Headstones galore from Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives

A beautiful Irish Blue limestone memorial to the Kelleher family
in St Colmcille's, Co. Longford.
Photo courtesy of Paul Rudden and IGP Archives

Another big bundle of material has been donated and uploaded to Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives over the last month.

The package included photos, updates and transcriptions for headstones in seven burial grounds, and the addition of another year of baptism register transcriptions for Fethard Parish in Co. Tipperary; this latter collection now runs from 1810 to 1820.

Here's the summary list;

CORK Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Holy Rosary Cemetery (R.C.), Midleton, Part 7

DONEGAL Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Glenties New Graveyard, Inishkeel (Completed)

DUBLIN Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Mount Jerome Cemetery, Part 282

DUBLIN Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Kilbarrack Graveyard Section 5b

FERMANAGH Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Colebrook Graveyard, Aghalurcher (Updated)

KILDARE Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Confey Graveyard, Leixlip

LONGFORD Genealogy Archives - Headstones
St. Colmcille R.C. Graveyard, Aughnacliffe (506 images) (Transcriptions added)

TIPPERARY Genealogy Archives - Church Records
Fethard Parish Baptisms, Diocese of Cashel, 1820

Irish genealogy, history and heritage events, 27 Feb to 12 March

Monday 27 February: Revolutionary Routes: The African Diaspora in Ireland, 1830s-1930s, with Dr Maurice J Casey. An online talk; part of the Heritage from Home Series 3 from Libraries NI. Free, and all welcome. Booking is required. Details (scroll down).

Tuesday 28 February: Emigration from the North of Ireland to the Canadian Maritimes, an online event with Dr Paddy Fitzgerald and hosted by the North of Ireland Family History Society's Belfast Branch 7pm – 8:30pm GMT. All welcome. Free. See details.

Tuesday 28 February: Adventures of a ‘Fighting Railway’: the Belfast Central Railway, 1864-1885, a talk and book launch by Robert Phipps. In-person at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, 2 Titanic Boulevard, Titanic Quarter, Belfast BT3 9HQ. 1pm to 2pm. Refreshments served from 12:30pm. Free. All welcome. Booking.

Tuesday 28 February: When the Post Boxes Turned Green, with Cathy Scuffil. A hybrid event from Dublin City Council's Historian in Residence. In-person at St James's Church, 53 James Street, Dublin 8. Online via livestream from https://stjamesparish.ie. 6:30pm sharp. Free. All welcome.

Tuesday 28 February: Always in the Human Consciousness' - Exploring the Memory of Clare's Revolutionary Period, a hybrid event hosted by the Kilrush and District Historical Society. Venue: Teach Cheoil, Kilrush, Co Clare. 8pm. KDHS lectures are free to members, EUR5 for non-members, payable on the night only. Also available online, free; see http://kdhs.ie/news/index and check calendar.

Thursday 2 March: Eileen Gray, with Dr Jennifer Goff. An in-person event hosted by Mount Merrion Historical Society. Venue: Fitzwilliam Rooms, The Community Centre, North Avenue, Mount Merrion, Dublin. 8pm. Admission: Members Free / Non-Members €4 / Students €2.

Thursday 2 March: From Sailing Coffins to Coffin Ships: New Perspectives on Emigration During the Great Irish Famine, with Cian T McMahon Ph.D. A hybrid event and the 3rd Annual Eileen Patricia McMahon Zogby '67 Irish Lecture. In-person venue: Grewen Auditorium, Grewen Hall, Le Moyne College, Syracuse, NY, USA. Also online. 4pm EST. Register.

Thursday 2 March to Saturday 4 March: RootsTech, the world’s largest genealogical conference, gets underway in Salt Lake City and online. The event is organised by FamilySearch. Register for the free virtual conference here. Register to attend the in-person event (US$98pp) here. Full details.

Friday 3 March: National Library of Ireland's Main Reading Room and Microfilm Room closed all day.

Saturday 4 March: Starting your Family Tree, with Lorna Moloney. An in-person genealogy workshop hosted by Kerry Libraries. Venue: Killarney Library (Leabharlann Cill Airne), Rock Road, Killarney, Co Kerry. 10am to 2pm. Free. Advance registration necessary.

Monday 6 March: Operation Green – German WW2 plans for invading Ireland, with Ronnie Kilgore. A hybrid meeting hosted by the North of Ireland Family History Society, Foyle Branch. In-person at the Lecture Room at Derry’s Central Library, 35 Foyle Street, Derry, BT48 6AL. 7pm to 8:30pm. For online access, email Foyle@nifhs.org. All welcome. Free.

