• January 17 - Saturday from 10:30 am – noon CST (UTC-6) on Zoom
  Mark Thompson from Canada on Leveraging Artificial Intelligence for Family History Research
• February 21 – Saturday from 10:30 am – noon CST (UTC-6) on Zoom
  Natalie Bodle from Ireland on Using Irish Newspapers and Other Printed Material
• March 6 – BONUS Saturday on Zoom, time to be announced, FREE and open to all
  Brendan Scott from Ireland on Using RootsIreland.ie for your Ancestral Research
• Mar 21 – Claire Bradley from Ireland on Zoom
• April 18 – Chris Paton from Scotland on Zoom
• May 16 -- Elizabeth Williams Gomoll speaking in Minnesota for a hybrid event
• Jun 20 – John Grenham from Ireland on Zoom
• Jul 18 – Brian Gurrin from Ireland on Zoom
• Aug 15 – Fiona Fitzsimons from Ireland on Zoom

Brought to you by the Irish Family History Foundation:

RootsIreland.ie announces the addition of 11,964 census substitute records from Counties Antrim and Down, as follows:

• Act of Union Petition, Co. Down (760 records);
• Charitable Cause Subscribers, Co. Antrim & Co. Down (5,218 records);
• Irish Emigration Records, Co. Antrim & Co. Down, (681 records);
• Tenant Farmer Index Co. Antrim & Co. Down (2,314 records).
• Matriculated and Non Mat Students, Co. Antrim (949 records);
• Newspaper BMD Notices Co. Antrim & Co. Down (316 records);
• Freeholder Index, Co. Antrim & Co. Down (1,728 records);

For more details on the sources, click here.

To search these records, go to the county search page and select Census Substitutes. Select an option from the 'Source' drop-down-list if you wish to search an individual source.

• Only upload certificates that are truly public record (in most jurisdictions, if the person died over 50 years ago).
• Don’t post images that show information about living people.
• Be respectful—some families may prefer not to have this document shared publicly. When in doubt, ask the memorial manager first.

1. Go to the memorial page.
2. Click “Add Photos” and upload the image.
3. When adding the photo, select “Other” from the dropdown menu instead of the default “Grave.”
4. Label it clearly as a death certificate and include the issuing state or county.

• Under Minnesota probate law (Minn. Stat. § 524.3-401 and following), when a petition for probate of a will is filed, notice must be given to:

  • The devisees (beneficiaries named in the will), and

  • The heirs at law (the people who would inherit if the decedent had died intestate--i.e., without a will--regardless of whether or not they’re named in the will).

• The law requires this so that heirs at law have an opportunity to contest the will if they believe it is invalid (e.g., due to undue influence or lack of capacity).

In my friend's current case, the deceased 84-year-old woman was divorced at the time of her death. She had no children nor living parents, siblings, grandparents, or aunts/uncles. Her surviving family consisted of 19 living cousins plus three children of a deceased first cousin. Of these 22 "heirs at law," only three had not been located. I was asked to find good addresses for the three individuals--two women and one man. 

The three 'missing' heirs at law had last-known addresses in Minnesota. For the most part, my research was basic reverse genealogy.

1. Googling the names disclosed obituaries that named survivors, but obits dated 2012 and 2015 provided only old info about residences of the three people being sought.
2. Searching the Minnesota Official Marriage System was a good next step. Spouse names, dates and locations of marriage, maiden names, middle names, even middle initials--all were valuable. 
3. My Ancestry,com subscription was necessary to find a divorce/remarriage and confirm exact dates of birth for those with common names.
4. Newspapers.com queries pulled up articles about two women; one had a business in a small town and the other had held a public position with state government. For the third heir, recent city council minutes (referring to both husband and wife) confirmed they were likely still married. 
5. Once I had a good idea about the city where subjects currently resided, querying Whitepages.com gave me street addresses for two couples (who apparently still had landlines). Another couple's Arizona home address was found through a website that offered free background checks.
6. In at least one instance, a similar query on my cellphone secured a different response (and more details) than on my laptop.

The Irish Family History Foundation announces the addition of 41,356 census substitute records from Counties Fermanagh, Wexford, Cork, Dublin and Kerry to the database at Roots Ireland. They are as follows:

• Apothecary & Apprentices (Cork, Dublin, Fermanagh, Kerry, Wexford, 1,873)
• Anti-Repeal Declaration (Cork, Dublin, Fermanagh, Kerry, Wexford, 3,575)
• Dublin Electors 1865 (10,697 records)
• Flaxgrowers Index (Cork, Fermanagh, Kerry, 4,411)
• Forfeiting Proprietors (Cork, Dublin, Kerry, Wexford, 2,482)
• Freeholder Index (Fermanagh, 1,502)
• Matriculated and non Mat. Students (Cork, 675)
• Muster Rolls (Fermanagh, 970)
• Outlawries for treason (Cork, Dublin, Wexford, 2,542)
• Pension List (Cork, Dublin, Fermanagh, Kerry, Wexford, 5,430)
• Publication Subscriber List (Cork, Dublin, Fermanagh, Kerry, Wexford, 4,212)
• Rental Of Land Gable Rents 1665 (Dublin, 2,053)
• School Register Index (Fermanagh, 246)
• Ulster 1900 Directory (Fermanagh, 688)
• Total Records: 41,356

For more details on the sources, click here .

To search these records, go to the county search page and select Census Substitutes. Select an option from the 'Source' drop-down-list if you wish to search an individual source.