Tudor & Stuart Ireland conference, 29-30 August

The fourth Tudor & Stuart Ireland conference will be held at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Co Kildare, on Friday 29 and Saturday 30 August.

Plenary papers:

• 'Love God and hate the Pope’: (un)changing Protestant attitudes towards Catholicism 1600-2000, by Prof. Alan Ford, University of Nottingham
  
• A single witness: Ireland and Europe through the eyes of a small man with a big nose, by Dr John McCafferty, University College Dublin.
  

In addition, 30 research papers will be presented. A tour of Maynooth Castle and a conference dinner are also offered. Draft programme.

More details.

Irish Roots opens new e-store with special offer

Irish Roots Magazine, Ireland's quarterly genealogy title produced in both print and digital format, has a special offer to celebrate the launch of its new e-Store.

The offer allows you to download pdf versions of the seven editions published between December 2012 and March 2014. These issues include features that focus on research in counties Sligo, Cork, Mayo, Galway, and Clare, and on specific record collections such as the Tithe Applotment Books, Ordnance Survey, the Registry of Deeds and Military Service Pensions, as well as bringing expert advice on conducting, progressing and enjoying genealogy research more generally. There are also helpful articles from specialists in Australian and US research.

From the e-Store, just click on the cover pictures to see the full contents of each issue.

Each of the back editions carries a hard copy price of €7, but the pdf version is available at a special price of just $2. I'm not quite sure when the offer ends, so I'd suggest you don't delay.

National Day of Commemoration, Sunday 13 July

The annual National Day of Commemoration, to honour all those Irishmen and Irishwomen who died in past wars or on service with the United Nations, will take place on Sunday 13 July. Ceremonies will be held in Dublin and in other locations in Ireland on that date.

The National Day of Commemoration Ceremony in Dublin will be held in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin. It will be attended by the President, the Taoiseach, the Government and the Council of State, as well as members of Dáil and Seanad Éireann, the Diplomatic Corps, the Judiciary and Northern Ireland representatives.

The next-of-kin of those who died in past wars or on UN service and a wide cross-section of the community including ex-servicemen’s organisations, as well as relatives of the 1916 Leaders, have also been invited.

The ceremony will be open to the public and persons wishing to attend should arrive at Royal Hospital Kilmainham before 10:15 a.m. The ceremony will commence at 10:30am with a multi-faith service of prayer, after which the President will lay a wreath on behalf of the people of Ireland. A representative body from the Defence Forces will also be on parade.

Regional Ceremonies will also be held in the following locations on the same date. Members of the public wishing to attend should arrive from 30 minutes prior to the commencement times indicated below:

CORK: Fitzgerald’s Park, Mardyke, 11:00am
GALWAY: The Quadrangle, National University of Ireland, University Road, 11:00am
KILKENNY: Kilkenny Castle, 11:00am
LIMERICK: Limerick City & Council, City Hall, Merchants Quay, 10:30am
SLIGO: Sligo Borough Council, City Hall, Quay Street, 11:30am
WATERFORD: John Condon Memorial, Cathedral Square, 11:30am

Additionally, Mayo will hold its commemoration ceremony on Sunday 3 August at Memorial Peace Park, Castlebar, at 2:30pm.

Irish birth, marriage and death registers: the future

Those that read to the end of my Making Sense of the GRO Indexes blogpost last week will already know that early plans were announced at the launch reception for the indexes to be joined online by the 'historical' GRO's birth, marriage and death registers.

The announcement has, inevitably, prompted loads of speculation on social media and in forums about how and when these records will become available to genealogists. Rather worryingly, received wisdom already seems to be that the registers are going to join the IrishGenealogy.ie line up and will, therefore, be free. Apparently, this is likely to happen within the year, too.

Now, while I'm not party to the proposed contents of the Amendment Bill or to the work schedules of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, which runs IrishGenealogy.ie, I think there's a need to put the brakes on some of this thinking.

Here's what we know so far:

1. The Civil Registration Act Amendment Bill 2014 will define historical as including all birth entries up to 100 years ago, all marriages up to 75 years ago, and all deaths up to 50 years ago.
   
2. The Civil Registration Act Amendment Bill 2014 will allow for these historical records to be made available online direct to the public.
   
