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GUILD NEWS 2019 Activities

New publications Four books were published by the Ulster Historical Foundation in 2019. The late Eugene O’Callaghan’s autobiography, Busmen in the Firing Line, is a vivid and lively account of a critical period in our recent history. Keeping the buses running during the years of was a priority which came at huge personal cost. For the busmen the experience was attritional: the entire fleet of buses was destroyed and 17 men were killed simply for turning up for work. Protecting your members from death is not a normal part of a union official’s brief, but it was Eugene’s number one priority. Setting aside their differences O’Callaghan and union colleagues worked alongside Werner Heubeck and management to keep the drivers safe.

Pictured at the launch in St George’s Church are Eugene’s daughter Patricia O’Callaghan and John Dallat MLA

consistently a voice of reason and humanity, endlessly challenging the widely-held assumption that it was normal and right to ‘look after one’s own people’ and ‘do down the other side’. As a torchbearer for human rights, non-violence and respect for the dignity of others, she proved herself to be decades ahead of other politicians and political parties, as many of her original ideas have come to be enshrined in law in . The book was launched at Queen’s University on 3 October. The author also delivered a lunchtime lecture on Sheelagh Murnaghan at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland on 7 October.

O’Callaghan also represented the ‘General Workers’ in manufacturing, tackling issues affecting pay and conditions with the same passion. Even in retirement Eugene did not rest, becoming a strong advocate for retired union members. The issue of busmen’s pensions came to dominate Eugene’s final years. Frustrated at what he saw as mismanagement, incompetence and indifference, he campaigned to rectify an historical oversight in respect of their pension contributions. Blunt, resolute and always on the side of the worker, O’Callaghan spoke truth to power in a real way – to benefit the lives of those whom he served. On 17 September the Foundation launched Busmen in the Firing Line in St George’s Church, Belfast. A second launch was held on 1 October in Crossmaglen, County Armagh, where Eugene was born.

Ruth Illingworth’s biography, Sheelagh Murnaghan – Stormont’s Only Liberal MP, introduces us to a remarkable person. Sheelagh Murnaghan was the first female barrister to practise in Northern Ireland; a talented sportswoman who played hockey for Ulster and Ireland; the only Liberal Party MP 1961–69) in the 50-year history of the Northern Ireland Parliament. In a country riven by sectarianism, she was

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DIRECTORY OF IRISH FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH Transatlantic Lives: The Irish Experience in Colonial America, This elegantly-designed edition reproduces the book in edited by Linde Lunney, James Quinn and William Roulston, facsimile along with the original illustrations, most of them now was another autumn publication. This volume included 59 in full colour. The book was launched at Cutts House, biographical essays from the Royal Irish Academy’s Dictionary , the offices of the Honourable the Irish Society, on of Irish Biography, detailing the careers of a selection of Irish 18 December. emigrants to North America in the colonial period (including the British territories that would later become Canada). Those chosen for inclusion were a representative sample of some of the more notable figures among these emigrants. Colonial administrators, soldiers and clergymen predominated, but the selection also included educators, doctors, writers, artists, printers, merchants and even a (female) pirate to give some sense of the diversity of such emigrants, and their varying contributions to the economic and cultural development of the colonies. Most of these stayed in the colonies, but a sufficient number returned to Ireland, providing some evidence for the contention that emigration to the colonies was not always an irrevocable decision. The publication of the book was featured during a lunchtime lecture in PRONI by Dr Linde Lunney titled ‘Connections and Coincidence in Emigration’ on 15 November.

