Genealogical Society of Ireland

10/04/2026

'Thom's more than just a Dublin Directory' by Shane Wilson, MGSI

Shane Wilson, MGSI, on the topic ‘Thom’s, more than just a Dublin Directory’. Thom's Directory started publication in 1844 and continued in paper form for ma...

10/04/2026

Wednesday at 11.00hrs (UTC+1) (Irish Summer Time)

10/04/2026

Posted by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport

10/04/2026

Posted by our friends Heritage Week

National Heritage Week 2026 is on the way!

From 15th–23rd August, we’ll explore “Heritage at Risk” — from endangered wildlife habitats and historic buildings to fading skills, languages and traditions.

Join the celebration and discover what needs our care.

Learn more at heritageweek.ie

10/04/2026

REMINDER: Tuesday 14th April 2026 - 20.00hrs (UTC+1) (Irish Summer Time) - All Welcome. Free Event. Please share. GRMA (Thank you).

09/04/2026

'Ireland's Genealogical Gazette' (Aibreán : Balandis : April 2026) the monthly newsletter of the Genealogical Society of Ireland is available on the following link:

https://familyhistory.ie/gazette/

Please share. GRMA (Thanks)

08/04/2026

‘Memorialising Émigré Dignity' a collection of seven essays explores the dignity of the émigré and how the emergence of a multi-ethnic
identity, beyond Gael (indigenous Irish) and Gall (foreigner or descendant of the settler colonial community), incubated the modern sense of Irishness.

Copies will be on sale at the Clans of Ireland summit this weekend. This limited-run publication is highly recommended - make sure you have your copy as stocks last. Please share.

Copies available price €20.00 plus postage from
https://www.familyhistory.ie

08/04/2026

Posted by our friends The Irish Remembered

Your Irish ancestors weren’t meant to be educated. ☘️
Under the Penal Laws, Catholic schools were restricted, teachers were pushed out of the system, and formal education was driven underground. In many places, learning came with risk, fines, or punishment.

So your ancestors did what the Irish always do.
They refused to stop.

Hedge schools weren’t officially recognized classrooms. They were informal, often hidden gatherings held behind stone walls, in fields, or along hedgerows across the Irish countryside. Traveling schoolmasters, many of them highly educated, taught reading, writing, Latin, mathematics, history, and the Irish language to children whose families had very little, but valued knowledge deeply.

By the 18th century, tens of thousands of Irish children were being educated this way, outside the formal system, sustained by communities that refused to let learning disappear.

That love of learning, that refusal to be silenced, that instinct to pass knowledge to your children no matter the cost, it didn’t stay in Ireland. It traveled with your ancestors.

Save this, because this part of Irish history isn’t just history.
It’s your inheritance. ☘️

08/04/2026

Arna postáilte ag ár gcairde Barbados Museum & Historical Society

TG4

The Barbados Museum & Historical Society in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow present:

Perspectives on the Gaelic Caribbean: Irish, Scottish and Caribbean Connections 2026 Symposium.

This symposium arises from a UKRI-funded research project ‘From Lismore to Barbados: The Gaelic Caribbean travel journal and verse of Dugald MacNicol (1791-1844)’. That project edits a number of Scottish Gaelic literary texts composed in Barbados at the start of the nineteenth century, one of a number of lesser-known items of Irish and Scottish Gaelic cultural production connected with the Caribbean. MacNicol, who spent most of his adult life as a military officer stationed throughout the Caribbean, left a considerable sum of money to his ‘esteemed friend’ Joanna Franklin, a free woman of colour, and their children, upon his death in 1844. He was one of many Gaelic-speaking Scots and Irish employed in colonial service.

Bringing together scholars from the Caribbean, Ireland, Scotland and further afield, this symposium examines the broad notion of a ‘Gaelic’ Caribbean, from the seventeenth century to the nineteenth century. Throughout that period, Gaelic speakers from Ireland and the Scottish Highlands were present in the Caribbean in a variety of guises, as indentured servants at an early period, but also as enslavers and beneficiaries from the worst of European colonialist policies. Over a day and a half, speakers will examine some of the literary and historical entanglements and connections between Scotland and Ireland with the Caribbean.

📍Barbados Museum & Historical Society
📆 May 11th - 12th, 2026
🕐8:30am - 4:00pm

Stay tuned for more information!

08/04/2026

Arna postáilte ag ár gcairde Genealogy TV

What’s new at MyHeritage in 2026? A lot—and some of it could change the future of genealogy. https://youtu.be/9QT6ltTZoBE

In this video, I sit down with Daniel Horowitz, Genealogy Expert at MyHeritage, to talk about the latest tools, features, and innovations announced at RootsTech 2026. From powerful new AI capabilities to major DNA developments, there’s a lot here that every genealogist should understand.

🔍 In this video:
Scribe AI: Transcribe, translate, and analyze your own uploaded records
Family tree improvements like country flags and data quality indicators
New AI-generated family infographics for sharing your research
Expanding global newspaper collections (hundreds of millions of pages)
DNA updates, including full genome testing developments
MyHeritage policies on DNA privacy and law enforcement

🧬 The BIG announcement:
MyHeritage is actively developing Artifact DNA technology—starting with envelopes and stamps—to extract DNA from historical materials. This could eventually open the door to testing ancestors who lived long before modern DNA testing existed.

🎁 Giveaway:
Enter for a chance to win one of five MyHeritage Full Genome Sequencing DNA kits. https://mailchi.mp/genealogytv.org/myheritage-dna-kit-contest
This is one of the most exciting periods we’ve seen in genealogy technology. If even a portion of what’s coming becomes widely available, it could fundamentally change how we research our families.

08/04/2026

Posted by our friends Clans of Ireland