Visit the County Clare Library Website

Clare County Library is the recipient of the Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations’ 2010 Award for Excellence in Genealogy. The Award is made not only in recognition of the facilities provided in the Local Studies Centre at Ennis (which includes a magnificent collection of Clare newspapers and the recently acquired microfilmed parish registers), but particularly for the online genealogy section of the Library’s website, which includes invaluable transcriptions of Tithe Applotment Books, gravestone inscriptions (with photographs), school rolls, and indexes to newspaper extracts, etc.

www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/genealogy/genealog.htm

Public Records Office of Northern Ireland to Open in March, 2011

PRONI is pleased to announce that it will be opening to customers at its new premises, 2 Titanic Boulevard, Belfast, BT3 9HQ on 30 March 2011. We look forward to welcoming visitors to our new state-of-the-art building. For further details please see the PRONI website - www.proni.gov.uk

Armagh, Belfast & Londonderry Wills

If you have ancestors from Ulster, you'll be happy to know that the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland(PRONI) has made several of its research resources available to you on their website. They include the Ulster Covenant, Freeholders Records, Street Directories and Name Search. As of 29th November 2010 an updated version of the Wills Calendar search was launched. 93,388 digitised images of copy wills covering the period 1858-1900 have now been added, along with over twenty years worth of calendar entries.

This application now provides a searchable index to wills proved in the district probate registries of Armagh, Belfast and Londonderry during the years 1858-1919 and 1922-1943. Part of 1921 has been added, with remaining entries for 1920-1921 to follow in the near future.

Digitised images from copy will books covering the years 1858-1900 have now been linked to the corresponding will calendar entries. A total of 93,388 will images have been added to the database. These documents are a valuable and widely used family and local history resource that will now be readily accessible via the internet. Users will be able to search the online index, read the will calendar entry and view an image of the will for many of the entries.

This project will help facilitate easy access to archives and is an additional resource available to the public during PRONI’s closure and relocation to its new headquarters in Titanic Quarter, Belfast.

The site can be accessed via PRONI’s main website:http://www.proni.gov.uk/index/search_the_archives/will_calendars.htm

New: A Gift From Trinity College in Dublin

After the 1641 Irish rebellion, about 8000 depositions were taken from witnesses. Most of testimony was from Protestants but there were some Catholic deposed too. The depositions (Trinity College Dublin, MSS 809-841) have recently been released online. Access is free but you will be required to register before you can view them. The testimonies document the alleged crimes committed by the Irish rebels. Many names of victims, rebels, neighbors, witnesses and others appear in the records along with locations so they are of significant genealogical value. The depositions are searchable by name and location. The names may be spelled differently than they are now so be sure to try various spellings. Interesting reading but prepare yourself for the extreme violence described in the depositions. Check it out at http://www.1641.tcd.ie/

Public Records Office of Northern Ireland in Belfast

For those of you headed to Belfast to do research, remember that PRONI ( Public Records Office of Northern Ireland) is in transit to its new, state-of-the-art premises in Titanic Quarter in Belfast. In the meantime, the Linenhall Library in Belfast has generously agreed to host a series of lunchtime lectures delivered by PRONI staff on the last Wednesday of the month as follows:

24 November 'Using on-line sources for genealogical research' by Mr Stephen Scarth, Head of Public Services, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

26 January 'Vere Foster: the man who paid women to go away' by Dr Ann McVeigh, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

23 February 'Preserving the past for the future' by Mr Brendan Campbell, Chief Conservator, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

30 March 'Church Records for Family History' by Valerie Adams, Presbyterian Historical Society (Ex PRONI)

27 April 'The Blitz on Belfast' by Mr Ian Montgomery, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

The talks, which are free of charge, will start at 1pm in the Performance Area of the Linenhall Library. Everyone welcome.

IGSI visiting the North Central Wisconsin

IGSI instructors are excited about heading to North Central Wisconsin to visit the Northern Waters Genealogical Society on June 4, 2011. We will be offering a class in one of the breakout sessions that day to help you get started on researching your Irish family history. The event is being offered at the Presque Isle Library and Community Center, which is located in North Central Wisconsin on the Wisconsin/Michigan state border, serving residents of NW Vilas County Wisconsin, SE Iron County Wisconsin, and S.Central Gogebic County Michigan. Watch for further information in in the Lakeland Times, FYI, WRJO, and Wisconsin Public Radio. Also, flyers are placed monthly at all three of the participating libraries.Presque Isle Community Library, the Frank B. Koller Library in Manitowish Waters and the Boulder Junction Library.

Mark Your Calendar! British Isles Days Are Just Around The Corner

There is nothing that jump starts my genealogy research more that attending a genealogy conference. That's why I am anxiously awaiting next April when the Irish Genealogical Society & the Minnesota Genealogical Society are co-sponsoring British Isles Days on April 29 & 30 in the Twin Cities area. If you have British, Irish, Scottish or Welsh in your family ancestry, this will be an important event for you to attend. There will be breakout sessions to help you with your research, exhibits and vendors. More details will be posted here as they becomes available.