Happy Canada Day/4th of July!

Just in time for both Canada Day and the 4th of July, Discounted Deposits are back. This allows you to book your cabin for just $100 usd. Treat yourself to a trip of a lifetime. Visit your ancestral homeland by sea, just like your ancestors did. Immerse yourself in Celtic Culture. And revel in the deep and rich history of your Scottish and/or Irish heritage.

The discounted deposit runs from July 1-7 and can be used in conjunction with the FREE drinks package if you book a balcony or higher level cabin. BOOK YOUR CABIN HERE

Last Few Hours to Register!

Looking for help to research your Irish Ancestors that came from Scotland? Look no further. Join us for the Irish ViC (virtual conference) TOMORROW, April 21. Learn from experts in the comfort of your home. Relax, listen and be energized to further your Irish research

Fintan Mullan provides a raft of opportunities for finding your Scottish ancestors who were enticed to the Plantations of Ulster in the 1600s. 

Gillian Hunt shares the treasure trove of information available in the various church records in Ireland. She doesn't limit her talk to just church of Ireland but covers all of the churches. So many opportunities to find your Irish ancestors.

Trying to learn more about your female ancestors in Ireland? Fiona Fitzsimons shows how it is possible to re-create the social history of women by consulting various documents. This is one presentation you won't want to miss!

Confused about Irish Land records? Chris Paton will help you make sense of it all. A great resource for Irish research.

Can't get to Ireland to research your Irish ancestors? No worries, Maurice Gleeson helps you find as much as you can from the comfort of home by sharing online resources for you to consult.

Following each presentation, the presenter will be available in the Irish ViC Facebook group to answer any questions that you might have on the information that they have presented.

REGISTER HERE

                 

Online Resources for Irish Research

Can't get to Ireland to research your Irish ancestors?

No worries, on April 21 as part of the Irish ViC (virtual conference) Maurice Gleeson helps you find as much as you can from the comfort of home by sharing online resources for you to consult. 

Not yet registered for the Irish ViC (virtual conference)? Here's the link to register: 

https://www.genealogyvic.com/

Using Church Records for Irish Research

Join us on April 21 for the Irish ViC (virtual conference) where Gillian Hunt shares the treasure trove of information available in the various church records in Ireland. Gillian doesn't limit her talk to just Church of Ireland but covers all of the churches. These records provide so many opportunities to find your Irish ancestors. 

Not yet registered for the Irish ViC? Here's the link: https://www.genealogyvic.com/

Discovering Irish Land Records Irish ViC

Counties? Parishes? Townlands? Confused about Irish Land records? 

Join us on April 21 for the Irish ViC (virtual conference) where Chris Paton will help make sense of it all.

Not yet registered? Here’s the link: https://www.genealogyvic.com/

The Irish ViC is Just a Fortnight Away!

Moorshead Magazine is offering 25% off all of their special issue magazines for ViC attendees. This includes the pre-ordering of the the yet to be released Irish Research Issue authored by Maurice Gleeson. The issue will be available May 1.

Global Genealogy is offering a 20% discount on all purchases made during the ViC. They are the North American distributors for Chris Paton's books. He has authored several on Irish Research.

Check out all of the great resources to assist you in preserving your family history with Shop the Hound

WIN!!

One lucky recipient will win a FREE annual subscription to Findmypast!

Photo preservation, conversion from slides, movies, photos to digital, guaranteed storage with guaranteed privacy. Check everything that Forever has to offer to family historians.

The market place will open next week. Presentations will be released one at a time throughout the day according to the schedule below. Q & A opportunities will be available through the Facebook group where the presenters will be available directly following their presentations.

The ViC takes place on April 21, but you will have access to the presentations and hand outs until midnight (eastern) on April 24th so that you can go back and revisit the presentations as many times as you need This also allows you flexibility in the event you can't dedicate the whole day, or for those in the Southern Hemisphere who will be able to watch during actual waking hours. The Facebook group will remain open and if you are not able to access the live Q & A, you can read through the questions that were asked by others.

Schedule

9:00 - Fintan Mullan presents Finding 17th Century Families in Ireland

10:15 - Gillian Hunt presents Using Church Records for Irish Genealogy Research

11:30 - Fiona Fitzsimons presents Finding Women in the Irish Records

12:30 - break

1:00 - Chris Paton presents Using Irish Land Records for Genealogy Research

2:15 - Maurice Gleeson presents Making Online Resources Work for You

REGISTER NOW

                 

Need Help Finding Your IRISH Ancestors?

