Dublin City Library and Archive Family History Day 28th March 2009

Dublin City and Archive are hosting the annual Family History Day on Saturday, 28th March 2009. Booking is essential to guarantee a place. Registration is at 9:30am. Sean Murphy of UCD's talk at 10:00am is 'Know Your Surnames.' This is followed by a talk by John Grenham entitled 'The New Dublin Freemen and Trade Guild Database' at 10:45am. Douglas Appleyard is speaking at 12:00pm on 'Searching the Stoker Family.' At 2:00pm Paul Gorry is speaking 'Can I Trace Emigrants?' and Steven Smyrl is speaking at 2:45pm on 'Ireland's Court Records - What Survived 1922?' It promises to be an informative and interesting day for family historians.

Irish Genealogical Research Events in Dublin in March, April, and May 2009

The Irish Genealogical Research Society - Ireland Branch is hosting its Annual Genealogy Open Day which will take place on Saturday, 16th May 2009 from 10:00am to 4:00pm at Dublin City Library and Archive, 138 - 142 Pearse Street, Dublin 2. There will be a full programme of lectures and a therapy session for genealogical problems. Further details to follow. All are welcome.

Miriam Moffitt, author of Soupers and Jumpers - the 19th Century Protestant Missions in Connemara, will be speaking at Dublin City Library and Archive on Pearse Street, Dublin 2, at 3:15pm. Admission is free and all are welcome. This talk is sponsored by the Irish Genealogical Research Society and will follow the Society's AGM at 2:30pm (members only).

The Irish Genealogical Research Society is hosting a Spring Lecture at Buswell's Hotel on Kildare Street, Dublin 2, at 7:00pm, Monday, 30th March 2009. The Speaker is Dr. Ciara Breathnach and her talk is, 'The nature of Wills and the prevalence of Intestacy in modern Ireland.' Admission is free and all are welcome.

Aiden Feerick Joins Ancestor.ie as Genealogist

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Aiden Feerick has always had an interest in local and family history. Since national school he has had an interest in place names, the land question and memorials of the dead. This comes from growing up in County Mayo in close proximity to the parish graveyard before rural electrification, before television and before houses had the modern conveniences we now take so much for granted. In a word, he grew up during the fifties when the way of life of country people had not changed for generations. So, he understands from direct experience what life was like two or three generations ago.

After reading Classical languages at University College Dublin and after a short spell teaching, he went to live and work in Italy. There he spent nearly 25 years. This is a country where family records go back hundreds and in the case of aristocratic families, thousands of years.

Returning to Ireland, he decided to investigate the history of his own family. He joined the University College Dublin Genealogy course tutored by Sean J Murphy M.A., a well know genealogist and family historian. The three year course covered all important aspects of genealogical research: births marriages and deaths records searches, Census searches, ecclesiastical records searches, wills and court records as well as land registry searches. Time was also devoted to the study of armigerous families as well as to early documents like the Tithe Applotment Books. Because emigration was such an important factor in 19^th century Ireland, especially towards the USA, research techniques in this field were extensively covered.

During the course of the three years, Aiden specialised in the study of records relating to County Mayo, his home country. In the final year, he prepared a critical edition of the Tithe Applotment Book for the parish of Killedan in the same county. This is as yet unpublished.

Having recently retired, he was delighted when John, his classmate from the genealogy course, asked him to join Ancestor.ie in offering qualified genealogical services to clients.

John Hamrock and Ancestor.ie Participate in Who Do You Think You Are Live at Olympia in London - Feb/Mar 2009

John Hamrock and Ancestor.ie participated in the February / March 2009 Who Do You Think You Are? Live exhibition at the Olympia in London. John joined the Irish Roots magazine stand to display his book 'Tracing Your Roscommon Ancestors' and other Flyleaf Press works and to share Irish genealogical advice with visitors to the stand. There were also several interesting talks which John attended. In addition to Ancestor.ie and Irish Roots, other Irish participants included the National Library of Ireland, the National Archives of Ireland, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, the Irish Family History Foundation, Eneclann, and many more. We hope to post some photographs of the event and more detailed information shortly. John would like to thank all the visitors to the Irish Roots stand and to thank Julie and Maureen Phibbs for their hospitality.