PRONI's latest digital resource: a register of WW1 casualties treated in Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast

Click for enlarged view of sample pages

The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) has launched another digital resource from its archive collection. It is the First World War Register of the Royal Victoria Hospital (PRONI ref: HOS/2/1/4/1), and it holds details of war casualties treated at the Belfast hospital between September 1914 and November 1916.

The register contains the names of more than 700 soldiers from various regiments. It also details, where available, each soldier’s rank, service number, regiment, battalion number, date of admission and date of discharge.

Launched today as part of PRONI’s Women and Medicine during the First World War conference (marking International Women’s Day on 8 March) the register can be accessed either as an excel spreadsheet, arranged alphabetically by surname, or by viewing scanned images of the register pages in a downloadable pdf (23.4Mb). Both are free of charge.

Links to the two options, along with additional information about the resource, can be found in an article about the register on PRONI's website.

Irish News Archives extends free access in Australian libraries

The State Library of Tasmania is the latest Australian library to be connected to the Irish Newspaper Archives.

This means the online database is now available to Australians with Irish roots – free of charge – in the following libraries (online/on-site access according to institution):

• National Library of Australia
• State Library of Victoria
• State Library of Queensland
• State Library of Western Australia
• LINC Tasmania

Irish genealogy and history events, 5-18 March

Monday 5 March: NLI Reading Room and Manuscript Room closed. Venue: National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. On-going Monday closures are to facilitate extensive redevelopment of the premises. All other services/exhibitons/cafe, including Genealogy Advisory Service operate as normal. Details.

Monday 5 March Getting started with genealogy research. Hosts: Accredited Genealogists Ireland (AGI) for Aontas Adult Learners’ Festival. Three short introductory lectures (civil registration, land records, and census records) from 11:30am to 1:30pm, with five-minute gaps between, followed by small group workshops from 2:15pm. Venue: National Library of Ireland, Kildare St, Dublin 2. Further details. See also Friday 9 March.

Monday 5 March: The Irish in Chicago, the most segregated city in America, with Dr Christina Marrocco. Host: Carlow Historical and Archaeological Society. Venue: Cobden Hall, Carlow College, College Street, Carlow. 1:45pm. All welcome. Free.

Monday 5 March: The history of the 'Down Recorder', with Marcus Crichton. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Killyleagh Branch. Venue: Killyleagh Masonic Hall, 50 High Street, Killyleagh, BT30 9QF. 8pm. All welcome.

Monday 5 March: Researching your Irish and Scots-Irish ancestors, a full-day conference with the Ulster Historical Foundation. Hosts and venue: The New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS), 99-101 Newbury Street, Boston, MA 02116 USA. 9:30am to 4pm. Details. Sold out.

Tuesday 6 March: International Women’s Day: Women and Medicine during the First World War, a half-day conference. Host and venue: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 10–1:30pm. Free, but need to register.

Tuesday 6 March: Irish and Scots-Irish family history research workshop, with the Ulster Historical Foundation. Hosts: The Filson Society. Venue: The Filson Society, 1310 S. 3rd St, Louisville, KY 40208 USA. Details. 1pm to 4:30pm.

Wednesday 7 March: Irish genealogy workshop, with the Ulster Historical Foundation. Hosts and venue: The Newberry Library, 60 W Walton Street, Chicago IL 60610 USA. 9:15am–3pm. Details. Fully booked.

Wednesday 7 March: The Clogherney Boys in World War 1, with Robert Corbett. First of the Memories and memorialisation series of talks. Host and venue: PRONI, 2 Titanic Boulevard, Titanic Quarter, Belfast BT3 9HQ. Free. 1-2pm. All welcome. Need to register.

Wednesday 7 March: Penal Times: Irish Catholics in the 18th century, with Prof Ian McBride. Host: Irish Association of Professional Historians. Venue: National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. 7pm. Free. All welcome. No booking required.

Thursday 8 March: Irish genealogy, a full-day conference with the Ulster Historical Foundation. Host: Wisconsin Historical Society. Venue: Memorial Library Room 126816 State Street, Madison, WI 53706 USA. 9am–5pm. Details. SOLD OUT.

