I know this could be old news to some of you, but thought I'd post it anyway. This is not written by me so please do not contact me with questions. The author of the message also requested that she not be contacted either as she is just reporting from her notes. Please abide by those requests. This message is only provided as a post of information. Thank you. List Admin ----------------------- X-Message: #1 Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 15:21:34 -0600 From: <gainebyrne@verizon.net> To: IRISH-IN-CHICAGO-L@rootsweb.com Message-Id: <20040125212134.PNYW17235.out011.verizon.net@outgoing.verizon.net> Subject: [Irish in Chicago] Irish Records - Important Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Over the weekend, I attended GenTech, a national (US) genealogy conference for professional and amatuer genealogists. One session I attended was about Irish research, titled " Digitisation of Irish Records: The Current State of Play." The speaker was Brian Donovan of Eneclann, Ltd. I thought I would post about the lecture, as many people should find it helpful and interesting. I will post from my notes. I had to write fast and I did have some difficulty in understanding Brian with his Irish accent. I certainly could have made mistakes. However, you can order a tape of his lecture from Repeat Performance, www.audiotapes.com. Please don't email me to ask questions. I probably can't answer them. For more information, do a search or go to the eneclann.ie website. I do not have any connection with any of these websites, businesses or entities. I guess you could call this my "giving back." I have been very lucky in my Irish research. Brian first gave us some background information on genealogy research in Ireland, particular to digitisation. First of all, it's a slow process. This is because not many people in Ireland are involved with genealogy. Second, there is a lack of interest due to the Irish being more concerned with house and property research as opposed to genealogical research. The third is, "inadequate state funding." In the 1980s and 1990s, the Irish government provided monies to train people in computer skills. The money wasn't really for genealogy, which is a business. It was for computer training. In Ireland, they don't know how to turn genealogy into a business. But Brian knows! LOL. At the time of this funding and training, people needed jobs. Today, Ireland has a low unemployment rate. The original goal, was to make 26 million records available. Only 17 million records were available by 2003. The fourth reason, is the destruction of records and we all know about that! Brian then told us about the digitazation projects that have been completed or are ongoing. He provided us with a list of websites as he explained. Irish Genealogical Project www.irishgenealogy.ie These are the Heritage Centers. They have parish registers, civil records, Griffiths, Tithes and census record databases. General Register Office www.goireland.ie The GRO has the civil registers. The GRO relocated to County Roscommon to provide full time jobs. They started to work on the printed indexes, then stopped the project in 2001. I think there were some problems but I did not catch the whole story. I think they are now trying to work on a web based pay per view, with 2005 as their target date. However, I would not hold my breath on that. National Archives www.nationalarchives.ie Together, the NA of Ireland and PRONI (Northern Ireland) are working on a digitization program of the 1901 and 1911 censuses. There is no time frame for this right now, so don't hold your breath on this one either. Late last year, the National Archives and Eneclann put out a new CD-Rom, called "Counties in Time." It gives a history of the counties and samples of documents that are available for research. If you go to the Eneclann website, you will find more information. National Library www.irishorigins.com Yes I know this is not the website for the National Library of Ireland, but they are working with Irish Origins on the definitive verision of Griffiths Valuation. Valuation Office Records www.valoff.ie A new project by the Valuation Office and Eneclann will digitize the Cancelled Volumes from 1850 to 1920 and the Griffiths Maps, both the 6 inch and the town plans. This will take years and is a very expensive project. You can also check out PRONI and the Wills Project, www.proni.gov.uk; the Irish Wills Project, www.eneclann.ie/publications-3.asp; and the Memorial Inscriptions Project, www.eneclann.ie/publications-6.asp Brian also gave us a list of future digitization plans: Irish Ancestor Journal British Immigration Records 1858-1870 Memorials of the Dead - Wexford and Wicklow Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1858-1922 Catholic Qualification Rolls 