On Saturday, September 23, the Irish Family History Forum will sponsor an Irish-themed trolley tour of Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery, one of the world’s great cemeteries. The tour, which will start at 1 p.m. sharp, will last about two hours.

Founded in 1838, Green-Wood is a historic and picturesque place, a 478-acre oasis of trees, ponds, gardens, and sculpture. Among the notable Irish buried at Green-Wood are Civil War general and Corkman Thomas Sweeny; Wolfe Tone’s widow, Matilda Tone; copper magnate Marcus Daly, a native of Co. Cavan; American patriot Charles Higgins; actress and mistress of the mighty, Lola Montez (nee Eliza Gilbert), who was born in Co. Sligo; and others.

Forum members and their guests will enjoy a narrated trolley trip through the cemetery’s spectacular landscape as well as several easy walks (participants may remain on the trolley if they prefer).  We will enjoy the early fall foliage; visit the graves of Irish notables, as well as the Irish Korean War veterans monument, the Civil War monument, the Green-wood’s historic chapel, and the site of the Battle of Brooklyn, which now affords a wonderful view of the Manhattan skyline; and more.

Reservations  To reserve a place on the tour, send a check for $25 per person, payable to Irish Family History Forum, to IFHF, Box 67, Plainview, NY 11803-0067.  The deadline for reservations is September 1. However, as reservations are on a first-come, first-served basis, those wishing to attend should reserve a place as soon as possible. Members may bring up to two guests.

Directions  The tour will commence near the cemetery’s main entrance at 5th Ave. and 25th St., Brooklyn. Directions via car can be found at www.green-wood.com. Free parking is available inside the cemetery.  Those traveling via the Long Island Railroad should get off at the Atlantic/Barclays Ctr. stop, take the R train going toward Bay Ridge, and exit at the 25th St. station. They should then walk east one block to Green-Wood at 5th Ave. and 25th St

Accessibility  The trolley is fully accessible for those using a wheelchair or other mobility device, but accommodations will need to be made in advance. Contact programs@ifhf.org about this or if you have any general questions about the tour.

In the May-July 2017 issue of the IFHF’s Newsletter, Barbara Murphy has a wonderful Research Tip.

She recommends John Grenham’s Irish Roots Blog.

A post there is entitled “Why are Irish Records so Weird?”  Grenham recently presented the topic for Legacy software’s FamilyTreeWebinars.com library.  On his blog, his written discussion is featured. See https://www.johngrenham.com/blog/2017/03/16/why-are-irish-records-so-weird/

2016 Family History is a new, free Irish genealogy education website, brought to you by the National Archives and IrishGenealogy.ie. The site is aimed primarily at secondary school students, but can be used by anyone with Irish ancestors to learn how to use the multiplicity of online sources now available for family history.https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/2016-family  Click on “2016 Family History” on the toolbar.

Family Tree DNA will now let you transfer your “autosomal” data to Family Tree DNA for FREE. (There is a $19 upgrade available.) That means if you have tested with the sites 23 & Me or Ancestry DNA you can now catch your DNA cousins who have been  swimming around in the Family Tree DNA pool only!   It’s easy to do! See the attached link for more information.    https://www.familytreedna.com/autosomal-transferSee the link to Judy Russel’s blog “The Legal genealogist”  for a further description of this news.     http://www.legalgenealogist.com/2017/02/19/the-floodgates-open/

(Post Submitted by Jeanne Bayer)

Big News . . FindMyPast has launched an initiative to digitize the records of The Roman Catholic Church from around the World. That includes the NEW WORLD, US!  This initiative is called “The Catholic Heritage Archive”. Right now you will find millions of sacramental records from Ireland. It appears that records from England and Philadelphia are already up. And the really big news for folks who’s immigrant ancestors past through New York City, the records of The Archdiocese of New York will be digitized. That project is in the works now. Yay! Can hear the brick walls being shattered! Happy days for my fellow family historians. See the link to Find my past for more information. http://www.findmypast.com/catholicrecords
(Post submitted by Jeanne Bayer)

Millions of Ireland’s birth, marriage, and death records have been uploaded to IrishGenealogy.ie and in many cases include images.
The years covered are:

• Births: 1864 to 1915
• Marriages: 1882 to 1940
• Deaths: 1891 to 1965

Go to www.irishgenealogy.ie and click on Civil Records.