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Irish Newspapers

Irish Newspapers began to be published from the late 17th century, however, for the purposes of using them as a genealogical research tool, it is not until the mid 18th century that Irish newspapers start to become useful. By the 1750s Irish newspapers were published more widely around the country and began to carry information of genealogical value.  

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Irish Marriage Customs

While searching the Roman Catholic parish register for Kilmormoy in counties Sligo and Mayo (NLI Pos. 4231), I came across the following regulation, copied into the first page of the marraige register.  This regulation, decided by the bishops of Killala and Achonry gives us some insight into Irish marriage customs from the early 19th century. Registry

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First World War Irish Ancestors

In July 2014 I spent a day at the WWI Roadshow in Trinity College Dublin helping people to find their First World War Irish Ancestors. The event, organised by RTE and the National Library of Ireland in association with Trinity College Dublin was an enormous success and attracted unexpectedly huge crowds. It seems that the lid has been lifted in on identifying

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Excise and Inland Revenue Records

Excise and Inland Revenue Records Despite the amount of genealogical and family history records either freely available or though pays sites online, the national repositories of the United Kingdom and Ireland still hold a vast amount of material that can only be consulted on site. The British National Archives, Kew, has over  the past number of years

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Brendan O’Carroll Who Do You Think You Are?

One of the most valuable sources when it came to researching the murder of Brendan O’Carroll’s ancestor, were the Witness Statements in the Bureau of Military History collection. Bureau of Military History Witness Statements The Bureau of Military History is a collection of some 1700 witness statements as well as photographs, documents and

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Julie Walters Who Do You Think You Are?

For the latest episode of BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? our research into the family of Julie Walters found a most interesting character in her great grandfather, Anthony Clarke. According to his newspaper obituary, Anthony Clarke was present at the first meeting of the Land League at Irishtown in Co. Mayo. With this clue to follow, we investigated

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Poor Law Union Maps

A recent tweet from a project on welfare and public health in Belfast 1800 – 1973 at Queen’s University Belfast drew my attention to a collection of Poor Law Union Maps and figures for Poor Relief in each union across the entire country from 1851 to 1911. Following the 1838 Poor Relief Act for Ireland, Poor Law Unions were formed. A Poor Law Union

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Assisted Emigration from Ireland

Two fascinating accounts of assisted emigration from Ireland have recently been inspected; State Aided Emigration Schemes from the Crown Estates in Ireland and Assistance to Emigrate from the Castlecomer Board of Guardians. The first of these, without provenance, relates to the Castlecomer Poor Law Union (Kilkenny) for the periods 1847-1853.  This

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Irish Emigrant Women in New York

A new source that documents Irish emigrant women in late 19th and early 20th century New York has recently been published online. The records originate with Our Lady of Rosary Mission, established in 1883 in response to the campaigning of Charlotte Grace O’Brien. Charlotte Grace O’Brien was born in 1845 in Limerick the daughter of Irish Nationalist,

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Two Unusual Irish Emigration Records

Irish Emigration Records represent a real challenge for those searching for evidence of the departure of their family from Ireland. Passenger lists were usually deposted a the port of arrival and many of the surviving records can now be found online at Ancestry.  Arrivals in America can also be found at  Ellis Island and Castlegarden.  There are,

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