lesser-known sources, many of which are not yet online and are available only in the archives.

Course fees are £399.99 for non-Guild members (£374.99 for Guild members). Delegates need to make their own arrangements for accommodation and lunches during the course.

More information and online booking form.

Irish genealogy & heritage events, 31 July-13 August

Monday 31 July to end of year: Out of the Doctor's Bag. Hosts: RCPI in collaboration with the Retired GPs Group of the Irish College of General Practitioners. Venue: RCPI Heritage Centre, 6 Kildare Street, Dublin 2.  Open 10am-4pm, Monday-Friday. Free. All welcome. No booking required.

Thursday 3 August: An Introduction to Irish Genealogy Online, with PJ Smith, Kathy Robins and Lynne Puckett. Host and venue: Billings Public Library, 510 North 28th Street, Billings, Montana, USA. Free. All welcome. 6:30 pm. For more information, T: (406) 657-8258.

Friday 4 August: Thomas Ashe—martyr, musician, sportsman and Gaeilgóir, a History Ireland Hedge School. Venue: Lispole Community Hall, Garrynadur, Lispole, Co. Kerry. Panel includes Mary McAuliffe, Richard McElligott, Joe Higgins and Micheál Ó Moráin. 7:30pm. All welcome.

Saturday 5 August: Irish Names Through History,  with Jacquie Ziegler.  Host and venue: Billings Public Library, 510 North 28th Street, Billings, Montana, USA. Free. From 2:30 to 4 p.m. All welcome.  For more information, call the library on  (406) 657-8258.

Saturday 5 August: Militaria and Medal Fair. Host: Medal Society of Ireland. Venue: Knox Memorial Hall, Monkstown, Co. Dublin. 1pm-5pm. All welcome. Admission: €4/members €2.

Saturday 5 August: Roger Casement and the Irish in Islington, a historical walking tour. Hosts: Wolfe Tone Society London and London Easter 1916-1924 Centenary Committee. Meet at Tube Station, Caledonian Rd, London N7, then walking to HMP Pentonville prison and other areas of interest around South Islington associated with Irish History. Noon to 2pm, approx. Free. Details.

Monday 7 August: Public Holiday in Republic of Ireland. All repositories, archives, libraries etc closed. Free Genealogy Advisory Services at National Archives of Ireland and National Library of Ireland will not be operating.

Tuesday 8 August: Irish Genealogy Hour – hands-on research in the computer classroom. Host and venue: Billings Public Library, 510 North 28th Street, Billings, Montana, USA. Free. All welcome. Noon to 1pm. For more information, T: (406) 657-8258.

Tuesday 8 August: British & Irish newspapers, and Irish Family History Resources Online, two lectures with Chris Paton as part of the Researching Abroad, British Isles & European Ancestors conference taking place 8 and 9 August at Kedron Wavell Services Club, 21 Kittyhawk Drive, Chermside South, Queensland 4032, Australia. 9:00am-4:50pm each day. Day fees apply. Details and registration.

Tuesday 8 August: Genealogical evening, with Dr Paul MacCotter. Host and venue: Franciscan Well Brewery pub, North Mall, Cork City. Introduction to Irish genealogy for beginners; family history and surname origins advice for the more advanced. 8:30pm. Free. No booking required.

Wednesday 9 August: The Big Houses of East Belfast, with Roger Dixon. Part of the Eastside Arts Festival 2017. Host: PRONI. Venue: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 1pm. Free. Advance registration necessary.

Thursday 10 August: Irish nurses in the First World War, with Dr Phylomena Badsey. Hosts: Western Front Association and PRONI. Venue: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast, BT3 9HQ. All welcome. £4 donation requested. 6:30pm to 8:45pm. Details.

Thursday 10 August: Delayed opening at National Library of Ireland. All areas/locations of the National Library in Dublin will remain closed until 11am to facilitate a staff development meeting.

Thursday 10 August: Public tour of WWIreland Exhibition, Exploring the Irish Experience at home and abroad. Host and Venue: National Library of Ireland, 2/3 Kildare Street (next door to main building), Dublin 2. Free. 2pm. No booking required.

Thursday 10 August: Waterford's medieval walls, an evening fieldtrip. Host: Waterford Archaeological & Historical Society. Venue: Meet in the Applemarket, Waterford City at 7pm. All welcome. Members free. Non-members €5.

