Irish genealogy, history & heritage events, 3–16 July

Monday 3 July: Research Workshop: Using the National Library. Host and venue: National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2. The workshop is suitable for anyone looking to embark on a research project or to enhance research skills in navigating the catalogue, accessing the various collections and interpreting the sources. 2pm. Places are limited; booking required. To reserve a place, email learning@nli.ie or telephone 01 6030 259.

Tuesday 4 July: Irish emigration records – an illustrated discussion of sources for researching an ancestor's migration from Ireland, with Brian Mitchell MAGI. Host: National Archives of Ireland's 2017 Lecture Programme. Venue: Reading Room, National Archives, Bishop Street, Dublin 8. Free. All welcome. 6pm. No booking required.

Tuesday 4 July: Genealogical evening, with Dr Paul MacCotter. Host & venue: Franciscan Well Brewery pub, North Mall, Cork City. Introduction to Irish genealogy for beginners; family history and surname origins advice for the more advanced. 8:30pm. Free. No booking. Just turn up.

Wednesday 5 July: Galway Centenary Conversations: War and Revolution Roadshow. Host: Galway County Council, NUI Galway, The Moore Institute and others. Venue: Portumna Workhouse, St Brigids Rd, Portumna, Co Galway. 8pm. Free. Details. All welcome.

Saturday 8 July: Getting the most out of FamilySearch.org, with Tom Rice. Host: Irish Genealogical Society Intl (IGSI). Venue: Minnesota Genealogical Society (MGS) Library, 1185 N. Concord, South St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. Starts at 10:30am. Cost is $15 for IGSI members and $20 for non-members. Register.

Saturday 8 July: Landed Estates Conference: The place of the Big House in Irish history. Host and venue: Irish Workhouse Centre, St. Bridget's Road, Portumna, Co. Galway. 9:30am to 3.30pm. Details. Fully booked.

Sunday 9 July: Guided Tour of Clonoghill Cemetery, with Brian Kennedy and Jimmy Shortt. Host: Birr Historical Society. Venue: Meet at main gate to the Old Clonoghill Cemetery, Birr, Co Offaly. Free. All welcome. 3pm–4:30pm.

Tuesday 11 July: Newspapers as a source for genealogical research with Georgine Scally MAGI. Host: National Archives of Ireland's 2017 Lecture Programme. Venue: Reading Room, National Archives, Bishop Street, Dublin 8. Free. All welcome. 6pm. No booking required.

Tuesday 11 July: Irish Family History Group, monthly meeting. Host and venue: The Core Library, Theatre Square, Homer Road, Solihull, UK, B91 3RG. 10am to Noon. All welcome, for genealogy help and support.

Tuesday 11 July: Tracing the roots of Irish emigration to Argentina, from the discovery of the Americas to the Great Famine, with Tim Fanning. Part of the Latin American Irish Diaspora Festival. Venue: County Library, Library Square, Tallaght, Dublin 24. Register here. Free. 6:30pm. All welcome.

Tuesday 11 July: Genealogical evening, with Dr Paul MacCotter. Host & venue: Franciscan Well Brewery pub, North Mall, Cork City. Introduction to Irish genealogy for beginners; family history and surname origins advice for the more advanced. 8:30pm. Free. No booking. Just turn up.

Wednesday 12 July: Galway Centenary Conversations: War and Revolution Roadshow. Host: Galway County Council, NUI Galway, The Moore Institute and others. Venue: Screene's Bar, Gilkagh, Co. Galway. 8pm. Free. Details. All welcome.

Wednesday 12 July: Swift's Dublin, with Professor David Dickson MRIA. Host and venue: Royal Irish Academy, 19 Dawson Street, Dublin 2. Lunchtime lecture series accompanies ongoing free exhibition commemorating Jonathan Swift's birth in 1667. Lecture 1pm. Free. No booking required.

Thursday 13 July: Delayed opening at National Library of Ireland to facilitate staff development meeting. All venues will open at 11am.

Saturday 15 July: The 1st Leinsters – who they were and what became of them, with John Goodman. Host: Western Front Association (Dublin Branch). Venue: National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7. Admission: €3. All welcome. 2:30pm.

