Irish genealogy course starts 27 March in Phoenix

A six-week course in Irish genealogy will be starting next week at the McClelland Irish Library in Phoeniz, Arizona.

Led by local genealogist Robert Wilbanks, this in-depth series of classes will concentrate on tracing family history through U.S. records back to the Irish immigrant. It covers online and traditional research, and organizational techniques using census, land, naturalization and church records.

The classes will be held on Thursdays, 6:30–8:30pm, from 27 March to 1 May.

Cost: $70 for members/$80 for non-members.

Venue: McClelland Irish Library, 1106 North Central Avenue in downtown Phoenix, adjacent to the Irish Cultural Center, in the Margaret T. Hance Park

Details.

We're down to weeks, rather than months

Here's an update and round-up of the much anticipated record collections working their way onto the online environment in the next month or so.

General Register Office of Northern Ireland's bmd facility: No change to previous advice (see blogpost) that GRONI's new pay-to-view system will be 'soft launched' on Monday 31 March to researchers using GRONI's public search room in Belfast. All being well, the new system will hit the Internet a couple of weeks later.

National Archives of Ireland's Census Fragments and Census Search Forms: The test site is now operating but is still being tweaked. Catriona Crowe is writing the explanatory text and expects these two collections to be live on the free NAI Genealogy site in a matter of weeks. My impression is that these record sets could see an Easter delivery, but that's me talking, nothing official. These records will also be available free of charge on NAI's Genealogy site, FindMyPast and FamilySearch.

National Archives of Ireland's Griffith's Valuation House and Field books: Progress came to an abrupt halt when it was discovered that the catalogue listing of this collection was, shall we say, a bit pear-shaped. For example, when a House Book was being 'called up', you might find you've received a Field Book. So while this record set is still in the pipe, it's nowhere near the far end yet. A new list will have to be created and the database completely reworked. The good news is that the books have all been scanned, so it's not right back to the start.

National Archives of Ireland's Wills and testamentary collections: Still billed for later in the year.

General Register Office's civil registration records on IrishGenealogy.ie: Still no date for launch of the so-called 'enhanced' version of Ireland's civil registration indexes. Although it's still being talked about as if it's imminent, I wouldn't be surprised if this addition to the website is not completed in April.

Additions of maps to Griffith's Valuation database on AskAboutIreland: The upload (see previous blogpost) is now 'very close', I'm told. It's taken a bit longer than originally expected because many thousands of the maps crossed county borders and needed to be 'geographically' cropped. The final steps are now being taken and the upload will begin shortly. The upload process has not yet been confirmed but it seems likely it will be done county-by-county.

Argentinian censuses record 19th-century Irish

Ancestry has uploaded the 1865 census of Argentina and the 1895 census of Argentina to its database. The 1865 census was the first national census taken in the country and it holds returns for 1,799,773 individuals including a small Irish community mostly centred on Buenos Aires. The 1895 census was the second national census and holds 3.9m records.

Recent research suggests around 50,000 Irish emigrated to Argentina in the 19th century, so it's no surprise to find Doyles, Carthys and Driscolls among the entries in these record sets.

The original census records are held at the Archivo General de la Nación in Buenos Aires. They're written in Spanish but it's easy enough to translate the categories and responses if that's not a language with which you're familiar. The information provided includes name, age, nationality, marital status, occupation, literacy and residence. Unfortunately, only if born in Argentina are details provided of the individual's birthplace.

Potentially more helpful is the 1855 Buenos Aires census, also new to Ancestry. This census of the capital holds details of 132,000 people,including a couple of hundred Irish. Many of the entries include a place of birth. We're not talking townland level, but some indication of locality is provided. Below are a few examples:

• Maria Kelly, a 22 year old, married domestic servant was born in Mullingar and had lived in Buenos Aires for six years
  
• Daniel Carthy, a 21-year-old single labourer who'd been in Buenos Aires for just one year, came from Cork.
  
