Public Records Office of Northern Ireland

While in Belfast, it is a must to visit the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland, (or PRONI for short), if you are going any sort of research that involves records from Northern Ireland. PRONI is the official archive for Northern Ireland.

When you first walk into PRONI, you will find that it has an open concept that allows you to see some of the second floor. The stairs are about the middle of the room with security at the front, and a place to get your reader’s card, or fill out the application for it if there is a problem with the computer system.

Before heading upstairs to the Reading Room, you need to realize that there are certain restrictions that must be observed. On the first floor, there are lockers provided for all those things that you brought but cannot take into the Reading Room. There is also a cafeteria available for something to eat at lunchtime.

On your first visit to PRONI, you will go through an orientation. They will show you how to determine what you need, which includes going through databases, using computers to access the internet, and more. You can also ask to talk with a professional genealogist who will not be doing the work for you, but will guide you about what direction you should take.

There are actually two rooms on the second floor that you will be working in. The first room will be the room that you go through the looking at the databases, going through the books, and accessing the internet. This room also holds a number of microfilm readers for use by patrons.

The second room on the second floor is the Reading Room. It is in this room that you will order any book or document or box that you want to look through for the information that you are looking floor. Once the order is placed, it usually take only a couple of hours or less for it to be delivered to the Reading Room. There are plenty of tables for use in there.

PRONI also has a website: https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni

If you are planning a visit to PRONI, you really should go to their website. It will give you all the information that you need to know before going, such as the address, the hours that it is open, what type of preparation that you can do before going, and so on. Another thing to be aware of is that you can use your digital camera, but you must ask permission at least three weeks in advance. The documents are not online, but the pamphlets are there to let you know how to access the records in the archives during your visit.

I was disappointed to find that there are no records that are on the website. There may be some available through Find My Past or Ancestry. I don’t know for sure. Maybe some day, PRONI will follow the example of Library and Archives Canada, The National Archives of Ireland, and The National Archives at Kew and have access to at least some of the more popular records or even just the databases through its website.

The National Library of Ireland

One of the places that I visited to do some research was the National Library of Ireland. I was able to walk to get to the library as it was only about four blocks from our hotel in Dublin. As I was walking there, a couple of people happened to notice that I held a map in my hand and wanted to know if they could help me. The first person that noticed was just before I reached the street for my final turn. The second person stopped me just steps from the library.

I just want to let you know that not only do they have a genealogical research service, by this I mean that they have a couple of genealogists who assist people by directing where they can find the records that they are looking for, but they also provide research materials for other purposes. These records could be either in English or Irish or copies could be found in both languages. This pretty much applies to the Irish Republic as a whole.

They do have a website, http://www.nli.ie/ , that you can go to and look for yourself to see if they hold the publication that you are looking for. There is a section of the website that is dedicated to genealogy which has a number of pages to it. The first page of the genealogical section is labelled “Getting started” and has links to the Catholic Parish Registers that are held at the NLI and the census and civil records. They also recommend that you read their booklet which they provide a link to a pdf copy that you can download. They also provide links to the General Register Office and to the FamilySearch.org website.

If you click on the link for the NLI sources, you will see a list of the sources that they have available. This list includes:

Catholic parish registers

Property records

Newspapers

Directories

Heraldry

Other sources

They also provide free access to subscription websites such as Find My Past and Ancestry. There may be other websites than these two, but I did use Ancestry while I was there.

The section for the Genealogy Advisory Service gives a listing when you can get some advice about your research. I used it and they gave me advice on their holdings.

There is a section for Genealogy Events. However, there is nothing listed at this time. I would imagine that if “Who Do You Think You Are – Live!” were to visit Ireland, this would be listed in this section.

The next section to look at is Family History and Memoir Writing. The library works in conjunction with Irene Graham in offering workshops and lectures on memoir writing. I would think that this would be similar to the writing group that the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa has as a special interest group. There is a link to upcoming events as well as a link to Irene Graham’s website.

If you are interested in commissioning someone to do some research for you, the library does not offer this service but does provide a list of over 65 private individuals and organizations who will be happy to help you.

If you click on the Links button, you will get a rather long list of links of various websites ranging from main repositories to websites to government registries to almost anything that you can think of to find the records that you need.

Last, but not least, is the FAQs page. It lists twelve frequently asked questions that are answered below the list.

All in all, I think that the National Library of Ireland has a well organized website with regards to family history. They provide information, databases, and references to the things that they do not have in their repository. I am starting to think that I should have taken some time before going to Ireland and gone through their website. I know that I was not prepared to do a lot of research when I travelled there last month, but I did know this and used the time to acquaint myself with the facilities that Dublin offers the family historian. I am doing some of this basic research now as, being part of a tour group, there was only a very limited time to do any research.

My suggestion to anyone even remotely planning a research trip to Ireland is to start with the websites for the National Library of Ireland and the National Archives of Ireland. Then, you can branch from there, either online or in person.