Friday 11 August: Behind-the-Scenes Tour of PRONI, with archival staff. Covers the research areas, the sorting, listing and cataloguing of new materials, the secure stores, the Conservation Suite and the Photography Studio. Host and Venue: Hosts: The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and the Belfast Titanic Society. Venue: PRONI, 2 Titanic Blvd, Titanic Quarter, Belfast, BT3 9HQ. Free. Two identical two-hour tours: choose 10am or 2pm. Register.

Friday 11 August to Sunday 13 August: The Irish Fair of Minnesota. The largest free Irish fair in the USA takes place this weekend, with entertainment, Celtic Kitchen, a cultural area, vendors. Family history help will be on offer from the Irish Genealogical Society International stand. Venue: Harriet Island, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. Open Friday, Noon to 7pm; Saturday & Sunday, 10am to 6pm. More details.

25% discount on DNA kits from Ancestry IE/UK

Ancestry UK is offering a 25% discount on the cost of its DNA testing kits for customers in the UK and Ireland.

This reduces the basic price as follows:

Pay in Euros: Price reduces from €95 to €70. Postage and packing costs are additional.

Pay in Sterling: Price reduces from £79 to £59. Postage and packing costs are additional.

The discount will be available until Thursday 3 August

I'm not sure if similar savings apply in Ancestry's other geographical territories. I shall endeavour to find out. Ancestry make this difficult, thanks to their wretched geo locator.

New user-guides from Registry of Deeds Index Project

The Registry of Deeds Index Project has been updated with the latest entries submitted by its growing volunteer team. It now holds 247,262 entries from 27,664 memorials of deeds. They're all free to search.

Starting page for the Townland Index for townlands
starting with the letter C in County Cork, 1810-1819.

Additionally, Index Project manager Nick Reddan FIGRS and one of the stalwart volunteers, Roz McCutcheon, have added more guides to finding townlands in the Townland Index.

Follow this Find Townland Letter link and use the drop down menu to select the county and time period you are researching.

The next page allows you to search for a townland using the first letter of its name. Your selection will take you to either the first page or the end page of the appropriate imaged films now available free of charge at FamilySearch.org.

Similar Guides to the Grantor Index Films are also available on the site.

FamilySearch's ongoing upload of images of the Registry of Deeds Indexes has brought renewed vitality to this important volunteer project, and there are now several guides to help researchers become better acquainted with the huge record collection in Dublin, the online Index Project, and the FamilySearch images. The selection can be found here.

The Church of Ireland and the Irish Convention, 1917

On this day, 100 years ago, the Irish Convention opened in Trinity College Dublin. Taking place just over a year since the Easter Rising, the Convention was an attempt by the British Government to keep nationalist and unionist Ireland together as a single political entity; the objective was to bring Irishmen together to resolve the problem of Home Rule and to draft a political settlement satisfactory to a broad spectrum of interests.

The Church of Ireland Gazette's
“The Week” column, 27th July 1917.

It was a vain hope and ended in failure, and it was the last time that all of Ireland participated in political negotiations to find a solution to the Irish question before Partitition in 1921.

The Government invited the two Church of Ireland archbishops of Armagh and Dublin to attend and engage in the discussions. Additionally the Roman Catholic hierarchy was represented by the Archbishop of Cashel and the bishops of Down, Raphoe and Ross, and the Presbyterian Church in Ireland by its Moderator.

Previously hidden aspects of the Church of Ireland’s input and influence on the Irish Convention have been brought to light in a new online exhibition (link below) from the RCB Library – the Church’s record repository and reference library.

The exhibition draws on the rich resources of the weekly Church of Ireland Gazette for insight to what could be considered as the moderate and middle-ground opinion of the period. Editions of the Gazette published between 1890 and 1923 are freely searchable online.

View the new online exhibition, “Good Wishes for the Great Adventure”: The Church of Ireland & the Irish Convention, 1917.

Irish genealogy, heritage & history, 24 July to 6 August

Tuesday 25 July: Researching your Church of Ireland ancestors with Sandra Doble MAGI. Host: National Archives of Ireland's 2017 Lecture Programme. Venue: Reading Room, National Archives, Bishop Street, Dublin 8. Free. All welcome. 6pm. No booking required.

