"Dining Clubs" - Societies and Journals
Where can you find out about Irish family history societies?
Go to any family history fair in the UK and you will be tripping over county family history societies, all eager for you to join. Ireland has some venerable national and regional societies too, some of whom have been going for a very long time. Many are more widely described as historical, heritage or archaeological societies rather than just family history, but I would encourage you to take a look at what they might offer for your area of interest. Your best bet is probably to lob the county name and one of these highlighted key words or phrases into a search engine and see what comes up. "Journal" could also be a useful search term as most societies produce one.
Both Claire Santry and John Grenham have some pages listing a wide range of both geographical and topical societies - neither wholly comprehensive but with plenty of choices that should perk you interest;
Go to any family history fair in the UK and you will be tripping over county family history societies, all eager for you to join. Ireland has some venerable national and regional societies too, some of whom have been going for a very long time. Many are more widely described as historical, heritage or archaeological societies rather than just family history, but I would encourage you to take a look at what they might offer for your area of interest. Your best bet is probably to lob the county name and one of these highlighted key words or phrases into a search engine and see what comes up. "Journal" could also be a useful search term as most societies produce one.
Both Claire Santry and John Grenham have some pages listing a wide range of both geographical and topical societies - neither wholly comprehensive but with plenty of choices that should perk you interest;
What are the benefits of joining a society?
You are likely to find a wide range of resources, including databases, transcripts, findings aids, blogs, forums, online lectures and journals (some available for free but many exclusively for members.) Most have a Facebook page too which can be a good way of seeing what they are currently involved with and how active the membership is. Other members may be able to apply their expert local knowledge to your people puzzles, which can be worth the often very modest membership fees alone if you are unable to travel to Ireland yourself. Most are also able to offer associate benefits and discounts with partner organisations. Consult their websites yourself to assess the full range of benefits on offer or make a point of seeking them out at any fairs to decide whether you think they can be of assistance to your research. Of course, one of the biggest benefits is that they represent an opportunity to give something back, either by contributing your own research to their archives for others to benefit from in the future or getting involved with transcription projects to create new resources.
Here are a few I've found useful from personal experience.
You are likely to find a wide range of resources, including databases, transcripts, findings aids, blogs, forums, online lectures and journals (some available for free but many exclusively for members.) Most have a Facebook page too which can be a good way of seeing what they are currently involved with and how active the membership is. Other members may be able to apply their expert local knowledge to your people puzzles, which can be worth the often very modest membership fees alone if you are unable to travel to Ireland yourself. Most are also able to offer associate benefits and discounts with partner organisations. Consult their websites yourself to assess the full range of benefits on offer or make a point of seeking them out at any fairs to decide whether you think they can be of assistance to your research. Of course, one of the biggest benefits is that they represent an opportunity to give something back, either by contributing your own research to their archives for others to benefit from in the future or getting involved with transcription projects to create new resources.
Here are a few I've found useful from personal experience.
The Irish Genealogical Research Society is the world's oldest organisation devoted to the study of Irish genealogy. It was actually founded in London in 1936 by Rev. Wallace Clare, as he sought to bring together copies of manuscripts lost in the 1922 Dublin pyre. The resulting archives unfortunately have no permanent home at the moment, but selected popular items can be accessed on Saturday afternoons at the Society of Genealogists building in London.
One of the most valuable IGRS resources are their Early Indexes to Births, Marriages and Deaths. There are thousands of transcribed entries carefully gleaned from a wide variety of esoteric sources that could take your research back into the 18th century. Transcripts from the Marriage Index are free to consult, whilst those from the other 2 indexes are for members only, but you can do counts. The Forum of research conversations is free to view but only members can post topics and replies.
I served on the IGRS Council for a few years and was involved in several projects, one of which was the IGRS 80th Anniversary Archive - a small collection of short personal stories celebrating favourite Irish ancestors - including my Great Great Grandmother, Rachel Castles. One other wee gem that I blogged about was an IGRS lecture on the Beyond 2022 project - well worth a view.
One thing to be aware of though is that somewhat inexplicably, the IGRS website can be very slow to load pages, so you will need to be patient. The database query screens are also designed in the same clunky style as those of the Registry of Deeds Indexing project - again you'll need to be patient if you are querying multiple names and variants and you need to keep returning to the query screen.
One of the most valuable IGRS resources are their Early Indexes to Births, Marriages and Deaths. There are thousands of transcribed entries carefully gleaned from a wide variety of esoteric sources that could take your research back into the 18th century. Transcripts from the Marriage Index are free to consult, whilst those from the other 2 indexes are for members only, but you can do counts. The Forum of research conversations is free to view but only members can post topics and replies.
I served on the IGRS Council for a few years and was involved in several projects, one of which was the IGRS 80th Anniversary Archive - a small collection of short personal stories celebrating favourite Irish ancestors - including my Great Great Grandmother, Rachel Castles. One other wee gem that I blogged about was an IGRS lecture on the Beyond 2022 project - well worth a view.
One thing to be aware of though is that somewhat inexplicably, the IGRS website can be very slow to load pages, so you will need to be patient. The database query screens are also designed in the same clunky style as those of the Registry of Deeds Indexing project - again you'll need to be patient if you are querying multiple names and variants and you need to keep returning to the query screen.
The North of Ireland Family History Society has quite an extensive local branch network as well as a resource centre in Newtownabbey. This looks to be very well stocked and I would certainly like to visit someday and explore their maps and journals. With ancestors from Armagh and Co. Tyrone, I have appreciated their advice on people puzzles when I have chatted to them on their stand at various fairs.
The Carlow Historical and Archaeological Society was founded as the Old Carlow Society in 1946 and their annual journal goes by the jaunty name of Carloviana. I've included it in my list as a great example of a local society that happened to cast up a veritable gem for my own research in the form of an online lecture.
"Landholding in the New English Settlement of Hacketstown, 1635-175" by Oliver Whelan is an example of the very specific topics you might find covered by local historians. My Jones and Barker ancestors held several land leases around this small town so you can see what I mean by a gem! I hope you are as lucky with your quests!
"Landholding in the New English Settlement of Hacketstown, 1635-175" by Oliver Whelan is an example of the very specific topics you might find covered by local historians. My Jones and Barker ancestors held several land leases around this small town so you can see what I mean by a gem! I hope you are as lucky with your quests!
(c) Irish Geneaography - 2021
