PRONI adds History of Belfast City Cemetery talk to YouTube

PRONI has added a video to its YouTube channel entitled History of Belfast City Cemetery. Here's the blurb:

Author, Tom Hartley, talks about the history of Belfast City Cemetery which opened on the 1 August 1869 as a cross denominational burial ground for the people of Belfast. This event took place on 17 October 2019.

The talk can be viewed at https://youtu.be/6No9QLVxqbY and is presented here also for convenience:

Chris

Order Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/16483. My next Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs course starts 4 November 2019 - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Flooding reveals graveyard bones in Fife

The BBC and STV have reported that heavy rain on Saturday has caused a wall to collapse at Largo and Newburn churchyard in Upper Largo, Fife, with several historic lairs exposed, and with some bones washed onto the adjacent street.

The head of Fife Council's bereavement services, Liz Murphy, is quoted as saying "Unfortunately, some historic graves were disturbed and exposed. In order to preserve the dignity of the deceased, where safe, the remains have been moved into the church.Any exposed ancient lairs are covered until it is safe to restore or rebury them."

You'll find the story at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-49344842 and https://stv.tv/news/east-central/1439974-human-bones-washed-onto-street-after-graveyard-floods/.

Fife News has further coverage at https://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/bones-wash-out-onto-fife-road-after-church-wall-collapses-1-4981693.

Chris

Order Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/16483. My next Scottish Research Online course starts 2 September 2019 - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

FIBIS adds Jalna Christian Cemetery in India images and transcriptions

From the Families in British India Society (https://www.fibis.org):

Jalna Christian Cemetery – over 100 graves photographed and transcribed

Photos from the old cemetery at Jalna, East of Aurangabad in Maharashtra, have now been transcribed and uploaded to the FIBIS database. Almost all the graves are between 150 and 200 years old. Our thanks to The Pilgrim Trust for funding the photography and to Sandra Seage for the transcriptions.

You can view the index of Jalna Christian Cemetery headstones via https://search.fibis.org/frontis/bin/aps_browse_sources.php?mode=browse_components&id=1182&s_id=359


FIBIS Cemeteries Project

FIBIS has hired a photographer who is currently visiting cemeteries in India and taking two photographs of every gravestone: one of the whole and one of the inscription. Mindful that many Indian cemeteries are in a dilapidated condition that is only going to deteriorate further, we are looking for donations to enable us to continue this important project.

In the meantime, the photographer is receiving from FIBIS a modest fee and necessary expenses for travel. Therefore, we are asking for suggested donations of £3 (Three pounds sterling) for one image or £5 (Five Pounds sterling) for two.

How to donate to the FIBIS cemeteries project and order an image

Please make donations via the PayPal button on the Cemeteries Project page (https://www.fibis.org/about-2/cemeteries/cemeteries-project/) to ensure donations go to the correct project. Please quote the Cemetery and Image Reference in the “Add special instructions to recipient” section of the “PayPal Review your payment” screen. Photographs will be sent by email. If you experience any problems making your donation please email treasurer@fibis.org.

(With thanks to Valmay Young)

Chris

My next Scottish Research Online course starts March 11th 2019 - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Details of my genealogical research service are available at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. For my Scottish and Irish themed books, visit https://britishgenes.blogspot.com/p/my-books.html. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

A graveyard in Crete

I am still in Pano Gouves, on the north coast of the Greek island of Crete, where I have been looking after my father, who broke his hip two weeks ago. I won't go into the new skills I have been picking up here on that front (!), instead, I thought I would briefly pop back into genie mode and show you some images from a local graveyard in the village. I popped in yesterday to visit, ostensibly to track down the grave of a friend of my father, who died in 2014, to pay my respects.

The main church denomination here is the Greek Orthodox Church, and the graveyard in Gouves is just down the road from the main church building. For some insight into the local funeral traditions and customs surrounding death in Crete, visit www.livingincrete.net/bereavement2.html and www.completely-crete.com/funeral.html.

I particularly love this line in the latter site:

"Members of the Greek Orthodox religion believe that at the moment of death, the deceased receives a partial judgment and gets a glimpse of both heaven and hell - and is thereafter sent to one of them."

