Family History Day 2017

Máire Kennedy, Our Host
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This was an absolutely great day. The contributors were erudite, entertaining and illuminating. The day was full of interesting material, serious as well as humorous.

I am so glad for Máire's sake as this has been her last "history day". She has hosted two a year, one for family history and one for local history, and the quality has always been terrific (I have to declare an interest here as I contributed to five of them since 2008, so you can take my remark as applying to the rest of the programme.)

So it's down to business.

Hilary McDonagh

Hilary McDonagh kicked off with an interesting and tight presentation about where to find records relating to children in the system. She covered a myriad of sources and I would love to see the presentation, or at least the list of the sources, published online.

Some people may remember my reference to post death photography in the context of the recently published book "Grave Matters". The idea being, whatever about the adults in a family, there may not have been any photos of the younger people in the period up to their death. In that case, some families had photos taken of the recently deceased child, sometimes posed to look as near alive as possible.

Hilary took this one step further, so to speak. A family of children lined up like steps of stairs (or for my older audience a poster of growing up on Fry's cocoa) where the youngest child was actually dead but propped up in place. Really weird.

Well, you never really know what to expect at these sessions and talking to Hilary it emerged that she is currently living in Orwell Gardens where I lived in 1950-54. We were able to swop names of families, some of whose descendants are still living there.

I think she was a bit put out when I said the Gardens had become gentrified since my granny's day but she did volunteer that some house there was valued at €800k at the height of the boom. The granny would be turning in her grave up in St. Paul's, of which more later.

Pádraig Yeates

Pádraig Yeates is well known as a historian of the social and labour aspects of the revolutionary period. And he didn't disappoint.

His subject on this occasion was the widows of the revolution. Not so much their political contributions in the post revolutionary period but the parsimonious and bureaucratic way they were treated when it came to awarding them a pension.

One poor lady was seventy before the matter was resolved to her satisfaction. She was offered a pittance on the grounds that her late husband had not been an officer in the revolutionary forces and her lawyer advised her to refuse all offers until she was finally vindicated. In the interim she was not able to support herself and had to decamp to England to live with a relative.

While stories like this are shameful, it is great that original sources are now being released and digitised so that we can appreciate the real story of what happened then.

This process has been gaining momentum in recent years with the release and digitisation of the 1901 and 1911 censuses, the Bureau of Military History witness statements and now the papers on pension claimants.

Frank Whearity

Frank Whearity took us off on a different tack entirely, regaling us with the story of the firm of George Watt Ltd, known as Soho Engineers and located in Bridgefoot St.

Frank would know all about that as he worked for the firm in the later period of its existence.

He started with an extensive genealogy of the Watt family, relating the branch which came to Dublin to that of James Watt, improver of the Newcomen steam engine. It was James Watt who patented a new process, bypassing the crankshaft, to turn the piston movement into rotary motion, enabling the dissemination of his modified steam engine which made an enormous contribution to the the powering of the industrial revolution. Well George was a sort of a cousin a few times removed.

The firm prospered up to 1979 when it underwent a significant expansion, but a mere two years later it went bust.

Frank worked a monster lathe on the premises and was also sent all over the country to fix and install machinery. He had some hilarious stories of his times with the firm and I hope he writes them up somewhere.

James Robinson

James Robinson then took us off on another tack entirely. He has been following up his own family history for decades and has written a book on it - 300 years of Robinsons. But he has also written a monograph a year on some related aspects or background.

He got an MPhil from Bolton St. DIT for a thesis based on much of the material in his book and all this stuff is on his nicely laid out website.

Lynn Brady

Lynn Brady is the resident genealogist in Glasnevin cemetery and she took us on an extensive tour on how to chase up your relatives there. She took us through developments in the cemetery's record keeping and showed us the limits of what's available and how best to access it.

Given current events, there was a lot of interest in the Angels Plot and she clarified that it was not confined to full term or premature babies but also accepted miscarriages later than 24 weeks.

