Well here it is, Merry Christmas, and to help you survive the festive season, I've gathered some of this month's latest releases of records and videos plus some recent podcasts. Dig in and enjoy. IrishGenealogyNews will be back in early January 2023.
Ireland, Licences To Keep Arms 1832-1836: This Parliamentary report holds the details of 6,352 individuals who were granted licences for firearms and swords by county magistrates at the Quarter Sessions Courts across the island from 1 August 1832 during the years stated. The records note names and residences of the licencees, the type of weapon (guns, pistols, carbines, blunderbusses, swords and bayonets) and the name and address of the county magistrate who approved their licence application. See sample image below.
Northern Ireland, Wills and Administrations, Index, 1621–1858: This collection contains will and administration records from various Dioceses of The Church of Ireland in the six counties that now make up Northern Ireland. The vast majority of the 75,722 records date between 1621 and 1858 and typically contain the name of the deceased, the date and place when the will was signed, probated or administered by letter or by bond. Some records contain the residence of the individual and date of death.
Newspaper BMD announcements (Co. Clare): Part of the Lord Dunboyne collection, 1824–1878, these birth, marriage and death notices span 1824–1855, 1852–1854 and 1850–1855 respectively and were published in The Clare Journal, Limerick Chronicle, The Times, The Clare Freeman, Dublin Evening Mail and the Freeman's Journal. The collection was created by Theobald Fitz-Walter Butler, Lord Dunboyne (1806–1881) and has been transcribed by volunteers and indexed by County Clare Library staff.
Donegal local authority minutes: Donegal County Archives has been busy in the rundown to Christmas, digitising and releasing more of its Urban District and Rural District Councils Minute Books from the Revolutionary period in the early 1900s. During December the following were released: the Letterkenny Urban Council's Minutes 1922 and 1923; Buncrana Urban District Council's Minutes 1913–1916; Bundoran Urban District Council Minutes 1914-1926, and Londonderry No.2 Rural District Council Minutes (covering Burt/Killea/Bridgend & south #Inishowen area of Co. Donegal), 1899–1908. All available in pdf format and free to download.
MemsDead.com – is a brand new website that's been developed by Ciara Chivers of Shamrock Roots to help genealogists make the most of an excellent but underused resource: the Journal of the Journal of the Association for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead in Ireland, which is also known as the Journal of the Irish Memorials Association. The journal was published from 1888 to 1934 and is a treasure trove of headstone inscriptions, many of which can no longer be read or have simply disappeared, but its rewards are notoriously hard won. Memsdead aims to guide you to a greater understanding of the resource, and provides researchers with tools to overcome its difficulties.
PRONI YouTube videos: In the last few weeks, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland has released videos of a number of lectures presented earlier in the year and of interest to genealogists and social historians. Among them is the launch presentation for the online registers for Indoor Relief to the Belfast Workhouse 1892-1921 (BG7/GK); Olympic and Aquitania: Eyeing Up the Competition; The Uses and Abuses of Magic in Modern British and Irish History; and Demonised: 'The Islandmagee Witches, 1711' Project; and Researching armed forces in the 19th and 20th centuries; Records at The National Archives.
Irish History Podcast: This podcast is produced by historian and archaeologist Fin Dwyer and now has a huge library available to enjoy. His last two recordings for 2022 made great listening: A Slum City - Life & Death in Late Victorian Dublin and A Lost Town in the Wicklow Mountains.
IrishGenPod: The Irish GenPod is published by Senior Times magazine (the organisers of the Back To Our Past show) and sees professional genealogist Paul Gorry, FIGRS MAGI interviewing people working in Ireland's genealogy services, archives and related fields. In the autumn series (nos 5–8) he interviews Tom McGrath, author of Unspoken; Susan Hood, archivist of the RCB Library; Andrew and Johathan Martin of the Irish Newspaper Archives; and Steven Smyrl, professional genealogist, campaigner, historian and author.
