Irish Military Seminar: Great episodes of Irish history

If military history is of significant interest in your ancestral research, you'll be spoiled for choice at next week's Irish Military Seminar, which runs over three days in Newbridge, Co Kildare.

This is the third consecutive year this dedicated military seminar is being held in the town, and its programme features some of Ireland's top historians. Events are held in either the Riverbank Arts Centre or Newbridge Library. The programme summary is below:

Thursday 13 June: Venue: Newbridge Library. Doors open 18:45pm. Free.
19:15pm Downed Luftwaffe Aircraft, with Mick Rowley
19:55pm Technological Advances in the Boer War, with Liam Kenny
20:45pm Kildare and the Irish War of Independence, with Mick Murphy
Book via newbridgelib@kildarecoco.ie or 045 448353.

Friday 14 June: Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge. Free.
18:00pm Reception
19:00pm Heroes of Jadotville, with Leo Quinlan
20:00pm The Battle of At Tiri, a panel discussion with Irish veterans, facilitated by Sgt. Wayne FitzGerald, Editor of An Cosantóir
Booking essential: boxoffice @riverbank.ie or 045-448327.

Saturday 15 June: Riverbank Arts Centre, Newbridge. €5.
9:00am - 16:00pm: A full day of presentations from Dr Myles Dungan, Dr Ruan O'Donnell, Dr Leeann Lane, Des Ekin, Dr T Ryle Dwyer and Dr Mary McAuliffe.
Their topics include: The Battle of Kinsale; Dorothy McArdle, Irish Neutrality in WWII; IRA Border Campaign 1956; Margaret Skinnider; The Irish at the Battle of Little Big Horn.
Booking essential: boxoffice @riverbank.ie or 045-448327.

D-Day75: Up to 40% off Irish Newspaper Archives subs

To mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day Landings, the Dublin-based Irish Newspaper Archives is offering some big savings on subscriptions to its database.

There's a generous 40% discount on the annual subscription when you use the promo/coupon code DDay40. And there's also a very handy 25% off the monthly subscription, using the code DDay25.

In both cases, the offers will expire at 11:59pm (Irish Summer Time) on Sunday 16 June.

To take advantage of these savings and discover learn more about how Irish papers reported the world's largest maritime invasion (and nearly more than 300 years of national, regional and local news of the times your Irish ancestors lived through), click the image below.

3,000 Irish in the Pennsylvania Mine Accidents Register

FindMyPast has added a quirky collection called Pennsylvania, Register Of Mine Accidents. These registers are from the Department of Mines and Mineral Industries and they document accidents in the anthracite and bituminous coalfields of the state between 1899 and 1972.

It holds more than 163,000 records, many of them related to immigrants, and while they make up less than 3% of the total number of casualties recorded, there are 2,924 Irishmen included. About half of them were born between 1850 and 1890.

Quite shocking is the age of some of the men. The oldest I found was a miner called Michael Quinn who was working at Bernice Drift mine in 1899 when he was injured in a mine roof fall. He was 73 years old (b1826). Searching just the date of accident and location, the records showed that a 43-year-old fellow miner was killed in the same accident.

As in this case at Bernice Drift, the records explain where each accident occurred, the cause and whether the accident was or was not fatal. The 'fault' of the accident is attributed in many cases to either the victim or noted as 'unavoidable'. Among the accidents recorded are roof fall, caught in conveyor belt, runaway trip, crushed, falling coal, fall of slate, hit by car, electrocuted, explosion of blast, and even, in two instances, 'by mule falling on him'.

The transcribed record links to the typed up database, which is organised in a series of alphabetical pdfs.

25% discount on Ancestry DNA test kits - UK only

AncestryUK is running a Father’s Day Sale on its AncestryDNA test kits.

The discount seems to be available only via AncestryUK; usually I'd expect a euro promotion to run in parallel via the Ireland pages, but there doesn't seem to be one this time. (I've queried this and will report below if I'm notified of a euro offer.)

The 25% discount will reduce the kit price from £79 to £59, plus shipping.

As you may have heard recently, more than 15 million individuals have submitted dna sample to Ancestry's DNA network making it the world's largest consumer dna network and providing you with the greatest potential to find matches around the world.

The sale will expire at Noon (GMT) Wednesday 12 June.

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A Visual Window to an Ecclesiastical World - exhibition

The RCB Library’s exhibition showcasing a selection of the Church of Ireland’s historical architectural drawings – A Visual Window to an Ecclesiastical World – is now open to the public at the Irish Architectural Archive, 45 Merrion Square, Dublin. Open days are Tuesday to Friday, 10am to 5pm, until Friday 20 August, and admission is free. A series of lectures is planned for Heritage Week (17-25 August).