Saturday 15 July: Genealogy Workshop, with Lynn Brady. Host and venue: Glasnevin Cemetery Museum, Finglas Road, Dublin 11. All participants receive €10 genealogy vouchers giving access to Glasnevin Cemetery's unique records. 2pm to 3pm. Free. Booking essential: email  lbrady@glasnevintrust.ie or telephone 0(1) 882 6536.

Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives: latest updates

Listed below are the files added to the online database of Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives in the second half of June. They have been contributed by volunteers and are free to access.

St Anne's Church of Ireland, Monellan, Donegal.
Photo courtesy Malcolm Houston and IGP Archives

DONEGAL Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Monellan, St. Anne's (CoI) Graveyard
Sacred Heart (R.C) Graveyard, Dunlewey
Sacred Heart (R.C.) Graveyard Carndonagh
St. Patrick's Graveyard, Drumkeen - Pt 1

DUBLIN Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Chaloner Corner, Trinity College - Provosts
Deansgrange Cem., St. Nessan's Section, Part 10
St. Brigids, Stillorgan (Updated)

MEATH Genealogy Archives - Headstones
St. Mary's, Navan (Right Side) (N-Q)

SLIGO Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Sligo Abbey (Updated)

WATERFORD Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Christ Church, CoI Graveyard, Tramore
Ferrybank Graveyard (R.C.), Pt 3
Ferrybank Graveyard (R.C.), Pt 4

WEXFORD Genealogy Archives - Newpapers
Poor House Entries, 4 March 1868

Free: Ancestry's records from the original 13 colonies

To mark Independence Day, Ancestry.com is offering free access to its collection of records from the original 13 colonies.

There are 280 million records in the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution collection, and this special promotion additionally includes free access to census records from the 1700s.

See all the 'free access' featured record sets here.

If you don't already have a free account with Ancestry.com, you'll need to register for one. It's a straightforward and speedy process requiring you to provide only your name, email address and year and place of birth.

Free access to the records in the featured collections will expire at 11:59pm ET on 4 July.

RCB Library makes Church of Ireland parish registers more easily discoverable with online hand-lists

The RCB Library has completed another project to help researchers more easily discover the availability of Church of Ireland records. The latest phase of its work on the hand-lists of parish records in RCBL custody has been released online, providing hand-lists for all 1,100 parish record collections held in the Library in Braemor Park, Dublin 14.

You can find out more about the project and the painstaking revision work it involved at the RCBL's Archive of the Month presentation for July.

Click image to view the RCB Library's presentation
for the new online hand-held lists.

While hardcopy finding aids or hand-lists itemising the contents of specific collections have been available to researchers visiting the Library for some time, it has been difficult for those unable to make a personal visit to gain a detailed insight into each collection’s rich and varied content.

This time last year, a collaborative project between the RCB Library and the Irish Genealogical Research Society (IGRS) produced the colour-coded List of Church of Ireland Parish Registers, accounting for which parish registers survive, and where they are held. It also features live  links to online copies and transcripts.

The re-launch of this important resource has been widely acclaimed by the research community.

Now the parish hand-list for collections in the Library’s custody provides added value to the resource, enabling researchers to view and download the Library collection master lists as PDFs.

Reflecting the perspective of the worldwide research community on this latest phase of the Library’s work, IGRS Chairman Steven Smyrl commented: “It was a pleasure for the IGRS to celebrate its 80th anniversary last year by collaborating with the RCB Library to produce the colour-coded parish register list. Now with the addition of hyperlinks to the detailed hand-lists for each parish collection, Church of Ireland parish records have never been more accessible. Well done to all RCB staff involved.”

The Library continues to encourage local clergy to transfer non-current records from their local provenance to the Library’s permanent and secure centralised custody. To complement the re-launch of the List of Church of Ireland Parish Registers, this month’s online presentation (link above) includes links to the hand-lists of recently deposited registers and other parish materials, highlighting some of the more unusual items that have recently come into Library custody and the aspects of local and family history that they bring to light.

Free ebook explores the revolutionary sites of Rebel County Cork

A new and free book – Heritage Centenary Sites of Rebel County Cork – has been published by Cork County Council.