John Gibney

John Gibney is Glasnevin Trust Assistant Professor in Public History and Cultural Heritage. He took us through some of the history of the cemetery and also illustrated recent efforts to restore the original garden cemetery concept where much of the area had become unruly and overgrown.

He is particularly interested in historical outreach, involving schools and the public at large.

There was a conundrum at the end which wasn't quite solved. The cemetery is non denominational and accepts people of all faiths or none. It has also accepted suicides down the years.

At the Q&A it was queried whether or not it was consecrated ground and it appears that it is. I think there is something of a contradiction there and no doubt it can be pursued on another occasion.

My direct interest is my grandfather who was fished out of the Liffey in 1918 and is buried in St. Paul's (I told you I'd come back to it). I had been taking consolation in his presence in St. Paul's on the assumption that it was consecrated ground and that he would not have been accepted there if there had been any question of suicide. But in the light of what John says I'm now not sure where I stand.

Meanwhile a great time was had by all. Thanks Máire and all the best in your retirement. Keep up the researching and the writing and remember, in the words of Voltaire, il faut cultiver son jardin.

Family History Day 2015

Greg Young
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Family History Day in the Dublin City Library and Archive (DCLA) in Pearse Street is always a great occasion.

It gives a number of those who are pursuing their own family history, or that of others, an opportunity to present their results to a receptive audience. I have done three family history presentations on these occasions and they are a wonderful way of getting you to organise your material for getting it across to an audience. They also give you the incentive to quality control your research and to pursue further avenues that suggest themselves in the course of preparation.

DCLA, and Máire Kennedy in particular, are to be commended for providing this wonderful service.

And it is a service, not only to those who have results to present, but to others who are not quite there yet, and to those who have not yet started into this branch of research but who might be inspired to do so by days like these. Even for those who are not involved in research, and who don't intend to be, most of the presentations are sheer entertainment and an education in themselves.

Anyway, nuff pontificating and down to this year's event.

Greg Young, who has been in the family and local history area for a good few years now, kicked off the day with a talk on the Smyth family of Dublin who were parasol and umbrella makers. This had been the subject of his thesis for his Certificate in Local History, a course run by NUI Maynooth in collaboration with DCLA. I have commented on another student's output in an earlier blog post.

Greg's presentation was hugely interesting. His pursuit of the Smyth family brought us through the family's highs and lows: a new start up family business; expansion of the business and its extension to many city locations; it's decline and the descent of the family into poverty; the Bishop's religious prejudice which removed the children from their (non-denominational) schooling to be taken into care, an act which further fragmented the family. Make you sad and angry at the same time.

And then there was the product. The umbrella evolved from the parasol, from keeping off the sun to keeping off the rain. They were originally clumsy heavy things but Smyth's steel technology for the ribbed umbrella made them a more viable proposition. They were made on the premises and some of the locations crossed over with my own family's shoemaking traditions, such as at Wood Quay. In those days particular trades grouped in particular streets.

Greg was clearly anxious to give the best presentation possible. This was his first talk of this sort. He needn't have worried. The next step is the book.

Joan Sharkey

He was followed by Joan Sharkey, from Raheny Heritage Society. Joan is an old hand at this and for her contribution on this occasion she told us how she set about filling some apparently intractable gaps in her own family history.

She was chasing up missing Usshers (the family, not the theatrical employees). She took us on a fascinating trail of detective work, squeezing blood out of the stones of boring official records. Many of these were in the USA & Canada where some of the missing family members had ended up. She also relied heavily on the online records (subscription) of the Irish Petty Sessions (or what has now become the District Court). If someone appeared there, never mind what he was up for, she now knew that he existed and where he was at the time. And if, like me, you are still searching for an ordinary decent criminal (ODC) in the family this is clearly the place to go. This sort of stuff is addictive.

