2023 Irish Family History Society Lecture Series 

The Irish Family History Society is delighted to present to its members a series of six online lectures on making the best use of key online sources for researching your Irish Family History.

This is a FREE series of six lectures, exclusively for members of the IFHS.

The lectures will be presented via Zoom.

PLEASE REGISTER YOUR INTEREST IN ATTENDING BY EMAILING info@ifhs.ie on or before Wednesday 27^th September ’23.

A fresh Zoom link will issue to participants in advance of each week’s lecture.

LECTURE 1 Saturday 30^th September, at 2.30 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)

This lecture will cover:

Getting prepared.  There is so much information available online that it is easy to get carried away on tangents and so it can be difficult to focus on priorities.  This can be particularly difficult with free websites, or with limited access to “paysites”.  This lecture will focus on setting priorities for your research.

LECTURE 2 Saturday 7^th October, at 2.30 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)

The census records of 1901 and 1911. This will include searching these records effectively, and the vast amount of information which can be gleaned from them.

LECTURE 3 Saturday 14^th October, at 2.30 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)

Griffith’s Valuation is a tremendous resource for family history research.  Combined with the maps, placename searches and other records, it can be a starting place for identifying the exact location where your ancestors lived. The lecture will include guidance on using the House and Field books.

LECTURE 4 Saturday 21^st October, at 2.30 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)

This lecture will focus on the Civil Records (births, marriages, deaths), and on identifying townlands eg using the Seanruad townland database. It will also look at the Tithe Applotment Books.

THERE WILL BE NO LECTURE ON SATURDAY 28^th October.

LECTURE 5 Saturday 4^th November, at 2.30 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)

The focus this week will be on maximising the information offered by historic maps, including those on the website of the National Mapping Division of the new organisation, Tailte Éireann (formerly called “Ordnance Survey Ireland”)

LECTURE 6 Saturday 11^th November, at 2.30 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)

Searching more specialist resources: reproductive loan, petty session, court records, newspapers, and paysites. Conclusion to series.

There will be an opportunity for questions and discussion at the end of each lecture.  Maximum duration of each session will be approximately one hour.