Friday 9 March Getting started with genealogy research. Hosts: Accredited Genealogists Ireland (AGI) for Aontas Adult Learners’ Festival. Three short introductory lectures (civil registration, land records, and census records) from 11:30am to 1:30pm, with five-minute gaps between, followed by small group workshops from 2:15pm. Venue: National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Further details.

Saturday 10 March: Using Griffith’s Valuation to identify your ancestors' origins: A Case Study, and Online sources for Irish research, with Donna Moughty. Host: Lee County Public Library. Venue: Fort Myers Regional Library, South Building, 1651 Lee Street, Meeting Rooms A & B, Ft. Myers, FL 9:30am to 12:30pm. Need to register.

Saturday 10 March: Southern Protestants and the Irish Revolution, 1916-1923, with Dan Purcell, and DNA, with Paddy Waldron. Host: Irish Family History Society. Venue: Dublin City Library Archive, 138/144 Pearse Street, Dublin 2. Registration at 2pm. All welcome. Free.

Saturday 10 March: Griffith’s Valuation of Ireland: There’s more than just names to be found, with Fern Wilcox. Host: Irish Genealogical Society International. Venue: Minnesota Genealogical Society Center, 1385 Mendota Heights Rd, Mendota Heights, MN, USA. 10:30am to Noon. Fee: $15 for IGSI members and $20 for non-members. Details.

Saturday 10 March: Tracing your Irish and Scots-Irish Ancestors, a full day-conference with Fintan Mullan and Gillian Hunt of the Ulster Historical Foundation. Hosts: British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa. Venue: Ben Franklin Place, 101 Centrepointe Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. 8:30am to 4:30pm. Need to register by 7 March. No walk-in registration. Details.

Saturday 10 March: Images of Irish migration, with Dr Paddy Fitzgerald. Host: NIFHS Tyrone Branch. Venue: Seminar Room, First Floor, Omagh Library, Dublin Road, Omagh, BT78 1HL. 10am to noon. All welcome.

Saturday 10 March: Scots-Irish immigration to America, a live webinar presented by Peggy Clemens Lauritzen AG. Host: Southern California Genealogical Society. 10am PDT. Free. Register.

Sunday 11 March: Researching your Irish and Scots-Irish Ancestors, with Gillian Hunt and Fintan Mullan of the Ulster Historical Foundation. Hosts: Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. Venue: Brookside Manor at Somerton Springs, 50 Bustleton Pike, Feasterville-Trevose, PA 19053, USA. 9am to 4:30pm. Irish themed buffet lunch. Details.

Monday 12 March: NLI Reading Room and Manuscript Room closed. Venue: National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. On-going Monday closures are to facilitate extensive redevelopment of the premises. All other services/exhibitons/cafe, including Genealogy Advisory Service operating as normal. Details.

Monday 12 March: A Belfast story, with Sharon Dickson. Host: North of Ireland Family History Society, Newtownabbey Branch. Venue: Drama Theatre, Glengormley High School, 134 Ballyclare Road, Newtownabbey, BT36 5HP. Free. 7pm. All welcome.

Monday 12 March: Research Workshop: Using the National Library. Host & Venue: National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. 3pm. Free. To reserve a place, contact: learning@nli.ie or 01 6030 259/346. Details.

Monday 12 March: A Church of Ireland family story 1920-1923, with John Hobbs. Host: Kilmacthomas Historical Society. Venue: Lenihans Lounge Bar, Newtown, Kilmacthomas, Co Waterford. 8pm. Admission is €5 and all are welcome to attend.

Monday 12 March: Exploring Your Scots-Irish Genealogy, with Gillian Hunt and Fintan Mullan of the Ulster Historical Foundation. Host: Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage. Venue: The Hermitage, 4580 Rachel's Lane, Nashville, TN 37076 USA. 4:30pm to 9pm. Light refreshments included. Details and tickets.

Monday 12 March: The 'Royal Site' of Rathcroghan – an enduring paradigm of enclosed sacred space, with Joe Fenwick. Host: NUI Galway's Natural and Human Heritages Spring Lunchtime Lectures Series. Venue: The Stuido, Town Hall Theatre, Woodquay, Galway. 1:10pm to 1:50pm. Free. No booking required.