Researched by Rubicon Heritage, and with contributions from numerous individuals and archivists across Cork, the principal editor is Damian Shiels; many historians and genealogists will recognise Damian as the author of The Forgotten Irish – Irish Emigrant Experiences in America and The Irish in the American Civil War, not to mention his award winning blog, IrishAmericanCivilWar.com.

As its name suggests, the new 242-page book covers the sites in County Cork connected to the revolutionary period. It is heavily illustrated and has ten chapters, and sets out the story of the county's history of conflict and rebellion prior to 1916, its involvement in the Rising, the county at war from 1918 to 1921, and the division of the county during the Civil War.

The book features thirty heritage sites across the county, each one telling its own story of involvement in the Revolutionary Era.

There is also guidance for readers wanting to explore their own family's experiences during the Revolutionary era.

The book was published in hard copy at the end of last year and is available to purchase in bookshops and heritage centres across County Cork (€10). It has now been made available as a free ebook (pdf) can be downloaded here.

Irish Newspaper Archive: New content and 25% off

The Dublin-based Irish Newspaper Archive has extended its content for three of its most popular titles, as follows:

Evening Herald: 1950-1999; colour pdf 2005-17
Belfast Newsletter: 1900-1938; colour pdf 2013-17
Donegal Democrat: 1919-1998; colour pdf 2016-17

To mark the upload of these extra editions, the archive is offering a 25% discount from its monthly and annual subscriptions.

To take advantage of the discount, sign up for a new subscription and use the promotion code New001.

The Irish Newspaper Archive has a handy map of the island where you can check the publications available, county by county.

Latest updates to Registry of Deeds Index Project

The Registry of Deeds Index Project database has been updated and now boasts 243,717 index entries taken from 27,306 memorials of deeds. They are free to search.

In addition, there are now 39,476 townland index entries and 16,740 grantor index entries.

Founder and co-ordinator of the index project Nick Reddan FIGRS advises that he has updated his guide to townland films and it now includes a facillity to search by county.

The Registry of Deeds Index Project is free to search. It is a crowd-sourced project, managed by researchers for researchers, and is always looking for more volunteers to help make more of the Registry of Deeds archive accessible to Irish genealogists.

How to preserve Belfast City Cemetery's heritage?

Belfast City Council is seeking views on how best to preserve the heritage of City Cemetery.

The burial ground is the final resting place for many of Belfast’s key historical figures including Sir Edward Harland, Thomas Gallaher, William Pirrie, Daniel Joseph Jaffe, Sam Thompson, Rinty Monaghan and Margaret Byers, and could soon be protected and made more accessible thanks to funding raised by the Heritage Lottery Fund's Parks for People grant programme.

The project, which is currently in the development phase, will enable the council to restore key heritage assets, develop a community and education centre, improve visitor amenities, increase understanding of the site’s heritage, uncover hidden assets such as the ‘underground wall’ and even enhance City Cemetery’s biodiversity.

A series of public consultation events are going to be held this week. The feedback gathered will help develop the second stage of the application process.

Tuesday 27 June : Cultúrlann, 11am-1pm
Tuesday 27 June: Whiterock Library, 2pm-4pm
Wednesday 28 June: Kennedy Centre, 10am-4pm
Wednesday 28 June: Belfast Met Whiterock Road, 12:30pm-2pm
Thursday 29 June: Whiterock Community Centre, 12noon-2pm
Thursday 29 June: Whiterock Leisure Centre, 2pm-5pm
Friday 30 June: City Cemetery, 2pm-4pm

One of the oldest public cemeteries in Belfast, and the city’s first municipal burial ground when it opened in 1869, the City Cemetery is also the site of the Jewish burial ground, the poor ground and the mortuary chapel wall.

As well as housing many fine examples of Victorian, Edwardian and Gothic revival architecture, the City Cemetery provides an important insight into the history of Belfast. Approximately 225,153 people have been buried in the graveyard, including politicians, businessmen, inventors, industrialists, paupers and prostitutes.

For those not able to attend the consultation sessions, an online survey can be completed. The deadline is Monday, 17 July.

