February 2024
The Ulster Historical Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 1956 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, to promote interest in Irish genealogy and history, focusing on the historical nine-county province of Ulster. The Foundation is one of the leading genealogical research agencies in Ireland, and a major publisher of groundbreaking historical, educational, and genealogical source books.
Fintan Mullan is the Executive Director of the Ulster Historical Foundation. Working with technology partners, Fintan was a pioneer in the creation of online resources for Irish research and has maintained the Foundation’s prominence in digital database developments for Irish genealogy. As Executive Director of the Ulster Historical Foundation Fintan has managed the production of over 100 publications, including the popular Researching Scots-Irish Ancestors and has lectured extensively on Irish history and genealogy in the U.S. and in Canada, the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand.
Gillian Hunt is Research Officer with the Ulster Historical Foundation and is responsible for the management of the Foundation's many genealogical activities. As well as managing the genealogy side of the Foundation's work, Gillian carries out research for clients and is a hugely experienced user of the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and the General Register Office. She regularly teaches courses in Northern Ireland and gives talks on family history in the rest of Ireland, the UK and the USA.
Cost: $100 - includes full day of presentations and notes plus lunch, morning and afternoon teas; all coffee, tea and water
Pre registration by 19th January 2024
Limited spaces available: 100 places only
Venue: SCACC Clubhouse, Nambour Show Grounds, Nambour
Time: 9.00 am to 4.30pm (please check in by 8.30am )
Lectures for the day: (not necessarily in this order; some presentations are half hour and some are a full hour)
An introduction to the archives in Ireland and their websites:
This presentation will provide an overview of the principal sources of archival records in Ireland, ranging from major repositories, such as the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and the National Archives of Ireland, to local archives, focusing always on what is accessible online for researchers living overseas. The presentation will also look at libraries in Ireland (starting with the National Library of Ireland), especially those with collections of genealogical interest.
Church records for use in genealogical research: baptismal, marriage and burial records:
This session will look at the records available for the main religious denominations in Ireland and how their varied histories have affected the types of records which exist. We will examine baptismal, marriage and burial registers and will focus on where these records are held and how to access them.
Census substitutes & other sources for the eighteenth and early nineteenth century:
This presentation highlights census substitutes and other lesser known sources for the early nineteenth and eighteenth century, including: Old Age Pensions search forms, the agricultural censuses of 1803, the 1796 flaxgrowers’ list, 1775 dissenter petitions, the convert rolls, the 1766 and other religious ‘census’ returns, the 1740 ‘Protestant Householders’ List and other miscellaneous material for the period which can provide invaluable information on families.
Early 19th century land records: Tithe applotment books, tithe defaulters, freeholders' registers, etc:
The earliest comprehensive nineteenth-century ‘census substitutes’ are the tithe applotment books from the 1820s and 1830s. We will look at these records, the companion tithe defaulters’ lists, and the freeholders’ registers – of 40 shilling freeholders – which list those entitled to vote in county elections from the late seventeenth through to the early nineteenth century.
How to use printed sources for Irish family history, including street directories, newspapers, Ordnance Survey Memoirs, British Parliamentary Papers on Ireland, and the Irish Manuscripts Commission:
Printed sources are essential for those researching Irish and Scots-Irish ancestors. This presentation will explore the wide range of printed sources including newspapers, street directories, the publications of the Irish Manuscripts Commission, British Parliamentary Papers on Ireland, Ordnance Survey Memoirs, journals, local history publications and miscellanea; as well as identifying how to access this material, with the focus on what is accessible online.
The Great Famine in ireland: Sources for research
This period of hardship led to many leaving the island of Ireland. In this presentation we will look at a range of contemporary sources including church and land records, newspapers, and official government records. We will also focus on the records generated by the Board of Guardians which were responsible for both workhouses and outdoor relief.
General Q&A session + solving your brick walls - using online databases to help individuals find their ancestors.
Image from previous seminar in 2017 at SCACC, Nambour Showgrounds, Gillian Hunt presenting.