Ruth Blair – Page 44

Findmypast.ie releases Ireland’s National Roll of Honour 1914-1921

FINDMYPAST.IE RELEASES IRELAND’S NATIONAL ROLL OF HONOUR 1914-1921

RECORDS REVEAL DETAILS OF IRISHMEN WHO DIED DURING WORLD WAR I AND BEYOND

Leading Irish family history website, findmypast.ie has published online for the first time in its entirety Ireland’s National Roll of Honour 1914-1921.

These records give details of Irishmen, who died whilst serving in the British Army during the First World War. Also included are those soldiers who died in the three years after the end of the war.

The database of transcripts has been created from all known available resources for Irish casualties published before 1922, including publications like Soldiers Died in the Great War and Ireland’s Memorial Records, as well as organisations like The Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Newspaper articles, periodicals and other books were also used to collate the information. Furthermore, the material has been cross-referenced with the 1901 and 1911 Irish censuses to provide a more precise list of Irish war victims for the period than has ever been previously available to family historians.

Cliona Weldon, General Manager at findmypast.ie said “These records are a great addition to our collections, especially for anyone researching their military ancestors. The vivid details in the transcripts really bring home what the war heroes in our family trees went through in the field of battle”.

Supplementary information contained in the transcripts, including newspaper obituaries and letters home from the soldiers, bring these military records to life. One such harrowing letter home from the Front Line reads:

“Dear Sally-I am sorry to inform you of the death of poor Jackie. He was killed on the evening of the 27th February, and Goggin wounded. He was speaking to me about an hour before that. I am not in the better of it since. We were after coming out of the trenches, and back in billets when Jackie was killed. There was a big heavy shell came through the house and killed six and wounded twelve. Poor Jackie was made bits of-his legs and hands and head were blown away. His body was in an awful state. The shell also killed a Frenchman and his family”

With over 15,000 detailed entries searchable on findmypast.ie now and more to come, the National Roll of Honour 1914-1921 is a rich resource for those with Irish ancestors, who served in the British Army during the Great War and the years that followed.

This record set is also currently available on findmypast.com and findmypast.com.au as part of a World subscription and will be added to findmypast.co.uk soon.

Packing for the FGS Conference in Fort Wayne Indiana

4 Comments / By Ruth Blair

This is the last prompt for the FGS Ambassadors and it is a hard one. It is about packing for the FGS conference. The hard part is you never know exactly what to bring and you always think of something you should have brought once you get there.

It also depends on whether you are driving or flying. Obviously if you are flying you can’t bring as much as if you are packing your car. Personally I like to travel light.

The first thing that anyone who has ever attended a conference will tell you to pack is a comfortable pair of shoes and a wrap or sweater because the lecture rooms can sometimes be cold. I will add to that a refillable water bottle because you will need to stay hydrated and they usually provide water stations in the hall or lecture room where you can fill up your bottle.

A lot of people bring their IPads and computers to take notes but I have a hard time balancing them on my knee and typing at the same time, not as coordinated as some people. So I bring my notebook and pencil. They also come in handy when I’m researching. I can stand in the stacks and take notes using these tools.

The syllabus material will usually be put online before we leave for the conference so I go in and print off the handouts for the lectures I’m going to attend. I print on a single page and then use the back of it for notes for that particular lecture. This way I have both of them together.

I bring my little netbook as I find it easier to type on than my IPod. Yes, I said IPod as I don’t have an IPad. Facebook, Hotmail and Old Reader can be accessed on both devices but if I need to type up notes or a blog post the keyboard on the netbook easier to use. RootsMagic To-Go is my genealogy program of choice when travelling. The memory stick can be put into the netbook and my family tree is at my fingertips.

Business cards are always a must. I keep a small pile in behind my name tag so that they are easy to pull out when I meet someone new. Exchanging business cards is a good way to share contact information. Even if you don’t have a genealogy business you should get some cards made up with your contact information.

A list of exhibitors that are of interest is also made up. Usually I print out the map of the exhibit hall ahead of time and go in and circle where they are located so that it is easier to find them.

It can be a good idea to print off some small labels with your name and email address on them. These can be useful when you are entering draws. You can just peel one off and put it on the ballot. This is also great if there is a large crowd because it can be done quickly.

My research to-do-list is something that will be included in my suitcase. I have been working on it for several months. Will I be able to get it all done? Well that depends on my allocated research time. The list has been prioritized so that the things that are most important to my research will be done first. PERSI is available on Ancestry and when an article of interest is located I cut and paste the source information into my research plan. Easy and less chance of transcription errors.

Don’t forget to include the cables and chargers for your electrical devices when you pack. You don’t want something to run out of power just when you need it most.

Good luck with your packing and see you in a month!

Ruth’s Recommendations

Leave a Comment / By Ruth Blair

Here are my favourite blog posts from the last couple of weeks.

John Grenham’s Irish Times column is entitled “Six tactics of the successful researcher:” We all need to be using John’s six tactics when we do our research.

The Genea-Musings blog has a post announcing Thomas MacEntee’s latest resource called “Hack Genealogy” Website Announcement.” Thomas has done it again. What would we do without him?

There are three posts regarding the move of the GRO research room in Dublin. British GENES has a post called “GRO Dublin search room to move” and Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter has a post called “General Register Office’s Dublin Research Room to Move to an “Appalling Location.” The final word, at the moment, goes to the Irish Genealogy News blog post called “GRO’s relocation is a ‘temporary’ one, we’re to believe.” Obviously we don’t. The move of the GRO research room from the lovely location in the Irish Life Centre to the not so lovely old dole office on Werburgh street does not seem to fit with the money the Irish government has spent on the Gathering and other tourism events to get the Irish Diaspora to come home and research their family history. I would not want to research in the old dole office.

Findmypast is in the news twice. The first is Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter with a post called “PERSI Finds New Home on FindMyPast.com” It seems that Findmypast has partnered with the Allen County Public Library to update and improve the PERSI experience. They plan to link digitized articles to the index references. This is great news.

The second post is on the Anglo-Celtic Connections blog entitled “Finally…Findmypast adds Canadian resources.” John Reid has listed the nearly 200 Canadian resources available on Findmypast.com

What were your favourite blog posts? Let me know in the comments below.

Other bloggers that write their own lists are:

Jana’s Genealogy and Family History Blog

Genealogy Insider – Genealogy News Corral

Author name: Ruth Blair