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Blog Entries: 1 to 25 of 2109
Celtic Connections Conference 2025
Brought to you by The Irish Ancestral Research Association (TIARA):
Virtual
Celtic Connections Conference 2025
Finding Missing Family
Saturday, 5 April 2025
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Eastern Time
6 AM Pacific, 7 AM Mountain, 8 AM Central
(US and Canada)
Discover expert strategies to reconnect with lost family members in CCC 2025! This year's theme, Finding Missing Family, explores the tools, methodologies, and records to locate relatives separated by history, life circumstances, or other challenges.
The CCC 2025 will be a virtual, live event taking place via Zoom on 5 April 2025 from 9 AM to 5 PM Eastern Time. The conference will include four 50-55 minute presentations followed by an approximately 30-minute live Q&A with the speaker.
The link to the syllabus will be sent with the Zoom link shortly before 5 April 2025. The syllabus is fully downloadable and printable and will be available along with the recordings until 11:59 PM Eastern Time on 31 July 2025.
Conference Schedule
All times are Eastern Time Zone
9-10:30 AM: Fiona Fitzsimons
Suffer the nation: finding women and children in care in Ireland, 1840-1972.
10:30-11 AM: Break
11 AM-12:30 PM: Dr. Maurice Gleeson
Methodology for solving "unknown parentage cases" (from an Irish perspective).
12:30-1:30 PM: Lunch Break
1:30-3 PM: Dr. Penny Walters
From separation to reconnection: psychological and ethical dimensions finding missing family in Ireland's historical context.
3-3:30 PM: Break
3:30-5 PM: John Grenham
Crabwise: indirect research can get you around a dead end.
Payment Information
$60 early-bird registration available through 28 February 2025.
$75 regular registration 1 March 2025 through 2 April 2025.
Payment options: Electronically or Check.
Electronically: Click the PayPal button. To pay by debit or credit card, select "Debit or Credit Card" in the PayPal list of options. You do not need a PayPal account to pay online.
Check: Make payable to TIARA-CCC2025 and mail to 121 Boston Post Road, Suite #3, Sudbury, MA 01776. Your registration will be "pending" until the check clears (please allow two full weeks).
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Free Newspapers.com this weekend
A three-day President's Day weekend and cold, snowy weather make this a perfect time for free searches at Newspapers.com!
*Free access to Publisher Extra papers on Newspapers.com ends 17 Feb 2025 at 11:59pm MT. Registration required. After the free access period ends, you will only be able to view Publisher Extra papers using a Newspapers.com Publisher Extra subscription. |
Ancestry DNA kits 50% off
*Offers end 17 Feb 2025 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Excludes shipping. Some DNA features require an Ancestry® subscription. |
UHF comes to Minnesota
Ulster Historical Foundation is pleased to announce that Gillian Hunt (Research Officer) and Fintan Mullan (Executive Director) will be returning to the U.S. for a lecture tour.
Their itinerary includes IRISH HERITAGE DAY in Minnesota. On Tuesday, March 11, IGSI will host a full-day, hybrid webinar in Eagan, MN, at Lost Spur Golf Club, near the MSP International Airport and MGS Library.
Personal consultations are available at the library on Wednesday morning, March 12. More details about this two-day event and a link to register can be found here. |
The Missing 1890 Census
“Who Needed it Anyway? Getting Around the Missing 1890 Census”
A Free Educational Program from the Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana
Wednesday, Feb 12, 2025, 6:00-7:30 pm Central Time
Presented by Sara Cochran
In person at the Allen County Public Library and livestreamed via Zoom
The loss of the 1890 Federal census is a source of great frustration for American genealogists, but all hope is not lost! Learn strategies and gather tips for success in locating your family in other records between the 1880 and 1900 Federal censuses.
Sara Cochran is a full-time professional genealogist with thirty years of research experience. Her research has taken her to nearly every state in the USA and Ireland. She especially enjoys breaking down brick walls and discovering the stories of black sheep ancestors. She holds a Boston University Genealogical Research Certificate, a Bachelor's Degree in Library Science, and is an alum of the ProGen Study Group. You can find her online at TheSkeletonWhisperer.com.