3. Er... that's it.

Which website will host these records? We don't know. Will these records be free? We don't know. How long before they're online? We don't know, but I'd bet all my worldly possessions it won't be within a year!*

My own view (and, yes, I 'm aware of the irony) is that the records won't be free. They never have been and I really can't imagine any state-run facility in broke Ireland voluntarily throwing away a chunk of income.

More important is the issue of considerate behaviour to our neighbours. Let's remember that GRO Ireland's bmd collection incorporates registrations in counties Antrim, Armagh, Derry-Londonderry, Down, Fermanagh and Tyrone. I really can't see GRO Ireland introducing a service that undercuts its counterpart in Northern Ireland, where GRONI's online family history site has proved hugely popular since it launched at the end of March despite its small charge to view copies of bmd certificates.

Time will tell, of course, but I'm sure the GRO will opt for an identical or very similar arrangement to that created in Belfast. Even Dublin's definitiion of 'historical records' perfectly mirrors that adopted in the North.

As to the host website... the IrishGenealogy.ie site currently has no mechanism for taking payment. Doesn't mean a merchant cart couldn't be added, but it seems more probable that the GRO would opt to extend its existing online certificates facility at www.certificates.ie.

My speculation can join the pile.


* Consider: With its vision already well developed, GRONI published an invitation to tender for their digitisation project in June 2012; the site went live a little short of two years later.

New Irish civil registration indexes: one week on

A week ago today, the indexes to the General Register Office's civil registration records of births, marriages and deaths were uploaded* to a microsite on the state-run IrishGenealogy.ie. They are free to search.

The intense excitement of the launch, which had been 'coming soon' since last October, has now given way to slightly calmer searching as researchers become more familiar with the online database, so this seems a good a time as any to summarize some of its features and to mention a few idiosyncracies that may be causing research headaches.

What does the database hold?

Searchable INDEXES to: ALL civil registration records of birth, marriage and death collected on the island of Ireland from 1845/1864 up to and including 1921 and ALL civil registration records collected in the 26 counties of the Irish Free State/Republic of Ireland since 1922 to 2013.

In what way does this index differ from all existing indexes of the same collection?

All pre-existing online indexes originate from microfilms made by the LDS Church in the late 1950s and end with registrations from 1958. The new index holds records right up to 2013 (an unexpectedly recent date!), is state-sanctioned, and includes details added by General Register Office staff to aid identification. While the LDS/FamilySearch index holds 23million records, this new database holds 27million.

Additionally, a new method of referencing the index is being introduced. Instead of the researcher having to 'create' an index reference using the name, year (and quarter) of event, place of registration, volume number and page number, each registration entry is now being assigned a unique Group Registration ID number. Thus far, these ID numbers have been assigned for all births, marriages from about 1901, deaths from 1924. GRO staff will accept certificate applications using either the old or the new reference. If you're quoting the Group Registration ID, you can download a purpose-made application form from John Grenham's website.

What are the real advantages of this index?:

• The Birth Index stretches from 1864 to 2013. The Mother's maiden name is included from 1900, albeit rather inconsistently in the first few years. The actual date of birth is included from 1900 to 1928, again with some inconsistency in the early years, and from 1966 to 2013.
  
• The Marriage Index stretches from 1845 (for non-Catholic marriages) and from 1864 (for all marriages) to 2013. While entries to the turn of the 20th century are recorded, as in pre-existing indexes, with each partner to the marriage entered separately, marriages from 1912 onwards are indexed as a couple ie you don't need to cross-check two entries for the same reference number. There are some 'joint' entries dating from 1903, but certainly not all.
  
• The Death Index stretches from 1864 to 2013. The marital status of the deceased is recorded from 1966.
  

How easy is the database to use?

Quite a few quibbles here. The wording of existing legislation (which envisioned only an offline search facility) requires that researchers wanting to search the indexes 'make an application', so, in order to get access to the online index, you have to fill in a pop-up box with your name and confirm that you are 'making an application'. I'm sure this step will disappear in the near future, perhaps in the Amendment Bill going through parliament, but in the meantime, you can type anything you like in the pop-up box; your details are not being recorded! For speed, just use initials.

Having got through the 'make an application' box, researchers are confronted with a 'captcha'. Personally, I've not had any difficulty reading these, but some researchers have. Again, I suspect this obstacle will the done away with soon. To avoid re-encountering these obstacles during a research session, use the 'New Search' or 'Clear Filter' options.