Conor Dodd

Conor Dodd, who is now working as a historian with The Glasnevin Trust, brought us up to date on the extensive range of data now available, principally about those buried in Prospect Cemetery in Glasnevin. The service now includes access to a genealogical advisor (part time) and he stressed that, in the normal course, people are only charged for what is found. So the Trust is actually going out of its way to encourage people to draw on its facilities.

He showed us how the various data sources are interrelated and outlined the richness and limits of what is available.

He also reminded us that the Trust is a private venture which is dependent on the income it raises from its activities. This has not stopped it from undertaking, in recent years, a major cleanup/restoration in Glasnevin cemetery in order to bring it back to the state envisaged by its founders. The "Garden Cemetery" concept is coming back in. So if you are contemplating a leisurely stroll of a Sunday afternoon, there's no better place to go. (I have to declare an interest here, I love graveyards - well, most of them).

Anthony J Jordan

Anthony J Jordan gave us the run down on the Yeats family. It was at times hilarious, at others sad, and at yet others outrageous. That WB fella seems to have been an insufferable individual, though Anthony did more or less persuade us that he wrote great poetry.

You will notice the absence of a screen in the above shot. Anthony gave us an old style presentation regaling us with stories for the imagination in which the imagined illustrations went well beyond the capacity of a Powerpoint screen.

He told us it was quite late when he came across the controversy over WB's bones (ie whose bones are in the grave in Drumcliff). He recounted how, when he gave a talk on the subject in Sligo, he was accused of undermining tourism in the county. A bucket collection for a DNA test would seem to me to have been a more appropriate reaction. But there you are. Leave well enough alone and to hell with the begrudgers.

James Curry

The final session was on the Fitzpatrick family and the satirical journal "The Lepracaun" produced over a decade at the beginning of the twentieth century by Thomas Fitzpatrick.

James Curry is co-author of a book on Thomas Fitzpatrick and The Lepracaun which was launched at this very spot just a month ago. Thomas's cartoons were beautifully drawn and took a poke at hypocrisy in high places and the various pecadillos of politicians and other very important people. Thomas's death in 1912 was headline news and the poor, who he always stood up for, were caught up in a combination of grief and pride on that occasion.

James replayed a first class short video about the book which Philip Bromwell made for RTÉ.

Appropriately enough for a family history occasion, James reminded us that Thomas's artistic and cartooning skills have now passed down to a fourth generation.

In Print

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Up to yesterday I had never published a book. Today I have published three books.

They are unique because they are books of talks I have given on local and family history and they are limited editions - limited to one copy of each. Priceless.

Thought I'd share. What you see above are the three books. From the bottom up: The Shoemaker's Daughters - my Burgess ancestors; A Policeman's Lot - my Dwyer ancestors; and, The Corsican Defence - the restoration of a Martello Tower in Killiney Bay.

They are beautifully produced and bound, on hard glossy pages with bright crisp images.

My grandfather, Michael Dwyer, who joined the RIC from the family homestead in East Limerick and spent most of his career in Co. Mayo, principally in Ballyhaunis.

Martello Tower (No. 7 Dublin South) beautifully restored and armed by Niall O'Donoghue on a site where I used to attend, and I hope entertain, Patrician meetings in my youth.

Thanks to Eoghan and Susan for this magnificent present.

Further reading: Daughters Policeman Tower

Seek and ye shall find

The Roman Catholic Church today is the pits. It is sinking in a quagmire of child abuse; it is denying the spectrum of sexuality originating in the Creation itself; it is promoting a rigid top-down hierarchical structure; and, it is stubbornly clinging to a pre-atomic scientific view of matter. The daily news from this quarter must be depressing for all but the most enthusiastic aficionados.

By way of contrast, I would like to bring a small ray of family history sunshine to bear on this apocalyptic corner of existence. I have to declare at the outset that, while brought up a Roman Catholic, and, having been an enthusiastic advocate of the views of Pius XII in my day, I am completely disillusioned with the whole package. My interest is now simply in observing how the RC Church attempts to extricate itself from its own internal contradictions.