Here are the images...

 

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course commences Sept 11th 2017 - details at www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

Mass grave found in Lanark cemetery with over 400 children

There's a fairly shocking story this morning concerning a former care home in Lanark, Scotland. The bodies of some four hundred children are believed to have been buried in a mass grave at St. Mary's Cemetery, with the children believed to have been formerly raised in Smyllum Park Orphanage in Lanark, run by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. The burials are believed to have been made between 1864 and 1981, when the orphanage finally closed its doors.

The discovery has been unearthed by the Film on 4 TV programme, working in conjunction with the Sunday Post newspaper - its coverage is available online at https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/smyllums-children-lanarkshire-kids-home-scandal-revealed-hundreds-orphans-laid-rest-nuns-mass-grave/. The charity itself has refused to comment.

UPDATE: "No crime" over orphanage mass grave - http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-41242514

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course commences Sept 11th 2017 - details at www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

CWGC launches new interns programme for 2017

From the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (www.cwgc.org):

COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION LAUNCHES NEW CWGC CENTENARY INTERNS PROGRAMME FOR 2017

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is seeking applications from the brightest and the best young people aged 18 to 25 to join a new CWGC Centenary Interns programme in 2017.

The CWGC Centenary Interns will join the Commission for four months, based in France and Belgium, to welcome visitors to some of the CWGC’s most well-known sites. These will include the CWGC Tyne Cot Cemetery near Ieper (Ypres), which will be the focus of the UK Government commemorations of the Centenary of Passchendaele: Third Battle of Ypres in July 2017.

The CWGC Centenary Interns will welcome visitors to, and guide them around, CWGC cemeteries and memorials. They will also undertake research and help offer context and a clearer understanding of both the CWGC and the First World War, from the perspective of people the same age as many of the war dead.

UK Government funding for the new programme was announced by former Chancellor George Osborne on the Centenary of the Battle of the Somme in July 2016, and it will launch early in the New Year. Over the next two years the CWGC expects to bring more than 40 interns to the Western Front, funded by a £600,000 LIBOR grant.

CWGC Director General Mrs Victoria Wallace, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for young people interested in the First World War to help others gain a real insight into the workings of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which has done such wonderful work in commemorating the fallen of the two World Wars for 100 years. The CWGC Centenary Interns will be able to welcome and help visitors, and share with them the stories of so many of those we commemorate. It is a chance to be right at the heart of the UK and Commonwealth commemorations in France and Belgium in 2017 and 2018. Please tell any enthusiastic young people you know to consider this great role, playing a part in marking such histori
c anniversaries.”

Dr Andrew Murrison MP, the Prime Minister’s Special Representative for the Centenary Commemorations of the Great War, added: "Centenary Internships are an exciting, high quality opportunity for young people and an appropriate and enduring way to remember and reflect on the Great War.

"I anticipate a great deal of competition for the places announced today and that participation will have a lasting impact on successful applicants.”

Those wishing to apply can find full details on the CWGC Blog at blog.cwgc.org/interns2017 or register their interest via interns@cwgc.org

(With thanks to Peter Francis)

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Beginner's Guide to British and Irish Genealogy, A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission appeal

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (www.cwgc.org) has issued an appeal to contact relatives of the following First World War casualties:

BARR, HENRY KEITH d. 25/10/1916
38TH King George’s Own Central India Horse
Major
HOLCOMBE ROGUS (ALL SAINTS) CHURCHYARD

BROWN, JOHN NIXON d. 05/08/1914
Cameron Highlanders
Private
GLASGOW (LAMBHILL) CEMETERY

CAMPBELL, WILLIAM d. 01/03/1916
Highland Light Infantry
Private
LANARK CEMETERY

COWAN, GEORGE d. 10/12/1917
King’s Own Scottish Borderers
Private
DUMFRIES (ST. MICHAEL’S) CEMETERY

SAPWELL, ARTHUR FREDERICK CHARLES d. 15/06/1919
Royal Munster Fusiliers
Private
NEW BRADWELL (ST JAMES) CHURCHYARD

SAPWELL, CHRISTOPHER LORTON d. 16/08/1918
Army Veterinary Corps
Private
GREAT LINFORD (ST ANDREW) CHURCHYARD

