Ulster Historical Foundation is hiring genealogical researchers

From the Ulster Historical Foundation:

GENEALOGICAL RESEARCHERS REQUIRED

 

Ulster Historical Foundation would like to broaden its pool of genealogical researchers and is compiling a register of individuals interested in part-time research work and assisting delegates during our family history conferences. The work also offers the possibility of data input and validation as part of the Foundation’s role in compiling databases of genealogical records for our members and the general public.

 

To find out more: https://ulsterhistoricalfoundation.com/about/researcher-post

 

Application Deadline: Friday 17 April, 2026.

Good luck if applying!

Chris 

Order Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland in the UK at https://bit.ly/4jJWSEh. Also available -Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. To purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

FindmyPast adds Irish 18th century religious censuses, and enhances Belfast and Ulster directories collection

FindmyPast has added the following 18th century Irish religious censuses, as sourced from transcriptions by Tenison Groves held at PRONI , as well as an update to its Belfast directories collection:

Ireland, 1766 Religious Census

This week's biggest new set consists of 20,505 transcriptions from the 1766 Religious Census. Although the original documents were lost when Ireland's Public Records Office was destroyed in 1922, these extensive transcripts were recorded by antiquarian and genealogist Tenison Groves prior to the fire.

From these records, you may be able to learn the name of the head of the household, the year, their religion, the parish and the county. The information recorded varies widely, because different enumerators recorded different details.

NB: Note that the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland platform provides free access to a substantially greater version of this 1766 census at https://virtualtreasury.ie/gold-seams/1766-religious-census

 
Ireland, Census of Protestant Householders 1740

Secondly, we've also added transcriptions of a census that was taken of Protestant householders in 1740. The 15,957 records within this new set are from parishes in the counties of Antrim, Armagh, Derry, Donegal, Down and Tyrone.

Also created by Tenison Groves, these transcriptions contain details like a name, year, barony, parish and county.


Ireland, 1775 Dissenters' Petitions

This week's third and final new set is a collection of historic petition records. It contains approximately 4,000 names, of people who protested the Church of Ireland's sacramental tests in 1775. The petitions consist of dissenters' names categorized by parish, congregation, town, neighbourhood, or, in one case, barony.

Occasionally, members of the Established Church also signed the petitions. The lists typically specify whether signatories were dissenters or Established Church members. In cases where no denomination is indicated, the list contained names of both dissenters and Established Church members without differentiation.

While available for all Northern Ireland counties except Fermanagh, these records are most extensive for areas in Counties Antrim and Down.


Belfast & Ulster Directories

In addition to the three brand new Irish record sets, we've also made a significant update to an existing Irish collection. We added 951,127 Belfast and Ulster directory records, with both transcriptions and original images available for you to explore.

These new additions span 1831 to 1900, and contain over 900,000 names. With almost 70 years of history covered, they offer a detailed glimpse into what the North of Ireland was like in the 19th century.

Comment: There's no source cited for the additional directory records, but the year range suggests that these too may be from PRONI.  

For further details visit https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/protestant-householders-dissenters-petitions

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

BBC Alba documentary on genealogist Bill Lawson

I've just watched a wonderful BBC Alba documentary which was first broadcast in 2019, concerning genealogist Bill Lawson, who is based on the Isle of Harris. Bill is the main driver behind the Hebrides People website (www.hebridespeople.com), as well as being the main guru for the resources available from the Co Leis Thu/Seallam service run in Harris by the Northton Heritage Trust (to which he has donated his lifetime of genealogical research). 

The programme is part of Series 12 of Trusadh, and is entitled Sàr Shloinntear (The Genealogist), and it is fair to say that this is one that every genealogist, particularly every professional genealogist, should perhaps watch, as it is an absolute inspiration and a programme with a real genealogical spirit. 

Bill and his wife Chris have spent a lifetime collating not only historical records about the various islands in the Outer Hebrides, but also the oral history that cannot be found in documents. Not only has Bill been recording material in Scotland, he has regularly travelled to Canada to interview Gaels out there with connections to the islands, as well as compiling materials from around the world. His collections of croft histories are discussed, and his impressive collections of genealogical materials and pedigree charts. 

I have never met Bill, but I was briefly in touch with him and his wife Chris a few years back in 2011 when they launched Hebrides People (see http://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2011/07/hebrides-people-site-goes-live.html), and I was sorry to learn that Chris has sadly since passed away in 2017. The programme is an absolute gem, and a real tonic when set against all the celebrity bubblegum we are often plied with in the name of TV genealogy - this is a programme about a man with a passion for, and interest in, an area, with a demonstratable skill in researching it, an inspiration in how he disseminates what he finds, and a man for whom the community he has been immersed within for most of his life is truly appreciative. We don't often get these kinds of programmes! The programme is in Gaelic (Gàidhlig), although Bill himself speaks in English throughout; it is subtitled throughout.

For the researcher, it also showcases one of the many comainn eachdraidh (historical societies) which exists in the Western Isles, the other family history societies which exist in Scotland (nothing to do with SAFHS!), which I try to plug when I can. Comann Eachdraidh Nis (https://cenonline.org), based at Ness in the north of Lewis, is somewhere I have in fact visited in the past, but during my television days rather than in my genealogical career, and again it offers a wonderful insight into resources available at a local level in the Western Isles.  For lists of other comainn eachdraidh visit www.hebrideanconnections.com and www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/gaidhlig/buidhnean/eachdraidh/.

The programme is being broadcast again tonight (Tuesday) on BBC Alba at 10pm, but it is also available on the iPlayer at www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000c088/trusadh-series-12-8-bill-lawson-sar-shloinntear-the-genealogist (for UK access only).

I think when I grow up I just might want to be Bill Lawson. And I think once you have watched it, you might want to be too..! A proper gem, and the Hebrides are lucky to have him.

Chris

Just out, Sharing Your Family History Online is on sale at https://bit.ly/SharingFamHist. Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is also out, as are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.