So, to my quest. I was trying to find the baptism records of my grandfather who was born in 1870. They were not available in the microfilm records of the National Library of Ireland and the genealogical service of that worthy institution advised as to the relevant parish church of the day for that area. So I rang the PP, lovely man. “Give Joan a ring and she'll sort you out. Don't ring on Thursday, she'll be busy with a funeral.”

I have to admit I am not a great one for making appointments, so I took my courage in my hands and turned up unannounced at the parish office some days later.

I was very apprehensive. Guilt and baggage I suppose. I was expecting an elderly lady in a knitted cardigan, complete with rosary beads, and I was mulling over my possible defences as to why was I, who had rejected the church, now knocking on their door, and looking for favours, no less? And, by the way, when was I last at confession?

I rang the bell anyway. The door was opened by this gorgeous creature who nearly made me forget why I was there in the first place. “Come in, by all means.” I managed to stammer out my request and was immediately presented with the registers and invited to take photos of the relevant entries and the plush cover of the baptismal registry. Miraculously I didn't muck up the camera settings and eventually went about my way in a daze of divine something or other.

This was an experience totally at odds with what I assume to have been the attitude of the PP of former times who wouldn't let even the National Library of Ireland photograph his precious “confidential” records when that institution was doing its photographic rounds.

Full marks to, and fond memories of, my great-grandfather's parish from 1870.

From my perspective, this beats the apparition at Knock, which also figures in my family history, but which is another story entirely.

Was I Somebody?

I make no apologies for pinching and amending the title of one of the late Nuala O'Faoláin's books. The book dealt with biography in the more or less present tense. This post deals with it in the definite past tense.

I thought it might make sense to do a sort of mini-review of developments in my pursuit of my family history and to draw attention to some odd angles.

Famous Relations
When I started out on this adventure I assumed we were nobodies, in terms of national fame and celebrity that is. And indeed we are for the greater part. But I recently discovered relationships to three national VIPs. Unfortunately they are all inlaws rather than blood relations so they really belong to someone else's family, but, what the hell. They're all I've got. So here goes.


The first, and most celebrated, is Eoin Mc Neill, the man who tried to cancel 1916 and who was subsequently Minister for Education in the Free State Government. The second is Michael Tierney, former President of UCD, who presided over a conservative Roman Catholic university and collaborated closely with John Charles McQuaid, Archishop of Dublin, to enforce strict religious and social conformity on campus. The third is Eoghan Fitzsimons, SC, who became Attorney General in the very brief period between the resignation of Harry Whelehan following the Fr. Brendan Smyth affair and the fall of the Government a mere month later.

Michael Tierney's son married a descendant of my grandfather's brother, and Tierney in turn was married to Eoin McNeill's daughter. Eoghan Fitzsimons's grandfather's sister married my granny's brother.

Distant enough, you might say, but at the rate relations are coming out of the woodwork I may have a longer and more closely related list for the hall of fame at the next review.

New Contacts through the Internet
One of the great things about putting your family history up on the web is that people find you. I have had three major breakthroughs from people finding me through internet searches.

Nora Meehan: I was in Kilkenny when I got an email from Nora saying we were related. I turned up on her doorstep the following day. She was living on the old homestead in Cappanahanagh in East Limerick. Thanks to her I was able to trace my father's people back to around 1789, the year of the French Revolution.

Helen Thornton: is descended from my grandfather's sister and she filled in another gap on my father's side, which led to Tierney and McNeill (see above). Helen is also helping me in my efforts to fill in details on the Mortimers of Creewood (Co. Meath) on my mother's side. They appear to be Protestants. Helen's next door neighbour is a member of the Navan Select Vestry and has opened an avenue to Canon John Clarke, Rector of Navan.

Marie van Thiel: another email out of the blue, this time from Bavaria. This was actually Marie Burgess, a second cousin on my mother's side, who, unknown to me, used to live down the road, had married a German and is now living in Bavaria.