Read more about ACGSI's educational offerings and register for this program on the ACGSI website. |
New Cork records at RootsIreland.ie
Brought to you by the Irish Family History Foundation:
We are delighted to announce the addition to the Roots Ireland website of 1350 baptismal records and 196 marriage records for the Cork parishes listed below, bringing them up to 1924 and 1949 respectively. These are all additions of further years to existing parishes, and the exact details can be found here. |
Free webinars by AmericanAncestors
Upcoming Lectures, Courses, Tours, and More
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Finding Your Roots, February 4
This may be of interest to Minnesota readers:
Tomorrow's episode of Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., explores the ancestry of celebrity chef Sean Sherman, also known as "The Sioux Chef" and founder of Owamni, 2022 recipient of Best New Restaurant award in Minneapolis.
TPT 2, Tuesday, February 4, 7 pm |
Webinar with Fiona Fitzsimons
Think Spring and explore your family history with IGSI… Live or Later!
Irish Vital Records
Saturday, February 15
10:30am-Noon (CST)
Presented by Fiona Fitzsimons from Ireland
a virtual-only webinar on Zoom
$15 for IGSI members with discount code; $20 for non-members
Civil records are the easiest of all Irish records to find and to interpret. They’re the building blocks of your family history, often the first records you will use in research. These records document 180 years of social and government change in Ireland. We'll discuss how you can access them online or while visiting Ireland. If you can't travel to the Emerald Isle, when might you benefit from hiring a researcher there? Who might you correspond with for local expertise?
Register by clicking on Activities tab at left. |
What's Your Ainm? Qua?
Today IGSI members received a link to the Ginealas e-Newsletter for February-March, 2025.
This issue contains 19 pages of 'hearty' genealogical articles in celebration of Valentine's Day month but also carrying lively and useful guidance about many Irish genealogy topics.
I'm going out on a limb to share one short story here, to show non-member blog readers what you're missing by not receiving this publication and by not having member access to the IGSI Surname Database.
Surname Interests
What’s Your Ainm?
Qua
by Sandra Mc Laughlin
One person has entered the last name “Qua” in the IGSI Surname Database. Although there are other Irish surnames that begin with “Q,” (Quinn, Quigley, McQuaid, etc.), there is no “Q” in the Irish alphabet.
John Grenham (johngrenham.com) lists Qua as an official Irish surname, with variants listed as McWaugh, McWha, Mewha, and Quaw. Ironically, there is no “W” in the Irish alphabet either! It’s possible the “Q” was originally a “C.” Or as Grenham suggests, a derivative of Mac Quaid which was originally Mac Uaid, meaning “son of Wat” (which would be of Scottish origin – note the “W”).
There were 9 Qua households in Ireland in 1864, all in Armagh, which is our Qua’s origin county. In the 1911 Irish Census there were 12 Qua households registered; 2 in Antrim, 9 in Armagh, and 1 in Mayo. More recently, one can find 93 people with the surname Qua in Ireland, 44 in Canada, and 438 in the U.S.
My Irish teacher wasn’t sure of the correct pronunciation; however, she ventured to guess either “Kay” or “Kooah.”
(Fix your non-IGSI-member status by clicking on the Join tab at left.) |
Using AI to solve a genealogy puzzle
After finding a distant cousin on Ancestry, David Gewirtz used ChatGPT to describe their relationship.
Are you curious about how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help you solve your family history puzzle?
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RootsTech 2025 Theme
Here's recent information from FamilySearch:
Announcing the theme for RootsTech 2025
This year’s theme is "discover," a single word that communicates endless possibilities and inspirational experiences for those who participate.
Be part of the world’s largest family history celebration, March 6–8, 2025.
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- Discover your story
- Discover your connections
- Discover you!
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February 2025 Podcast
In the February episode of the "This month at the IGSI" podcast  (episode 8 of season 3), genealogist Dave Miller talks about upcoming IGSI events for February: Irish Saturday on February 8 and virtual webinar Irish Vital Records - Unlock Your Ancestors with Fiona Fitzsimons on February 15. The webinar will begin at 10:30 am and will last until noon Central Time. The cost of the webinar is $15 for members with member discount and $20 for non-members. You can register for the webinar by clicking on the Activities tab at left. (Members: log in and go to Member Discounts page for the discount code.)
