Wednesday 29 February 2012

CLARE CHATTER


New genealogical series on RTE 1 Television starting next Tues, March 6, at 7 pm

Courtesy of Clara Hoyne

Clare Roots Society Secretary

Please click on image to enlarge.

Tuesday 28 February 2012

CLARE CHATTER


Courtesy of Clara Hoyne
As always, please click on the image to enlarge it...

If you are interested in obtaining a Certificate of Irish Heritage, this site may help..





Sunday 26 February 2012

ENNIS BOOK CLUB FESTIVAL 2ND TO 4TH MARCH 2012

Ennis Book Club Festival 2nd to 4th March 2012 - Home

Tickets on sale now

DATES FOR NEXT FESTIVAL
2nd - 4th March 2012

Authors and speakers already confirmed include Patrick Gale, Sheila O'Flanagan, Kevin Barry, Lynn Reid Banks, Maureen Gaffney, Fergus Finlay, Catriona Crowe, Michael Harding, Christine Dwyer Hickey, Manchán Magan, Vincent Woods, Peter and Natasha Murtagh, Joseph Woods, Paula Meehan, Dr. Margaret Kelleher, Seán Rocks, Presenter of RTÉ Radio 1's Arena, Mike Power, Pat Donlon, Wonderland Productions dramatisation of The Picture of Dorian Grey, Sean Spellissey, Jane O'Brien, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Tom Conaty, Clare Three Legged Stool Poets and Clare Youth Theatre.

To view the Programme click here.

Patrick Gale talks about his new novel 'A Perfectly Good Man', which has its Irish launch at the Ennis Book Club Festival.



Readers' Festival


The Ennis Book Club Festival is a wonderful social and literary gathering bringing together book club members and readers from all over Ireland and beyond. Supported by Clare County Library, the festival includes author readings, discussions, workshops and walking tours through the narrow streets and lanes of Ennis. We offer sessions on running book clubs, advice on reading lists, poetry, events as Gaeilge, and an opportunity to compare notes and meet with other Book Club members.

Over the years the festival has attracted wonderful authors and speakers including Edna O'Brien, Nuala O'Faolain, Roddy Doyle, Anne Enright, Lionel Shriver, Joseph O'Connor, Paul Durcan, Peter Sheridan, Paul Murray, Anne Enright and Patrick McCabe to name but a few.

Come and combine your love of reading with a great weekend away!



Irish family tree research societies and groups

Irish family tree research societies and groups
Courtesy of Claire Santry, Irish Genealogy News

Feel free to add your favourites in the comments below.

Irish Genealogy News: WDYTYA? No place for Smoothies!

Courtesy of Irish Genealogy News... follow on to read about some great changes re Roots Ireland.


Irish Genealogy News: WDYTYA? No place for Smoothies!: WDYTYA? kicked off yesterday morning in the way it always does: with a long queue of visitors stretching from Olympia almost all the way to ...

Blog by Claire Santry.

Thursday 23 February 2012

THE CHIEF SECRETARY’S OFFICE REGISTERED PAPERS ONLINE


February 20, 2012 @ 11:23 am | by JOHN GRENHAM

"CSORP" looks like the name of an Eastern European secret police force. In fact, it is the acronym for one of the most under-appreciated Irish historical sources, the Chief Secretary's Office Registered Papers. The Chief Secretary, based in Dublin Castle, became the effective head of government in Ireland in the decades after the Act of Union in 1800. The registered papers are the records of all incoming correspondence to his Office, and cover the years 1818 to 1924. They comprise an extraordinary collection of documents: complaints, petitions, memoranda, accounts and reports on virtually every aspect of the administration of Ireland. And they have survived intact in the National Archives.

Until now, the only access routes to their contents have been via a partial card index in the Reading Room and the original annual CSO registers. The only widely known records were the many local petitions addressed to the Office, any one of which can list hundreds of names. Now a new website, csorp.nationalarchives.ie, aims to catalogue and calendar every single document in the collection between 1818 and 1852. For the moment only the first five years, 1818 to 1822, are complete, but already the vivid weirdness of 19th century Ireland is springing to life. One example: in 1821, a Dublin merchant, George Ness, proposed allowing the admission of Catholics to the Freedom of the City. As a result, he received an anonymous letter, which he forwarded to the Chief Secretary's Office. The letter threatens that, '…if I hear another word out of your head about Papists to be made freemen of any our corporations I will have you dragged from limb to limb and your head hung on the rapper of your halldoor..'. The letter is signed 'a fellow that wd shoot a papist, as soon sir as you wd a mad dog'.