Discounts on FindMyPast's World/Premium collection

Following on from the very popular long weekend of free access to FindMyPast's Irish and British collections, which has now ended, FindMyPast has two special offers on their subscriptions.

The first is a 10% discount on the annual World/Premium sub. This subscription obviously includes not only the huge Irish and British collections (including the England and Wales 1939 Register), but also the substantial and growing US & Canada and Australia & New Zealand collections. In total, the World/Premium collection holds 8 billion records.

To take advantage of the discount, check out the terms and conditions via one of the following links and sign-up for the World/Premium sub before 23.59 BST on Sunday 2 July.


FindMyPast.co.uk
10% off 12-month World subscription. Normal price £156. After discount £140.36.



FindMyPast.com
10% off 12-month Premium subscription. Normal price US$239.52. After discount US$215.55



FindMyPast.com.au
10% off 12-month World subscription. Normal price AUS$239.52. After discount AUS$215.55

The second offer is for a £1/$1 one-month World/Premium sub. This package gives you access to 8 billion records from Ireland, UK (but not the 1939 Register), USA & Canada, and Australia & New Zealand.

To take advantage of the discount, check out the terms and conditions via one of the following links and sign-up for the World/Premium sub before 23.59 BST on Sunday 2 July. Do note that at the end of the first month, your subscription will continue on a monthly basis at the regular rate; if you don't want the subscription to continue, you need to uncheck the auto-renew option on the 'Your Account' page.

FindMyPast.co.uk
£1 for the first month's World subscription (that's a 92% discount!).



FindMyPast.com
£1 for the first month's Premium subscription (that's a 95% discount!).



FindMyPast.com.au
£1 for the first month's World's subscription (that's a 95% discount!).


Please note, FindMyPast Ireland is not taking part in either of these promotions but this doesn't mean the Irish collection is excluded. Just to be clear: FindMyPast's entire Irish collection is automatically included in the World/Premium collection no matter which FindMyPast territory you purchase from.

New FamilySearch civil reg collection holds enhanced detail

A limited rendition of Ireland's civil bmd index has joined Family Search over the weekend. It's the Ireland Civil Registration 1845-1913 collection and it holds births 1864-1913, marriages 1845-1870, and deaths 1864-1870.

Its record count is 389,073 indexed items – way short of the 7.4million civil events registered during the stated years. It also has 30,389 images available to browse for those viewing at LDS Family History Centers (FHCs).

On checking the collection on my desktop pc this morning, I wasn't sure it offered non-FHC researchers anything other than an always welcome additional (partial) index of the civil registration records. However, on closer examination, it does.

While we await the upload of GRO's pre-1882 marriage and pre-1891 death register images to IrishGenealogy.ie, this collection is worth checking out, especially for pre-1870 marriages. It holds 32,997 marriage records for this period (irishgenealogy.ie has 790,000+) and they provide more information than we're accustomed to from an index. Here's an example: the 1851 marriage of James Adair.

On IrishGenealogy.ie, a search for this marriage would give you this result:

A search on FamilySearch's Ireland Civil Registration Indexes 1845-1958 would provide the same information, while searches on Ancestry and FindMyPast would provide the probable or possible name(s) of the spouse.

On FamilySearch's new index, however, this is the result you'd receive:

Not only is the spouse's name confirmed, but the names of James' father and the bride's father are also given. Usually you won't get that level of detail without sight of the marriage certificate.

Since the wait for IrishGenealogy.ie to add the missing images seems to be going on and on (despite assurances at the turn of the year that they would be uploaded 'soon'), researchers should take a dip into this index if the dates match the events they seek. It will be a fruitful and lucky dip for some, if not most.

UPDATE, 27 June: Thanks to Steven Smyrl MAGI for getting to the source of this 'new' collection. It seems these civil records have been extracted from existing mixed-source collections already available on FamilySearch: Ireland Births and Baptisms, 1620-1881, Ireland Marriages, 1619-1898, and Ireland Deaths, 1864-1870. So they're not new or enhanced records. They're what the pr/marketing bods call 'repurposed' – similar or partial product, different packaging.