Tuesday 13 March: The Mayor's Tale, with Howard Clarke. Host: More Tales of Medieval Dublin lecture series. Venue: Wood Quay Venue, Dublin City Council, Civic Offices, Wood Quay, Dublin 8. 1:05–1:55pm. Free. All welcome.

Tuesday 13 March Scots-Irish Genealogy consultations, with Gillian Hunt and Fintan Mullan of the Ulster Historical Foundation. Host: Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage. Venue: The Hermitage, 4580 Rachel's Lane, Nashville, TN 37076 USA. 9am to 5pm. Need to book. Details and tickets.

Tuesday 13 March: Pennies to heaven? The meaning of money in the Irish Catholic Church, 1850-1921, with Sarah Roddy. Host: Modern Irish History Seminar Series 2018 - Religion and Identity, University of Edinburgh. Venue: The Old Medical School – Room G.13, William Robertson Wing, Teviot Place, Edinburgh, UK. All welcome. 6pm.

Tuesday 13 March: Researching Your Irish ancestors, with Ed McGuire. Host: 2018 Burlington Irish Heritage Festival and Vermont Genealogy Library. Venue: Vermont Genealogy Library, Hegeman Avenue, Fort Ethan Allen, Colchester, Vermont USA. 7pm. Free and open to the public. Coffee, tea and pastries will be provided. Details.

Wednesday 14 March: Discovering your Irish and Scots-Irish Roots, with Gillian Hunt and Fintan Mullan of the Ulster Historical Foundation. Host: St Louis County Library History & Genealogy Department. Venue: St Louis County Library, Grant’s View Branch, 9700 Musick Ave, St Louis, MO 63123 USA. Session 1: 1pm–5pm. Session 2: 6:30pm–8:45pm. Register.

Wednesday 14 March: Click and create - photographing commemoration in Ireland, with Patrick Hugh Lynch. Part of the Memories and memorialisation series of talks. Host and venue: PRONI, 2 Titanic Boulevard, Titanic Quarter, Belfast BT3 9HQ. Free. 1-2pm. All welcome. Need to register.

Thursday 15 March: Irish Resources for Genealogists, with Gillian Hunt and Fintan Mullan of the Ulster Historical Foundation. Host: The Greater Omaha Genealogical Society. Venue: Univ. of Nebraska at Omaha Alumni Center, 67th & Dodge Streets, Omaha, NE, USA. 12:30pm to 9:30pm. Details.

Saturday 17 March: St Patrick's Day. Everywhere.

Saturday 17 March: Ireland, Irish immigration and research in Canadian records, with Dr Bruce Elliott. Host: Ontario Genealogical Society, Kingston Branch. Venue: Frontenac Room, Seniors Centre, 56 Francis Street, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Starts 10am. Free. All welcome.

Saturday 17 March: Anti-Irish sentiment in 19th-century America, with Peter Drummey and Eileen Pironti. Hosts: The Irish Ancestral Research Association and New England Historic Genealogical Society. Venue: NEHGS, 101 Newbury Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116, USA. 9:30am to Noon, with optional research time until 5pm. Morning refreshments included. $25. Tickets and details.

Saturday 17 March: The Irish Are Coming, with Gillian Hunt and Fintan Mullan of the Ulster Historical Foundation. Host: Root Cellar – Sacramento Genealogical Society. Venue: Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church, 11427 Fair Oaks Blvd, Fair Oaks, CA 95628, USA. 9am to 4:45pm. SOLD OUT.

Sunday 18 March: Irish genealogy research seminar, with Gillian Hunt and Fintan Mullan of the Ulster Historical Foundation. Host: Irish Heritage Club, Seattle. Venue: Seattle Center, Upper Level Armory, 305 Harrison Street, Seattle, WA 98109 USA. 10am to 6pm. Tickets and programme.

Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives: end of Feb update

The Edward Dycer vault at Mt Jerome Cemetery.
Interred with Edward Dycer are six others, four
of them Dycers, two Hayes, buried 1854–1899.
Photo courtesy of volunteer Yvonne Russell.
Thanks also to Mt Jerome Cemetery Office
who provided the names of people buried in
vaults she had photographed some time ago.
See the text file for details.