Books by our members and friends Our long-time Guild member Frances Bach from Yakima, Washington State, USA, has published a book on the story of her ancestors from County Londonderry – Never to be Heard From Again! Searching for the McCurrys of Myroe. The title of the book comes from a comment made by her father many years ago. He was speaking about some cousins of his own father who had left Ireland in the 1870s and 1880s and remarked: “and they were never heard from again”. This increasingly fascinated Frances: how could three grown men just disappear like that and no-one know what happened to them? It would be many years before she understood the dynamics of the time – difficulties with travel, communication, literacy, lifespan, and the kind of daily struggle immigrants had to contend with in a new country. Her persistence allowed her to discover not only what happened to the three cousins, but to Eighty years after it was first published, the Foundation many other branches of our enormous extended family as well. reprinted a hugely important work, The Londonderry Plantation 1609–41: The City of London and the Plantation in Ulster by T. Our good friend in Hershey, , Gary Hawbaker has W. Moody. This publication was the first seriously scholarly published The Camp Kettle. September 21, 1861–May, 15, attempt to understand what actually happened in the 1862: Newspaper of the Roundhead Regiment, 100th Londonderry Plantation; it was published at a time when Irish Pennsylvania Volunteers: with selected biographies of members historical writing was entering a new phase with a more of the 100th Pennsylvania and the 8th Michigan (2019). In this ‘scientific’ approach to historical writing and research, with hefty volume, Gary has provided a transcription of the first 12 Moody and his peers leading the way. In researching his book, issues of The Camp Kettle. In addition, pension records for 75 Moody drew extensively on historical archives in the City of soldiers were researched and valuable information found in London, including records which perished subsequently in the them has been included. Of special interest are the original Blitz. As Professor James Stevens Curl comments in his new soldier letters that families sent to the Pension Office to prove Foreword to the work: ‘So Moody’s great book remains of that a son had provided for the family before or while he was in singular significance in the history of Ulster, and although I was the service which were never returned to the family. privileged to carry on research into the Londoners’ Plantation Background on other newspapers printed by soldiers during the well past 1641, I acknowledge the integrity of Moody’s Civil War is included as well as references to The Camp Kettle scholarship and industry in laying the foundations of proper found in other newspapers across the United States. Where source-based narrative, free from speculation, hoary mythology, available, images of the soldier and of his gravestone are shown. and cant.’

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DIRECTORY OF IRISH FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH Centre for Migration Studies praises the editor’s ‘expert contextualising commentary’ and notes that the letters demonstrate that ‘migrant correspondents remained very conscious of the homeplace’. Many of the letters are in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (where they are catalogued under references D1497 and D3666), though others are in the editor’s possession. A series of appendices to the book contain much invaluable genealogical information on the families concerned. In his Introduction Graham pays tribute to two longstanding friends of his who passed away in 2018 – Dr Eull Dunlop and Dr Brian Trainor. Eull contributed an ‘Afterword’ to the volume, composed while in Antrim Area Hospital shortly before he died.

Events Following the death of our Emeritus Research Director in August 2018 at the age of 90, the Ulster Historical Foundation opened a fund to establish the Dr Brian Trainor Memorial Lecture. Many people generously supported this and on 26 September 2019 the inaugural lecture was held at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland before a capacity audience, including Dr Trainor’s widow Pilar and daughters Rosana and Katrina. The lecture was delivered by Cormac Ó Gráda, Professor (Emeritus) of University College Dublin, who has published extensively on Irish economic history and on famine, and was titled: ‘Irish emigration: new sources, new approaches, new results’. Professor Ó Gráda prefaced his talk by pointing out that Dr Trainor was always interested in the history of Irish Highly respected local historian Graham Mawhinney (the 2019 emigration, and particularly in those who left Ulster before the High Sheriff of County Londonderry) was the editor of The Great Famine, and praised him for his efforts in making Graham Letters (1792–1907): Correspondence Relating to the archives accessible to all. The lecture itself reviewed recent and Graham Family of “Dunarnon”, Owenreagh, Draperstown, ongoing work on emigration from the island as a whole, Co. Londonderry (Moyola Books, 2019). This attractively highlighting the role of new material and new techniques, and produced and handsomely illustrated volume, the product of the new perspectives they offer. many years of effort, includes transcripts of 91 letters written from a variety of locations, including Cork in Ireland, Ohio and Pennsylvania in the USA and Melbourne in Australia, to name a few. With the exception of the first letter of 1792 and the last of 1907 the letters date from a 50-year period between 1839 and 1889. In his Foreword, Dr Paddy Fitzgerald of the Mellon

Professor Cormac Ó Gráda

On the evening of 27 November 2019 the Ulster Historical Foundation hosted Ulster, America and the Enlightenment: From Feux de Joie to the Belfast Harp Festival. The venue was, appropriately, First Presbyterian Church in Rosemary Street, one of Belfast’s finest Georgian buildings. Beginning with a drinks reception, the cultural atmosphere of Belfast’s radical ‘Golden Age’ was ushered in by Belfast harpist Edel Brady who reprised the traditional airs of the Belfast Harp Festival of 1792. This was followed by three talks which explored and celebrated Belfast’s connection to the wider world during the ‘Age of Reason’. Two of the talks were delivered by Trustees of the Foundation, Dr Frank Costello and Dr Eamon Phoenix, on, respectively, ‘The Enlightenment, the American Revolution and