Pre-order  your copy of the Irish Issue special Tracing Your Ancestor Series Magazine. The magazine was authored by Dr Maurice Gleeson and will be on sale May 1. Pre-orders are being taken NOW:

https://your-genealogy-history-store-cda.myshopify.com/collections/tracing-your-ancestors-series

Join Us For a Celtic Cruise

Visit your ancestral homeland by sea, just like your ancestors did. Join us May 4 - 16, 2019 to sail around your Celtic homeland. 

Ports of Call:

Dublin (research and consultation opportunities)

Belfast (consultation opportunities)

Glasgow (research at the Mitchell)

Inverness (research at the Highland Archives)

Edinburgh (research at the National Records of Scotland)

For more information: https://celticgenealogycruises.com/

Irish ViC Schedule

The schedule for the Irish ViC is available at: https://www.genealogyvic.com/schedule.html

Here's the line up for the day:

9:00 - Fintan Mullan presents Finding 17th Century Families in Ireland 

10:15 - Gillian Hunt presents Using Church Records for Irish Genealogy Research 

11:30 - Fiona Fitzsimons presents Finding Women in the Irish Records 

12:30 - break 

1:00 - Chris Paton presents Using Irish Land Records for Genealogy Research 

2:15 - Maurice Gleeson presents Making Online Resources Work for You

All times are Eastern Time (Toronto/New York)

All presentations will be available for 72 hours after the end of the virtual conference to allow for time zone challenges and to make attending easier for people who are not able to commit to the full day.

To register: https://www.genealogyvic.com/

Irish ViC: Sources for Finding Seventeenth-Century Families in Ireland

Fintan Mullan will present on Sources for Finding Seventeenth-Century Families in Ireland

This presentation will look at those sources which can throw light on families in the seventeenth century. It identifies documents relating to the Plantation period (1610–41) and also considers sources from the second half of the seventeenth century, such as hearth money rolls, the Civil Survey and poll books, which are of use to genealogists. The presentation will also present information on a range of resources published in the past few years which can help researchers. The sources discussed, in many instances, relate to the island of Ireland and not only Ulster.

To register for the ViC: https://www.genealogyvic.com/

Irish ViC - Meet the Presenters

                 The Irish ViC (virtual conference) will take place on Saturday April 21, 2018

Gillian Hunt is Research Officer with the Ulster Historical Foundation and manages the Foundation’s many genealogical activities. She teaches genealogy classes in various educational institutions in Northern Ireland and has spoken in Britain and North America and Australasia.

Gillian will present on Using Church Records for Irish Family History Research

Fintan Mullan has been Executive Director of Ulster Historical Foundation since 2001. He has extensive experience in Irish family history research and publishing, and is a regular international speaker on Irish genealogy.

Fintan will present on Finding 17th Century Families in Ireland

Genealogist Chris Paton is the author of several Irish based research guide books, including A Beginner's Guide to British and Irish Genealogy, A Decade of Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Irish Land Records, Irish Family History Resources Online and Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, available in North America from Global Genealogy http://www.globalgenealogy.com/authors/paton-chris/chris-paton.htm

Chris will present on Irish Land Records

Fiona Fitzsimons is a founder and Director of Eneclann, a Trinity College Dublin Campus company specializing in historic research and digitization of records. She formerly tutored at Trinity College, and still contributes regular seminars at the Innovation Academy, a joint initiative of Trinity College, University College Dublin, and Queen’s University Belfast.

Fiona will present on Finding Women in the Irish Records

Maurice Gleeson, a psychiatrist and pharmaceutical physician by day and a genetic genealogist by night, is administrator for the Gleason/Gleeson, Spearin, Farrell, Irish Caribbean DNA and WW1 Missing Legacy projects. He has organised the DNA Lectures for "Genetic Genealogy Ireland" in Dublin and Back To Our Past in Belfast. Maurice has recently authored a special DNA issue for Moorshead Magazines and is working to complete one on Irish Research as well. 

Maurice will present in Making Online Resources Work for You

5 Presentations for just $79.00 https://www.genealogyvic.com/

                

Pre-Cruise Conference Registration OPEN

The pre-cruise conference will be the weekend of April 14th and 15th, 2018. 

