RootsIreland launches Gift Vouchers

Just right for the Christmas stocking! The Irish Family History Foundation has launched a range of gift vouchers which can be exchanged for credits on RootsIreland.ie's database.

The vouchers are available in denominations of €25.00 and €50.00 and are valid for one year from date of purchase. You can find out more, including the precise terms and conditions, on the website via the My Account/Top Up page.

Eagle-eyed visitors to the site will also notice that two counties on the home page map have turned orange. Apparently, some records for counties Clare and Carlow will be joining the RootsIreland database some time soon-ish. No details about what and when are available yet.

Three Irish courses at Society of Genealogists, London

The Society of Genealogists in London has recently announced its full line up of courses for 2014. Included are three Irish-themed half day sessions, as follows:

• Irish records – Beyond the obvious, with Roz McCutcheon FIGRS and Jill Williams FIGRS. After a brief summary of the usual sources, the course will cover the huge variety of lesser known sources, both online and offline. Date: Saturday 8 February. 10:30am to 1:00pm. Cost: £20. Booking.
• Scottish and Irish Immigration, with Maggie Loughran. (No further details posted, but the title is clear enough!) Date: Saturday 19 July. 2:00pm to 5:00pm. Cost: £20. Booking.
• Irish Rentals and Census records, with Dr Jim Ryan of Flyleaf Press fame, exploring Irish rentals – the information they hold, and where and how they can be accessed. Date: Saturday 16 August. 2:00pm to 5:00pm. Booking.

These courses are held at the Society of Genealogists, 14 Charterhouse Buildings, Goswell Road, London EC1M 7BA.

Ireland's oldest town: Ballyshannon exhibition opens

A new exhibition opening today in Ballyshannon investigates the claim that Ballyshannon is Ireland's Oldest Town. The exhibition, which has been developed as part of the Donegal County Museum's 'History on your Doorstep' project, puts forward a compelling argument based on archaeological and archival evidence.

Shane Toolan of Ballyshannon Museum believes that this is a very important exhibition for the town of Ballyshannon. “It has been a long held belief that Ballyshannon is the oldest settled place in Ireland," he said. "And this exhibition sets out the case in a clear and easily understood way."

The museum team worked with a small group of people to study books, archives, objects found in the local area and archaeology and have been able to put together an evidenced account that shows settlement in the area for centuries.

The launch of the exhibition will take place at the Abbey Centre, Ballyshannon, and will be followed by a talk and Q&A about the Oldest Town claim at 8pm.

Doors open at 7.30pm. Admission is free.

After the event the exhibition will be on permanent display in the newly restored and redeveloped Ballyshannon Museum on the top floor of Slevin’s Department Store. Open Monday–Saturday, 10am to 6pm.

Lord Morpeth's Roll arrives in Belfast

The Morpeth Roll, the 1841 document holding some 160,000 signatures gathered from across the island, will go on display in Belfast tomorrow.

Before the exhibition opens, a symposium will be held in the Canada Room from 3:00pm to 4:30pm. The formal launch of the exhibition will then be held, at 4:30pm, in the Naughton Gallery, Lanyon Building, Queen's University, Belfast BT7 1NN.

All are welcome to attend, and the events are free.

On display until 24 January 2014, the exhibition is hosted by Special Collections and Archives and the School of History and Anthropology in association with the Naughton Gallery. The Symposium is in association with the Ulster Society for Irish Historical Studies.

The Morpeth Roll can be searched on Ancestry. The index is free to search, but you need a subscription to view the images. Ronald Reagan's ancestors were recently discovered among the signatures. Other famous connections to the Roll include the British Royal Family, and the Guinness and Beamish families.

325 years later: Lundy finally goes on trial

Lundy's ultimate fate is unknown

A new website will be launched at the Tower Museum Derry~Londonderry on Friday 6 December that might help prove a man’s innocence - 325 years later. Or it may confirm his guilt.

The site – TheTrialOfLundy.com – is the result of a year-long intensive search to unearth the evidence in the case of Lieutenant Colonel Robert Lundy. Dr Andrew Robinson and Dr Billy Kelly of the University of Ulster’s Magee campus have produced a definitive and intriguing account of one of the most controversial and iconic characters in the history of these islands. That evidence may provide the foundation that could grant Lundy the trial he so desperately pleaded for.