Monday 6 March: Scottish Surnames in Ulster, an in-person event with Brian Turner. Hosted by the North of Ireland Family History Society, Killyleagh Branch. In-person venue: Killyleagh Masonic Hall, 50 High Street,Killyleagh, BT30 9QF. 8pm - 9:45 pm GMT. Details.

Tuesday 7 March: Snooping on your ancestors' neighbours: how to juggle online census records, with John Grenham. An online event from NI Libraries' Heritage from Home Series 3. 12:30pm. Free. All welcome. Need to register.

Wednesday 8 March: Burning the Big House - In Conversation with Prof. Terence Dooley. An in-person event hosted by the Irish Georgian Society at 58 William Street South, Dublin 2. 6pm. Admission: €12. Need to book.

Wednesday 8 March: The Disbandment of the Southern Irish Regiments, 1922, an online lecture by Timothy Bowman. Hosts: The Antrim and Down branch of the Western Front Association (WFA) and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. 7pm to 8pm. Free. All welcome. Need to book.

Thursday 9 March: The Hermitage: A cottage orne in Abbeyside, Dungarvan, with Willie Fraher. An in-person event. Part of Julian Walton's Winter Lecture Series. Venue: Dunhill Multi-Education Centre, Dunhill Enterprise Park, Ballyphilip. Dunhill, Co Waterford. 7:30pm. Light refreshments served. All welcome. Free.

Thursday 9 March: Ireland, Scotland, and the Hundred Years War: A New Vista, with Dr Simon Egan. An in-person event hosted by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and the Ulster Society for Irish Historical Studies. Venue: Irish Studies room, QUB, 27 University Square, Belfast BT7. 6pm to 7pm. Free. All welcome.Need to book at Eventbrite.

Saturday 11 March: Lt Michael Higgins, Leinster Regiment &nash; a family reminiscence, with Denis Kirby. An in-person event hosted by Cork Public Museum, Fitzgerald Park, Mardyke, Cork. Part of the museum's 2023 lecture series. Starts at 1pm. Free but need to book by email (museum @ corkcity.ie) or phone 021-4270679).

Saturday 11 March: 'Family Matters' - Cork Genealogical Society Conference 2023. An in-person event hosted by the Society. Venue: Clayton Hotel, Silversprings, Cork City. 9:30am–5pm. £25, includes light lunch. Need to book at corkgenealogicalsociety.com.php

Spring 2023 edition of Irish Roots magazine now available

The Spring edition of Irish Roots – Ireland's only dedicated Irish genealogy magazine – has been published.

As always, it is full of recent news about record releases and developments in Irish family history research, the latest techniques and methods, the best guidance and local knowledge, and pretty much everything you'd expect from a clearly focussed magazine that aims to help you discover your ancestors and connect with your heritage. 

Click image to order your copy or a free sample

In this issue you'll find the following features:

• Discover Local Family History Resources For Researching Your County Derry Ancestors
• Irish Patriot Eamonn Ceannt's Uilleann Pipes Secured For Co. Mayo Fleadh
• Using John Grenham's Valuable Surname Database For Your Genealogy Research
• Catch Up With DNA Technology And Updates Rolled Out In The Past Year
• Australian Irish Connections - Return To Tipperary
• Celebrating St. Patrick's Day In O'Neill City, Nebraska, USA
• Fact Checking The History Of The O'Shea Surname Using yDNA
• Exploring Popular Surnames Of Co. Derry
• Visiting The National Library Of Ireland - Helpful Information For Online & Offline Family History Researchers
• What's New Review - Keep Up To Date With The Latest Irish Genealogical Record Releases

In addition to the articles, there are regular columns with observations on family history issues, Readers' Experiences, letters to the Editor, Q&As from readers, book selections, and news and views from genealogical societies in Ireland and around the world.

To find out more, to order either a print or digital copy, or to take to take out a subscription, click the cover image above. You'll also be able to view a free sample of the new issue.

England, Scotland and Wales genealogy updates: 2-week summary

Below is a summary of newly released and updated family history record collections for England, Scotland and Wales from the major genealogy databases. (Previous summary, 10 February.)

My regular summary of releases and updates relating to British collections is designed to help family historians whose Irish ancestors migrated, temporarily or permanently, to England, Scotland or Wales.