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DIRECTORY OF IRISH FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH the Society of United Irishmen’ and ‘The critical social, cultural From 7 to 11 October we delivered our Researching your Irish and political atmosphere in Belfast and the province of Ulster Ancestors conference, a new venture in that it was entirely during the period 1789–1795’. The third talk was given by Dr research-focused, with delegates spending their week in James Dingley, Chairman of the Frances Hutcheson Institute, on archives and libraries in Belfast as well as the National Archives ‘Francis Hutcheson and the shaping of Enlightenment thinking of Ireland and the Registry of Deeds in Dublin. Around half of in Ireland, Britain and Europe’. the participants on this conference had been with us before and it was great to be able to welcome back so many ‘old’ friends Conferences and courses from around the world. As well as PRONI, participants were In 2019 the Foundation delivered a range of workshops, courses also given the option of conducting research in Belfast in the and conferences, which attracted large numbers of overseas Presbyterian Historical Society Library, the Linen Hall Library, visitors, with delegates travelling from England, Scotland, the Belfast Central Library (including the Newspaper Library) and USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland and Hong the archive at the Museum of Orange Heritage. Kong to take part, as well as local participants. Our first event was a one-day workshop on 19 January, followed by a week- long Genealogy Essentials course from 4 to 8 February. The Irish Family History Experience conference ran from 10 to 15 June and included talks and research time in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and the Registry of Deeds in Dublin. In addition there were outings to Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin, the passage tomb at Knowth in the Boyne Valley, the walled city of -Londonderry, the magnificent home of the Duke of Abercorn at Barons Court, and the world famous Giant’s Causeway. From 8 to 10 July we delivered a short genealogy course for a party of researchers led by Kathy Wurth of Family Tree Tours.

Our major conference of the year, Tracing your Irish Ancestors, was held from 4 to 11 September. As has been our practice in recent years, it was preceded by a three-day Genealogy Essentials course. Each day participants had the opportunity to conduct research in the archives – PRONI in Belfast and the National Archives of Ireland in Dublin – or go on a tour to a place of historical and cultural importance. The outings this year Briane Carter from Texas with Valerie Adams, Librarian of the Presbyterian Historical Society, during our October conference included the mansion and superb gardens at Mount Stewart, once home to the Marquesses of Londonderry, the ruins of the former Cistercian monastery of Grey Abbey and the new On 15 October we welcomed a group of family historians from Echlinville Distillery. There were also visits to Ranfurly the United States on a research trip to Ireland organised and led House/Hill of the O’Neill in Dungannon, the Ulster American by well-known genealogist Donna Moughty. Our Research Folk Park/Mellon Centre for Migration Studies near , Director gave a talk on landed estate records and then the party Monreagh Heritage Centre in County Donegal, the beautiful had an opportunity to use the Foundation’s library and digital Glens of Antrim and Giant’s Causeway, Garvagh Museum, resources. Finally, we delivered another week-long Genealogy Kilmainham Gaol and Trinity College Dublin (to see the Essentials course from 4 to 8 November. Further conferences stunning Book of Kells), the cathedral city of Armagh, the and courses are planned for 2020 – please check out our website Battle of the Boyne Visitor Centre and Knowth. (www.ancestryireland.com) for more details. Course on the history of Ulster, 1600–1800 During the autumn, the Foundation’s Research Director Dr William Roulston delivered a 6-week course on the history of Ulster in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The course was organised under the auspices of the Ulster-Scots Agency (working specifically with Richard Hanna, the Director of Education & Language), and ran in conjunction with a programme delivered through the Senior College Program at the University of Southern Maine in New England (where the tutor was Rebecca Graham, President of the Maine Ulster Scots Project). The venue for the course was First Dunboe Presbyterian Church Hall in Articlave, near Coleraine – a very appropriate location given the deep connections between that area and Maine. Thirty people registered for the course, with participants travelling from as far away as Donegal and Belfast to take part.