1775-1801 Loyalist Petition 1848 Petition for Repeal of Union 1848 Freeholders and Voters Lists 1727-1832 Militia and Yeomanny Records 1750-1850 Irish Jewish Records 1820-1960 Brian went on to say that there are lots of Irish records but there are very few indexes. He said that what is being digitized has already been published or indexed. He said we should utilize the Registry of Deeds, www.landregistry.ie. He also said the National Archives has lots of information but with out indexes or finding aids, there are many records that go ignored by genealogists. He provided a list of records that are not researched much. Valuation Office Field and Home Books 1838 Outrage Reports 1835-1852 - letters written to Dublin Castle. These are organized by county. Relief Commission Papers 1845-1847 -- these are about the famine Convict Reference Files - 1836-1922 Petty Sessions -- This is the lowest level of the courts in Ireland. Chancery Bills Fenian Files and Photographs 1862-1870 The session lasted an hour with a short period of time for questions. I was able to ask one. I mentioned that I had been reading about some of the heritage centers closing and asked if this had something to do with the government funding. The answer is yes. Brian said that the Irish government provided 25 million for computer training. The money was not spent on genealogy. But the government thought they would make money on genealogy. (The heritage centers were started by volunteers. I do not know who runs them now.) The government has given up funding the heritage centers. So, some are closing. Brian suggested people write to the Irish government and tell them we have money to spend on genealogy and that we want records to be made available. He said to contact the Irish Prime Minister and he gave his name and address! I did not get it all down, but if you do a search, I'm sure you will find it. He also suggested we write our own political representatives. In a nutshell, genealogy is a business. Some have figured that out, some haven't. There are those who still think that genealogy is free, but when you consider the time spent on research, the photocopies, the transcribing, the indexing, etc., you can surely see that there is alot involved. If we want something, we are going to have to work/pay for it. Irish records are no exception. This doesn't mean you shouldn't volunteer for anything, in fact, Brian commented that we genealogists can help. I think it's great that there are products to buy. Obviously, Brian is making a living. He has a genealogy business. Many of the speakers at the conference make a living out of genealogy, through writing books, public speaking, teaching classes and digitizing records. Obviously, genealogy has come a long way. Digitization is the big thing now, but look at what we have available to us today. You have my permission to forward my post to other Irish email lists. I subscribe to quite a few and will send out my post to them today. Again, I ask you to please not email me with questions. Go to the Eneclann site, do a search or visit the other URLs I gave you. I'm sure I have missed some information. Go seek and you shall find more. One more thing, I asked Brian, while I was browsing at his vendor table, how to find the papers for the Earl of Bessborough. He was a land owner in County Carlow. Brian said that most estate papers are in England, so if you are looking for information on an English land owner, check the National Archives of England and the Historical Manuscripts Commission site or perhaps the private papers of the National Library in Ireland. www.nationalarchives.gov. uk/ Debbie

Is some one on the list up on geographical locations? I am trying to pin down the location of TREHOO / TRIHU / TRIHUE / TRIHOO / The writing is very hard to decipher. It appears to be in the District of " NUNN " in the Union Of Cootrhill, in the Counties of CAVAN and MONAGHAN. Can any one pinpoint this location? that is where my GGF passed away. I'd appreciate any assistance at all/. Thank You. John K

Treehoo Townland ,163acres,Cavan Co.,Barony of Tullygarvey,Parish of Annagh, PLU of Cootehill,Province of Ulster This according to Ire-Atlas , based on 1851 stats. John Kelly wrote: > > Is some one on the list up on geographical locations? > I am trying to pin down the location of > > TREHOO / TRIHU / TRIHUE / TRIHOO / The writing is > very hard to decipher. > > It appears to be in the District of " NUNN " in > the Union Of Cootrhill, > > in the Counties of CAVAN and MONAGHAN. Can any one > pinpoint this location? > > that is where my GGF passed away. > > I'd appreciate any assistance at all/. Thank You. John K > > > > ==== IRL-CAVAN Mailing List ==== > For the IRL-CAVAN-L archives, go to > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/IRL-CAVAN > > >