Online Irish Records are FREE for a Limited Time

Two of the "Big 4" genealogy websites are offering FREE access to their Irish records in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

For five days only, Findmypast is offering free access to the largest collection of Irish records online for FREE.The free access starts on Findmypast.com today, Monday 13 March, at 2 am (MST/PDT) and ends on Friday 17 March at 4:59 pm (MST/PDT). During this time you can enjoy all 116 million of Findmypast's Irish records completely free.

Highlights of their Irish collection include:

• Over 30 million Irish Birth, Marriage, Death and Parish records
• Over 15 million Census, Land & Substitute collections
• Over 30 million detailed Court & Prison records
• Over 350,000 records from World War 1, the Easter Rising & more
• Over 2.3 million Social History & Directory records

The only collection exempt from the free access is the Irish Newspapers collection.

In addition to free access to their Irish collection, Findmypast is offering a free downloadable Irish family history guide here.

Visit the Findmypast blog by clicking here for details on how to access the Irish records during the free period.

Ancestry is also offering free access to their Irish records until 8:59 pm (MST/PDT) on Sunday, 19 March 2017.  To see a full list of the records in the featured collection, please click here. To get started searching the collection on Ancestry.com, please click here. To download their free guide with 10 tips for finding Irish ancestors, click here.

Tracing Your Irish and Scots-Irish Ancestors Seminar

Emigrants Leave Ireland by Henry Edward Doyle 1868
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

 

Fintan Mullan and Gillian Hunt of the Ulster Historical Foundation will be presenting a two-day seminar on March 3 and 4, 2017 at the Irish Cultural Center and McClelland Library in Phoenix, Arizona.

Many Irish records were destroyed in 1922, making researching your Irish ancestors very difficult. But many other records survived and have recently come online.

Different topics on Irish and Scots-Irish research will be presented each day of the seminar. Advance registration is required and must be made for each day separately. Click here to visit the Irish Cultural Center and McClelland Library website for details and to register.

Free access to all UK records at Ancestry.com this weekend

Ancestry.com is giving FREE access to more than 1 billion UK & Irish records this weekend only. Free access to these records is starting at 2:00 p.m. ET (12:00 noon Arizona time) today, February 17, 2017, and ends at 11:59 p.m. ET (9:59 Arizona time) on Monday, February 20, 2017.

Click here to visit their UK & Irish Records page to see a full list of the records in the featured collection and get started finding your ancestors.

NOTE: After the free access period ends, you will only be able to view the records in the featured collections using an Ancestry Worl Explorer or All Access paid membership.

Free Irish Records Online, and That's No Blarney!

Image by SatyrTN via Wikimedia Commons

Each year since 1991, the President of the United States has issued a Presidential Proclamation designating March as Irish-American Heritage Month (Wikipedia, Irish-American Heritage Month). This year's Proclamation reads, in part:

As we celebrate Irish-American Heritage Month, we recognize the Irish people's contributions to our country's dynamism, and we reaffirm the friendship and family ties between our two nations. For centuries, sons and daughters of Erin have come to America's shores, adding to our rich vibrancy and putting their full hearts into everything they do. From building our country's cities as preeminent architects and earnest laborers to building our national character as people of great joy and cherished culture, Irish Americans have endured intolerance and discrimination to find a place for themselves and their children here in the United States. While remembering the great Irish Americans of the past, we celebrate what forms the foundation of the lasting Irish-American story -- a shared embrace of hard work and humility, fairness and dignity, and a mutual quest to secure a freer and more peaceful future. (White House Press Release: Irish-American Heritage Month, 2016, February 29, 2016)

The Library of Congress has published a series of webpages about Irish Immigration. On those pages, we learn that the Irish began immigrating to the United States in the 17th and early 18th centuries during our Colonial days. At that time, the Irish population in America was second only to the English. The second big wave of Irish immigration began in 1845 with the Potato Blight. It is estimated that as many as 4.5 million Irish arrived in America between 1820 and 1930.