• Tomas Higgins, a 20-year-old batchelor cook was born in Westmeath* and had lived in Argentina capital for 8 years

*As with many of the early Irish migrants to Argentina, Tomas was recorded as of English nationality but his place of birth shows this to be incorrect.

All three of these record sets are also available free of charge, with images, on FamilySearch.

Minister launches Inspiring Ireland in USA

Jimmy Deenihan TD, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has launched Inspiring Ireland at Stanford University, California.

Inspiring Ireland is an ambitious online project designed to bring Ireland's renowned national collections to a global audience.

Some of the country's most treasured cultural assets from national museums, libraries, galleries, archives and theatre have been digitised and photographed to a very high standard and can now be viewed free of charge at a new interactive website called, you guessed it, Inspiring-Ireland.ie.

The project is a collaboration between the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, the Digital Repository of Ireland, the National Library, the National Museum, the National Gallery, the National Archives, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the Crawford Art Gallery, the Chester Beatty Library and the Abbey Theatre.

The launch site features a core exhibition – A Sense of Place – accompanied by two further exhibitions: A Sense of Freedom, and A Sense of Identity. These three exhibitions are populated with more than 100 fully searchable objects, including digitised paintings, letters, sculpture, historical objects, photography, letters and documents, and ephemera.

Speaking at the launch, Minister Deenihan commented: "It gives me great pride to launch Inspiring Ireland. Ireland’s national cultural institutions hold collections that are of great international significance. They chart the story of Ireland, from pre-Christian and medieval times to the modern day. And they hold as part of their collections treasures of international importance drawn from the across the globe.

"Inspiring Ireland will also support the digitisation and preservation of Ireland's digital cultural heritage for future generations, showcasing once again Ireland's growing reputation as a centre for the innovative use of digital technology."

Irish genealogy and history events 18–22 March 2014

Tuesday 18 March: The Irish genealogies – Irish history’s poor relation? Dr Nollaig Ó Muraíle will present the Breandán O’Buachalla Memorial Lecture. Host: Irish Texts Society. Venue: National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Free, no booking required. 6:30pm.

Tuesday 18 March: Visual imagery of the Great War, with Marie Bourke. Venue: Lecture Theature, National Gallery of Ireland, Merrion Square West, Dublin 2. 10:30am. Free.

Tuesday 18 March: The Battle of Clontarf story in 18th and 19th-century Irish manuscripts, with Meidhbhin Ni Urdail. Part of the RIA's lunchtime lecture series Spring 2014. Venue: Meeting Room, RIA, 19 Dawson St, Dublin 2. 1–2pm. Free. All welcome.

Tuesday 18 March to 4 July: Exhibition: The Fifth Province: County Societies in Irish America. This exhibition is dedicated to the many men and women who tried to establish a bit of ‘home’ in the United States by joining county societies, most notably the United Irish Counties Association which was set up as an umbrella body in 1904. Free admission. All welcome. Linenhall Library, Belfast. Details.

Wednesday 19 March: The road to revolution and partition 1885–1925, with Dr Eamon Phoenix, and The Protestant Churches and the Third Home Rule Crisis, 1912-14, with Professor Laurence Kirkpatrick. Venue: Iveagh Cinema, Banbridge, Co Down. Free. 8pm.

Wednesday 19 March: A new perspective on the Irish Citizen Army, with Ann Matthews. Host: Old Dublin Society. Venue: Dublin City Library & Archive, 138–144, Pearse Street, Dublin. 6:30pm.

Wednesday 19 March: Kidnapped, Transported, Forgotten. White Slave Children in
Colonial America, 1660-1720, with Dr. Richard Hayes Phillips. Venue: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 1:00 to 2:00pm. Free but booking essential. Email PRONI to secure your place at proni@dcalni.gov.uk.

Wednesday 19 March: Rocky Road to Dublin: Easter Rising Reflections, with Cliff Housley. Venue: Five Leaves Bookshop, 14a Long Row, Nottingham NG1 2DH. 7.30pm-9.00pm. Tickets: £3 on the door. Refreshments included. Tel: 0115 8373097.