Earl's Gift Map before conservation. Click for enlarged view.

A Visual Window to an Ecclesiastical World showcases a selection of the original drawings. They are arranged chronologically and thematically, guiding viewers through a representative selection of the overall collection and literally open a window to the past, telling the story of who designed these buildings – why and when they were built (or rebuilt).

There is an excellent representation of virtually every diocese of the Church and of churches and glebe houses throughout Ireland, north and south.

One of the items on display is the recently repaired and conserved early 19th-century map of the ‘Earl’s Gift’ Demesne showing lands near the town of Donemana, Co. Tyrone, in the parish of Donagheady and diocese of Derry. These lands were colourfully surveyed for the Revd Charles Douglas by Robert Craig in 1830.

The Hon Revd Charles Douglas (1791-1867) was the second son of the 14th Earl of Morton. Ordained in the Church of England, he came to Ireland as rector of Donagheady in 1825 and continued to serve there until retirement in 1857. Clearly of significant independent means, Douglas was able to commission this survey map of the lands where he had laid out a house and planned demesne on the former ‘Earls Gift Castle’ estate, which had been associated in the 17th century with Sir John Drummond who laid out the original ‘Earls Gift Castle’ and town of Donemana. But for this survey map which provides visual evidence of the castle, associated farmyard parish church, church lands and outlying areas, the association of over 95 acres of these lands with one Church of Ireland cleric might have remained unknown.

Earl's Gift Map after conservation. Click for enlarged view

The map was recently transferred to the Library’s custody from the diocesan registry in Derry and Raphoe in the context of a large consignment of diocesan papers. It had suffered the ravages of time, and was in need of urgent repair.

Thanks to the expert intervention of Liz D’Arcy, at the Paperworks Studio for Paper Conservation, and availability of the Library’s Conservation Fund which allows for urgent repair of specific items, this beautiful work of art by surveyor Robert Craig has been brought back to life.

All of the original drawings are safely housed in the Library, but to reduce their wear and tear and showcase them to a wider audience, the entire collection of nearly 9,000 individual items was systematically digitized and catalogued in the Library, and is freely available to view online here.

Ancestry's new D-Day collection: free to IE & UK users

As the nation prepares to commemorate and reflect upon the 75th anniversary of D-Day, Ancestry UK has released a new D-Day collection free to family historians based in Ireland and the UK.

British Troops landing on Jig Green beach, 6.6.1944

The move is designed to help researchers uncover the role their family played in this extraordinary maritime invasion, and responds to a survey of 2,000 adults which found that a quarter of the nearly 62,000 British and Irish solders who participated in the landings never spoke to family about their experiences. Indeed, only one-in-ten veterans discussed the events in any detail with their family.

As a result of veterans bottling up what they went through and witnessed, 74% of family members today say they do not have a good understanding of what their ancestor experienced in one of the most historic events of World War II.

The new D-Day collection (officially called the UK, D-Day War Diaries and Photographs, 1944 collection) aims to fill in some of the blanks. It includes more than 100 records, including war diaries and photographs from the day, sourced from 42 regiments around the UK.

The collection provides a fascinating and sometimes harrowing insight into the operation and aims to help tell the story where traditional records are not yet available, as well as offering researchers the chance to discover the part played by their ancestor in D-Day.

Highlights include:

• War diary from HMS Belfast, including images of the ships log on D-Day
• Multiple war diaries of soldiers operating at a number of levels and across different regiments during D-Day (including anti-aircraft regiments, infantry brigade, parachute regiment and anti-tank regiment)
• Photographs which cover the entirety of Operation Overlord, including close-ups of British soldiers, the storming of Normandy beaches, German POWs, and images taken from allied aircraft and allied naval vessels
• Written letters from allied soldiers to loved ones back home
• Diaries from those left back in the UK, including Doris Bealing (aged 11) who lived in Portsmouth as the D-Day landings were undertaken.
• Typed copies of news reports from the BBC

Russell James, Ancestry, commented, 'D-Day veterans were of a different generation, where not showing emotion, not wanting to be seen as a hero or feeling the need to keep a stiff upper-lip prevented people from talking through events that must have been profoundly difficult and tragic. Equally, in the decades after the war, people wanted to simply move on. However, it’s a shame that so many personal stories were not told, and records were lost or simply thrown away. Our newly launched D-Day collection is available for free and allows those with family links to the landings the chance to uncover more details about the role their family members played.”

The Brigade documentary to broadcast 13 & 20 June

You may remember a blogpost here on Irish Genealogy News back in January with a call for recruits to take part in a living history project for a new RTE1 documentary, The Brigade.