We celebrate the contributions made by the Irish in our country by honoring their heritage during the month of March to coincide with the popular St. Patrick's Day celebrations on March 17.

American genealogists of Irish descent have even more to celebrate this month—Findmypast is offering free access to Irish records during the first week of March.Findmypast launched 10 million new Irish Catholic Parish Registers on their website today. To celebrate, they are making all 110 million Irish records free for everyone from March 1-7, 2016. To get started, go to their Ireland Records page. As an added bonus, Findmypast has committed to make the Irish Catholic Parish Records free to search forever! Read their news release 10 million new Irish Catholic Parish Registers released on Findmypast.

So hurry on over to Findmypast to search for your Irish ancestors. May the luck of the Irish be with you!

Irish Roots? The McClelland Irish Library will be having a seminar November 23 in Phoenix

The McClelland Irish Library is presenting a seminar on Saturday, November
23 in Phoenix.

"DIGGING UP IRISH ROOTS"  by Peggy Magee, Professional Genealogist,
Instructor, and Author.
Peggy has over 30 years experience with Irish research.

When:  November 23, 2013    9:00 am to 3:00 pm.
Where: McClelland Irish Library/Irish Cultural Center, 1106 N. Central Ave,
Phoenix.
Registration: $25 for members, $35 for non-members, optional lunch $10.

Additional  information and registration (before Nov. 16) forms at web
site: azirishlibrary.org

Irish DNA Seminar at Irish Cultrual Center in Phoenix Nov 17th

Genealogy Seminar

On  Irish  DNA

Saturday, 17 November 2012,  9am-12:30pm

Registration: 8:00-9:00am, Seminar 9:00-12:30pm

At the

Irish Cultural Center – McClelland Irish Library, 1106 North Central Ave., Phoenix, AZ

Tel:  602 864-2351     Email: dmoneta@cox.net   Website:  http://azirishlibrary.org/

    Presenting:

Tyrone Bowes, Ph.D.

Degree in Neuropathies, Specialist in

making and characterizing therapeutic antibodies.

Creator of www.irishorigenes.com

From:

Galway, Ireland

9:00-10:00am   “History, Genes, and Geography”  This session details the cultural and historical factors that make it possible for one to use simple commercial ancestral DNA testing to pinpoint precisely where one’s direct male Irish ancestor lived when he first took his surname over 1000 years ago. There will be a 15 min. question and answer period. 

10:10-11:10am  “Pinpointing Your Irish Genetic Homeland” 7 simple steps; everything you will need to know to pinpoint an origin, from which test, and which commercial testing company, to the freely accessible resources that one will need. There will be a 15 min. question and answer period.

11:20-12:20pm   “Case Studies” Practical examples of people who have successfully used their DNA to determine firstly whether their Irish ancestors were of Irish-Celtic, Viking, Norman, Scottish-mercenary, or Planter origin, and where precisely those ancestors lived. 15 min. question and answer period.

12:20-12:30pm  Drawing for prizes.

Registration Fee: $25 for non-members or $20 for Irish Cultural Center members

Fee includes Program, Handouts, Refreshments, Beverages, and Raffle Prizes

Deadline for registration: 14 November 2012, or first 100 people

Do not hesitate to register now! 

Free Webinars - Monday, March 12th. Apr 9th, May 14th, June 11

The Friends of the National Archives-Southeast Region, Inc., are please to present Using U.S. Federal Records to Locate the Townland of Your Irish Ancestors   

Donna Moughty, our presenter, will focus on U.S. resources can give you a real passport to finding your way to the right place and time in Ireland.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Time: 7:00 pm Eastern

Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/523229894

Future Webinars

• Apr. 9, 2012: War of 1812 Records with Shane Bell
• May 14, 2012: Social Networking: New Horizons for Genealogists with Thomas MacEntee
• Jun 11, 2012: Railroad Retirement Records & CCC Records with Maureen Hill