Once past these obstacles, the database function is so-so. It isn't slick, that's for sure, and although the site has had a bit of a tart up, it's still very old-fashioned in appearance.  On the plus side, it has good drill down options, with searching possible by registration area, by event, and by decade, and it seems to be coping admirably with demand.

Search weirdness

There are a lot of inconsistencies and many mis-transcriptions. Among the oddities I've heard of are pre-fix surnames – Mac/Mc and O' – that sometimes require a space between the prefix and the main name, the absence of second names (especially annoying when the person's christian name is in two parts such as Mary Jane or Mary Ann), and some pretty appalling mis-spellings. As mentioned in an earlier post, I've even found a birth registration from 1842 (Helena Donohue, born in Roscrea), which isn't possible because registration wasn't introduced until 22 years later. It is one of 7,216 entries with either a 'not possible' date or no date at all.

Overall impression

Mis-transcriptions and typos are inevitable in any database. It's difficult to judge at this stage if this one is any better or worse than others in this regard. All I can say is that researchers will, as always, have to be creative in their searching. And use the other online databases, especially the free option at FamilySearch, when necessary. It's unlikely the same mistake will have been made in both versions.

Despite some moans about clunkiness, the general response to the new database has been hugely positive. Even with its imperfections, it is a big improvement on what we've had before, and it will undoubtedly become the first port of call for Irish genealogists. 


* Launch blogpost 1 and follow up blogpost 2

New book explores the mid-C19th role of land agents

A new book, The Irish land agent, 1830-60, The case of King's County by Dr Ciarán Reilly, will be of interest to many genealogists and historians.

The book challenges the long-held stereotype of land agents as the tormentors of tenant farmers, and having identified over 100 men who acted as land agents during the period 1830 to 1860, it examines their role and function during a time when their skills and qualifications were truly tested.

Ciarán Reilly is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre for the Study of Historic Irish Houses and Estates at NUIM. His study of Land Agents in Offaly, then King's County, took more than seven years to research and write, and he's highlighted the following content as likely to be of special interest to readers of Irish Genealogy News.

• The book lists:
  
  • More than 100 land agents who worked in the county
    
  • More than 100 others who worked as stewards, bailiffs, rent warner's etc
    
  • Estates sold in the Incumbered Estates Court in Offaly 1849-60 (75 properties)
  • Major evictions which occurred in Offaly during the Famine
    
• This book highlights the efforts of land agents to promote new farming methods and crops and challenges the social memory of land agents in Offaly, exploring why many have been demonised.
  
• Offaly was one of the most violent counties in Ireland in the mid-19th century, where three landlords, seven land agents and countless estate officials were murdered.
  
• The book identifies the reasons for some of the most high-profile murders including the earl of Norbury at Durrow; John Gatchell at Clonbullouge; Charles Trench Cage at Ferbane; Robert Pyke at Killyon; and William Ross Manifold at Blueball.
  
• The legacy of the land agents is very much alive in Offaly today and many famous local landmarks are named in their memory, including Cage’s Bridge; Manifold’s Hole; Gatchell’s Bush and Pyke’s Tree.
  
• Agents who figure prominently include Francis Berry at Tullamore; Thomas Murray at Edenderry; George Garvey at Durrow & Moneygall; George Heenan at Birr; and John Corcoran at Killyon.
  
• It also provides comprehensive insight into landed estates in Offaly in the mid-19th century, delving into the world of the Parsons at Birr; the Digbys at Geashill; the Charlevilles at Tullamore; the Downshires at Edenderry; the Gambles, the Jolys, the Droughts and many more.
  

The 192-page book is now available through Four Courts Press. A formal launch will take place in early August (date yet to be finalised) at the Offaly Historical and Archaeological Society, Bury Quay, Tullamore. I'll bring further details when they're released.

Ciarán Reilly will be talking about his new book on The Moncrieff Show (Newstalk 106-108FM) today at 2pm.

UPDATE, 14 August: The Irish land agent, 1830-60, The case of King's County will be formally launched by Professor Terence Dooley of the Centre for the Study of Historic Irish Houses and Estates on Thursday 21 August at 8pm. Venue: Offaly History Centre, Bury Quay, Tullamore, Co. Offaly. For details email Four Courts Press.

