The Scottish GENES Blog (GEnealogy News and EventS): Top news stories and features concerning ancestral research in Scotland, Ireland, the rest of the UK, and their diasporas, from genealogist and family historian Chris Paton. Feel free to quote from this blog, but please credit Scottish GENES if you do. I'm on Mastodon @scottishgenes and Threads @scottishgenesblog - to contact me please email chrismpaton @ outlook.com. Cuimhnich air na daoine o'n d'thàinig thu!
I look forward to hopefully answering some of your questions there after my talk and in the Q&A sessions!
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.
The new Perth Museum (https://perthmuseum.co.uk) is to open on Saturday 30th March. From the website:
The new Perth Museum will open its doors on Saturday 30 March 2024 after a £27 million redevelopment project. This world-class cultural and heritage attraction will highlight the fascinating objects and stories that put Perth and Kinross at the centre of Scotland’s story.
At its heart will sit the Stone of Destiny, also known as the Stone of Scone, one of Scotland and the UK’s most significant historical objects. Returning to Perthshire for the first time in over 700 years, the Stone will be the centrepiece of the new Museum and will be free for all to view.
Alongside the Stone, the new Museum will display Perth & Kinross’s Recognised Collections of National Significance as well as iconic loans and exhibitions from the UK and abroad.
The Museum will be housed in a heritage Edwardian building that once served as a gathering place hosting everything from markets and concerts, to political conferences and wrestling matches. This historic venue has been transformed into a major visitor attraction by award- winning architects Mecanoo. The Museum will also feature a café, shop, and learning and events spaces.
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.
Over 3 Million New Irish Records Released for St Patrick’s Day
Get ready to paint the town green this St. Patrick's Day with a bumper release from TheGenealogist! They have just announced the release of 1,769,007 individuals to their Irish Catholic Parish Record Collection and 1,263,399 Irish Wills for their subscribers.
For the many family historians with Irish ancestors, these latest records will be a welcome addition to the celebrations of this day that is so close to the hearts of the Irish.
Save Over £74 on our Diamond Personal Premium Package To celebrate this latest release, TheGenealogist is offering its Diamond Personal Premium Package for only £109.95, a saving of over £74. This offer includes a lifetime discount! Your subscription will renew at the same discounted price every year you stay with us. To find out more and claim the offer, visit: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/MGBIPR324 This offer expires at the end of 8th June 2024
(With thanks to Nick Thorne)
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.
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.
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.
MyHeritage (www.myheritage.com) has made its Irish collections free to access for St. Patrick's Day:
In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, we’re
happy to announce that we’re making all 14 million Irish historical
records available for free from March 14 to 18, 2024!
Whether you’re decked out in green,
savoring a traditional Irish dish, or just immersed in the vibrant
culture and storied past of Ireland, this is a perfect opportunity to
explore your Irish roots. Millions worldwide claim Irish roots, showing how far and wide the Irish diaspora stretches. Perhaps
you will discover stories of endurance, migration, or interesting new
details about the daily lives of your Irish ancestors.
Among our treasure trove of records, some of the most valuable Irish historical collections include:
1901 Ireland Census:
A snapshot of life at the turn of the century, providing invaluable
information on household members, occupations, and living conditions.
The 1901 census is the earliest complete Irish census still in
existence; most of the previous censuses were destroyed.
1911 Ireland Census: Offering a detailed view of Irish society ten years later, allowing comparisons and insights into changes over time.
Ireland Marriages, 1619-1898: A compilation of Irish marriage records, essential for tracing lineage and family connections.
These collections, as well as many
others, can help to paint a picture of your ancestors’ lives, their
communities, and the historical context of their lives. Whether you’re
an experienced genealogist or just starting to scratch the surface of
your family history, this free access period is an excellent opportunity
to delve deeper into your Irish roots.
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.
News of the forthcoming Scottish Jewish Archives (www.sjac.org.uk) Open Day:
Scottish Jewish Archives Centre April Open Day Garnethill Synagogue, 129 Hill Street, Glasgow, G3 6UB Sunday 14th April 2.30pm-4.30pm
Booking is essential. This is a free event but donations are always welcome!