Living history, indeed.

Monday 20 February 2012

ONE-STEP.. GUIDED BY STEVE MORSE





Some years ago, I stumbled across a site that I have constantly returned to. It was created by a man called Steve Morse, who originally set out to help folk searching for details on those ancestors who entered the States via Ellis Island.

That was then... as helpful as it was, the site now has to be visited often to try to absorb the massive amount of information and links that Steve has been adding to it over the years. Whether it be searching for passengers entering via Ellis Island, or maybe working out the eternal question of cousins and their exact relationship to your great uncle or grandchild or... maybe you want an easy way to find out a birthdate with the limited amount of facts you have, let Steve do it for you... or at least show you a One-Step way.

I could write article after article and cover just a fraction of what Steve offers, so, I thought it best to let Steve tell it in his own words.

With kind permission, I reproduce here, Steve's syllabus material from RootsTech.........



ONE-STEP WEBPAGES
A Hodgepodge of Lesser-Known Gems
Stephen P. Morse (steve@stevemorse.org)

The One-Step website (http://stevemorse.org) started out as an aid for finding passengers in the Ellis Island database. Shortly afterwards it was expanded to help with searching in the 1930 census. Over the years it has continued to evolve and today includes about 200 web-based tools divided into sixteen separate categories ranging from genealogical searches to astronomical calculations to bidding on ebay.

Another talk (A Potpourri of Genealogical Search Tools) describes the range of tools available and give the highlights of each one. There are too many utilities on the One-Step website to be covered in a single talk, so many of them found their way to the cutting room floor when the Potpourri talk was being edited. However several of those are quite useful. This talk describes those gems that you might not otherwise be aware of. They range from problems with genealogical searches to problems with identity theft to problems with DNA.

This talk, as it's name implies, is a hodgepodge of things. There is no rhyme or reason to it, and no logical connection between the items. Each item discussed is self contained, and solves a particular problem. Some of the problems and their One-Step solutions are shown below.

WORKING WITH TIME INTERVALS

A typical tombstone inscription might read "Here lies Uncle Jack, Died May 10 1903, 79 years, 10 months, and 3 days young. That would be a wonderful find for any genealogist, and gives a name and a death date to be added to the family tree. But what about Jack's date of birth? That would require some tedious calculations.

Fortunately there is a One-Step form that lets you enter any two of the following three items – a first event, a second event, and the time interval between them. In this case we would enter May 10, 1903 as the second event and 79 years, 10 months and 3 days as the time interval. The form will display the value of the first event – namely July 7, 1823.

TOMBSTONE DATES

Hebrew tombstones contain valuable information for genealogists, not the least of which is the date of death. However that date is usually encoded in a set of Hebrew letters, not dissimilar from what we do in English when we encode numbers into Latin letters and call them Roman numerals. So even people who are able to read and speak Hebrew might not know the code for deciphering the dates engraved on tombstones.

The One-Step website offers a handy decoder that let's you enter the squiggles found on the tombstone, and it will report back the date in the Hebrew calendar. It will also convert the date to its equivalent in the secular calendar.

FALLEN SOLDIERS IN FOREIGN ALPHABETS

Several foreign websites list the fallen soldiers for a particular country. However those sites are usually in the language of that country. Worse yet, that language might be written in an alphabet other than the normal Latin alphabet that we are familiar with.

Specific examples are a website in Cyrillic characters that lets you search for fallen Russian soldiers, and a website in Hebrew characters that lets you search for fallen Israeli soldiers. Entering names on the search forms of such websites is indeed a challenge. But even worse is trying to decipher the information returned by such websites.

The One-Step site offers tools to simplify using these two particular sites. The tools translate the fields on the search forms so you know what you have to enter in each field. They also allow you to type using your normal keyboard and will transliterate the name for you into the alphabet required by the site. And when the results of the search are returned to you, various items are translated into English or transliterated into Latin letters so you can understand what you have found.

TABLE LOOKUPS

You may wonder what some of these tables have to do with genealogy. But I'm an engineer, and I like tables, That's what turns me on. So I included several tools for doing table lookups on the One-Step site.

Specifically there is a two-character code assigned to every country in the world, and that code is used in website addresses as well as email addresses. The One-Step site has a tool that lets you specify any two-character code and it will tell you the corresponding country. Or you can specify any country, and it will tell you the two-character code.

