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The Irish Ancestral Research Association
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George B. Handran is an attorney and professional genealogist, specializing in Irish Research. A certified genealogist since 1996, Mr. Handran has lectured extensively in the United States and will be a staff member of the TIARA research trip to Ireland in 2007. His Townlands in Poor Law Union was recently released on CD.In 2004, members of TIARA learned of the existence of thousands of life insurance policies that were scheduled to be sent to a shredder. Impressed with the wealth of information on predominantly Irish immigrants and their descendants, TIARA members rallied to "Rescue the Relatives!" The story of this rescue and a detailed examination of the information in the records will be presented by George B. Handran
Mary Ellen Grogan is the Outreach Coordinator for TIARA. She was instrumental in developing the Irish tracks at the FGS conference held this past year in Boston. She is also an experienced researcher in the United States Ireland and England, as well as the organizer of the TIARA research trip to Ireland.
her talk covered the repositories for genealogical information in various places in Ireland, including details such as what you are allowed to bring into the repository, what the fees are, and what equipment you can expect to find. Mary Ellen's research notes can be found at her personal web site.
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Henry Scannell
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For the past six years, Henry Scannell has been the Curator of Microtext and Newspapers at the Boston Public Library. He has worked there for the past twenty years, and has been a member of TIARA for about the same period of time.Henry showed images of newspapers in the collection at the Boston Public Library, including the only edition of Publick Occurrences, from September 1690. By 1704, articles mentioning Irish men begin to appear, usually wanted for theft or for being a runaway indentured servant. The announcement of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the invention of the daguerrotype, and the first controlled airplane flight were shown. The Boston Public Library has been collecting newspapers for 150 years. At the BPL web site, bpl.org, you can sign up for a library card to get full access to the collection. You can also come in to the BPL with a card from your home town library and get a BPL card.
Henry spoke of a new program from the National Endowment for the Humanities to digitize newspapers in six states, Massachusetts included, which will be a welcome assist to researchers. He mentioned a web site, worldcat.org, that shows holdings at libraries all over the world. Very few of the Boston Public Library's newspapers are indexed on computer, but their collection is extensive: the Irish Times all the way back to the beginning; Ireland Politics & Society, the Pilot, the Post and the Globe. These last two were democratic in view, and carried Irish interest stories.
Henry showed examples of obituaries, death notices, wedding announcements, anniversaries, and probate notices. Some small-town newspapers published a list of all deaths in the previous year during the first week of January. Henry suggested using a weekly paper to search for an obit when you don't know the exact date of death, 52 issues being easier to search than 365.
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Janis Duffy
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Janis Duffy, Reference Archivist of the Massachusetts Archives, presented a talk on the passenger lists available for research at the Massachusetts State Archives, 2125 Morrissey Blvd., Boston. The Archives holds the Passenger Manifests and their index for the Port of Boston from 1848 to 1891. She began with "What's Your Alias?", showing index cards and manifests for passengers who were listed with an alias - travelling under two different names. More humorous and interesting stories were shown under the topics "Famous or Infamous People" (John L. Sullivan) and "Unusual Occupations" (a rat-catcher!).
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Eva Murphy and Betsy McGovern
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Eva Murphy is a TIARA member, and Betsy McGovern is the head of Special Collections at the State Library of Massachusetts.
Maire Concannon is a graduate of University College, Galway, the National University of Ireland, and Boston College. She has been involved with Irish language studies throughout New England for the past 20 years. She has been a teacher/guidance counselor at Catholic Memorial in West Roxbury, MA for the past 23 years. She is a past vice-president of Cumann na Gaeilge, The Irish Language Association, and is a frequent contributor to Irish Language Radio and Media in Ireland. Maire's talk was very enjoyable and informative. From her handout: Irish place names are difficult at times to translate because of their antiquity or because they have been haphazardly or arbitrarily translated down through the centuries. Originally, Irish was the spoken language of the people and the local place names referred either to well-known families or clans or to features of local geography or topography. Other times they recall the names of saints or of churches or possibly trades, wars, illnesses, or historicval events of major importance to the people. To a race steeped in oral tradition, place names offer great insight into history and tradition. It is indeed unfortunate that the keys to understanding these elements remain unobtainable to so many of Eire's descendants.
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Dr. Ruth-Ann Harris, adjunct professor of Irish studies, Boston College
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An outstanding characteristic of emigration from Ireland to North America, compared to immigration from other countries, was the large number of single women in the emigration stream. Ruth-Ann discussed the conditions in Ireland that resulted in women leaving in such large numbers and their experience as immigrants. She has examined over 700 letters home from female immigrants, showing their changing attitudes, increasing financail security (although most were in domestic service), and strong familial and community ties.
Ruth-Ann provided two handouts: the first is a Margaret McCarthy Letter; the second is a list of significant periods in the history of women in Ireland.
Eileen Ó Dúill, CG, is a Dublin-based genealogist specializing in international probate research. She is a Council member of the Association of Professional Genealogists in Ireland and International Trustee of APG (USA) 2007-2009. She co-authored Irish Civil Registration- Where Do I Begin? with Steven ffeary Smyrl. Eileen has lectured at national conferences in the United States and in Ireland since 1997. She was a consultant in the National Library Genealogical Advisory Service and currently is a Director of Irish Genealogy Ltd., a company established by the Irish government to promote genealogy in Ireland.
This lecture is designed to help researchers who are planning their first trip to Ireland. The preparatory research necessary before embarking for Ireland and advice on the best use of time while in Ireland will be reviewed. Handy hints, gathered from experienced American researchers in Ireland will be shared.
This Insider’s Guide to repositories and resources in Ireland will map out an effective research strategy and avoid the most commonly made mistakes. All of the major Dublin repositories will be discussed particularly the free Genealogical Advisory Services in the National Library and National Archives.
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