This offers visitors the chance to see the displays of the Archives Centre which tell the story of the history of the Jewish community in Scotland. There will also be the opportunity to view the A listed heritage Garnethill Synagogue where the Archives Centre is based.
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.
Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) has added the following new collections relating to Ireland:
Ireland, Dublin Coopers Society and Brewers' Guild Records, 1702-1945 https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/62587/ Source: Dublin Coopers Guild and the Brewers' Guild of Dublin. Dublin, Ireland: The Guinness Archives.
This collection includes an index of the membership of the Dublin Coopers Guild in Ireland, between 1765 and 1945 and minute books from the Brewers´ Guild of Dublin and Coopers' Guild. Notations about individual members were entered in handwritten indexes. The entries were made in alphabetical order based on the member's last name. Images of the original documents are available.
Using this collection
Records in this collection may include the following information:
Name
Place of residence
Residence date
Death date
This index can be used to confirm whether your ancestor was a member of the Coopers and Brewers Guild in Dublin, Ireland, at a specific point in time. The index also can be used to confirm where your ancestor lived when they were in the guild and possibly also the date they died.
This collection contains images of trade ledgers produced by the Guinness Brewery in Dublin, Ireland, and England between 1860 and 1960. The brewery's sales and personnel records were kept in printed ledger books. Entries were often handwritten during the earlier years included in the collection, and as the years progressed, the ledger entries were typed.
Using this collection
Records in this collection may include the following information:
Name
Employment date
Business Place
The records in this collection can be used to verify that your ancestor did business with the Guinness Brewery at a particular location and time. The records also may be useful for someone researching the financial history of Guinness Brewery.
This collection contains images of employee records from the Guinness Brewery in Dublin, Ireland, between 1799 and 1939. Records of employee activities were kept in printed log books with entries typically handwritten. The information in the records includes key dates in the lives of employees and information about their relatives.
Using this collection
Records in this collection may include the following information:
Name
Gender
Marital status
Birth date and place
Marriage date
Age at employment
Employment dates
Death date
Street address
Occupation
Location of employment
Spouse’s name, birth date, and age
Names, ages, and relationships of up to four relatives
This collection can be used to verify that your ancestor worked for the Guinness Brewery at a particular location and time. The information in the records also can be used to confirm the vital dates of your ancestor’s life and add your ancestor’s spouse and relatives to your family history.
This collection contains several different types of records, such as wage books, authorization logs, and next of kin records, that can tell you when and how a person worked for Guinness and the events recorded by the company. These records can allow you to confirm details about your ancestor’s life that may have also been pertinent to their employer.
Some images have been redacted or removed to protect the privacy of those still alive in accordance with local laws. Some indexes may not include all information as originally recorded, where it is unavailable due to privacy laws.
In addition, Ancestry has also added the following:
This collection contains images of second- and third-edition Ordnance Survey maps of Ireland produced between 1899 and 1905. The maps use a scale in which one inch equals a mile, and they were based on previous maps that used a larger scale. The maps show details of cities and villages, roads, railroads, and topographical information. Using this collection
Records in the collection may contain the following information:
This collection contains images of imperial gazetteer maps of the United Kingdom published in 1900. Gazetteers were geographical directories that included information about places and place names. They were intended to be used in conjunction with a map or atlas. Gazetteers provided information about the geography of the region they covered, combining social statistics with content on natural elements, like mountains and waterways, and man-made elements like roads and railroads.
Using this collection
Records in the collection may contain the following information:
County name
Town name
Parish name
Map scale
Map images
Survey date
Publication date
Revision date
Railway lines
Topographic information
Further details available via the links.
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.
FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) has added the following major Irish record set:
Ireland, Land Commission Advances, 1891-1920 Next up we have another brand new record set, Irish Land Commissions which includes 741,255 records.
Covering 1891 to 1920, these records contain details of tenants who were able to buy the farm they occupied from their landlord and will contain the names of both parties, as well as where the farm was and how much was paid.
The dataset documents loans advanced to tenants under the Irish land purchase acts, as published by HMSO in its Returns of Advances Under the Irish Land Purchase Acts. Whilst it covers the whole of Ireland, this will be particularly useful for those researching in the Republic, where the actual land commission records are not available to the public (unlike those for Northern Ireland, long story!), nor the Cancelled Land Books online, the follow on from Griffith's Valuation (although these are currently being digitised, and will be made available online in due course). Although the same books for this period for Northern Ireland are available online (as PRONI's Valuation Revision Books collection), these records are still useful to show the amounts loaned to Ulster-based tenants also.