The pre-cruise conference will be open to everyone who is booked on the cruise or who has expressed interest in the cruise. Those not booked will only get access for 4 days. Those booked for the cruise will get extended access so that they can re-visit the information and ensure they are prepared for their consultations or research time in Ireland and Scotland.

The pre-recorded presentations are well underway and Registration is OPEN.

There are 12 presentations in total. Six for those with Irish Ancestors and six for those with Scottish Ancestors. You can register for either country, or for all 12 presentations.

HOW IT WORKS

The learning will use the same platform that was used for the Scottish ViC and that will be used for the Irish ViC. This is an online educational platform so you will register for a "course". Don't worry about the semantics. There's no test and no homework.

The Irish presentations will be released on Saturday April 14th (2018) at 9 am Eastern. You can work your way through the presentations at your leisure. Access will remain open until April 2019.

The Scottish presentations will be released on Sunday, April 15th (2018) at 9 am Eastern and access will remain open until April 2019

Please note that there will be no opportunity to ask questions of the presenters but you are welcome to email me your questions and we will get the answers for you. Please note, however, that we will not be responding to consultations, so please don't include your genealogy brick walls.

The Irish ONLY presentations are $149.00

The Scottish ONLY presentations are $149.00

All 12 presentations are $275.00

On the website homepage, click on the "pre-cruise learning" tab at the top.

https://celticgenealogycruises.com/

Announcing the Irish ViC - virtual conference!

For those with Scottish ancestors who crossed the water to Ireland for a generation or two, I have organized an Irish ViC (virtual conference). 

Five speakers, five topics: 

Making Irish Online Sources Work for You, presented by Maurice Gleeson
Sources for Finding Seventeenth Century Families in Ireland, presented by Fintan Mullan
Using Church Record for Irish Family History, presented by Gillian Hunt
Finding Women in the Irish Records, presented by Fiona Fitzsimons
Finding Your Irish Ancestors in Scotland, presented by Chris Paton

All five presentations for $79cad

Register HERE

Researching Family in the British Isles Mini Institute

The Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP) has partnered with the International Society for British Genealogy and Family History (ISBGFH) to conduct a four day program of researching family in the British Isles.  ISBGFH conducts the British Institute held annually in Salt Lake City to provide week-long education by well-known genealogists on the British Isles.  On 13-16 August 2018, the ISBGFH has arranged for several presenters to provide an overview of researching British Isles topics at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.  These presentations will explore DNA, Scotland, Ireland and England research.  London based genetic genealogist Dr. Maurice Gleeson, MB, will present on DNA and Irish research, Christine Woodcock, from Genealogy Tours of Scotland, will discuss Scottish research, and Frank Southcott, President, ISBGFH, will explore the English records.

The HSP program is designed to be attended either on a given day and topic or in its entirety.  It is an in-depth overview of British Isles research and enhances attendance for those who may desire to attend the British Institute where morning instruction and afternoon independent research are conducted in the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City on a country topic.  More information is available on the British Institute at www.isbgfh.org.

The HSP curriculum for each day involves 4 presentations of one hour and fifteen minutes each.  Monday, 13 August 2018, Dr Gleeson, MB, will explore advances made in DNA and how it can be applied to your British Isles research.  Christine Woodcock will discuss the uniqueness of Scottish research on Tuesday, 14 August 2018.  Dr. Gleeson will return on Wednesday, 15 August 2018, to present on the ever increasing resources available on Irish research, and Thursday, 16 August 2018, Frank Southcott, will examine English genealogical resources.  

Click HERE for Course Descriptions 

The cost of the four day program will be $299.  Individual program days are available for $99 per day.  Limited consultation slots will be available on DNA, Scotland and Ireland during the program for $125 hour.  

To register: http://hsp.org/calendar/researching-family-british-isles

Celtic Genealogy Cruise!

Details are still being worked out, but the Celtic Genealogy Cruise will run May 4-16, 2019 departing from and returning to Dublin. 

Ports of Call include:

• Dublin
• Belfast
• Glasgow
• Inverness
• Edinburgh
• Southampton
• Le Havre, France
• Guernsey
• Cobh

Research opportunities will be available in Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow, Inverness and Edinburgh. For those who don't have ancestors to research in any given port, there will be shore excursions of an historic or social historic nature. 

The focus of the Celtic Genealogy Cruise is going to be to offer research opportunities while in port. The learning that normally occurs on a genealogy cruise will take place ahead of time so that you are well prepared for your journey. 