Some 60 hopefuls attended a recruitment day in Clonakilty in February, and a dozen were selected and put through an intense week-long Boot Camp. There, they they had to learn and understand what life was like for the real-life flying column members 100 years ago, who lived on the run, marching, drilling, staging ambushes and launching attacks.

Shot entirely in West Cork, the two-part series explores the lives of the ordinary people who fought for Irish freedom and tells the story of the Cork 3rd Brigade IRA during the War of Independence.

The Brigade, which runs over two one-hour episodes, will air on RTÉ1 on Thursday 13 June at 10:15pm (and on +1) and Thursday 20 June (probably same time but not yet confirmed). It has been produced by Abu Media.

IrishGenealogy.ie updates its online civil bmd records

IrishGenealogy.ie, the state-managed free online database of civil birth, marriage and death records, has been updated with most of the collection's outstanding indexes and register images.

As of today, the site provides free access to the following civil records (the new additions are shown in parenthesis):

Births: 1864 to 1918 indexes and register images (1917 & 1918)
Marriages: 1864 to 1943 indexes and register images (register images 1864-1869; indexes and register images 1942 & 1943)
Deaths: 1864 to 1878 indexes only; 1879-1968 indexes and register images (indexes and register images 1967 & 1968)

Still outstanding are:

Marriages (non-Roman Catholic only): 1845 to 1863 register images
Deaths: 1864 to 1878 register images

No news on when the outstanding records will be available.

Enjoy.

West Cork Graveyards database: latest addition

Skibbereen Heritage Centre has added the burial register (March 1934-January 1980) of Dunbeacon graveyard to its free West Cork Graveyards database.

It joins registers, made available by Cork County Council, for burial grounds in Abbeymahon, Abbeystrowry, Allihies, Ardagh, Ballymoney, Brade, Castlehaven, Coronea, Drimoleague, Durrus, Fanlobbus, Kilheangul (near Schull), Kilcaskan, Kilmacabea, Rathbarry, Schull, Sherkin Island, Tullagh and Whiddy Island. The earliest burial recorded in these registers in 1900.

In addition to these burial registers, the West Cork Graveyards database holds the Skibbereen Funeral Register, which records more than 2,000 funerals in various locations around the town, and the results of graveyard surveys carried out by teams of local volunteers at Caheragh, Drimoleague Drinagh Creagh, Kilcoe, Aughadown, Abbeymahon and Chapel Lane, the two latter being in Skibbereen

Irish genealogy, history and heritage events, 3-16 June

Monday 3 June: June bank holiday in Republic of Ireland. All archives and libraries closed, except exhibitions at the National Library of Ireland which are open 12-noon to 5pm. Note: Northern Ireland does not share this holiday and its institutions are open as per regular timetable.

Tuesday 4 June: Researching Irish Records, with Jennifer Bryan. Venue: Jackson County Genealogy Library, Jackson County Genealogy Library, 3405 S. Pacific Hwy, Medford, Oregon 97501 USA. $20/non-Members; $10/RVGS Members. 10:30am-12:30pm. To register, T 541-512-2340, E reception.JCGL@gmail.com

Wednesday 5 June: International Council on Archives Workshop, a practical workshop on essential skills, online resources and a tour of the public spaces. Venue: Public Record Office Northern Ireland, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 11am-4pm (incl one-hour break for lunch). Free. FULLY BOOKED.

Wednesday 5 June: The French landings in Cork that never were, 1900-1905, with Dr Jérôme aan de Wiel. Cork Harbour Festival Lunchtime Lectures series. Hosts: History Department UCC and St Peter's Cork. Venue: St Peter's Church, North Main Street, Cork City. Free. 1:10pm to 2pm. Chaired by Dr John Borgonovo. Free.

Wednesday 5 June: Harry Boland's Manchester roots, with Donnacha DeLong. (Harry Boland and Michael Collins sprang Eamonn De Valera from Lincoln Prison.) Host and venue: Irish World Heritage Centre, Irish Town, Cheetham Hill, Manchester 8, UK. Free but need to book or email IWHC at office@iwhc.com. 7:15pm. All welcome.

Thursday 6 June: Book launch: A Bloody Dawn: The Irish at D-Day, by Dan Harvey. Official opening of the Irish Military Seminar 2019. Hosts: Kildare Decade of Commemorations and Newbridge Library. Venue: Newbridge Library, Athgarvan Road, Newbridge, Co. Kildare. 7pm to 8:30pm. All welcome. Free but need to book. See details.

Thursday 6 June: Like diamonds, gambling and picture-fancying, a luxury of the rich?: Ireland’s divorcing minority, 1701-1922, with Dr Diane Urquahart. J.C. Beckett Annual Memorial Lecture. Hosts: The Ulster Society of Irish Historical Studies. Venue: PRONI Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 7pm. Details and booking.