WYSE, ROBERT d. 09/02/1918
Royal Scots
Private
ABBOTSHALL PARISH CHURCHYARD

Further details, including services numbers, lair numbers etc, are available at http://www.cwgc.org/news-events/news/2016/12/appeal-for-relatives-dec-2016.aspx. Relatives are asked to get in touch with the UKNA technical team, contactable at enquiries@cwgc.org

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Beginner's Guide to British and Irish Genealogy, A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

CWGC Battle of the Somme web pages

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has a new dedicated page for the Battle of the Somme centenary commemorations, located at http://www.cwgc.org/the-somme.aspx.

Amongst the many useful pages are a Home page describing each of the key battles that took place between July and November 1916, and a Visitors Guide, providing on a daily basis for the period various details from the original battle, such as the weather, the temperature, the number of men missing that day, and the total commemorated losses each day. A short summary of that day's action is also presented, with a suggested cemetery to visit that is most relevant for the day's events. Elsewhere on the site is a handy interactive cemetery map, and a FAQs page.

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.

FindmyPast adds Royal Naval records and London censuses

FindmyPast (www.findmypast.com) has added the following record sets:

British Royal Navy Seamen, 1899-1924
Learn fascinating details about your Naval relatives including the ships on which they served, physical descriptions and their occupation before joining the Navy with over 20,900 new records.

London, Westminster Marylebone Census, 1821 & 1831
Search more than 22,500 census returns to reveal your relative's address and occupation, as well as the number of people living in the home.

The site has also updated its Billion Graves Cemeteries indexes from around the world.

For further details please visit https://blog.findmypast.co.uk/fridays/.

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.

Deceased Online adds Camberwell Old and Camberwell New Cemeteries

From Deceased Online (www.deceasedonline.com):

Explore records from Camberwell Old and Camberwell New Cemeteries, South East London

Servicing a large area of South East London for the last 160 years the Camberwell Cemeteries in the London Borough of Southwark, are now available to search through Deceased Online.

For a long time there was extensive poverty in this area and as a result there are large numbers of common or paupers graves in the cemeteries. These graves are largely unmarked and this is your opportunity to find those hundreds of thousands of missing relatives.

The council area covers Bermondsey, Rotherhithe, Borough, Walworth, Peckham, Camberwell, Peckham Rye, Nunhead and Dulwich.

Camberwell Old Cemetery opened in 1856 originally as a burial ground for St Giles Camberwell and was expanded in 1874 to help Nunhead Cemetery cater for the demand for burial space for the whole area. It is still an active cemetery part of which is a nature reserve.

Located a short distance away is Camberwell New Cemetery which was opened in 1927 to again cater for the huge demand for burial space. All the records are now available to search online.

There are over 300,000 people buried in Camberwell Old and Camberwell New cemeteries and a total of 700,000 for Southwark.

Find a relative, discover who else is buried in the grave, get a scanned copy of the original register entry and view a vital map giving the square where the grave is located. To search all of Southwark click here.

Honor Oak cremations will be added for Southwark Council in the coming weeks. See full details click here.

(With thanks to Deceased Online)

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

Perth and Kinross' Local and Family History department

Yesterday I was in Perth for a meeting, and whilst there I managed to pop into the A. K. Bell Library to make a quick foray into the local archives. Upon entering the building I discovered that the upstairs local studies section has had something of a revamp, with a much more focussed steer towards local and family history, and all sorts of new technological gizmos and new arrangements for the materials available for consultation.

Whilst there, I was very kindly given a wee tour of the facility by Dr. Nicola Cowmeadow, Perth and Kinross Council's local history officer, who explained that the revamp took place about a year ago (I've not been up in a while!), and that it has seen a fair improvement in the numbers using the facility. Here's a few pics:

One of the snazzier new additions are three new readers for microfilm, which once the film is loaded, project the image up digitally onto a screen. This then allows for digital manipulation, and, I was told, can even OCR some of the text. Clearly I now want one for Christmas!