Consultations will be available throughout the cruise. 

More details will be shared once they are confirmed. 

New Irish Record Release for 100th Anniversary of the Easter Rising

Findmypastreleases a new record set to mark the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland. The records are FREE to search from April 17 - 27, 2016.

From the press release:

Findmypast launches online today the most complete collection of British War Office records  relating to the Easter Rising and Irish War of Independence from 1916-1921. The collection, digitised from original records held by The National Archives in Kew, reveals the struggles of life under Martial Law in Ireland, and demonstrates how events under the occupying military served to galvanise support for the rebels.  

Totaling more than 75,000 records, the collection will be free to access for ten days at Findmypast.iefrom today, 17 April, in advance of the 100^th anniversary of the Easter Rising on 24 April 2016.

More than 3,000 people were injured or killed in a conflict which saw three civilians killed for every one rebel. The records reveal the impact that the conflict had on men, women and children across Ireland. There are eye-witness accounts, interviews with civilians and reports of the trials of the leaders of the Rising and their sentences of execution.

The once classified records shine new light on the subsequent period of Martial Law in Ireland which was declared by the Lord Lieutenant in 1916, including the War of Independence, when the British military assumed control of the executive, judiciary and legislative arms of the entire country.. The contents of the collection provide a picture of what life was like for ordinary citizens in Ireland during this turbulent time.

The 25,000 search and raid records show the efforts of the military and police to discover arms, ammunition and seditious material through thousands of raids as well as their search for individuals associated with Sinn Féin, Irish Citizen Army, Irish Volunteers and the Irish Republican Army. Members of the public accessing the records on Findmypastwill find the names of the thousands of people who were detained and interned in prisons in Ireland, England and Wales and tried by courts martial, including the names of prominent nationalists and elected officials.

Military correspondence between the barracks in Dublin and the War Office in London grants new perspectives on the motivations and fears of the British Army leadership. The movements and actions of several key nationalist figures are also documented, including those of James Connolly, Eamon De Valera, Thomas Ashe, Joseph MacDonagh, Arthur Griffith, Padraig Pearse and Francis and Hannah Sheehy Skeffington and Countess Markievicz.

Key items from the collection include:

•  Daily situation reports sent by the British Army from Dublin to London between 24 April and 12 May 1916 documenting events during the uprising
•  A reportfrom the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief confirming the execution of iconic Irish socialist and rebel James Connolly, who owing to injuries sustained in the conflict had to be strapped to a chair before being shot 
• Court martial reports sentencing prominent nationalist, politician and suffragette Countess Markievicz to two years in prison for “assisting and promoting crime and murder” 
• Witness statements from civilians caught up in the Rising 
• Documents authored by Michael Collins seized from a safehouse used by the nationalist figurehead 
• Details on raids of pubs such as the Brazen Head, hotels, nationalist club houses such as the Ancient Order of Hibernians and thousands of homes 
•  An urgent and secret warning from Sir C Spring Rice, British Ambassador in America, of gun running in Ireland 
•  A telegram to the Prime Minister to report the expected surrender of the rebels from the Lieutenant General John Marshall
•  Internment files including the personal letters from prisoners or their relatives testifying to their innocence 
•  Details on the hunger strikes of interned prisoners 
• Secret documents that reveal the British Military’s own concern with some of the behaviour of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)

The collection was digitised in partnership with The National Archives in London and contains documents from their WO35 series, War Office: Army of Ireland: Administration and Easter Rising Records. Totaling more than 110 million records, Findmypast has the largest Irish family history collection available online.

Brian Donovan, Head of Irish Records at Findmypast, comments:

“These records constitute an extraordinary resource which will transform the search for answers about our ancestors' activities during 1916 and the years that followed. While those who fought were small in number, the war impacted on the lives of ordinary people in many ways. We’re extremely fortunate to have these records to help us make some sense of it.”

