The Murder of an Irish Revolutionary Ancestor: Killer was a Future Neighbour of the Family!
11 January 2018Many of the visitors to the Irish Family History Centre (CHQ Building, Dublin) have very interesting ancestors. One US gentleman, Michael, wanted to research both sides of his family but he also wanted to prove family lore that one of his ancestors was involved in the Irish revolutionary period (1910s...
Behind the Scenes: “I learned more about my family in the last 30 minutes than in the last 10 years!”
11 January 2018This short tale is a contender for ‘the perfect case’. We genealogists at the Irish Family History Centre can handle most types of enquiry (and we’ve had some doozies in our time!). Nevertheless, what we are best set up to do is to help those who are starting out on...
A Thank You from our Research Manager
22 December 2017As a historian of the family my focus is on the local, the parish, the micro world. Often the task is to reveal the lost histories of families who do not stand out in the records. Ordinary lives don’t usually warrant a page in history. In the past, people were...
Top 10 Research Tips of 2017
21 December 2017As we’re winding up the year, we thought it would be a good idea to have a look back over our top 10 tips from this year. Happy Researching… 10 – Context is Key 9 – Townlands and Placenames 8 – Why being too precious about names may be...
PODCAST: Tracing Ancestry Through Census Substitutes
21 December 2017Prof. Adam Winstanley gave an enlightening talk on Census Substitutes at the Royal Irish Academy for the last Expert Workshop of the year. Prof. Winstanley’s background in Computer Science was apparent in his approaches, having developed some interesting tools, to assist in trying to quantify the coverage of Census Substitutes...
A Christmas Miracle…in August
21 December 2017More of the ‘miracle’ later, but first a bit of context… The Genealogy Advisory Service (GAS) in the National Library of Ireland (NLI) has two permanent members of staff who are supplemented by genealogists from Eneclann and Ancestor Network through the busier periods of the year. The set-up of the...
Behind the Scenes: Helping Neighbour gives us a Lesson in Census versus Institution Information
21 December 2017We at the Irish Family History Centre (IFHC) have many business neighbours in the chq Building on Custom House Quay in Dublin. Over the past year, we have built up a good rapport with them, including – perhaps predictably – the coffee shop Starbucks. Back in early 2017, we had...
Santa Claus’s Irish Ancestry
21 December 2017Santa! That cheery, portly, white-bearded man squeezing down your chimney with a “Ho! Ho! Ho!” to deliver you a present on Christmas Eve. That’s the Santa Claus we all know and love. But there is another Santa Claus. A very real Santa Claus. A Santa who possibly has Irish ancestry....
Always look twice!
08 December 2017One category of marriage records found in Catholic registers, are marriage dispensations. In Ireland the most common impediment to marriage was consanguinity, marriage between cousins. Consanguinity was calculated in degrees, estimated as the number of generations from the bride and groom to a common ancestor. Unfortunately, in Ireland Dioceses never...
Work Experience for a Budding Genealogist
08 December 2017My name is Laura and I am currently fifteen years old. I am in Transition Year. For my work experience, I decided to go and apply for the Irish Family History Centre. Big thank you to Noel Jenkins who is a family friend and helped me apply. I am so...
Behind the Scenes: I Cursed You for Months After My DNA Test. Please Accept a Box of “Aungier Danger” Doughnuts!
08 December 2017In early December 2017, a tall, moderately elderly man from Dublin’s inner city – we’ll call him ‘Dermot’ – came in to the Irish Family History Centre (CHQ Building, Dublin, Ireland). He wanted to “have a word” with us. This sounded ominous. Earlier in the year, Dermot had come in, not...
Irish Surnames and Sources Seminar Resounding Success
08 December 2017Genealogists attending the seminar in Cork Wednesday 6th December saw genealogists gather at University College Cork, for the eagerly anticipated seminar Irish Surnames and Sources: What about the evidence and how to use it. The title was coined by our own Fiona Fitzsimons, one of the expert speakers on the day. There were six...