Lundy was Military Governor of Derry during the great Siege of 1688/9 but his name is now synonymous with that of a traitor. His effigy, emblazoned with the placard LUNDY THE TRAITOR, is hanged and burned in front of tens of thousands each December in the very streets he once commanded. To this day, the term ‘Lundy’ or ‘latter day Lundy’ is a highly effective weapon of intimidation against those who would question the orthodoxy of Ulster Protestantism and Unionism.

Lundy, himself, was outraged at the slur on his reputation “…'which is deirer to me then my life, for I am called papest, traytor or cowarde,”. He was sure that King William and Queen Mary would reward him for “…being the principal if not the Instrument under God of preserving Londonderry to them’

But King William locked him up in the Tower of London, and the fair trial Lundy demanded was denied to him because, so he assumed, those in power “…haue a minde to make me a sacrafice for their owen faults'.

The authorities at that time decided it was “…neither safe nor practicable to send Lundy into Ireland to be tryed”

But who was at most danger from putting Lundy on trial and what is hidden in the ‘can of worms’ that has been sealed tight for over 300 years?

Produced for the Derry/Londonderry City of Culture2013 by Derry based Besom Productions, the website will also host a brand new online-comic, ‘The Banishment of Doubt’. It picks up the story of the siege from the night Lundy left the city. Based on an original story by Paddy Stevenson and produced by Uproar Comics, it will be serialised in eight episodes over the coming months and promises to be a spectacular adventure.

TheTrialOfLundy.com is an innovative way of telling a complex and intriguing story. It offers an opportunity to share and resolve Lundy's story and the wider story of the Siege itself with new audiences, local and worldwide.

What did your ancestors get up to before Christmas?

Christmas is coming. You may still be in denial (you're not alone!) but here's a gentle way to get you into the mood...

Timeline Research, the service run by Nicola Morris of The Genealogy Roadshow fame and Dr Robert Somerville Woodward, is publishing a daily blog during December telling of how our ancestors prepared for Christmas. Using selected newspaper stories from 1813 to 1922, the blogposts will give a flavour of how Ireland celebrated the festive season many generations ago.

In the first two blogposts of the month, stories have included details of Switzer’s Grand Xmas Bazaar on Grafton Street, where Pongo handed out sweets, and the price of seasonal refreshments such as Guinness’s Celebrated XXX porter – just two shillings six pence a dozen for small bottles and especially recommended to invalids for ‘its nutriments and strengthening qualities’.

Irish genealogy and history events to open December

Tuesday 3 December: Tales from a Country Churchyard and what they tell us about 19th cenutry society,  with Judy Cameron. Host: Kilmacanogue History Society. Venue: Glenview Hotel, Glen of the Downs, Co Wicklow. 8:30pm. All welcome. Admission: Members €2; non-members €3.

Tuesday 3 December: The Irish Life and Lore project, with Maurice O'Keefe. Venue: Tullamore Library, O'Connor Square, Tullamore, Co. Offaly. Phone: 057 93 46832 6:30pm. Free.

Tuesday 3 December: RTE Document Archives, a lecture with Tina Byrne. Host: Irish Society for Archives. Venue: Dublin City Library & Archive, 138-144 Pearse Street, Dublin 2. 6:30pm. Wine Reception at 6pm. Admission free. All welcome.

Wednesday 4 December: Forgetting Ireland's Sites of Independence? Archaeology and the Irish revolution, 1916-23: lost opportunities, with Damiel Shiels. Host: Centre for Contemporary Irish History Seminars. Venue: Neill Hoey Seminar Room, Trinity Long Room Hub Arts & Humanities Research Institute, Trinity College Dublin. 4pm–5pm. Free. All welcome.

Wednesday 4 December: Workhouse records at PRONI, with Ann McVeigh. Venue: Heritage Gallery, Downpatrick Library, Market Street, Downpatrick, Co Down BT30 6LZ. 1pm. Free. Booking essential. Tel: 028 4461 2895.

Thursday 5 December: Escaping the Famine? Skeletal evidence of health of Irish migrants in mid-19th century London, with Natasha Powers. Last of the 5th Annual Irish in Britain Seminar series. Host: Irish Studies Centre. Venue: Room TM1-38, London Metropolitan University, Tower Building, 166-220, Holloway Road, London N7 8DB. 6:30pm to 8pm. Refreshments provided.  Free, but booking required. More information.