So Many New Resources for Irish Research

With the opening of the new PRONI centre in Belfast, there has been a great deal of activity in digitizing and making accessible, items of interest to those searching Irish ancestors. The PRONI centre allows onsite access to Irish records in much the same fashion as the Scotlands People Centre in Edinburgh at Register House.  There has never been a better time to be researching your Irish roots. Here is a list of what is available online – most of it FREE:

Thousands of eyewitness accounts from the bloody Catholic uprising of 1641 have been transcribed and put online for the first time. The uprising ultimately resulted in half the land owned by Irish Catholics being confiscated and given to Protestants from Britain. This land redistribution, based on some 5,000 sworn statements given by the eyewitnesses, make this free collection a valuable resource for genealogists. Here’s the link: http://www.1641.tcd.ie/index.php

The Irish Newspaper Archives has expanded their list of newspapers that can now be searched for free. There is a cost to view the actual article. http://www.irishnewsarchive.com/Default/Skins/SEARCH/Client.asp?Skin=SEARCH&enter=true&AppName=2&AW=1304766319516

Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin has added burial records that go back as far as 1828, which predates the official opening of the cemetery in 1832. Officially known as Prospect Cemetery, it is the largest nondenominational cemetery in Ireland and contains an estimated 1.2 million burials. Both Protestant and Catholics are buried in this cemetery and this record set is an excellent place to look if you have ancestors from Dublin. Have a look: http://www.glasnevintrust.ie/genealogy/

The website Irish Genealogy continues to add more Catholic church records to their website. The most recent update includes church records for Dublin City, Carlow, Cork and Kerry. http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/

Ireland Genealogy also allows you to search through historic Irish Pension Records by surname. These records predate the 1901 Irish census. Although these records are currently held at the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland, many of these records are not indexed by surname. Thus, this website can save you time and effort. There is no cost to search but there is a fee to see the full record  http://www.ireland-genealogy.com/

The Guinness Brewery in Dublin has digitized historical employee records from the brewery spanning the period from 1759 to the present. Some 20,000 individual employee files have gone online, which represents about 80% of all employees who worked at the historic brewery. A typical file lists the employee’s name, date of birth, date of death, employee ID number, date joined the brewery, date left, occupation and department that the employee worked: http://www.guinness-storehouse.com/en/GenealogySearch.aspx

Here’s what’s new at PRONI:

• 93,000 wills from the district probate registries of Armagh, Belfast and Londonderry online for free. They can be viewed here:  http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/search_the_archives.htm

• probate registries for the districts of Armagh, Belfast and Londonderry. http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/search_the_archives.htm

• historic photographs online through Flickr. The first batch of images is 15,000 pictures taken by a photographic studio in Armagh from 1900 to 1952. Many of the images are wedding and family group photos. The collection can be searched by family name. This is a good resource to check if you have ancestors from County Armagh. http://www.flickr.com/photos/proni

The Heritage Council of Ireland has launched a major new web portal called the Irish Archives Resource. It allows researchers to locate archival collections in Ireland that are relevant to their research. A detailed listing is provided for each collection along with instructions on how to access the collection. Many of the major city and county archives in Ireland have already contributed to the website. This site looks like it will quickly become a must-stop for Irish genealogy researchers: http://www.iar.ie/

Belfast City Council has digitized 360,000 burial records from three city cemeteries:  Belfast City Cemetery, Roselawn Cemetery and Dundonald Cemetery. Each record contains the following information: full name, age, sex, last place of residence, date of death, date of burial, grave section and number and type of burial.  http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/burialrecords/index.asp

Queen’s University in Belfast has created a virtual library on the history of Irish migration. The Irish Emigration database contains more than 33,000 records from various sources, including letters, diaries and newspaper ads. The Voices of Migration and Return database contains 90 life interviews conducted with migrants from the Ulster region. http://www.dippam.ac.uk/

FindMyPast Ireland has recently launched. Searchable records include land and estate records, Griffith’s Valuation of Ireland, directories, military and rebellion records, migration records and wills that go back as far as the 13th century. Here is just a sampling of what can be found on this subscription based site:

Marriages, Deaths, Wills (The Index of Irish Wills (1484-1858), Dublin Will and Grant Books Index (1270-1858), Philimore & Thrift Idexes of Irish Wills (1536-1858)

Sir Arthur Vicars Index to the Prerogative Wills of Ireland (1536-1858).

Census substitutes such as the Griffith’s Valuation, Tithe Defaulters of 1831 and the

Census of Elphin 1761

Treble Almanack & Dublin Directory 1783

City of Dublin and Hibernian Provincial Directory 1824

Thom's Irish Almanac & Official Directory 1884

Bassett's The Book of Antrim (1888)

The William Smith O'Brien Petition 1848-49

1798 Claimants and Surrenders

Ireland's Memorial Record: World War 1: 1914-1918