PRONI on video

The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, PRONI, has released a short (3.23min) video about its work and its purpose. Stephen Scarth, PRONI's Head of Public Services, talks about the various services, the current popularity of family history research, and the repository's efforts to make records more accessible.

Part of the video was filmed at the recent launch of the Griffith's Valuation Revision Books.

RootsIrelands adds more Monaghan records

Great news for researchers with Monaghan ancestors. The Irish Family History Foundation's Monaghan Genealogy has added some new records to the RootsIreland database.

The record sets are:

1821	:	1821 Census Abstracts
1872–1919	:	Registry Office Marriage Records for Clones
1845–1912	:	Registry Office Marriage Records for Castleblaney
1872–1920	:	Clones Wesleyan Methodist Church Marriages
1847–1919	:	Cootehill Circuit Methodist Church Baptims (Ematris)
1868–1921	:	Monaghan Wesleyan Methodist Church Marriages

(And No, before anyone asks, I don't know what's happening to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Clogher bmd records that the state-run IrishGenealogy.ie has been promising for a year and more.)

Autumn events for Irish Family History Society

The Irish Family History Society has organised its two Autumn events, as follows:

Saturday 12 October: All Day Genealogy Seminar

10:00am	:	Registration
10:30am	:	Estate Rentals, with Dr. James Ryan.
11:30am	:	Killester and its families: the story of the Soldiers and Sailors homes, with Margaret Bonar & Elizabeth Craven.
12:30–2pm	:	LUNCH (at own expense)
2:15pm	:	The Landed Estates Database: a resource for family and local history, with Marie Boran & Brigid Clesham.
3:15pm	:	Sources for tracing children in care in Ireland prior to 1952, with Fiona Fitzsimons.

Saturday 9 November: Morning meeting

10:00am	:	Registration
10:30am	:	Gathering Church of Ireland records, with Dr. Susan Hood.
11:30am	:	Archives of the Royal Dublin Society, with Natasha Serne.

Venue: Both events will be held at Dublin City Library & Archive, Pearse St., Dublin 2.

Booking: There's no need to book for these events. They are free, and everyone is welcome to attend. IFHS website.

Another Wexford 'small source' from Flyleaf Press

And yet another of Flyleaf Press's Small Sources! (That's five in less than a month, and they're growing into a useful collection.)

This time, the 'small source' is an 1850 Workmen's account book from the Thomas Meyler Estate in the townland of Harristown, Kilcavan Parish, Co Wexford. It holds details of labourers and the payments made to them and their families. Take a look.

IGRS Marriage Finder rushes past 50,000 milestone

With more than 25,000 unions entered in the database, the Irish Genealogical Research Society's Marriage Finder has now reached 50,000 names.

The Marriage Finder is a unique resource, put together by Roz McCutcheon FIGRS, and is already becoming invaluable to those seeking references to pre-civil registration marriages of Irish brides and grooms.

It comprises information gathered from an array of unusual and under-utilised sources. Chancery bills, diaries, deeds, marriage settlements, memorial inscriptions, wills, family letters and newspaper cuttings are just a few of the many sources consulted.

The database is free to access on the Society's website, IrishAncestors.ie.

Kilbane headstone transcriptions and photos donated

Some 378 headstone transcriptions and photos for Kilbane graveyard have been added to the wonderful and ever-growing Clare County Library website.

The burial ground adjoins St Mary's church in Kilbane, which is situated in the Glenomera Valley between Broadford and Killaloe, Co Clare. The deaths recorded date from 1883 to 2010, with the most popular names being Vaughan, Moroney, Ryan, Gunning, Hogan, Whelan, Woods, O’Halloran and Carmody.

The transcriptions have been donated by Anne-Marie Boland and can be viewed here.

Halloween conference on Witchcraft at PRONI

To mark the publication of Dr Andrew Sneddon’s new book Possessed by the Devil: The Real History of the Islandmagee Witches & Ireland's Only Witchcraft Mass Trial (History Press Ireland, 2013), PRONI will be hosting an evening conference looking at various aspects of belief in the supernatural in Ireland before the Twentieth Century.

Date? 31 October, of course.

The evening will start with refreshments at 5:30pm, before the Conference presentations begin at 6pm.

The following lectures will be presented:

• Portrayals of Witchcraft, Gender and Sexuality in Early Modern Imagery, with Cara Hanley
  
• Mary Butters: the Carnmoney Witch, 1807-8, with John Fulton
  
• Demonic Possession, Exorcism and the Roman Catholic Clergy in the Pre-famine Period, with Jodie Shevlin
  
• Writing the History of Witchcraft and Magic in Ireland, with Andrew Sneddon

All four speakers are from the University of Ulster. Admission is FREE but booking is essential at proni@dcalni.gov.uk. UPDATE: This event was fully booked within a couple of days. A 'reserve' booking system has been set up, so email if you'd like to be added to the list. (If you've already booked but then find you can't go, be sure to email PRONI so that your seats can be offered to someone on the reserve list.)

Another 'Small Source': Quansbury Estate, Co Galway

Flyleaf Press has published another of its Small Sources ie material collated for the Tracing Your Ancestors' series that didn't quite make it to the printed books. This time, it's the turn for the Tenants of Quansbury Estate.

This estate is in the parish of Kilquain (Fahy/Quansboro), Co Galway, and the document comprises a list of estate tenants and their rents in 1777-78.

Latest issue of HistoryIreland published

The September/October edition of HistoryIreland magazine is now in the shops.

In contrast to the summer's Lockout Special, which was completely dedicated to the events of 1913, this issue has a wide spread of subjects. They include Ireland's neutrality during WW2, the engineering feat of Dún Laoghaire's harbour, a murder at a 1921 cricket match played at Trinity College, Ogham markings dating to the 9th century, and the portrayal of famine fever and infection by author William Carleton.

There's also a feature about female suicides by drowning in the Victorian era by Eleanor Fitzsimons, as well as the first of a new series by 'our own' Fiona Fitzsimons of Eneclann, who will be exploring Irish family history source material and making the case for genealogy as a branch of 'real' history.

With its usual crop of book, tv and museum reviews, it's another excellent issue from the HistoryIreland team. There's even a special offer from FindMyPast.ie to accompany new subscriptions to the magazine.

Pick up your copy in store or subscribe online.

1795 Black List shows no love lost for Arthur Guinness

The Document of the Month from the National Archives of Ireland is the 1795 Black List of Members of the Corporation of Dublin who had voted against a petition to preserve Protestantism in Ireland.

Among the names is Arthur Guinness, founder of Ireland's famous brewery.

Judging by their comments (of Guinness – 'self interest is his predominant position'), the blacklisters were a tad annoyed.

See the document.