Famine Ration Book reveals Thurles ancestors

A recently discovered book, the Gratuitous Relief Ration Record Book, also known as The Distribution Book, has been digitised and can be instantly searched for names by visitors to St Mary's Famine Museum in Thurles, Co Tipperary. Dating from 1847, it covers the electoral divisions of Holycross, Thurles and Ballycahill, and will be of huge interest to anyone with ancestors from these areas.

Historian and museum curator George Willoughby told Irish Genealogy News: "There are lots of names in the handwritten book. It contains the names of the heads of household and, in many instances, the names of all the adults in the household, along with the number of rations each householder was to be allowed. There are also lists of people, from the Bishop to the local middle class, who donated money to provide this early form of social welfare. Because the book was kept by the local Board's inspectors, all kinds of details and observations were noted ie that 'this person is also getting food from another soup kitchen' or 'he made waistcoats', as well as a recipe for the soup doled out to the needy and the costs of the ingredients."

George tells me the recipe produces a watery soup that, while palatable, has practically no nutritional value.

This extremely rare book, which provides records of the food rations distributed from May to September 1847 and part of 1848, was discovered by George in an apple box retrieved from the church roof after a partial floor collapse. "There were several of these boxes among the damage; most were filled with old tattered hymnals, and then I dusted off the Gratuitous Relief Ration Record Book. Inside was a note, signed by the Committee chairman, Archdeacon Henry Cotton, stating that the book was to be retained as it 'may perhaps be useful in case another season of distress or misery should occur'."

The book, together with a second discovery, the minutes of the Thurles/Rahealty Famine Food Committee, is currently accessible only to personal visitors to St Mary's Famine Museum (opening hours Monday to Saturday 10:00am to 4:30pm and Sunday 2:00pm to 4:30pm).

But all is not lost to those who can't make a personal visit; George says the Gratuitous Relief Ration Record Book may be uploaded in pdf format to the Hidden Tipperary website. This may be before the end of the year.

National Archives of Ireland: latest catalogue additions

The National Archives of Ireland (NAI) has added the following lists to its online catalogue:

• General Prisons Board: penal files of prisoners who escaped, died in prison or were transferred to lunatic asylums, 1860–1926 (but mostly 1880s to the 1920s)(GPB/PEN/3). Most of the prisoners listed either died or were transferred to Dundrum Lunatic Asylum, Co Dublin.
  
• Applications to the Commissioners of National Education, Co Galway, 1859–1889 (ED/1/35-37)
  
• Castlebar District Probate Registry: testamentary lists from 1983–1991
  
• Cavan District Probate Registry: testamentary lists from 1983–1990
  
• Clonmel District Probate Registry: testamentary lists from 1983–1988
  
• Cork District Probate Registry: 1990 transfer of testamentary records (2011/5)
  
• Probate Office, 1983 transfer of testamentary records (2004/74)
  
• Department of Local Government: files relating to the provision of services by local authorities in Co Cork, 1922–1982 (ENV/4, 2014/16)
  
• Department of Local Government: files relating to the provision of services by local authorities in Co Cork, 1917–1974 (ENV/5, 2014/19)
  
• Irish Girl Guides: records (PRIV1235, 2007/21)
  

In addition, the NAI has listed the Chief Secretary’s Office Irish Crimes Records 1848–1893, under the reference code CSO/ICR. This series includes annual returns of outrages from local constabulary offices reported to the Constabulary Office at Dublin Castle, between 1848 and 1893. The earliest returns record offences from 1837. Returns include monthly statistics for every county and province arranged by type of offence. From 1863, descriptions of homicides are recorded from the previous year, with name of victim and perpetrator, motive and punishment.

The first two entries in the list, CSO/ICR/1 and CSO/ICR/2, are printed annual returns of outrages for the years 1848–1878 and 1879–1893, and digital copies of these documents are available to view with the descriptions.

I took a look through the annual returns for 1854 to see what was happening across the island 160 years ago. Here's a flavour: Infanticides outnumbered homicides (110 and 106, respectively), while cattle stealing was rife in Leinster (161 cases) and Munster (132 cases). Only 60 cases of highway robbery were reported and of the 69 cases of rape, nearly half (32) occurred in Munster. There was one case of Administering a poison (Co Donegal), one case of kidnapping a child (Co Meath), and two cases, both in Leitrim, of bigamy.