Crossovers
My personal pursuit of history has had two threads.

The first was a local history one. I started digging into the history of Ballybrack (Killiney) in the early 1970s, published a few articles, hawked a slideshow around a number of local history societies and, last year, gave a talk in the Dublin City Library and Archive on about 400 years of history in 45 minutes.

The second, and more recent thread, was a family history one. Nothing to do with Ballybrack, or so I thought. I had lived in Ballybrack between 1954 and 1975, but I had no roots there.

However as time went on I came across a number of what I call crossovers connecting my Ballybrack and Family histories. Tenuous though some of them were they fascinated me.


John Barrington: was a tallow merchant with a residence and factory in Parnell St. He was Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1865, the year of the Great Exhibition and the visit of Prince Albert, and he was knighted the following year. My great grandmother was in domestic service in his household when she married in 1866. Barrington eventually moved to Killiney (St. Annes and Santa Severina, now Summer Hill). After his death his widow moved to Campanella and a descendant of his was living there when we moved to Ballybrack in 1954. My mother, who ran the local newsagents, delivered papers to Barrington's descendant. Service over a century.

Antóin Mac Unfraidh: I was in school with Antóin but only recently found out that his father's people are from Murroe parish in East Limerick, which includes the townland of Cappanahanagh, and that we may even be related. That's on both our family history sides. Antóin's great grandfather on his mother's side turned out to have been Stationmaster in Killiney/Ballybrack from 1878 to 1895. That's the local history crossover.

Fr. Gerry Fleming: is a newly acquired second cousin (family history side) and he was for a period Parish Priest in Shankill, which in my day was a chapel of ease to Ballybrack (local history side). Incidentally, Shankill became a fully fledged separate parish after the fruits of the first "planned giving" experiment had financed that chapel's extension. Ballybrack was not amused.

Bono: how could I possibly leave him out? Bono's people lived two doors down from my great uncle John in Cowper Street. John's mother (my great grandmother) was a Rankin as was Bono's mother. My side were Catholics from Queen's County, while his were Protestants from Belfast. Bono is now living in Temple Hill, Killiney. This was formerly the residence of the USA Military Attaché and situated just on the outer limit of my mother's newsagent's catchment area.

New Sources
I think it is worth briefly mentioning some online sources which have recently become available. They don't always replace the original records but the capacity to search them digitally is a huge advantage and greatly speeds up the research.

The greatest boon in recent times must surely be the 1911 Census of Population online. This is a tremendous piece of work, beautifully executed, and is a great credit to the National Archive of Ireland. Another boon is the pilot digital family search which includes indexes to Irish civil records and also to a lot of records from RC and some Protestant parishes. It covers a wide selection of sources worldwide. A new service, Irishgenealogy, hosted by the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, contains a selection of records from churches in Dublin and Kerry, and while incomplete, could just happen to cover that elusive event.

Another great arrival free online are the Ordnance Survey historical maps of Ireland. [The lower box on the right hand side gives you access to both modern and historic maps: "HISTORIC" is the ~1840s in colour and "HISTORIC B&W" is the same without the colour; "HISTORIC 25i" is the ~1900s series. The really clever bit is that you can overlay the new on the old: every time you click "Modern Map Overlay" the modern becomes slightly more prominent until eventually the historic disappears (one more click brings it back)]. Guaranteed hours of fun.

I should also take this opportunity to compliment the National Library of Ireland. They recently faced down one RC Bishop, in particular, who was refusing permission for the viewing of the Library's microfilm collection of parish records from his diocese. This was forcing researchers to use the regional heritage centre whose database was not always completely reliable and who also charged a whack for their services.

Statistics
And finally a few stats. I am amazed myself every time I look at these.

There are 837 individuals, 249 marriages and 198 different surnames recorded in my family tree on the computer. The longest span covers 9 generations and the earliest entry is Ellen Humphries, born around 1789, and married to John Dwyer of Murroe parish, East Limerick.