 |  Monthly Newsletter of the Genealogical Society of Ireland Vol. 7. No. 4. April 2002 |
| Monthly Newsletter of the Genealogical Society of Ireland Vol. 7. No. 4. April 2002 |
APRIL 2000 & 2001
– The GENERAL REGISTER OFFICE, Dublin was in the news again in this month issue of "The Genie Gazette" back in 2000 with the following report. Since the publication of the Society’s Regional & North/South Proposal in January, the support it has received has been overwhelming. Indeed, in a recent letter (23. March 2000) to the Society, the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms. Síle de Valera, T.D. has welcomed the Society’s proposals saying "The matter of access to these records is primarily one for the Minister for Health & Children. However, your proposal that microfilm copies of all Civil Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths over seventy years old and all Indexes to the Registers over twenty years old be made available for consultation at the National Library and the National Archives is an interesting one." While the Minister expressed doubt over the "evidential" value of copies obtained from microfilm copies held in these repositories, she said "wider access to records of births, marriages and deaths, for research purposes, is highly desirable". The Society has assured the Minister that no "evidential" use is envisaged in the GSI Proposal for copies of any GRO entry obtained from the microfilm copies to be placed, under the GSI Proposal, in the National Library or National Archives – all for bona fide genealogical research. The matter is receiving Ministerial consideration. Well two years on and no change whatsoever. In April 2001 – the headline read "Celtic Tiger in Terror of Saxon Sheep" with the report - Much hailed over recent years, Ireland’s Celtic Tiger economy was considered as one of the most resilient in Europe with a very promising future. Who would ever have thought that our dauntless Celtic Tiger could possibly have anything to fear from Saxon sheep? Who ever heard of Heddon-on-the-Wall? Then, first pigs, then sheep and then nearly all England was gripped in an epidemic of Foot & Mouth Disease last seen there in 1967. All in Ireland waited. Then, our worst fears were realised by an outbreak of the dreaded disease at Meigh, Co. Armagh in Northern Ireland from sheep imported from England. The Republic held its breath, then shockingly we’ve an outbreak in the Republic at Proleek in Co. Louth just south of Meigh. The cancellation of the St. Patrick’s Day parades, social and sporting events and even in the affected parishes, the cancellation of Sunday Masses, was all testament to the national determination to stamp out FMD last seen in Ireland in 1941. The national census was also cancelled in 2001 as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of FMD in the Republic. The census will be taken this year on Sunday 28th April 2002. Back in April 2000 the Society’s Nuns’ Register was established to gather info. on Irish women who entered religious life in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.SEPTEMBER 2002
XXVth International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences will take place in Dublin from 16th to 21st September 2002. The Congress is being organised by the Office of the Chief Herald under the direction of the Chief Herald of Ireland, Mr. Brendan O’Donoghue, and with the support of the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms. Síle de Valera, TD. The Congress sessions will be held in Dublin Castle and there will be a programme of other events in Dublin and in Kilkenny. The theme of the Congress will be Genealogy and Heraldry: their Place and Practice in Changing Times. Topics might include genealogy and heraldry in the age of information technology, heraldry in republics like Ireland, Italy, France, USA and South Africa etc., women and heraldry – including female transmission of names and Arms and the use of cadency marks, accessibility of heraldic and genealogical records, heraldry and corporate symbols or "logos". Application forms may be had from The Congress Secretary, Office of the Chief Herald, 2 Kildare Street, Dublin 2, Ireland. E-mail: Hergen2002@nli.ieMONKSTOWN CHURCH
Certainly the finest ecclesiastic building in the Dún Laoghaire region – the Church of Ireland Parish Church at Monkstown is to benefit from the visit to Ireland by two world-renowned choirs. The North Jamestown College Choir from the USA will be in concert in the church on Monday May 20th at 20.00hrs and this concert will followed on Tuesday June 25th by a performance of the Helsingborg Concert Hall Choir from Sweden at 20.00hrs. The proceeds from these two concerts will be shared between the Church’s Building Fund and the Community Tourism Company. Tickets are priced a €10.00 for each concert and they are available from Costello Jewellers, 1, Northumberland Avenue, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin – tel: (353.1) 230 2311SEÁN A. KANE, FGSI
The Board has accepted the resignation of its Education & Community Officer, Mr. Seán Kane, who is stepping down from his position to give more time to the Dún Laoghaire Active Retirement Association, of which, he is President. He is active in Federation of Active Retirement Associations, FARA, and the Irish Senior Citizens’ Parliament and a keen tennis player. Though, stepping down from the Board, Seán will be maintaining his position on the Daonchartlann Development Committee dealing with the restoration and refurbishment of the Martello Tower at Seapoint. Seán first joined the Executive Committee back in 1992 and thus was one of the longest serving members of the Board of the Society. The Board wishes Seán the very best in the future.SPRING JOURNAL