Family History Fireside Chat – 7 May 2016

Recently, I had an opportunity to attend a Family History Fireside Chat which was sponsored by the Family History Centers of Newfoundland. This was originally planned as a one-day conference but because of lack of preregistrations, it was considered to be unfeasible to continue on as a conference.

As Lesley Anderson was scheduled to fly into St John’s from Ottawa and already had her ticket booked, there was a certain cost that had to be covered whether Lesley came or not. So, the decision was made to have her come and change the venue into a fireside chat. It gave Lesley a chance to tour St John’s and to visit places that she hadn’t been to before.

The committee decided to also ask Yvonne Sorenson from FamilySearch.org to also speak. Yvonne was invited to Skype in from Salt Lake City which is what she did.

There were four locations where you could go to attend the fireside chat. They were the chapels of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in St John’s, Bay Roberts, and Corner Brook as well as the meeting place for the members in Grand Falls-Windsor/Gander area. Those attending in St John’s, Bay Roberts, and Corner Brook were treated to a potluck dinner. Those attending in Grand Falls-Windsor had light refreshments during the fireside chat. This was because the facility in Grand Falls-Windsor is not big enough to be able to have a meal like the others and then immediately go into the other room for the program.

I am not sure of the attendance in the other locations, but in Grand Falls-Windsor, we had eight people in attendance. It looked like the other locations had approximately 20 to 30 people each. I personally think that, for this area and the fact that this is the first time that we have done this, the fireside chat was a success.

Lesley Anderson was the first speaker and spoke about Ancestry.ca. She explained how to get started on your family history as well as how Ancestry can help you with it. Ancestry has come out with some new initiatives and Lesley explained how they worked.

Yvonne Sorenson then spoke, giving a quick history of Newfoundland, the Atlantic provinces, and the northeastern states and how they related to each other. She then demonstrated what kind of records that are available online with FamilySearch.org and also mentioned some of the records that are available through Ancestry, Find My Past, and My Heritage. Yvonne also touched on the Indexing program and how anyone could index the records through this program. She mentioned that the Indexing program is about to make available some additional options that will be offered.

As we know, there are many records that are not available online as of yet. There are some in archives that may never be online. However, all of the records held in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City will eventually be online. In the meantime, these records are on microfilm that can still be ordered into Family History Centers for viewing. Personally, this is the case that I have, some of my records may be the last records to be digitized and put online. Living in Gander, we are hours away from the closest Family History Center, but, at least there are two here on the island.

This Family History Fireside Chat was an initiative that may have been a way of making the best of things for the conference, but I can see that it can produce good things. We are hoping that we will be able to continue with them, highlighting various organizations here in Newfoundland that hold records and explain how they can help us find and understand our ancestors.

My direct ancestors did not settle here in Newfoundland. My mother’s ancestors went to what is now Lanark County and Huron County in Ontario, and my father’s parents and grandparents left Liverpool and moved to Toronto.

However, there are records pertaining to my great-grandfather here in Newfoundland. This is part of the reason why my husband and I are here. These records are the ships logs for the British Merchant Marines for all the years except those ending in 5. These also have the crews’ lists. I am also thinking that I might be able to find some passenger lists in them as well. I have already made one trip to St John’s but I have more than just my great-grandfather who was a sailor in the Merchant Marine. I have a number of indirect ancestors who were sailors and I want to find their records and be able to tell their stories to my children, my grandchildren, and possibly even my great-grandchildren.

May we work towards finding the records of our ancestors to tell our descendants about these people who came before us. May Heavenly Father help us to find the records, the people and the stories to become the family historians that we need to be. May our ancestors help us by prompting us about where to look for this vital information. May our love for our families, past, present, and future grow to encompass every member from the babies that died so young to the parents and grandparents who guided their children, to the black sheep and the white sheep, the adventurers, the tree-huggers, those that stayed at home, and those that trusted that the future would be all that it could. These are they that come before us and come after us. Let us remember them all as we find them. Everyone deserves to be remembered no matter what they have or have not done.

Day Seven – Field Trip, April 2016

There has been four days allocated for actual research for this trip to the Emerald Isle. Three of those days have been used. Tomorrow is the fourth day for research. After that, the trip will involve visiting parts of Ireland that allow us to get a bit of experiencing life in Ireland both present and past.

Today, I finally had the opportunity of visiting PRONI, (Public Records Office for Northern Ireland). We had an orientation session with one of the staff who describes himself as an historian. He is a great speaker, but he spent almost two and a half hours telling us what kind of records we can find at PRONI and how to access them. He also showed us some maps from the early 17^th century. They don’t seem to have lost any of their colour over the past 400 years.

When we were finally finished the orientation, most of the group went to visit the Presbyterian archives. I was originally going to go, but I decided to stay at PRONI to try to figure out their system. I’m glad that I did as the group came back to start some research about 4:30 pm. I was ready to go back to the hotel.