Wednesday 19 March: Irish Genealogy 101, with Lisa Dougherty. Rescheduled from storm-hit previous Wednesday. Venue: Irish American Heritage Museum, Broadway, Albany, NY. 6:30pm. Free.

Wednesday 19 March: Portrait of an Edwardian Town, with Peter Pearson. Host: Dún Laoghaire Borough Historical Society. Venue: Kingston Hotel, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin. 8pm. €3.50.

Wednesday 19 March: Why you can't find your ancestors even though they're there, with John Grenham. Venue: Armagh Irish and Local Studies Library, 43 Abbey St, Armagh BT61 7DY. 12:30–2:30pm. Free but need to book. Phone:028 3752 3142.

Thursday 20 March: Impact of the Great War on Ireland with Philip Orr. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society North Down & Ards Branch. Venue: 1st Presbyterian Church Hall, Main Street, Bangor, Co Down. 7:30pm.

Thursday 20 March: 'Under the great comedian's tomb', the funeral of Parnell, with Frank Callanan. Host: TCD. Venue: Milestone Gallery, Glasnevin Cemetery Museum, Dublin. 7pm. Tickets: €10. Booking: +353 (0)1 882 6550.

Thursday 20 March: Offaly & the First World War, with Michael Byrne. Host: Offaly Historical and Archaeological Society. Venue: Offaly History Centre, Bury Quay, Tullamore. 8pm.

Thursday 20 March: First World War sources at PRONI, an evening of presentations. Venue: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 6:00-8:00pm. Details. Free but booking essential, here.

Friday 19 March: Women in the Irish Census of 1911: How much has changed in 100 years?, with Catriona Crowe. Venue: Newry City Library, Hill St, Newry, Down BT34 1DG. 12:45–2:30pm. Free but need to book. Phone: 028 3026 4683.

Friday 21 March: Midlands men in the American Civil War, with Damian Shiels. Host: Edenderry Historical Society. Venue: Edenderry Parish Centre (behind St Mary's RC Church). 8pm. All welcome. Admission €2.

Saturday 22 March: Commemoration of the (1914) Irish Citizen Army March. Venue: Liberty Hall, Dublin. 3-4pm, includes a performance, music and a lecture with Ann Matthews on the foundation of the ICA. Free. All welcome.

Irish Genealogical Research Society competition

To celebrate St Patrick's Day, the Irish Genealogical Research Society is offering family historians the chance to win a free membership subscription.

All you have to do is send an email with details of your name and home town to be entered into a draw that will be made on Wednesday. Ten lucky people will be given a full membership to the Society for 2014.

There are more details on the Society's website, IrishAncestors.ie.

Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives: latest update

Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives (IGP-web) have added the following files in the first two weeks of March:

CARLOW Genealogy Archives - Memorial Cards
New Memorial Cards added

DONEGAL Genealogy Archives - Church Records
List of Marriage Lines (Dispensations) St. Eunan's Letterkenny 1857

DUBLIN Genealogy Archives
Deansgrange Cemetery – St. Brigids Section, pt 6
Transcription – Sketches of Booterstown and Donneybrook, printed 1874 (Burials)

FERMANAGH Genealogy Archives – Miscellaneous
Tenants from Mullynaskea and Cavancarragh

KILDARE Genealogy Archives – Memorial Cards
New Cards Added

TYRONE Genealogy Archives
Church Records – Deaths Records at Kilskeery Church of Ireland 1796 - 1897
Headstones – Killskeery Parish Church (CoI) (partial)

WICKLOW Genealogy Archives – Church Records
Assorted Church records for MILEY

FindMyPast adds 2.3m Passenger List records

FindMyPast has added 2,358,804 passenger records to its databases.

