PRONI to host family history fair in August

PRONI will be hosting a summer programme of events to coincide with the World Police and Fire Games in August 2013. This will include a Family and Local History Fair on the weekend of the 3rd and 4th of August and the return of the Ground Zero 360 Exhibition which will run from 22nd July – 23rd August. For further details please visit www.proni.gov.uk.

Family and Local History Fair

Taking place on the weekend of the 3rd & 4th of August, experts from PRONI, the National Archives of Ireland, Ulster Historical Foundation, North of Ireland Family History Society an
d many other societies and organisations will be on hand to advise on your research.

A programme of talks will showcase the wide range of heritage products and services throughout Ireland.

No original documents will be available; however self-service microfilms can be accessed during the Fair.

WHERE: PRONI
WHEN: 3rd August 2013 10am-5pm & 4th August 2013 10am-4pm
ADMISSION: free of charge


Ground Zero 360 Exhibition

To coincide with the World Police and Fire Games in August 2013, PRONI is delighted to welcome back the Ground Zero 360 photographic exhibition which uses harrowing visuals, chilling audio clips and a unique panoramic installation to depict the aftermath of one of the most tragic events in American history - 9/11.

The exhibition takes place in PRONI from 22nd July - 23rd August 2013

Opening hours are -
Mon-Wed & Fri 9am - 4.45pm
Thurs 10am - 8.45pm
Special opening Sat 3rd/Sun 4th August 10am - 4pm
Entry to the exhibition is FREE

(With thanks to Gavin McMahon)

Chris

My new book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, is now available from Pen and Sword. My Scottish land and church records ebooks are available at http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html, whilst my next Pharos Scottish course, Scottish Research Online, starts Sep 4th - see http://pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Time to smash a few brick walls...!

Parish registers added to Society of Genealogist website

The Society of Genealogists has just added its 300,000th digitised image, from a transcript of the parish register of Welford in Berkshire (1559-1812), originally published in 1892, which forms part of the 36th parish register to be added to the site in the last month (accessible for members only).

The full story is at www.sog.org.uk/news/article/sog-data-online-now-contains-over-300000-images

(With thanks to Else Churchill @SoGGenealogist)

Chris

My new book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, is now available from Pen and Sword. My Scottish land and church records ebooks are available at http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html, whilst my next Pharos Scottish course, Scottish Research Online, starts Sep 4th - see http://pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Time to smash a few brick walls...!

Irish Lives Remembered July 2013 issue

The July issue (14th edition) of Irish Lives Remembered Genealogy e-Magazine is now LIVE & FREE to read/download via www.irishlivesremembered.com.  This edition is packed with 72 pages of family history resources and stories to help trace your Irish ancestors. Our county focus this month is Donegal with 20 pages dedicated to resources on Tracing Your Donegal Ancestors to include:

Fáilte Ireland showcasing what Donegal has to offer: Resources at Donegal Library & Archives: Resources at the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (P.R.O.N.I.) & Irish Family History Foundation. Surnames of County Donegal with Dr. Paul MacCotter: The Gallagher Clan invites everyone to their gathering event: The McLaughlin homestead of Dunree: ‘Tracing Your Donegal Ancestors’ from the team at Fly Leaf Press and Helen Meehan’s book launch ‘Ethna Carbery – (Anna Johnston MacManus)’.

Other articles in this issue are:

· Fiona Fitzsimons from Eneclann shares her story on ‘Meeting the Obamas’ where she had the pleasure of showing Michelle, Malia & Sasha Obama their Irish family ancestry in Trinity College Dublin recently.

· Caroline Kennedy receives a certificate of Irish heritage on behalf of her father John. F. Kennedy on her recent visit to Ireland

· Updates from Findmypast Ireland

· University College Cork wraps up their first Genealogy Summer School

· Michael Merrigan updates us with the latest news on Genealogy & Data Protection

· In conversation with Nicholas Rynne who unearths a great uncle Mike McTigue - Light heavyweight champion of the world 1921-1923’

· Photo historian, Jayne Shrimpton walks us through this month’s image of a Galway Street Scene

· Maureen Wlodarczyk delves into her Cavan & Sligo ancestry in ‘A Tale of Two Counties, Two Faiths & Two Continents

· Douglas Cochrane from Nova Scotia shares a sad story of the Shea family from Dingle who perished in a Halifax explosion in 1917

· Shauna Hicks brings her final instalment of ‘Missing Down Under’ series to a close

· Aine McCormack reminisces about her great grandfather, Thomas McMahon

· Victoria House urges us to remember Dublin born Victoria Cross recipient, Edmund O’Tool on his 165th anniversary this July

(With thanks to Eileen Munnelly)

Chris

My new book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, is now available from Pen and Sword. My Scottish land and church records ebooks are available at http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html, whilst my next Pharos Scottish course, Scottish Research Online, starts Sep 4th - see http://pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Time to smash a few brick walls...!

Dudley archives - reduced service from July 15th

Dudley Archives, in the English Midlands, will be offering reduced service hours from July 15th at its Mount Pleasant Street, Coseley, based centre, opening on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10am to 4pm. This is to help facilitate preparations for a move to a new purpose built centre on the Tipton Road in Dudley (next to the Black Country Living Museum), which will be formally opened by January 2014.

Full details are available at www.dudley.gov.uk/resident/libraries-archives/local-history--heritage/archive-and-local-history/.

(With thanks to Martin James via LinkedIn)

Chris

My new book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, is now available from Pen and Sword. My Scottish land and church records ebooks are available at http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html, whilst my next Pharos Scottish course, Scottish Research Online, starts Sep 4th - see http://pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Time to smash a few brick walls...!