Nicola has presented a great history of Perth in a video that can be found on YouTube at https://youtu.be/ycca0hvncZE, and which is embedded below:

For more information on Perth and Kinross Archives, visit www.pkc.gov.uk/archives, whilst for the Local and Family History service, visit www.pkc.gov.uk/localstudies.

Perth is a very special place to me in Scotland, not just because it hosts my favourite archive service, but it is because it is where generations of my Paton family originally hailed from, with my lot fairly entrenched in Craigie for many years in the 18th and 19th centuries (with some relatives still in the city there today), and in surrounding parishes such as Dunbarney and Kinclaven for many centuries.  As such, just for good measure, I took another opportunity to visit Greyfriars Cemetery again to rephotograph some headstones (the weather was glorious!), including one for my four times great uncle Dr William Henderson (1784-1870), a bit of a family hero of mine (see right).

Here are a few of the other images taken at the cemetery:

Go visit Perth - you'll love it! :)

(A huge thanks to Nicola at Perth Local and Family History, and to Steven Connolly at Perth and Kinross Archives)

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

Bandon Hill Cemetery records in London added to Deceased Online

From Deceased Online (www.deceasedonline.com):

Deceased Online has added all of the burial records for Bandon Hill Cemetery, Wallington, in the London Borough of Sutton. These records cover 1900 to 2012 and include notable people like the famous composer and musician Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, once called the "African Mahler".

The cemetery is jointly run by the London Boroughs of Sutton and Croydon.

Chris

The latest British GENES podcast is available at http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/podcasts.html. For details on my latest book Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, and my other genealogy guide books, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

Family Ceme-Tree Day at Southwark Woods in London

If you're interested in the burials at Camberwell Old Cemetery in Southwark Woods, London, this may be of interest on Bank Holiday Monday:

The woods are in their glory! This Bank Holiday Monday, we are celebrating the beautiful Southwark Woods in south London, and demanding their protection from the council's chainsaws.

7,000 now say No! online and on paper petitions to Southwark's plans to fell hundreds of trees, clear wild woodland and dig up hundreds of old graves - for thousands of private new burial plots.

The larger the throng, the louder the song:

Family Ceme-Tree Day
11.00am - 1.00pm Bank Holiday Monday 25th May
Camberwell Old Cemetery, Forest Hill Road London SE22 0SQ

Save the Ceme-trees. Meet Your Family Tree. Adopt an Oak. While we still can.
Once it's gone, it's gone.

Sign the petition: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-southwark-woods
savesouthwarkwoods@gmail.com
www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk
@southwarkwoods

(With thanks to Blanche Cameron)

Chris

The latest British GENES podcast is available at http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/podcasts.html. For details on my latest book Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, and my other genealogy guide books, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

Glasnevin Cemetery's Easter Rising Necrology

From Glasnevin Cemetery (www.glasnevintrust.ie) in Dublin:

Our 1916 Easter Rising Necrology research suggests 485 people were killed in the Easter Rising.
This list researched by Glasnevin Trust shows 485 men, women and children killed during or as a direct result of the 1916 Rebellion.

The story of Glasnevin Cemetery and those buried here is central to the history of the 1916 Rebellion. The full significance of this list will be further explored in the 1916 Rebellion Centenary Exhibition at Glasnevin Cemetery Museum. We hope you will join with us and support us in telling that story.

Additional information on all of the names listed is currently held by Glasnevin Cemetery Museum. We would like people who are related to, or have information on those listed, to get in contact with us so we can further expand these stories in advance of our exhibition and events to mark the centenary of the Rebellion.

We need your help.
We are asking the public who may have relatives killed in the Easter Rising to contribute to the Necrology. Please use form on our website to submit any information.

If you have already submitted a form and haven't yet heard from us, please contact Historian and Curator, Conor Dodd at the museum on +353 (0)1 882 6550 or email CDodd@glasnevintrust.ie

(With thanks to Glasnevin Cemetery)

Chris

For details on my latest book Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, and my other genealogy guide books please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. To commission me for genealogical research, please visit my research site at www.scotlandsgreateststory.co.uk.

