Irish Family History

This Thursday (20 May 2010), Audrey Collins will be giving a talk on tracing Irish ancestors at The National Archives, Kew, England. The talk will take place between 14:00 and 15:00.

The National Archives at Kew, England contain many records that are relevant to researchers of Irish history and genealogy as for many years the island of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom (six Irish counties are part of the UK today).

Audrey will discuss a number of sources including those that are specifically Irish such as the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) records and others that are not specifically Irish but may contain references to Irish people - for instance the records of the armed forces.

For further information take a look at The National Archives website.

The Irish Genealogical Research Society is holding its Genealogy Open Day on Saturday 22nd May 2010 at Dublin City Library & Archive, Pearse Street, Dublin 2.

See below for details of the programme. Admission is free. All are very welcome, and no need to book a place.

OPEN DAY PROGRAMME

10.00 – 10.20: Registration and coffee. (Tea & Coffee available in the library cafe on the first floor)

10.20: Chairman’s welcome

10.30 – 11.10: Griffith’s Valuation and Valuation Office Records: What’s There and Where is It? - John Grenham

11.15 – 11.55: The 1641 Depositions Project and Genealogy - Prof. Jane Ohlmeyer and Dr Elaine Murphy

12.00 – 13.30: lunch (at own expense)

13.45 – 14.25: Natives and Newcomers in Cromwellian Ireland - Dr John Cunningham

14.30 – 15.10: The Records of Glasneviin Cemetery: a Resource for Family History - Mervyn Colville and Shane Mac Thomáis

15.20 – 16.00: Ask the Experts - Question & Answer Session

I recently received a catalogue through the post from Adam’s, the Dublin-based auction house, announcing the latest auction on Tuesday 18th May, entitled The Great Famine.

Up for auction were 332 lots, including many letters from the archives of a firm of Dublin solicitors, Steward & Kinkaid, who acted as  agents for a number of landlords and estates including:
Sligo: Lord Palmerstown, Col. Wingfield
Roscommon: the Marquess of Westmeath, Daniel Ferrell
Clare & Limerick: the Stratford Estate
Kilkenny & Carlow: the Frankfort Estates

Some of the letters relate directly to the Famine while others discuss affairs on the estate, relationships between tenants and various other themes.  Because the archive was so large, the auctioneers had selected 150 letters to be sold separately.  After reading the catalogue from cover to cover, and hoping I might win Saturday’s lotto, I reflected and thought that nice as it was for me or anyone else to have a chance to own a piece of history, it was a shame that the archive was to be broken up.  (The papers had been bought in the late 1980s and early 1990s by a private individual).

For a start, any letters that might end up in private hands would be enjoyed by the owner, but would be difficult for researchers to know about or access.  Then, because many of those who are interested in the Famine period are located outside Ireland the documents might end up spread across many different locations.  These two factors would mean that the context of the letters would be lost.  As any researcher knows, the value of such a collection of documents is not just in what can be gained from each document in isolation (though of course they may be interesting in themselves) but also in how they relate to each other.  And then of course, collections of records from different estates might be compared to build up a comparison of what was happening in different areas. So while it might be interesting for an individual to purchase one of the letters, it might not be beneficial to the study of Irish history as a whole.

So, I was delighted to hear on the RTE news tonight that it has been decided that the collection will remain intact.  The following note was posted on the Adam’s website:
‘Following intensive successful negotiations, with Kennys of Galway acting as intermediary, we are delighted to announce that the Stewart & Kincaid Famine Letters (Lots 1-147 incl in our May 18th Famine Sale) are to be kept together as a Collection and given to an important archive here in Ireland, where they will, in due course, be available for academic research.’

Some research has already been conducted into the papers by Desmond Norton at UCD who, it states on their website, originally acquired the papers. Meanwhile, many other interesting Irish lots are up for auction in the forthcoming Adam’s sale…

If you have any comments on this article or the issues raised in it, please leave a comment!

My attention has been drawn to a genealogy fair that being organised this Saturday by St. Laurence’s National School PTA in Chapelizod, Dublin.  There’s a great line-up of speakers and workshops and tickets are priced at €12 each or €20 for two, with proceeds supporting school activities and the pupils’ education.

Programme

Morning Session – 11am (2hrs)
Fiona Fitzsimons - Getting Started in Irish Genealogy
Eileen Ó Dúill - An Introduction to Civil Registration
Sean Ó Dúill - The Traditions around Marriage and Matchmaking, Death and Burials: How They Can Provide Clues to your Family History
Rosaleen Underwood – An Introduction to Parish Records
Brian Donovan – A Guide to Genealogical Records Available Online
Q&A session, with panel of genealogists

Afternoon Session – 1:45pm (2hrs)
Sean Murphy - Know your Surnames
Eileen O’Duill – An Introduction to Civil registration
John Grenham - A Guide to Genealogical Records Available Online
Dan Bradley - Genetics and Genealogy
Q&A session, with panel of genealogists

**Please arrive 15-20 minutes before the start of the session**
Light refreshments will be on sale during the event. The organisers suggest you bring your family tree, or whatever information you have, so that you can find out how you too can research your family’s history.