Family Tree comedy series starts July 16th

The new genealogy inspired comedy series, Family Tree, which has already been broadcast in the United States on the HBO channel, finally starts here in the UK next Tuesday 16th July on BBC2 at 10pm. The Independent has an interview with its star Chris O' Dowd, and show runner Christopher Guest, at www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/christopher-guest-from-spinal-tap-to-family-tree-8695950.html

For the BBC press pack on the series, including a synopsis of each episode, see http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/family-tree-comedy-series-bbc-press-pack.html

Chris

My new book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, is now available from Pen and Sword. My Scottish land and church records ebooks are available at http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html, whilst my next Pharos Scottish course, Scottish Research Online, starts Sep 4th - see http://pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Time to smash a few brick walls...!

Interviewed by Gould Genealogy

Next February 4th-13th I'll be one of 18 speakers on the fourth Unlock the Past genealogy cruise (and doing a wee bit before and after!). As part of a lead up to the cruise, I've been interviewed by Alona Tester from Gould Genealogy (one of the key partners in the Unlock the Past venture) as the first of a new series of profiles on what makes all the speakers tick. Note that I didn't use the word Laphroaig once...  :)

The interview is at www.gouldgenealogy.com/2013/07/unlock-the-past-cruise-speaker-profile-chris-paton/ but keep an eye on the main blog in the next few weeks to get the low down on all those participating!

And if you're tempted to sign up to the cruise, trust me, it will be worth it - fun and games, and a bit of genealogy thrown in for good measure! Full details are available on the Unlock the Past cruises site at www.unlockthepastcruises.com/cruises/4th-cruise/

(With thanks to Alona)

Chris

My new book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, is now available from Pen and Sword. My Scottish land and church records ebooks are available at http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html, whilst my next Pharos Scottish course, Scottish Research Online, starts Sep 4th - see http://pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Time to smash a few brick walls...!

Congrats to Andy Murray

Congratulations to Andy Murray - the first Scot to win Wimbledon since 1896 (when won by Harold Segerson Mahony, born Edinburgh 1867 to Irish parents!), and the first men's singles winner from Britain since Fred Perry's victory in 1936.

He who dares, Rodney - he who dares...! :)

(I'll include some genealogy next time!)

Chris

My new book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, is now available from Pen and Sword. My Scottish land and church records ebooks are available at http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html, whilst my next Pharos Scottish course, Scottish Research Online, starts Sep 4th - see http://pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Time to smash a few brick walls...!

RootsIreland births/baptism 40% discount

Claire Santry has just picked up on an offer from RootsIreland (www.rootsireland.ie) via its Twitter feed that all birth/baptism records are currently being discounted by 40% until July 14th.

Claire's post on the offer is at http://irish-genealogy-news.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/roots-ireland-offers-40-discount.html and highlights the usual clear-as-mud nature of a RootsIreland announcement. Claire notes that there is no mention of this on the company's site at all - not even in its news section - until you go to a search page.

I've just had a look, and it seems that birth/baptism records are now just 15 credits each instead of 25. However, from what I can see, you can't search for one record and just pay for that record at 15 credits - you still have to make a minimum purchase of 25 credits, and so once again there's a credits left over situation afterwards.

A discount is always welcome - particularly from a company that charges high rates for what it offers - but didn't we have enough of this nonsense recently when the site tried to reorganise its payment set up?!

(With thanks to Claire Santry)

Chris

My new book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, is now available from Pen and Sword. My Scottish land and church records ebooks are available at http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html, whilst my next Pharos Scottish course, Scottish Research Online, starts Sep 4th - see http://pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Time to smash a few brick walls...!

Ancestry extends English and Welsh death indexes to 2007

Ancestry's latest newsletter reveals that it has extended access to English and Welsh death record indexes to the year 2007.

The newsletter is accessible at http://tinyurl.com/ogvg9gw

To search the death indexes visit http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=7579&o_xid=56411&o_lid=56411&o_sch=Email

Chris

My new book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, is now available from Pen and Sword. My Scottish land and church records ebooks are available at http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html, whilst my next Pharos Scottish course, Scottish Research Online, starts Sep 4th - see http://pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Time to smash a few brick walls...!

ScotlandsPlaces transcriber project

I was asked to keep schtum on this for a bit as a few bits and bobs were tested, but as I've seen a few tweets and blog posts about it elsewhere, suspect it is OK to mention now!

The ScotlandsPlaces website at www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk has recently had a bit of a revamp and has also initiated a new volunteer transcriber programme, essentially a crowdsourcing project to essentially have all of its records transcribed and made fully searchable. To facilitate this new initiative ScotlandsPlaces will be hosting a series of workshops across the country for those wishing to become transcribers, with guidance on how to get the best of the site, tips on palaeography and more - there will also be public lectures to tie in.

For further details on the transcriber project visit the ScotlandsPlaces news page at www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/news, whilst for details of workshop events in your area visit www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/transcribe/workshops.

The site has also added new records, as supplied from the National Library of Scotland:

• The Scottish Bridges collection includes 131 historical images of the Tay (in 1879) and Forth (during 1886-1887) Bridges.
• The Photographs of the South Side of Edinburgh include 137 black and white images taken in 1929 by Alfred Henry Rushbrook on behalf of the City of Edinburgh Improvement Trust.
• The Slezer engravings from 1693 are the first ever pictorial survey of Scotland and were done by John Slezer (a military engineer).
• The "Word on the Street" collection include 1,800 Scottish broadsides between 1650 and 1910.

Chris

My new book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, is now available from Pen and Sword. My Scottish land and church records ebooks are available at http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html, whilst my next Pharos Scottish course, Scottish Research Online, starts Sep 4th - see http://pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Time to smash a few brick walls...!