BACSA South Asian cemeteries news, and Pakistani BMD site

From the Kabristan Archives newsletter:

NEWS FROM INDIA & PAKISTAN
If you need a birth or death certificate there is a dedicated web
site that will obtain it for you BIRTH CERTIFICATE PAKISTAN trusted not
to compromise

See http://birthcertificatepakistan.com/death-certificate-from-pakistan/

THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR CEMETERIES IN SOUTH ASIA (BACSA)
The British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia (BACSA) has
launched its new website www.bacsa.org.uk This society specializes in
preserving the memories of the Raj by giving grants and repairing
European cemeteries in the Indian sub-continent and elsewhere in South
Asia. New members are wanted and if you are interested in the British
heritage in Asia, BACSA would love to have you on the team.

(With thanks to Ken Nisbet)

Chris

For details on my latest book Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, and my other genealogy guide books please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. To commission me for genealogical research, please visit my research site at www.scotlandsgreateststory.co.uk.

Ulster Historical Foundation adds eight new databases

The Ulster Historical Foundation has added several new databases to its Ancestry Ireland platform at www.ancestryireland.com including two major new databases for those with Roman Catholic ancestry from Belfast. Here's the detail:

We are thrilled to announce the addition of eight new databases to the members’ section of our website, containing over 36,300 new names.

The largest database is the burial register of Milltown Cemetery in Belfast covering the years 1869 to 1895 and containing over 27,000 names.

Milltown Cemetery, which opened in 1869, is located on the Falls Road in Belfast and is the main Catholic cemetery in Belfast.

The database contains the name, age and address of the deceased as well as the date of burial and is an invaluable resource for researching Belfast ancestors many of whom moved frequently.

In addition to this burial register, we have a database containing over 1,600 names of those who purchased burial plots in Milltown Cemetery between 1924 and 1931, detailing their names and addresses.

We have also added over 5,400 names by townland and parish from the 1803 Agricultural Census for County Down, as well as the names of those subscribing to the publication of the ‘Historic Memorials of the First Presbyterian Church in Belfast’ in 1887 and the names of members of First Derry Presbyterian Church by pew number from the year 1883.

Earlier records which have been transcribed by our volunteers include a petition by residents of the parishes of Kilrea and Tamlaght O’Crilly in County Londonderry which declared the signatories to be opposed to the Jacobite rebellion in Scotland in 1745; a list of those who were restored to their estates in Ireland by King Charles II in 1660 and a list of those people who were issued with transplanters’ certificates in 1653 and 1654 to move to Connaught.

Access to the database is free for members of the Foundation.

(With thanks to the Ulster Historical Foundation)

Chris

Stuck for a Christmas gift?! I have a series of genealogy books available in the UK, Australia and Canada, on Scottish, Irish and British based subject areas. Further details at http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. Santa approves!

Jersey headstone inscriptions added to The Genealogist

It's all been very quiet from TheGenealogist (www.thegenealogist.co.uk) in terms of any news releases, so I've had a quick look on the site to see what's been happening. The latest news is that some 22,000 records have been added to their Headstone project with inscriptions from 23 cemeteries from the Island of Jersey. Also available are inscriptions from 13 cemeteries from Buckinghamshire, Devon, Gloucestershire, Northamptonshire, Somerset, The West Midlands and Wiltshire.

For further details visit www.thegenealogist.co.uk/news/#latest and www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2014/the-hidden-treasures-of-gravestones-209/.

Chris

Stuck for a Christmas gift?! I have a series of genealogy books available in the UK, Australia and Canada, on Scottish, Irish and British based subject areas. Further details at http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. Santa approves!

A research visit to Ireland

Apologies everyone, there has been a bit of a gap in the last few days on this blog, as I have been in Ireland doing some research and visiting family!

I first spent a few days in Piltown in Co. Kilkenny, where my wife and I had one of the greatest family history related experiences ever since I first started looking into the past on her side - you can read about our experience at http://walkingineternity.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/the-french-horn.html.

Somewhat more disappointing, however, was the fact that a series of pawn shop ledgers I had previously been allowed to look at about eighteen months ago (see http://walkingineternity.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/pawn-shop-ledgers.html) have now been removed from a heritage centre in Carrick-on-Suir and placed into its vault, with the public no longer allowed to access them. I have been encouraged to email them to do a search for me, which I will do, but having previously spent a day and getting only a third of the way through them, the task will be substantial, and I can only hope the volunteers there will be as fascinated by their genealogical potential as I was on my last trip!