Friday 6 December: Memories of Christmas Past: A nostalgic look at Christmas via the Digital Film Archive (1897-2000). Venue: Killyleagh Library,52 High Street, Killyleagh, Co Down BT30 9QF. 1:00pm–1:45pm. Free. Booking advised. Tel: 028 4482 8407.

Saturday 7 December: They Have Rights Who dare Maintain Them, an exhibition and two talks on the formation of the Irish Volunteers, with Gerry White and others. Part of the History to Blame programme. Talks: They Have Rights Who Dare Maintain Them – The formation of the Irish Volunteers, and Baptised in Blood – The formation of the Cork Brigade of Irish Volunteers. From 11am to 4pm. City Library, Grand Parade, Cork. Free.

AncestryIreland releases two new record sets

AncestryIreland, the membership database of the Ulster Historical Foundation, has added the following two record sets to its online collection:

• Ireland’s Memorial Records: A listing of the almost 50,000 Irishmen who gave their lives during World War One 1914–18.
  
• Eden School Register from 1872 to 1945: The school is in Tamlaght O’Crilly parish, Co. Londonderry.

More Church of Ireland record sets are expected to join the line-up shortly.

You can view a list of AncestryIreland's collections here.

End of November updates from IGP Archives

Below are the updates made to Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives in the second half of November.

The number of records now held for Mount Jerome cemetery has broken through the 10,000 milestone, thanks to impressive work by Yvonne Russell, while in the Military & Constabulary file, the 1858 Constabulary records are now being completed and work has started on 1849.


ANTRIM Genealogy Archives - Military & Constabulary
Irish Constabulary 1849

DERRY Londonderry Genealogy Archives Military & Constabulary
Irish Constabulary 1858 partial (Service nos. 22751-24000)

DONEGAL Genealogy Archives
Donegal Abbey (views & some headstones)

DUBLIN Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Mount Jerome, 66 & 67
Deansgrange Cemetery, West Section - Part 4

GALWAY Genealogy Archives - Headstones.
Clontuskert Church (MOYLAN)

KERRY Genealogy Archives - Headstones.
Stradbally Burial Ground

KILKENNY Genealogy Archives - Military
Irish Constabulary

LIMERICK Genealogy Archives - Military & Constabulary
Irish Constabulary 1858 partial (Service nos. 22751-24000)

LAOIS (QUEENS) Genealogy Archives - Headstones.
Timahoe Cemetery (McKENNA)

LEITRIM Genealogy Archives - Military & Constabulary
Irish Constabulary 1858 partial (Service nos. 22751-24000)

LONGFORD Genealogy Archives
St Brigid's Ardagh, Roman Catholic Church, Edgeworthstown Road, Ardagh – photos
Irish Constabulary 1858 partial (Service nos. 22751-24000)

LOUTH Genealogy Archives
Irish Constabulary 1858 partial (Service nos. 22751-24000)

MAYO Genealogy Archives - Military & Constabulary
Irish Constabulary 1858 partial (Service nos. 22751-24000)

MEATH Genealogy Archives
Irish Constabulary 1858 partial (Service nos. 22751-24000)
Hill of Slane (GOW) headstones

MONAGHAN Genealogy Archives - Military
Irish Constabulary 1858 partial (Service nos. 22751-24000)

OFFALY (KINGS) Genealogy Archives - Military & Constabulary
Irish Constabulary 1858 partial (Service nos. 22751-24000)

RCBL's December Archive: Rare images of Belfast 1912

The Representative Church Body Library's Archive of the Month for December allows a study of a rare set of images of the streets of Belfast and the work of the Trinity College Mission in its foundation year of 1912.

The Trinity College Mission in Belfast was established in St Mary’s parish. By the early 20th century, this densely–populated area in the labyrinth of streets between the Shankill and Crumlin Road (where St Mary’s church was located) had been identified as a district of particular need. It housed some of the poorest families in the city, with unemployment rife, properties derelict and health and sanitation needs high.  The 33 black and white photos in this album provide a rare insight to living conditions in the poorest part of the city, and the Church of Ireland’s positive response in this context.

The photos have never been released in digital format before.