Dave interviews Fintan Mullan of the Ulster Historical Foundation about their upcoming visit to IGSI, when they will visit IGSI for Irish Heritage Day, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. Fintan and Gillian Hunt, also of the UHF, will be in Minnesota to educate us on how to find important records online and in-person. They are also offering one-on-one 30-minute consultations on Wednesday March 12, with prior reservations required ( www.ulsterhistoricalfoundation.com). Visit https://irishgenealogical.org/cpage.php?pt=211 to register for Irish Heritage Day. While thre, you can also learn more about hotel rooms IGSI has reserved for the event.
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New Clare and Kerry records
Here's an announcement from the Irish Family History Foundation about their latest newsletter at www.rootsireland.ie:
Since our last newsletter we have uploaded the following records to our database:
• 17,701 Clare records – RC baptisms & marriages, civil births and death and gravestone inscriptions.
• 13,049 Kerry records – RC Castlegregory baptisms.
This means that in 2024, we uploaded approximately 154,750 records from Kerry, Monaghan, Armagh, Mayo, Clare and Tipperary!
We have many more records coming for the Roots Ireland database throughout this year, so keep an eye out for our updates! |
IGRS award recognizes Claire Santry
Our readers closely followed blogger Claire Santry and her IrishGenealogyNews. We miss Claire's postings and applaud this award!
The Council of the Irish Genealogical Research Society is proud to announce that Claire Santry has been unanimously chosen as the 2024 recipient of the Wallace Clare Award. Claire is a Fellow of the Society and a former member of its governing Council. The award recognises Claire's dedication to the promotion of Irish genealogy over many years through which she has had a particularly significant impact on the development of Irish ancestral research. |
March 11 is Irish Heritage Day in MN
IGSI will host a full-day, hybrid workshop
on Zoom and with a live audience in Eagan, MN, at Lost Spur Golf Club link to map, very near the MSP International Airport.
Our presenters: Fintan Mullan & Gillian Hunt represent the Ulster Historical Foundation (UHF) in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Read here about the 2025 U.S. lecture tour.
For details about the workshop, hotel & related information, and to register, click here. |
80 years ago
Remembering PFC Maurice C. "Pete" Henrichsen, who was killed 80 years ago today during the Battle of the Bulge.
Born in 1916, Pete grew up in central South Dakota, the youngest of three brothers. (Pete and his brothers never knew about their 2X great-grandmother who was born in Ireland.)
In July 1942 Pete married a local schoolteacher named Georgia. The patriotic call to duty in WWII was particularly strong; Pete's cousin, Jimmie Henrichsen, had died on the USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor.
After enlisting in the Army, Pete reported for duty in December 1942 and served with the Cannon Company, 358th Infantry, 90th Division.
The Battle of the Bulge (16 Dec 1944 - 25 Jan 1945) was a German offensive campaign in the densely-forested Ardennes region of Belgium, France and Luxembourg. American forces numbered over 600,000 in the largest and bloodiest WWII battle fought by the United States with 89,000 casualties and 19,000 deaths.
Pete was killed 16 Jan 1945 during the push through Luxembourg. He was buried at the Henri Chappelle American Cemetery in Belgium.
Pete's brother, George, who’d enlisted in the Army in 1940, was captured by the Germans in late August 1944 and spent the last nine months of the war as a POW in Stalag VIIA near Moosburg, Germany. He did not learn about his brother's death until he returned to the U.S.
The Henrichsen family and the entire SD community grieved the loss of their beloved Pete. In time a romance blossomed between George Henrichsen and his widowed sister-in-law, Georgia. They later married, and I am their daughter. My brother, Maurice C. Henrichsen, was named after Pete.
Today, on the 80th anniversary of Pete's death, I again think of all the sadness of 1945 and contemplate what might have been. |
Free webinars -- this week!
Here are three free webinars from Legacy Family Tree--scheduled for the upcoming Tuesday/Wednesday/Friday. All webinars will commence at 1 pm CST.
Next 3 Live Webinars from Legacy Family Tree
Register for free
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IGSI Social Gaggle on Zoom

Join our virtual Social Gaggle on Thursday, January 23!
No need to be a member, or to register. Just drop in!
6:30 – 8:00 pm Central on Zoom
Sometimes the best tips and strategies come from a family historian sitting next to you! Perhaps another IGSI friend has figured out how to do something you’re struggling with… or never thought of. Let us learn, share, and be inspired by each other! Bring your successes, challenges, questions, and interesting stories to our IGSI Social Gaggle!