Venue
The venue is the Neptune Rowing Club, Long Meadows, Conyngham Road, Islandbridge, Dublin. The venue has wheel chair access, and there is free parking in the nearby Garda Rowing club. Stewards will direct you the short distance from the Garda Rowing Club to the Neptune.

Raffle
A raffle is also taking place, the prize being genealogical research provided by Eneclann Ltd. to the value of €3,500. Tickets cost €5 each or €20 for 5 and can be bought from the Eneclann website.

What better day to start up this blog again than St. Patrick’s Day?  Here are a couple of snippets of information I’ve come across recently.  If you have any Irish family history related event you’d like me to promote or anything else that might be of interest to the readers of this blog, please contact me via the comment section of this blog.

40% off Irish Family History Publications
Eneclann are offering you 40% off all titles in their shop to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day - the offer extends until Sunday 21 March.  If you’re unfamiliar with Eneclann, they are the largest Irish publisher of CD, DVD and online titles for the history and genealogy of Ireland, so their shop is well worth a browse.  (I should also disclose that when I am not on maternity leave, I’m their marketing manager…)

National Library of Ireland Launches Online Photograph Collection
On the RTE news last night, it was announced that nearly 34,000 historic photographs of Ireland can now be viewed online by the general public.

Since 2007 the National Library of Ireland, which holds the world’s largest collection of photographs relating to Ireland, has been digitising their collection of glass plate negatives.  Previously these had to be viewed in their Dublin archives using a lightbox and wearing gloves, but now anyone anywhere in the world can view many of the images in this remarkable collection as long as they have an internet connection.

The collections that have been digitised include the Lawrence, Independent, Poole and Eason collections.  The online images are displayed at low resolution, but high resolution copies can be ordered from the library.  For further information on how to order copies and permission to use these images take a look at the National Library website.

Search the National Library of Ireland’s digital photo collection now.

The 1911 cenus of Ireland is now completely online - all counties are covered and can be accessed free of charge at http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie

The National Archives of Ireland has announced that the 1911 census will go online at the end of May for the following counties:
Cork
Donegal
Wexford
Galway
King’s County (Offaly)

They also note that there were a number of errors in the three counties that went online in December (Antrim, Kerry and Down) as well as a number of errors in transcription and some missing material. The partners the National Archives are working with are currently reviewing the material relating to these counties with a view to improving accuracy. The updated information for Antrim, Kerry and Down will go online at the end of May also.

The following counties are set to go live in mid-July: Limerick, Mayo,Waterford, Armagh, Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Fermanagh, Kildare, Kilkenny and Leitrim.

It is then hoped that the final tranche of counties will go live by the end of August: Londonderry (Derry), Longford, Louth, Meath, Monaghan, Queen’s County (Laois), Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary, Tyrone, Westmeath and Wicklow.

For further information, please see the National Archives of Ireland website.

 Image of Chapel Lane, Skibbereen,
Illustrated London News 1847

The inaugural National Famine Day takes place on 17 May 2009 and is being hosted in Skibbereen.  Skibbereen has been chosen as the host town for the first provincial National Famine Memorial Day in 2009. There will be a ceremonial event in Skibbereen on Sunday 17 May and a corresponding one held in Canada on 10 May.

Famine Related Events
There is a full week of Famine-related events running from 10-17 May, most of which are free of charge. For full details please download the Famine Memorial programme 2009 from Skibbereen Heritage Centre.
 

Skibbereen and the Famine
Philip O’Regan’s article in the Southern Star addresses the issue of just how Skibbereen came to be so synonymous with the Great Hunger and why it features so prominently in the literature of the Famine 

Dr. Donovan and Dr. Hadden were two dispensary doctors working in Skibbereen and the surrounding area, who worked tirelessly to help the local community during the Famine years. Read the story of Dr. Donovan and Dr. Hadden on the Eneclann website.

5% to Gorta when you buy an Eneclann CD
The team at Eneclann (where I work) have decided to donate 5% of the proceeds from our historical interest CDs sold during Famine Memorial week (10-17 May 2009) to Gorta (the Freedom From Hunger Council of Ireland, whose name means ‘famine’ in Irish).

Our team felt that as well as considering the events of the past, we wanted to do something to help present day famine victims too. For every CD purchased from the Eneclann shop between Sunday 10th and Sunday 17th May 2009 we’ll give 5% to Gorta.

To celebrate 150 years of publication, the Irish Times is giving free access to their digital archive (1859 onwards) between 27 March and 5 April. 

Visit the Irish Times Digital Archive.

This is the 14th most common surname in Ireland, and is found all over Ireland although it is most prevalent in Donegal and the surrounding counties.  This is hardly surprising given the Gallaghers were one of the principal septs of Donegal.

In Irish, the surname is Ó Gallchobair, meaning ‘foreign help’ and, according to MacLysaght there are ‘at least 23 variant spellings in anglicized forms’.

According to Woulfe, the Gallaghers are descended from, Maelchoba the 7th century King of Ireland.  They were marshalls of the O’Donnell’s forces from the 14th century onwards and members of the family were also Bishops of Raphoe and Derry. 

Take a look at previous entries on Irish surnames.

 *****

If you’re interested in Irish surnames, I recommend MacLysaght’s ‘The Surnames of Ireland’ as a useful guide.

Click on your country to take a look at the book: Ireland and UK, Canada and USA. (Select Ireland & UK if your country is not shown).