Irish genealogy and history events, 7–13 July

Tuesday 8 July: Passenger Lists, Censuses, & Naturalizations: The Big 3, a workshop. Venue: National Archives at Boston, 380 Trapelo Road, Waltham, Massachussetts, USA. From 2pm. Free. All welcome. Need to register: T: (866) 406-2379; E: boston.archives@nara.gov

Tuesday 8 July: Insular monasticism in the Glen of Aherlow; survey and excavations at Toureen Peakaun, Co Tipperary, with Tomas O'Carragain. Cashel Summer Lecture Series. Venue: Cashel Library, Friar St, Cashel, Co Tipperary. 7:30pm. Free.

Tuesday 8 July: Childhood in 11th-century Dublin, with Denise Keating. Second of the Living and Dying in a medieval city – Dublin in the Age of Clontarf lunchtime lecture series. Host: Friends of Medieval Dublin. Venue: Wood Quay Venue, Civic Offices, Wood Quay, Dublin 8. Time: 1:05pm to 1:45pm. Free.

Tuesday 8 July: The National Archives – current services and future developments, with Gregory O'Connor. Host: Genealogical Society of Ireland. Venue: Dún Laoghaire Further Education Institute, Cumberland Street, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. 8pm. €3.

Thursday 10 July: Reading Belfast - Book Borrowing in the Nineteenth Century, with Dr Pamela Emerson. Host: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 12:30pm to 1:30pm. Admission is free but you need to book your place. 1pm - 2pm, Email:proni@dcalni.gov.uk. Tel: 028 90 534800

Saturday 12 July: Genealogy Workshop – practical tips, with Mayo Genealogy Group. Venue: National Museum of Ireland, Country Life, Turlough, Castlebar, Co Mayo. 11am–1pm. Free. Non-members welcome. Details.

Saturday 12 July: WW1 RoadShow. Day-long programme of free events, talks, cooking demonstrations, music, theatre and family activities. Includes free genealogy advice from 10am to 4pm. Bring along your family's memorabilia for review by National Library of Ireland team (fully subscribed). Venue: Trinity College Dublin. Hosts: RTE, TCD and NLI. Download programme (pdf)

Saturday 12 July: Pinpoint Origins With DNA Testing, with Dr Tyrone Bowes. Venue: NMI-Country Life, Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co Mayo. 2.00pm-3.00pm. Booking.

Sunday 13 July: National Day of Commemoration to honour all those Irishmen and Irishwomen who died in past wars or on service with the United Nations:
DUBLIN: Royal Hospital Kilmainham, commencing at 10:30 am. Members of the public need to be in place by 10:15am latest.
CORK: Fitzgerald’s Park, Mardyke, 11:00am
GALWAY: The Quadrangle, National University of Ireland, University Road, 11:00am
KILKENNY: Kilkenny Castle, 11:00am
LIMERICK: Limerick City & Council, City Hall, Merchants Quay, 10:30am
SLIGO: Sligo Borough Council, City Hall, Quay Street, 11:30am
WATERFORD: John Condon Memorial, Cathedral Square, 11:30am

Lobbyists respond to launch of online bmd index

Representatives of the Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations (CIGO) were at Thursday evening's launch of the new online index to Ireland's civil registration records (see my last two blogposts) and were understandably delighted by the newly-released online bmd indexes.

Since it was established in 1992, CIGO has been one of the lead groups campaigning for free public access to a computerised version of the General Register Office's indexes. This was one of the primary aims of the group, which represents most Irish family history societies in the Republic and North of Ireland, in Britain, the USA, Canada and Australia, as well as several other genealogical and heritage organisations.

As their press release says, the launch on irishgenealogy.ie "vindicates CIGO's long years of lobbying the Department of Health (which originally had oversight of the General Register Office) and the Department of Social Welfare (which assumed responsibility at the time of the passing of the Civil Registration Act 2004)... All-in-all, Thursday 3 July was a good day for CIGO: one more of the issues it has long lobbied for having been delivered and another one [the online registers] promised."

CIGO does, however, highlight a peculiarity of the new database in failing to record more than one 'christian' name in cases where the original hardback indexes recorded two or more names. "This is a big drawback where a researcher is trying to identify one possible record from among many with the same name (Mary Murphy for instance)."