There is a common set of three-digit area codes assigned to telephones in Canada, United States, and the Caribbean. Have you ever encountered an area code and wanted to know where is was before you dialed it? The One-Step site has a tool that lets you specify any three-digit sequence and tells you where it is located. It also lets you specify a location and it tells you what the three-digit area code is.

Overseas phone numbers follow a different encoding system. But given any such number, it is possible to break it down and determine where in the world it is. And the One-Step site provides a tool that does this look-up for you.

NUMBER DECODING

Various numbering systems that appear to be random at first sight actually follow a pattern. Specific examples are social security numbers and credit card numbers. The One-Step site offers tools that allow you to decode such numbers.

The social security decoding has obvious applications to genealogists. It allows you to determine not only where a specific number was issued, but also when.

DEOXYRIBO NUCLEIC ACID

The One-Step site provides several tools for dealing with the results of DNA testing. One tool extracts the DNA values from the testing-laboratories website. Another allows for a color-coded comparison of DNA markers from a group of people, and yet another computes the DNA distances between members in the group.

There is also a tool for determining the haplogroup corresponding to the extracted values, one for describing the paths taken by any particular haplogroup, and one that shows a map of the path taken for that haplogroup.

EBAY

The Potpourri lecture described a One-Step utility that allows you to submit a bid on ebay at the last possible moment. This keeps down the auction fever and insures that if you win it, you will do so for the lowest possible price. This Hodgepodge lecture introduces a second ebay tool – one that lets you see the bid history for any item in chronological order. From the ebay site directly you can also see the bid history, but it is ordered by bid amount, making it hard to understand what was bid when and why.

UNIVERSAL BOOKMARKS

All browsers contain a "bookmark" or "favorites" facility that lets you save the location of a webpage so that you can return to it at some future time. However you need to be using the same browser at that future time in order to see the bookmark that you saved. The One-Step site has a tool that lets you save bookmarks in any browser and later access that bookmark from any other browser and even on another computer.

GEOCODING (LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE)

Although not directly related to genealogy, geocoding (converting addresses to latitude and longitude) has become a very popular activity on the web. In fact, I probably get more hits to my One-Step geocoding tools than I do to my One-Step genealogy tools.

The Potpourri lecture introduced a One-Step tool that lets you find the latitude/longitude of an address, and vice versa. The Hodgepodge lecture introduces some additional One-Step geocoding tools. One of them lets you compute the distance between any two pairs of latitude/longitude. These two tools, used together, allow you to compute the distance between any two addresses, anywhere in the world. Did you know that it is 3657.1 miles from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC to number 10 Downing Street in London?

RURAL AREAS IN THE CENSUS

The Potpourri lecture described several One-Step tools for accessing the census by address in large cities. The Hodgepodge lecture supplements that by showing how to do the same for rural areas. The former utilizes the One-Step Large-City ED Finder, and the latter utilizes the One-Step ED Definition tool.

WHEN DID?

Here are some questions I'm sure you've asked yourselves numerous times. When did the first day of Chanukah fall on Christmas? When did your birthday ever fall on a Saturday? When is Thanksgiving this year? And when did Easter and Passover coincide? The One-Step site contains a "When Did" utility that lets you answer questions like this and any similar questions about the calendar that you can think of.

As an example, we can determine when April Fools day falls on a Sunday. Turns out that it will happen in the year 2012. Of course as genealogist that has special significance to us – it means that the opening of the 1940 census will probably be delayed to Monday April 2, forcing us to be patient for one more day before we can view that census.

AND THERE ARE OTHERS …

These are just a smattering of the One-Step tools covered in the Hodgepodge lecture. It's just the ones that I could fit into four pages.


Sunday 19 February 2012

CORK GENEALOGY FREE CONFERENCE MARCH 31ST



Presented by 
Cork City and County Archives 
in association with the
Cork Genealogical Society

The speakers are...

John Grenham .... Irish Times Genealogist.

Tony MC Carthy .... Belgrave Publications

Rosaleen Underwood .... Genealogist.

Declan Chalmers ....  Cork Genealogy Society

Wendy Quirke .... LDS.

Jerry White .... Western Front Society

Brian Magee .... City & County Archivist


'TRACING YOUR PEOPLE'



One-Day Family History Conference at Ambassador Hotel, Military Hill, Cork

Saturday 31 March 2012

9:30am -4:30pm (Registration: 9:00am – 9:30am SHARP)

THIS EVENT IS FREE BUT ADVANCE BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL

 Bookings close 28 March.

Bookings: Phone Archives on : (021) 4505876.   