By default, it will also be useful to anyone carrying out research in those three nations, regardless of the origin of their ancestors.

The figures in parenthesis in the New Collections section are the numbers of records/images in the new record set.

Unless otherwise stated, the figures in parenthesis in the Updated Collections section reflect the number of records added to the collection in the recent update. In some instances, the supplier has not made this figure available. Where two figures are given, the first is the number of additions, the second is the new total.

Please note that I don't usually include updates of fewer than 1,000 records.

NEW COLLECTIONS

Ancestry

• UK, British Air Force Lists, 1919-1922 and 1938-1945 (3,965,249)

BritishNewspaperArchive (63,840,972 pages, all shared with FindMyPast)

• New titles in main collection ($£€)

Special Financial

FindMyPast

• Civil Service Commission Appointments, Promotions and Transfers 1871-1942 (872,439)
• Second World War Civilian Casualties In Britain 1940-1945 (64,339)

MyHeritage

• England, Lancashire, Oldham burials (362,292 / 7 cemeteries)

UPDATED COLLECTIONS

Ancestry

• UK & Ireland, Find a Grave Index, 1300s-Current (522,531/16,638,739)
• UK & Ireland, Newspapers.com Obituary Index, 1800s-current (3,170,449 /22,595,438)

FamilySearch

• England, Cumberland Parish Registers, 1538-1990 (465,262)

FindMyPast

• Lincolnshire Baptisms (216,638 / 2,398,496)
• Suffolk Marriage Index (52,387 / 450,244 + updatedparish list)
• National School Admissions Register (5,708 records for Halifax added)

TheGenealogist

• Lloyd George Domesday Survey (land tax) E. Hertfordshire & S. Bedfordshire (134,000)

Some of the above content contains affiliate links. This means I may earn a small commission if you buy via these links. This does not affect the price you pay as a consumer, but it does contribute to keeping Irish Genealogy News online. See Advertising Disclosure tab above.

National Famine Commemoration 2023 returns to Ulster

Catherine Martin, Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, and Chair of the National Famine Commemoration Committee has announced that this year's National Famine Commemoration will take place on Sunday 21 May 2023 in Milford, County Donegal.

This is the third time the State Commemoration has taken place in Ulster. The public ceremony will provide an opportunity for the people of Donegal to honour the suffering and loss of the Great Famine and to remember those who fled to create new lives abroad. It will be held on the old site of Milford Workhouse and will feature National flag and military honours before culminating in a solemn wreath-laying ceremony. It will be broadcast on the RTÉ News Now channel

A plaque erected at the Milford workhouse cemetery site during a
FAS C.E. project to tidy the site in 2005 - 2006.
Photograph - Paul McGuckin.

Ancestry updates Irish headstones, burials & obituaries collections

Ancestry has updated three of its collections that offer 'death' records for Ireland and Northern Ireland. They are:

The UK and Ireland Find a Grave™ Index, (1300s-Current) has been seeing regular additions. Having added 1,987,420 new records in the last three months, it now holds a total of 16,638,739 entries.

Unfortunately, only a teeny 3% of these additions relates to Ireland ie the deceased may have been born on the island, died there or both, but let's not grumble. An update bringing more than 62,500 Irish records is not to be sniffed at. All 32 historical counties are represented.

Global, Find a Grave™ Index for Burials at Sea and other Select Burial Locations (1300s-Current) This collection has been updated with more than 585,500 entries over the last four months. It now holds a total of 13,874,232 records, globally. Of these, 25,361 are indexed with details of a birth, death or burial in Ireland.

I've still not quite worked out the criterion for entry to this collection. In many cases, the place of death is known but the place of burial is uncertain. In other examples, the place of birth and burial may be known, but the death itself took place somewhere else. I seem to have noticed a several entries relating to cremations in this most recent update, none of them appearing to have a permanent marker.

UK and Ireland, Newspapers.com™ Obituary Index, 1800s-current With more than 3million new entries added last week, it's sad to see that not one of them related to the island of Ireland. There remain, then, some 40,971 indexed entries for obituaries published in Antrim (21,363) and Dublin (19,608), while the collection as a whole has grown to 22,595,438 records.

Some of the above content contains affiliate links. This means I may earn a small commission if you buy via these links. This does not affect the price you pay as a consumer, but it does contribute to keeping Irish Genealogy News online. See Advertising Disclosure tab above.