The following is an example of a loan made to folk in the townland of Ballymartin in County Antrim, including likely extended family members from my family on the Bill and Coulter lines:
And the record for my wife's great great grandmother Margaret Murray in Tibberaghny (Tybroughney) townland in Co. Kilkenny, showing a loan granted to her of £180 for her farm of some 129 acres:
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.
I attended the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni) stakeholder forum this morning; the following is a brief report.
The main PRONI reading room is being closed for a few weeks until mid-April, in order to facilitate some building works within it - the main reception room is being extended into the reading room, and a new staff consultation room is also being created in the space. This means that for the next few weeks the main search room on the same floor will host a reading room area, which will include twelve available desks, and one of the main scanners, onto which you can scan document productions and save images onto a USB drive (NB: this is only to be used for document productions, and not materials in the search room).
There have been some changes in the search room also, with the self-service microfilms moved to the middle of the room, and with some new library space to be added in the foreseeable future.
The new on-site Axiell catalogue is now envisaged to be available from about April, after some minor problems with the software are resolved in the beta testing stage. This will replace the current Calm based catalogue system, through which document productions are ordered for the reading room.
Stormont is back up and running - which means that Northern Irish 1939 National Identity Register applications, as well as FOI requests, can now be fulfilled (NI bizarrely needs a sitting minister in place for FOI requests to be dealt with, with processing suspended whilst the parliament was adjourned). These should start going out shortly, with the current backlog envisaged to take a week or two to complete.
Following the success of the PRONI centenary celebrations, the next year-long themed event will be on diversity and inclusivity, which will last from April 2024 to March 2025. As part of this the PRONI guide on slavery will be expanded and relaunched, which will include expanded content to cover areas such as the Caribbean. There will also be a conference at PRONI to tie in with Frederick Douglas Week in April (Douglas was a former slave in the US who became an anti-slavery campaigner in Belfast).
PRONI is currently discussion a community archives scheme with Newcastle and Glasgow Universities, with an event to be hosted in June in Belfast. It is hoped that grants may be available to make four or five community archive schemes sustainable.
Bernadette Walsh, archivist at Derry's Tower Museum (https://towermuseumcollections.com), confirmed that funding was now in place for a major move for the museum, which will close at some point in the near future and re-open in late 2026 at a new facility. The new digs in Derry will have a dedicated archive room called the Archive Discovery Zone, with about eight to ten spaces, to encourage those wishing to use the archives, including genealogists. The new museum will serve the wider district, not just Londonderry city.
Roddy Hegarty of the Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich Memorial Library & Archive (www.ofiaich.ie) in Armagh noted that his facility will be celebrating its 25th anniversary from May this year to May 2025. It is hoped that a functioning catalogue for some recently deposited materials on correspondence involving the cardinal will be available for the centre by the end of this month.
Finally, for those who attended Stephen Scarth's recent presentation on the history of PRONI's early years, which had a few technical issues, this can now be seen on the PRONI Online YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/3wMcSPGk-FI?si=Y4NGPZ69loApljR7 - I have also embedded it below for convenience, it was an excellent talk!
(With thanks to all who attended)
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.
Aberdeen City & Aberdeenshire Archives will be vacating its building at Dunbar Street in early 2025.
To prepare, pack and move the archive collections it is necessary for our opening hours to reduce from April 2024, as follows:
1 April - 3 June:
Old Aberdeen House open Mondays (by appointment only) 09:30 to 16:30.
Town House open Fridays (by appointment only) 09:30 to 16:30
10 June onwards:
Both Old Aberdeen House and Town House will be closed.
The Town House search room is scheduled to reopen in Spring 2025 (with access to collections formerly at Old Aberdeen House at this site by prior arrangement).
Our research service has also been temporarily suspended and, whilst e-mail enquiries remain open at archives@aberdeencity.gov.uk, we may not be able to answer all queries whilst access to our collections is limited.
We look forward to updating you with our plans in the future.
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.