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Signing the Ulster Covenant – in County Westmeath?

by Dr. Janice MannA recent search of the Ulster Covenant for a family from Ulster led to a surprising discovery.In 1912 Liberal British Prime Minister Herbert Asquith, in desperate need of the support of John Redmond’s Irish Parliamentary Party, proposed a third Home Rule Bill – providing self-government for Ireland within the United Kingdom

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New Civil Records available at Irishgenealogy.ie

The annual update to the available Irish births, marriages and deaths at www.irishgenealogy.ie occurred on Tuesday 13th February 2024.Images and indexed entries for Irish births for 1923, marriages for 1948 and deaths for 1973 have now been added to the online collection. Images of the registrations are currently available for the following periods:Births:

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Transportation Records for Convicts sent to Australia

Transportation Records: The Ireland Australia Transportation Database In a joint project between the Irish and Australian governments, the Ireland Australia Transportation Database was compiled of surviving transportation records for individuals sent to Australia in the late 18th and early 19th century. Drawn from various sources, the database is the

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Current Access to Irish Libraries and Archives

Between June and September 2020 a number of Irish archives, libraries and repositories were reopened to the public, but with limited access.  ** However, since the middle of September, these repositories have been closed again and no date has been set for them to reopen. The following is a list of the major repositories for Irish genealogical research

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www.irishgenealogy.ie extend available records

The Irish website, www.irishgenealogy.ie has extended the civil registration records available on their free website.Non-Catholic marriages in Ireland were registered from April 1845, while these are largely Church of Ireland and Presbyterian marriages, marriages in registry offices and mixed marriages that took place outside of the Roman Catholic church

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The Surname Christmas in Ireland

I was surprised to discover a reference to the surname Christmas in Ireland while searching the early Grantor Indexes in the Registry of Deeds in Dublin, and decided to do a little digging.Origins of the Surname ChristmasThe general consensus from various surname dictionaries is that the name originated as a birth forename for someone born at Christmas,

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Who Do You Think You Are? Paul Merton

Tracing the Power family for the Paul Merton episode of Who Do You Think You Are? was quite a challenge, not least because Power is one of the most common surnames in Co. Waterford. Paul’s mother’s maiden name was Power.  At the time of Griffith’s Valuation), a land survey taken in the 1850s there were over 3000 Power households found in Ireland,

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New Birth Death and Marriage records at www.irishgenealogy.ie

The birth, death and marriage registers and indexes available at www.irishgenealogy.ie have been extended to include the following date ranges:Births 1864-1918Marriages 1864-1843Deaths 1878-1968   Previously, it was only possible to search the birth index up to 1916, the marriage index up to 1941 and the death index up to 1966, two additional years

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Tithe Applotment Books Online

The National Archives of Ireland, in partnership with the Genealogical Society of Utah, published a database of the Tithe Applotment Books online on their Genealogy Website.  The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) have also released images of the Tithe Applotment Books for Northern Ireland on their website.  Find out more about access

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Who Was Christmas Weeks

Just before the Index of Irish Wills 1484-1858 was published I was working with the editorial team. One of my tasks was to search through the original database for possible errors in the transcription of names. If you order all of the entries alphabetically it is easy to see where anomalous names turn up. In this instance, it was not anomalous, but

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