We’ll start out with a quick intro, a round of introductions, followed by a brief review of some “not to be missed” elements of the IGSI website led by Walt Rothwell. Following that, we’ll open the “floor” so you can share or query the “brain trust” in this session. Join our virtual coffee klatch of genealogists, professional and aspiring.
Feel free to share this event with your friends. We would love to have you suggest a topic or volunteer to kick off a future session.
Meeting ID: 827 3962 5325
Passcode: 101266
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Nollaig na mBan
Today is January 6, Women's Christmas in Ireland.
Read about this felicitous tradition here. |
A million Irish passports issued in 2024
IrishCentral reports the issuance of one million Irish passports in 2024,  the 100th year of its Passport Service.
More facts about Irish passports, including information about the Henley Passport Index and the world's most 'powerful' passports, can be found here.
Are you interested in acquiring Irish citizenship and passport? Read how to do it by reading this IrishCentral article. |
THE SEPTS Jan 2025 - Crowdsourcing
The January 2025 issue of IGSI's journal, The Septs, has  been published and can be accessed online.
This quarter's theme: Crowdsourcing for Genealogical Research.
You will find a jam-packed 36 pages to help you leverage your personal contacts and/or social media to break through genealogical brick walls. Articles are an absorbing collection of stories written by subject-matter experts as well as amateur family historians. Lots of ideas to help you kick off 2025 with a bang!
If you're an IGSI member, you should have already received an email with a link to the digital version. Printed copies are also mailed via USPS to General members.
Both Electronic and General members can access the latest issue -- plus 44 years of prior issues! -- by clicking on The Septs (Journal) tab at left. |
The Granddaddy of Them All
Happy New Year! 
January 1 means college football at the Rose Bowl. The game’s nickname, "The Granddaddy of Them All," was coined many years ago by broadcaster Keith Jackson.
That nickname might apply to a probate record I saw on Facebook at Genealogy Tip of the Day. The document pictured at right could also be called "The Granddaddy of Them All," genealogically speaking. One rarely finds that many names of relatives--and Irish addresses--on a U.S. probate court document.
This listing came from an estate settled in 1914 in Hancock County, Illinois. According to the posting, the individuals (except the last three, who were attorneys) were first cousins (or children thereof) of the deceased.
While information on the Facebook page was limited, supposedly the (unnamed) decedent was born in the U.S. to an Irish immigrant father who had many siblings, including several who remained in Ireland. The decedent had no children and was an only child; therefore all the first cousins were heirs.
The posting feels like an invitation to a mystery. I couldn’t restrain myself from taking a closer look. Can you?
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Start 2025 by learning about AI
Using Artificial Intelligence to Research Documents & Letters
Saturday, January 4, 2025
virtual on Zoom
10:30 AM - Noon CST (GMT-5)
Presented by Mark D Thompson
$15 for IGSI members (with Discount Code); $20 for non-members
Do you realize how excited professional genealogists are about the reality of artificial intelligence in our current research? It can be of great (and often free!) use to you in analyzing your personal archives, as well as online sources: summarizing large and/or complex documents, delineating a "cast of characters" or timeline. AI tools can make your research efforts more efficient and effective.
Mark is an excellent speaker who will discuss the most powerful AI tools available to genealogists today, including features such as transcription and translation, while always being mindful of accuracy and sourcing. He will explore how the major genealogy websites are providing new tools for us already, using related technology. Mark is a professional genealogist specializing in the application of artificial intelligence to genealogy. He co-hosts the Family History AI Show podcast with Steve Little, which helps genealogists bridge the gap between high technology and family history research.
The Discount Code was sent to members via email and is posted on IGSI’s member-only webpage ( link).
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Old Co Armagh paper doc to be digitized
Painstaking work has commenced to conserve and digitise one of the oldest paper documents still in existence on the island of Ireland.
Dating back to the medieval period, the ecclesiastical register belonging to the former archbishop of Armagh Milo Sweteman is around 650 years old.
Its delicate pages are being repaired by experts at the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) as part of an initiative to rejuvenate and preserve some of the island of Ireland’s most important historical texts.
The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland is a research partnership that is working to create a digital treasure trove that will enable people around the world to view documents that have been preserved in climate-controlled specialist storage archives due to their fragility.
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