Part of the  Cork Lifelong Learning Festival 2012



Saturday 18 February 2012

IRISH CHATTER UPCOMING WALK IN O'BRIENSBRIDGE





         http://www.shannonregiontrails.ie/FindaTrail/Walking/LoopWalks/
Free Spring Walks Series around the County

 

Following on from the very successful Operation Transformation walk in Lissycasey recently, Clare Sports Partnership are teaming up with Clare's Rural Recreation Officer and Trails Animator as well as local community groups and walking clubs to organise a walk a month for the next 4 months. 

The first of these walks will take place on Saturday February 25th on one of the many National looped walks in County Clare, this time in East Clare on the 7km Erina Bridge Looped Walk, in the lovely village of O' Briensbridge. The walk will start at 12 noon sharp and will be led by Clare Sports Partnership along with members of the O'Briens Bridge community.  Brian Goggin, Waterways Historian, will also give a short talk at the Capstan and The Anchor - two important waterway's artifacts which are located side by side at the start of the Erina Bridge /Green Loop. 

John Sweeney, co-ordinator of the Clare Sports Partnership said:
 "We are delighted to be highlighting and promoting this walk as part of our Spring Walk Series in a very unique and historically rich area alongside the Erina canal in the Eastern part of the county.  Clare Spring Water have kindly come on board and are providing free water for walker. We are grateful to the Clare Trails Programme, especially Eimear Mc Carthy the Rural Recreation Officer for her input and work on this project. Walking is a great way to get active and to stay healthy. We are trying to promote the idea that all it takes is 30 minutes a day of moderate physical activity to maintain a healthy lifestyle." 

The development and maintenance of a total of 4 looped walks in the area is a credit to the O'Briensbridge community group. The group has also recently developed a Heritage guide for the area, which will be available to walkers on the day. And to support the February walk even further the local O' Briensbridge community group is teaming up with Bonners local pub to provide tea/coffee and sandwiches to hungry walkers after the event. The village also has a lovely new playground, so this could be a lovely day out for all the family.  
Eimer McCarthy, Rural Recreation Officer said:
 "We are hoping that the free guided walk, complimentary refreshments and playground in this lovely village set on the canal, will attract people from the town of Ennis, Limerick, and from O' Briensbridge and the surrounding villages, and encourage people to realize and explore the many fantastic outdoor recreation options all around County Clare".

The walk forms part of the Shannon Region Trails selection of looped walks in the County, and the Spring Walks Series are supported by Clare Trails Steering Group. There are several looped walks, long distance waymarked ways and Sli na Slainte routes in the county, and they can be accessed free of charge, with maps and details of all walks downloadable from www.shannonregiontrails.ie 

 

The Erina Bridge looped walk is suitable for all the family, and is accessible for sturdy buggies. The walk is not accessible for wheelchairs. Please wear good strong walking shoes, as sections of paths can be wet at this time of year. Wear warm clothes and bring waterproof gear. For further information, please call Catherine on  065 6865434 or see www.claresportspartnership.ie for more details and to download a map of the route. This initiative has received funding from the Irish Sports Council.

 Further details..

Ennis Walking Tours 

Experience a journey through time on our Guided Walking Tours through the winding streets of medieval Ennis! Hear tales of famine and poverty, rebellions and riots and learn about the mythology and legends of the town.

Click here for more details


To all Community and Voluntary groups registered with the Clare Community Forum.
 
Find the Clare Community Forum on Facebook  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Clare-Community-Forum/130411043666078




Friday 17 February 2012

KERRY ANCESTORS

Courtesy of Fiona and Clara


 

from the Kerry list:
If you had ancestors living in North Kerry this is a web site worth checking
out - www.northkerryreachingout.com   great old photos and stories.

DIGITAL BOOKS (eBOOKS) FREE SERVICE

Clare Library has a range of books available free to download

Full details on this site



This service offers a selection of Clare and Irish material from the Open-Access Text Archive of the Internet Archive, which contains over one million full-text scanned books in the public domain. The selection has been made using the Archive's own Open Library search features. We welcome suggestions for additional material.

Books on Clare: Archaeology; Art; History; Language; Literature, Song and Music

Books on Ireland: Art; Architecture; Education; Language; Folklore; Sport; Description & Travel; Nature & Natural Resources; Literature Song & Music; Legal; Genealogy; Places and Placenames; Archaeology

Ireland - History and Politics: General History; Early History; Viking and English Conquests; 16th Century; 17th Century; 18th Century; 19th Century; 20th Century pre 1921; 20th Century post 1921; Social and Economic History; County and Town Histories; The Irish Abroad.