Update on database access at PRONI's Public Search Room

The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland has upgraded its subscription to FindMyPast so that the 1921 Census for England & Wales is now available to researchers using computer terminals in PRONI's Search Room.

Other databases available on-site for free viewing to the public are the BritishNewspaperArchive.co.uk, Ancestry's Library edition, and the Irish State Papers (from Cengage).

These are, of course, in addition to PRONI's own digitised material from collections held in its archive (see the list of collections here); these can be accessed online via the Internet, no matter where you are.

Unfortunately, there is still no access from PRONI's Search Room to the full database of the General Register Office of Northern Ireland. The dedicated 'GRONI terminals' (ie computers supplied and managed by GRONI to provide access only to the GRONI database), were put out to pasture last year and replacement equipment was expected to be installed and operational by the end of 2022. This hasn't happened and I can't seem to pin down anyone willing to provide an explanation!

30% off all British Newspaper Archive subscriptions - expired

The British Newspaper Archive is offering a 30% discount on any subscription to its database. That's a generous discount, and it's good to see it being made available even to the shorter packages.

The offer has now expired.

Right now, there are just under 64million pages of historical newsprint in the database, which, in addition to newspapers published in England, Scotland, Wales and some former British colonies, includes some 259 Irish titles from across the island of Ireland.

To take advantage of the offer and grab yourself a bargain, click the image, right. You'll find the promo code has already been applied and you can see the reduced cost of each sub.

Whether you want a monthly, quarterly or annual package, make sure to place your order before the discount expires at 11:59pm (GMT) on Tuesday 28 February.

Some of the above content contains affiliate links. This means I may earn a small commission if you buy via these links. This does not affect the price you pay as a consumer, but it does contribute to keeping Irish Genealogy News online. See Advertising Disclosure tab above.

Decade of Centenaries Bursary scheme invites applications

The Decade of Centenaries bursary scheme was established to encourage and support new local research and local history studies in meaningful examination of local, regional, and national events during the Struggle for Independence and Civil War period.

Applicants can be from researchers across all career stages, both professional researchers including doctoral and postdoctoral students as well as local historians, independent scholars etc. whose research focuses on a region or locality. The bursaries on offer are for amounts ranging from €1,000 to €10,000.

Typically awards will be made in the region of €5,000-€10,000 but smaller projects will also be considered.

Applications are welcomed which focus on any of the themes listed below:

• New research to explore local legacies, personalities, places, events, and themes that have particular significance within communities, parishes and counties
• New research to explore the fates of the minority communities on both sides of the border following Partition
• New research to explore the contribution and experiences of women during this period, e.g. women's participation in political, military, professional and domestic roles
• New research exploring Ireland and the Wider World, including local connections, emigration, and the role of the Irish Diaspora in the events that occurred during this period
• Ireland's admission into the League of Nations and Ireland's membership of the International Labour Organisation
• New research exploring a changing society during this period, focusing on social history, popular social, cultural, and civic movements, the Irish language; creative thinking and the arts; sport; and innovation
• New research exploring nationhood, identity, and State-Building – the establishment of a new Irish Free State and the challenges faced by the emerging Irish State
• New research exploring how the events of this period have been remembered and commemorated within families, communities and parishes over the past century – how the process of commemoration has evolved. 
• New comparative research exploring the Irish period and associated themes in an International context.
• New research exploring 'Emotions, experiences, and expectations' – what was felt and what was hoped for through revolution, civil war, and beyond
• 'History and commemoration revisited' – new research reflecting on the Decade of Centenaries – its impact and legacy
  
• New research exploring 'The process of rebuilding a nation' – reflections on healing, repairing, and re-building following the Civil War.

Further details, including guidelines, deadline, and an application form, can be found by clicking the image above. Any queries can be sent to grants@ria.ie.

Sources for Irish Women's History moved from CD to online

Originally published on CD-ROM in 1999, the Directory of Sources for Irish Women’s History database has been relaunched as a free and publicly-available resource hosted on the Irish Manuscript Commission’s website.

Click the screenshot of its home page, right, to start exploring it.

As part of the transfer project, the database has been fully updated and now contains 20,790 records from 2,413 collections held by 221 repositories across Ireland and Northern Ireland, with all contact details recently checked.

'Sources' remains the only detailed all-island listing of archival-based documents relating to the history of women in Ireland. It also offers a good list of websites worth visiting for more material.

The project was supported by the Irish Manuscripts Commission and the Mná 100 unit of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

(With thanks to Audrey Mac Cready.)