The new record sets are these (number of entries in brackets):

• Baltimore Passenger Lists 1846-1851 (187)
  
• Boston Passenger Lists 1846-1851 (90,262)
  
• New Orleans Passenger Lists 1846-1851 (71,505)
  
• New York Passenger Lists 1846-1890 (2,149,308)
  
• Philadelphia Passenger Lists 1846-1851 (47,542)

MyHeritage opens passenger records for St Patrick's

Here's one more special offer for your genealogical feasting this St Patrick's weekend.

MyHeritage will give you free access to its collection of 604,596 records of passengers who arrived in New York from 1846 to 1851 ie covering the key years of the Great Hunger. In addition to advising details of the ship they sailed on, these records provide the following information: name, age, last residence, destination, passenger arrival date and occupation. Many records contain additional detail.

Free access is available here and will continue until 23:59hrs (EST) on Monday 17 March. There's no sign-up/registration required.

Final countdown to Genealogy Day in Limerick!

This time tomorrow, the doors to Christ Church on Limerick's O'Connell Street, will have opened on Genealogy Day, an absolute must-visit event for anyone who's curious about their family heritage and local history.

The venue will be full of stands, genealogists and historians, and visitors will have plenty of opportunity to interact with these specialists, to search genealogical records online and to browse through historical documents.

One of the highlights of G-Day is its collection of original church registers from Methodist, Presbyterian and Quaker parishes in and around the City. The registers for St Michael's Roman Catholic parish, which date back to 1777, will also be available, but only around the lunchtime period. This in a rare opportunity to view original baptism and marriage records (there will also be rollbooks for St Michael's National School on Pery Square), and it's being presented to the public under the guidance of Limerick Council Archivist Jacqui Hayes who has set up the systems and protocols for handling and accessibility.

Those with local connections will also want to chat to Limerick Genealogy, Clare Roots Society, Shanid Historical Society, Thomond Archaeological and Historical Society, the Limerick Chapter of the Irish Georgian Society, the Limerick International Brigades Memorial Trust and the region's two major repositories: Limerick Museum & Archives and the Local Studies department of Limerick City Library. Margaret Franklin will also be on hand to help local researchers and to talk about her recently updated edition of Tracing your Limerick Ancestors; published by Flyleaf Press, this is an essential reference tool for any researcher with family links to the county.

While there is certainly an emphasis on the local and family history of County Limerick and neighbouring County Clare, those whose ancestors came from other parts of the island will be well catered for. Teams from the Irish Ancestry Research Centre, Eneclann, and the Association of Professional Genealogists in Ireland (APGI) will be on hand to answer queries and offer guidance to family historians, whether they are just starting their research or are further along, and you can also find out about Ancestral Connections, a one-week genealogy school to be held at University College Cork this summer.

This year's Genealogy Day will also have a special emphasis on the 100th-year anniversary of the start of the First World War, so the Royal Munster Fusiliers Association will be in attendance. The Association has its own private database of Irishmen who fought in WW1 and will be able to offer tips about searching for British military records.

Also marking Ireland's Decade of Centenaries will be a team from Trinity College Dublin's 'Letters of 1916' project, which will be set up with a projector in a dedicated room just inside the Chambers Buildings. This ground-breaking project aims to create a crowd-sourced digital collection of letters written around the time of the Easter Rising (1 November 1915 – 31 October 1916). The project will include letters held at institutions (in Ireland and abroad), alongside those in private collections and will feature letters by private individuals, soldiers, and officials, with comment about the world around them: the Easter Rising, literature and art, the Great War, politics, business, or ordinary life.

If you have family letters that might even possibly fit the bill, please bring tham along to Genealogy Day. If you don't have any such letters, never mind. You can still get involved in the project by helping to transcribe those that have been submitted by others. Be sure to find out more about Letters of 1916 on Saturday. It's a fascinating project.

A short talk by Brian Donovan of FindMyPast.ie about online genealogical records and an informal Questions & Answers session will round up the day at about 4pm.

It's St Patrick's weekend in Ireland's City of Culture, so of course, there's a load of other events being held, but G-Day really is a very special occasion – it won't cost you a cent/penny, either – and you'll kick yourself if you miss it!