The Spring 2002 issue of the Society’s Quarterly Journal (Vol. 3 No. 1) is now available price €5.00 (Member €4.50). The articles include:- Early Research into the Elmes Family by Margaret Elmes; Kenilworth Square, Rathgar, Dublin: Family Scraps by Patricia Moorhead; The Bridgmans of County Clare by Shirley G. Straney; Names from the Dublin Corporation Reports of 1908 by M. O’Reilly; A Family of Little Importance by Eamonn Dowling; Patrick McMahon of Torrodile, Co. Limerick by G.H. O’Reilly; Vere Foster and the ‘City of Mobile by Brendan Hall; Patrick Hanratty, Convict by June Reeks; Loughlinstown Workhouse in the 1840’s by Liam Clare; My Cavan Connections [poem] by Seán Mac Brádaigh, B.A; Murder Case in Wexford in 1824 by G.H. O’Reilly; The British National Inventory of War Memorials by James Scannell; An Ulster Migration to Arklow 1597 by Seán Mac Brádaigh, B.A.; Limerick Assizes, March 1815. Copies of the journal are available via the Society’s Website and the Genealogical Bookshop, 3, Nassau Street, Dublin 2.GSI MEMBERSHIP
The Society welcomes members from all over the world and indeed, with the Membership Fee costing as little as €15.00 per annum, membership is easily available to all. In accordance with Board Res. 01/09/86 from the 1st of January 2002 the annual Membership Fee for both Irish based and Overseas Members is €15.00 payable via the Website or directly to the Membership Officer who will issue a laminated Membership Card as receipt of payment. New Members are always welcome. To become a member of the Genealogical Society of Ireland readers may use the secure payment facility on the Society’s Website or write directly to our Membership Officer, Annette McDonnell, MGSI, 4, Kippure Avenue, Green Park, Dublin 12, ÉireTHE QUEEN MOTHER
The Board and Members of the Genealogical Society of Ireland offer their sincere condolences to our members in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia on the death of the British Queen Mother, H.M. Queen Elizabeth. The death of the Queen Mother marks the end of an era in the history of these isles spanning three centuries. She was the Queen Consort of the last King of Great Britain & Ireland, the last King Emperor of India, King George VI, who was crowned in 1937. She had many admirers in Ireland, especially, amongst the horse racing community who shared her passion for the turf and the breeding of fine thoroughbred horses. Her charm and natural affinity with ordinary folk, especially, in Great Britain’s darkest days of World War II, gave much needed support and encouragement to communities ravaged by almost relentless bombing. Indeed, it was this personal fortitude, through good times and bad, that brought her lifelong admirers from outside the United Kingdom. Echoing the words of Alfred, Lord Tennyson "the spacious times of good Elizabeth," her life of 101 years is, in essence, the story of the 20th century – a story from Empire through two world wars to a modern Britain in partnership with all its neighbours in an evolving European Union. In many ways, her passing is more a celebration of a life of devotion, duty and kindness than a death widely mourned. The Society extends its deepest condolences to her family and friends.
YOUR APRIL GENIE REVIEWS
"Memorial Inscriptions of Deansgrange Cemetery, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland – Vol. 5 West Section"
(ISBN 1 898471 22 3) published last month by the Society, this volume completes the older section of this the largest graveyard in south Co. Dublin. This cemetery opened in 1864 and contains both Catholic and non-Catholic burials from that period with current use for those with rights only. The West Section covered by this volume was opened on October 16th 1902 and contains in excess of 6,000 plots, of which, 2,500 are marked by a headstone. Barry O’Connor and his team have done a marvellous job in recording all the older sections of this large graveyard. Indeed, these volumes are essential reading for any local historian and are an invaluable tool for anyone researching ancestry in County Dublin. This area of the graveyard contains the Republican Plot for fallen volunteers in the 1916 Rising and the War of Independence 1919-22 along with large plots for religious orders. Whilst, some inscriptions are simple e.g. "My husband, William Breen who was killed at Blackrock on the D & S.E.R. 15/9/1911" others contain a lot of genealogical information and sometimes with several generations mentioned. Though, as usual the piety and sentiment contained on the inscriptions is omitted, all other pieces of information are recorded. An interesting stone Row U2 Plot 25 (along with Plot V2 25) has the following inscription – 10404 Guardsman Peter Ennis, Scots Guards, died 25/04/1916 aged 33. Lieut. Joseph Costello & Vol. Andrew Joseph Byrne (Old IRA) killed Easter 1916. Bridget Clayton, d. 11/5/1931. Adversaries in the Easter Rising buried together – at peace at last. Another inscription gives more detail – Row Q3 Plot 33 – Erected by Joseph Rossney and Family. Elizabeth Rossney, 32, Havelock Square, Sandymount, d. 24/1/1935 aged 52 years. Her children, Joseph Rossney, d. 9/4/1916 aged 1yr. Carmel Rossney, d. 24/1/1923 aged 3 years Thomas Rossney, late Royal Navy, d. 22/8/1934 aged 52 years. Joseph Myles Rossney, d. 1/9/1988 aged 77 years. This volume is very reasonably priced at just €13.00 and with circa 200 pages of inscriptions and index is a great addition to corpus of genealogical material nnow available in print from this Society. It’s available via the Website and shortly in the Genealogical Bookshop, 3, Nassau Street, Dublin; Bookstop in Dún Laoghaire Shopping Centre and in the National Library Bookshop. For details on the earlier volumes please see the Society’s Website.MEETING DONATIONS
To defray some of the costs associated with the Open Meetings the Board has instituted a meeting contribution of €2.50 for the Evening Meetings in Dún Laoghaire College of Further Education. For the Morning Meetings in The Port View Hotel a donation of €3.00, which includes Coffee, was agreed by the Board under Res: 02/04/159 because of an increase in the price of coffee at the hotel.
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