The volunteer team at Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives has uploaded the files noted below to the free online database in the second half of February.

CAVAN Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Kill Old Graveyard

DUBLIN Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Deansgrange, St. Mogue's Section, Pt. 3 (additional)

DUBLIN Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Mt. Jerome, Dublin - parts 184 - 188

MEATH Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Navan, St. Mary's (C) -text file added

MONAGHAN Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Aughnamullen (CoI) Graveyard

MONAGHAN & FERMANAH - Church Records
Clones Parish Registers - Baptisms (additional)

ROSCOMMON Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Strokestown (CoI) Cemetery

SLIGO Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Tubbercurry, Rhue Cemetery (partial)

TIPPERARY Genealogy Archives - Wills
Wills created in England

WESTMEATH Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Mount Temple, Holy Trinity Cemetery

FindMyPast adds 4.1m US records to its Catholic Heritage Archive

FindMyPast has added more than 4 million records, all from the USA, to its Catholic Heritage Archive. Click on the links below to find out more about each individual record set, and use the search form to discover which parishes and counties are included.

New York
This release of baptism and marriage records covers the boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island in New York City, as well as the Counties of Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, and Westchester. The records date back to 1785, span more than 130 years of the region's history and come from over 230 parishes across the Archdiocese.

• New York Catholic Baptisms
• New York Catholic Marriages

Chicago
The Archdiocese of Chicago serves the Catholic population of Cook and Lake Counties in north eastern Illinois. Some 411,000 baptism records are included in this release. They date from from the mid-1800s up to 1925 and each result provides a transcript and image of the original baptism register. Marriage records (more than 153,000 of them) provide a transcript and an image of the original marriage register to reveal the couple's marriage date, marriage location, the names of their parents and the names of any witnesses. More than 37,000 burial records are also released, with images revealing cause of death, residence, place of birth, father's name, mother's name, and the name of the priest who conducted the service. There is also a separate collection of cemetery records from 1864-1989 holding an assorted 1.9million burial index cards, burial registers, daily burial logs, and registers of cemetery lot owners.

• Chicago Catholic Baptisms
• Chicago Catholic Marriages
• Chicago Roman Catholic Parish Burials
• Chicago Catholic Cemetery Records

Baltimore
This 'browse' search collection holds records from more than 54,000 individual baptism, marriage, burial, communion, and confirmation registers from the Archdiocese of Baltimore in their entirety. They span the years 1782 to 1918.

• Baltimore Roman Catholic Parish Registers

Big Freeze Weekend: discounts from Irish News Archive

With Ireland engulfed in a frosty embrace even before the imminent arrival of Storm Emma, official warnings are urging everyone to stay indoors and do some genealogical research. Okay, I made that last bit up, but it's not a bad idea, eh?

Front pages from a selection of January 1982
Big Freeze are free to download

To encourage you to stick by the computer and learn about your ancestors, Irish Newspaper Archive has selected some of its best front pages reporting the January 1982 Big Freeze, when up to 15 feet of snow fell in some places. It brought the island to a standstill and resulted in tragedy in some counties. You can download these pages, free, below:

• Irish Examiner
• Sunday Independent
• Irish Independent
• Evening Herald
• Irish Press

Of course, you don't have to be shivering in Ireland to enjoy reading these papers. They're free to everyone, no matter where you're based.

The same goes for these discounts which Irish Newspaper Archives are offering until 10 March:

30% off a 12-month subscription (€$£149.00 reduced to €$£104.30): Use code SNOW30
20% off the 1-month subscription (€$£29.00 reduced to €$ £23.20) : Use code SNOW20

20% off Ancestry DNA kits for Mother's Day, UK & IE

With Mother's Day just around the corner, Ancestry is offering a 20% discount on its Ancestry DNA test kits to researchers in Ireland and the UK.

The offer is valid until 11 March.

Choose your preferred currency and click the appropriate flag below.

Please note that postage and packaging is extra to the prices shown.


20% discount reduces price from €95 to €76.



20% discount reduces price from £79 to £63.