Thursday 6 June: Amphibious warfare: The Desmond Rebellion and the Munster coastline, 1579-1583, with David Edwards. Cork Harbour Festival Lunchtime Lectures series. Hosts: History Department UCC and St Peter's Cork. Venue: St Peter's Church, North Main Street, Cork City. Free. 1:10pm to 2pm. Chaired by Dr John Borgonovo.

Friday 7 and Saturday 8 June: The Genealogy Show. Venue: National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, UK. 10am to 5pm both days. £15 admission per day. £4 per talk (both with booking fee add-ons via website). Details.

Saturday 8 June: Cristiana la Sadelhackere: The story of a sex worker in Medieval Kildare, with Fin Dwyer. Host: June Fest. Venue: Market Kitchen, within Michael Murphy's, Edward Street, Newbridge, Co Kildare. 5pm. Free. All welcome. Details.

Saturday 8 June: First Dail and First Shots, 1919-1920, with Mary Muldowney. The first of a two-part lecture explaining the tumultuous years of the Irish War of Independence. Host: Dublin City Public Libraries. Venue: Charleville Mall Library, North Strand, Dublin 1. 2:30pm. Book by phone 01 874 9619. Free. All welcome. 2nd lecture on 29th.

Monday 10 June : NLI Reading Room and Manuscript Room closed all day to facilitate the Library's continuing redevelopment of the premises. Venue: National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. All other services/exhibitons/cafe, including Genealogy Advisory Service, operate as normal.

Monday 10 June to Friday 14 June: Offices closed during Ulster Historical Foundation's Irish Family History Experience programme. Reopens on Monday 17 June.

Monday 10 June: International Archives Day: Behind the scenes, a guided tour and meet the staff session. Host and venue: PRONI, Titanic Blvd, Belfast. 11am & 2pm. Free. FULLY BOOKED.

Tuesday 11 June: Estate records as a source for genealogical research, with Nicola Morris MAGI. Host and venue: National Archives of Ireland, Bishop Street, Dublin 8. Free. 6pm. No booking required. All welcome.

Tuesday 11 June: State Papers Ireland – a workshop on early records (1509-1782). Host and venue: PRONI, Titanic Boulevard, Belfast. 11am. Free, but need to book. FULLY BOOKED. To join waiting list see Eventbrite.

Tuesday 11 June: Hidden History: Secrets and Stories from the War of Independence, with Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc. Seán Lemass Public Library, Shannon Town Centre, Tullyvarraga, Shannon, Co. Clare. 6:30pm. Free. All welcome.

Wednesday 12 June: Ulster Scottish Connections: Marking 800 years of PRONI's Oldest Document, an exploration of the background to PRONI's oldest document dated 12 June 1219. Venue and host: PRONI, Titanic Bouleard, Belfast. 2–4:30pm. Free, but need to book. Details and booking.

Thursday 13 June: Beyond the Somme: Brigadier Frank Crozier and the Welsh Bantam Brigade, with Mike Taylor. Host: Western Front Association. Venue: PRONI, Titantic Boulevard, Belfast. All welcome. 6:30pm. £4 donation. Details.

Thursday 13 and Friday 14 June: Prisons, Asylums, Workhouses: Institutions in Ireland, a conference exploring three centuries of institutional life in Ireland and the voices and spaces of the marginalised in Irish society. Venue: PRONI and Queen's University, Belfast. Details.

Thursday 13 June: History Shorts, part of Irish Military Seminar 2019. Host: Kildare Decade of Commemorations. Venue: Newbridge Library, Athgarvan Road, Newbridge, Co. Kildare. 18:45-21:30. Talks: Downed Luftwaffe Aircraft in Ireland, with Mick Rowley; Advent of firepower on the battlefield 1899 (Boer War), with Liam Kenny; Republican activity in Co. Kildare during War of Independence, with Mick Murphy. Free, but you need to book. Phone 045 448353.

Saturday 15 June: Irish Military Seminar 2019, with Drs. Myles Dungan, Ruan O'Donnell, Leeann Lane, T. Ryle Dwyer and Mary McAuliffe and Des Ekin. Host: Kildare Decade of Commemorations and Riverbank Arts Centre. Venue: Riverbank Arts Centre, Main Street, Newbridge, Co Kildare. 9am to 5pm. All welcome. Cost: €5 including tea/coffee. Book at boxoffice@irverbank.ie or phone 045 448327.

Saturday 15 June: Migration into Fermanagh from Southern Ireland, 1919-1925, with Howard Thornton and Melvyn Hall. Host: Fermanagh Genealogy. Venue: Enniskillen Library, 1st Floor, Halls Lane, Enniskillen BT74 7DR. 1:30pm to 3:30pm. Non-members welcome. £5.