Also on my trip I recced a site where a battle took place on a farm belonging to my wife's great grandfather during the Irish Civil War in 1922. Unfortunately, like a complete eejit, when I left Piltown yesterday morning I left my coat behind by mistake, along with my wallet and camera in the pockets. I should have listened to myself - I knew our morning start was going to be waaayyy too early...! :)

Yesterday afternoon I then spent a few hours traipsing the length and breadth of Islandmagee in County Antrim to find graves and old family homes (much to my wife's and wee sister's amusement!), including this one to the right which may prove to be highly significant for my Montgomery ancestry there.

The significance here lies in that although the transcriptions from St John's Church of Ireland cemetery have been published, the record for this stone reportedly noted the date of death for this Nathaniel Holmes as being in 1912, aged 60. In fact, that turned out to be an error - it is in fact 1812 (so born circa 1752), and as such, this may well be the grave of my earliest settled Montgomery ancestor on the peninsula. I recently established from other sources that it looks like the family was not there in the 1770s - the earliest I have for the family there so far is with two apparent brothers in the early 1800s, via rental records held at PRONI dating back to 1812. Much more to do on this front!

Another great part of the day was to visit Brown's Bay, at the far north of the island. Not only did I get to see the area where my four times great grandfather David Gordon and three times great grandfather Robert Montgomery once resided, I also got to see somewhere that I have not visited since I was a wee boy in Carrickfergus - and it was an absolutely gorgeous day, a great one to watch the ferries sailing off from Larne to Troon in Scotland!

Just to top it all off, as I was seated in the car park at the ferry terminal last night, awaiting the boat back to Cairnryan, I suddenly received a message on Facebook - "Are you in a red C4?"! It turned out that directly behind me in the queue was Brynley Williams, a former classmate of mine at Carrickfergus Grammar School who I had not seen since school, some 25 years ago. Quite coincidentally, it was only two weeks ago that I blogged about an initiative that Bryn was setting up in Aberdeen for his Wobbly Williams charity, which is seeking funding for research into a cure for Parkinson's (see http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/wobbly-williams-wobbly-day-out.html). Needless to say, we had a hell of a lot to catch up with on the Irish Sea!

Normal service will soon be resumed... :)

Chris

Time to find your inner Irish...! All the best online Irish genealogy resources can be found through my book Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet - in print and ebook formats. "Very useful, makes me wish I was Irish!" - Saint Patrick, patron saint.

For sale - house with previous owners

A friend of mine just posted this house sale advertisement from Teddington on Facebook. The last line in the property description is certainly worth bearing in mind...

See http://m.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/31554863

(Thanks Anna!)

Chris

My latest genealogy books are Tracing Your Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), Discover Scottish Civil Registration Records, and Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet. My next Pharos course is Scottish Research Online, which commences Feb 27th 2014, 5 weeks, price £45.99.

More Bolton data on DeceasedOnline

Heaton is 2nd Bolton cemetery added to Deceased Online (www.deceasedonline.com)

With over 95,000 burial records, Heaton is the second cemetery managed by Bolton Council to be added to Deceased Online

Following the launch last week of Tonge Cemetery, the inclusion of all data for Heaton brings the size of the database for the area to 211,000 burials

The data for Heaton Cemetery commences with the first burials in 1879 through to 2012 and comprises:

• Details of all graves indicating those buried in each grave
• Scans of all burial registers
• Cemetery maps indicating grave locations*

* Note: The cemetery maps indicate the section where the selected grave is located. Each section or block comprises approximately 100 graves and as many of the headstones incorporate grave reference numbers it is relatively easy to find the searched-for grave using the maps.

Data for five more cemeteries and Overdale Crematorium in Bolton coming soon.

Find out more about the cemeteries and the famous and infamous featured on Deceased Online. Read our blog by historian and genealogist Emma Jolly. See http://deceasedonlineblog.blogspot.co.uk

(With thanks to Richard Gray)

Chris

Scotland 1750-1850 - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 2 NOV 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)