FindMyPast.com targets Americans of Irish and British heritage

I've been wondering when a FindMyPast press release would explain what appears to have been a major marketing shift for FindMyPast.com...

For the last several days, visitors to FindMyPast.com, the North American 'territory' of the FindMyPast brand, have been greeted with a welcome page that concentrates almost exclusively on British and Irish records. Clicking through to the subscription page found a choice of two packages: an Essential British & Irish package and an Ultimate British & Irish package.

Today, FindMyPast has confirmed that this change in emphasis marks the latest step in Findmypast’s drive to build on their leadership strength in British and Irish records. More than 30% of US citizens are thought to have British or Irish ancestors, and research undertaken by Findmypast has revealed that many family historians have struggled to bridge the transatlantic gap.

Step forward the recently published and exclusively curated British & Irish Roots collection, a database consisting of more than 100 million assorted records spanning 400 years. The collection gives family historians the chance to trace their ancestors’ journeys across the Atlantic by bringing together a wide range of North American records that list origin or place of birth as anywhere in Britain and Ireland.

Depending on package choice, it also includes UK parish registers dating from 1538, historical British and Irish newspapers, millions of Catholic records from both sides of the Atlantic, and a huge collection of Irish records. In addition to the records available in the packages, the subscription includes weekly masterclasses and downloadable guides.

As with all good launches of new products, this one comes with an attractive special offer. There's a 50% discount on a one-month subscription to the Ultimate British & Irish package. The offer will expire on 4 March (not 4 February as stated on the landing page). Click the Subscribe button above, and check out the T&Cs.

The Irish & America virtual Reading Room launches with 42 e-books on subscription

Many thanks to Brian Mitchell MAGI, who manages the Derry Genealogy Centre, for alerting me to the revamped website of the Genealogical Publishing Company of Baltimore.

The company has launched a new feature where researchers can subscribe to a selection of themed virtual Reading Rooms. One of these Reading Rooms is The Irish and America Collection. It holds 42 e-books, including eight titles (see below) authored by Brian Mitchell, Tracing your Irish Ancestors, by John Grenham, Finding Your Irish Ancestors in New York City, by Joe Buggy, and a wide range of other publications that Irish-American and Irish-Canadian researchers, in particular, are likely to find helpful to their family history.

Subscriptions to The Irish and America Reading Room cost US$10 per month or US$100 per year. A subscription allows you to search, view, copy and print from the digital publications.

The following books by Brian are included in the subscription:

• A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland
• A Guide to Irish Parish Registers
• Irish Passenger Lists 1847-1871
• Genealogy at a glance: Irish Genealogy Research
• Genealogy at a glance: Scots-Irish Genealogy Research
• Pocket Guide to Irish Genealogy
• Irish Emigration Lists 1833-1839
• Irish Passenger Lists 1803-1806

The story of The Tin Church of Laragh, Co Monaghan

The Tin Church at Laragh, Co Monaghan
Photo courtesy Miriam Moffitt.

The RCB Library's Archive of the Month for March tells a story that will be of interest to anyone with ancestors from the area between the towns of Carrickmacross and Ballybay in County Monaghan.

Using extracts from the Church of Ireland Gazette (then called the Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette) and complementary sources, historian Dr Miriam Moffitt has unearthed how the Tin Church of Laragh – a delightful chapel-of-ease in the parish of Crossduff – came to be constructed at the end of the 19th century.

The story beings with a fund-raising effort, kickstarted by the Gazette in 1890, in which the then rector of Crossduff outlined a need for a permanent place of worship for local children and other parishioners. Appeals were made in the paper during the spring and summer of that year and, as the months went by, the names of donors and amounts contributed were published.

Laragh church operated as a chapel-of-ease to Crossduff parish church for 71 years until its de-consecration in 1962; it subsequently fell into disrepair. A group of local enthusiasts has recently undertaken a sensitive restoration of the building, enabling public access to the building which is used as a venue for concerts and social events.

The Church of Ireland Gazette reports have helped to shine a light on its origins, and these, like all of the content of the newspaper from 1856 to 1923, may be explored in full, free of charge, in the digitised version at https://esearch.informa.ie/rcb

See the RCB Library's Archive of the Month for the full story of the Tin Church.