Tuesday 25 July: Genealogical evening, with Dr Paul MacCotter. Host & venue: Franciscan Well Brewery pub, North Mall, Cork City. Introduction to Irish genealogy for beginners; family history and surname origins advice for the more advanced. 8:30pm. Free. No booking. Just turn up.

Wednesday 26 July: ‘Poet of the blackbirds’ — the life and death of Francis Ledwidge, a History Ireland Hedge School, with editor Tommy Graham, Michael O’Flanagan, Eunan O’Halpin, Miriam O’Flanagan, Robert Ballagh, Liam O’Meara. Venue: Richmond Barracks gymnasium, Inchicore, Dublin 8. Free. No booking required. 7pm.

Wednesday 26 July: Irish genealogy help session, with Lisa Walsh Dougherty. Host and venue: Paul O'Dwyer Library, Irish American Heritage Museum, 370 Broadway, Albany, New York, USA. 11am to 2pm. Free. No booking required.

Wednesday 26 July: Genealogy for beginners, with Lisa Walsh Dougherty. Host and venue: Pember Library, 33 West Main Street, Granville, NY, USA. 6:30pm.

Friday 28 and Saturday 29 July: The Markievicz-Patridge Centenary Seminar. Host: Irish Labour History Society. Venues in Ballaghaderreen, Gurteen and Sligo. Full details.

Friday 28 to Sunday 30 July: West Cork History Festival. Venue: In the grounds of Rosebank, the former dower house of the Liss Ard estate, Russagh, Castletownshend Road, Skibbereen. Co Cork. Lectures, panel discussions, screening. Programme. Tickets required for individual events. Day and Weekend passes also available.

Thursday 3 August: An Introduction to Irish Genealogy Online, with PJ Smith, Kathy Robins and Lynne Puckett. Host and venue: Billings Public Library, 510 North 28th Street, Billings, Montana, USA. Free. All welcome. 6:30 pm. For more information, T: (406) 657-8258.

Friday 4 August: Thomas Ashe—martyr, musician, sportsman and Gaeilgóir, a History Ireland Hedge School. Venue: Lispole Community Hall, Garrynadur, Lispole, Co. Kerry. Panel includes Mary McAuliffe, Richard McElligott, Joe Higgins and Micheál Ó Moráin. 7:30pm. All welcome.

Saturday 5 August: Irish Names Through History,  with Jacquie Ziegler.  Host and venue: Billings Public Library, 510 North 28th Street, Billings, Montana, USA. Free. From 2:30 to 4 p.m. All welcome.  For more information, call the library on  (406) 657-8258.

Saturday 5 August: Militaria and Medal Fair. Host: Medal Society of Ireland. Venue: Knox Memorial Hall, Monkstown, Co. Dublin. 1pm-5pm. All welcome. Admission: €4/members €2.

Saturday 5 August: Roger Casement and the Irish in Islington, a historical walking tour. Hosts: Wolfe Tone Society London and London Easter 1916-1924 Centenary Committee. Meet at Tube Station, Caledonian Rd, London N7, then walking to HMP Pentonville prison and other areas of interest around South Islington associated with Irish History. Noon to 2pm, approx. Free. Details.

Free access to Ancestry UK's military collection

Ancestry UK has opened up its UK Military Collection this weekend. It's a BIG collection of records, giving researchers access to millions of records covering more than 300 years of military service and conflict. Included are several datasets from Ireland, Canada, Australia & New Zealand, and South Africa.

Among the 100 datasets included in this free access weekend are:

UK, British Prisoners of War, 1939-1945UK, WWI Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920
UK, Army Registers of Soldiers' Effects, 1901-1929
UK, Military Campaign Medal and Award Rolls, 1793-1949
UK, Naval Officer and Rating Service Records, 1802-1919
Web: UK, WWII Medals Issued to Merchant Seamen, 1939-1945
British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920

You can view the full list of databases included in the free weekend here.

To take advantage of this four-day free access weekend, you'll need a free registered account with Ancestry UK. If you don't already have one, you'll find it's quick and easy to set up. Start searching for your ancestor on the free access search page and provide your name and email address when prompted. Ancestry will then send you a username and password; once signed in, you'll have access to all the records.

The free access period will end at 11:59pm (BST) on Monday 24 July.