Shortly after I arrived back, my brother and I decided to go to dinner. We decided to go to a local bar or restaurant, knowing that it would be less expensive than some of the other places and it would have the menu that we both wanted, local food choices. We asked at the front desk about a place to go and we were directed to the Crown Fine Dining. 

Robinson’s is at the top of the building, the Crown on the second floor, and Fibber McGee’s is on the main floor. It took a while for our meals to come, but it was well worth the wait. My brother had the lamb stew, while I had gammon and champ. I had learned yesterday that champ is mashed potatoes. The potatoes are compressed into an oblong egg-like shape. Tonight, I asked what gammon was. It’s a thick ham steak and I enjoyed every bite of the gammon and champ. My brother also enjoyed his meal. The restaurant was about eight blocks from our hotel and so we had our exercise both before and after dinner.

While at the archives, I knew that I needed to find my great-great-great-grandparents marriage. I understand that it was approximately 1822 that they were married. I just had a thought now that it might be as late as 1828. I do know that they were married before immigrating to Canada in 1832. They also had at least one child before leaving Ireland. I also know that they were Methodists and that they maintained their religion for the rest of their lives. I was trying to find the Methodist church records so that I could look for their marriage and any other information that I could find there. One of the finding aids that we were taught about was The PRONI Guide to Church Records. 

While in Dublin, I was able to determine that they were not married in Galway. However, I may want to revisit that. Time will tell. Margaret’s headstone in Ontario gave information that she was originally from County Cavan. It would have been nice to know where in Cavan. I had also learned that the husband generally travelled to the wife’s home to be married. Some of the husbands even moved there permanently. 

There are a number of parishes in Cavan and I would have to look through each of them. I also did not know what the names of the parishes were and what records were available in each parish. I was beginning to think that I would have to go through the guide and hand-write every piece of information about the parishes. After the first four sets of information, I said to myself, “Self, there has to be a better and faster way of doing this. This is going to take longer than the time that I have available.” I had the idea that I could purchase a copy of the guide and then I would not have to write out the information. 

I should also mention that we had been told that there is a book that we should purchase. It has a map of every county with every parish indicated. When I approached one of the staff, she grabbed this book and came over to show how to use the two together. This is when I sat down to write the information and was inspired that I was being inefficient. I talked with another staff member and he told me that there is an online copy of the guide on their website. I thought that it was something that was a living document but it is in PDF format so it can be downloaded free of charge. I like those words (free of charge) and I also like the idea that it is in electronic format. Less space on the shelf. 

I was also shown how to determine how many people of a given surname would be in the county that you are researching in. The staff member used Griffiths Evaluation, which dates from the mid 1840s to 1880s. I saw that the Tithe Applotment books might be a better choice as they date from the 1820s which is the time period that I am looking at. When I decided to do this, the website suggested to use FamilySearch.org. So I did. I went through and found which parishes had people of their surnames and now, I just need to find which parishes have both of the surnames and get the records for those parishes.

I see that I have forgotten to mention that I read some of the beginning of the guide to the church records and found that in the beginning, the Wesleyan Methodists hierarchy strongly suggested that people should have their children baptised in the parish church or, in other words, the Church of Ireland (Anglican Church). Because there are very few marriage records before 1860, I am of the understanding that the same situation stands for marriage records. I now have some of the tools to find the marriage and christenings that I am looking for.

Tomorrow, we go to the Ulster Historical Center in the morning and to the Northern Ireland Family History Society Library in the afternoon.

And so the adventure continues.

Day Five – Field Trip, April 2016

I just thought that I would take a bit of time this afternoon to look after my blog. I anticipate being out relatively late tonight and don’t want to have to do this when I get back to my hotel room. I have to get up very early tomorrow morning.

This morning, I did sleep in to 7:00 am and still didn’t want to get up. I guess that it’s the jet lag that is affecting me. After a big breakfast, I took a walk over to the National Library of Ireland. It is very close to the hotel. I was there in about fifteen to twenty minutes.

I arrived a few minutes early but found a couple members of our group who were there to do research as well. Once we got in, we stored our extra things in a locker as we were not allowed to take up any bags or coats. I was able to take my camera and use it to photograph the records that I found. We each waited to speak with an expert who advised us about the records that we could access there. Most of the information that I was directed to was online and they had seven computers available for searches like this.

Yesterday, I did not have time to look at the Tithe Applotment records, but I had not found many that pertained to the family name that I am working on in this matter. However, the records were available online and I spent the morning going through the online records. The advantage of the online records is that I could filter for my surname and went through the records for the whole country. I also looked at a few other records but I didn’t find very much. I decided to come back to the hotel to deposit my research and perhaps go out again to do a bit of sightseeing. However, I am currently falling asleep while typing this. I am going to crash for a bit. Hopefully, it won’t be much longer than an hour.

Tomorrow, we leave Dublin.

By the way, I notice that there is a reader from Ireland. I must say that I am enjoying being here.