The course provided an introduction to Ulster in the period 1600–1800 with a particular focus on the regions most affected by the 1718 migration to New England, namely the valleys of Delegates at our September conference being given a the rivers Bann and Foyle and the area in between. A thematic demonstration of preparing flax by Colm Clarke at the approach was adopted: Week 1 – Plantation and settlement in Monreagh Heritage Centre, County Donegal Ulster in the seventeenth century; Week 2 – Religion and the

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DIRECTORY OF IRISH FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH

The participants in the history of Ulster course in Articlave. Photograph by David Douglas of Derrie Danders (https://derriedanders.co.uk).

churches in Ulster; Week 3 – People and the land in Ulster; the respective areas. A visit to the Public Record Office of Week 4 – Towns, villages and the economy in Ulster; Week 5 Northern Ireland by each group was also facilitated. During the – Agrarian protests, radical politics and revolution in Ulster; preparatory work for the workshops on Rathlin Island an Week 6 – Emigration from Ulster to the New World. In interesting discovery was made. Found within the Primary conjunction with the course an online learning platform was Valuation fieldbook for Rathlin, compiled in 1859, there is a developed by the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and pencil sketch of the harbour on the island, which is reproduced Assessment (CCEA), which included additional information below. and provided a form for participants on the course on both sides of the Atlantic to share information and find out more about Local talks and presentations Ulster and Maine. Dr Roulston had another busy year of talks to local societies and genealogy events. On 17 January he again spoke to Portglenone Other local courses History & Heritage Group, this time on the subject of ‘Rev. John At the beginning of the year Dr Roulston delivered a series of Black: From Portglenone to Pittsburgh’. Black was a Covenanter research workshops with three community groups based within who was forced to flee to America in 1797 due to his Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council. The project was associations with the United Irishmen. There he studied for the delivered as part of the Understanding Our Area Programme of ministry and spent nearly half a century as a Reformed the PEACE IV programme, funded by the Special EU Presbyterian pastor in western Pennsylvania. On 6 February Programmes Body. The three groups were Kilrea Development William spoke to the Bushmills Folklore & History Group on Association, Ballylough Living History Trust and Rathlin ‘The Insolence of Dissenters? Religious controversy in Ballintoy Development & Community Association. Each session looked in 1716’, the subject of a booklet published by the Ballintoy at the range of historical and genealogical records available for Archaeological & Historical Society in November 2018.

Sketch of the harbour on Rathlin Island, 1859. Reproduced with the permission of the Deputy Keeper of the Records, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (VAL/2/B/1/29).

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DIRECTORY OF IRISH FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH On 23 March William visited Ranfurly House in Dungannon to On several occasions in 2019 William gave talks on the give a talk on the Ulster Plantation. This was part of a Peace IV Covenanters in Ireland – in the Braid Museum, Ballymena, on Cross Border Heritage Project Study Visit Programme and 5 June; in the Burnavon Centre, on 17 September; William discussed the impact of the Plantation on counties and to Tamlaght O’Crilly Historical Society on 14 October. On Donegal and Tyrone with a focus on urbanisation, 25 September, in the Mellon Centre for Migration Studies at the demographics, industrial activity and interaction between native Ulster American Folk Park, he delivered a lecture to the West and newcomer. A further talk on the Ulster Plantation and the Tyrone Historical Society on the subject of the records seventeenth century more broadly, looking specifically at the generated by the management of landed estates in Ireland. documentary records of the period, was given to the Killeeshil and Clonanaeese Historical Society on 21 November. On 1 On 12 November William was invited to speak at a study day April William spoke to the Foyle Family History Society on organised by the Irish Georgian Society, in partnership with the ‘Dunnalong through the ages’, looking at the story of a National Trust Northern Ireland, which celebrated the rich townland over a millennium. An important ferry crossing of the architectural heritage, decorative interiors and designed River Foyle from time immemorial and a landing place for landscape of Ireland’s finest eighteenth-century neo-classical Scottish mercenaries arriving in north-west Ulster, a castle was house, Castle Coole, , County Fermanagh. The title built by the O’Neills at Dunnalong in the 1560s and an English of his talk was ‘The Queen Anne House at Castle Coole’, which artillery fort was constructed there in 1600. looked at the background to the house commissioned by James Corry and designed by John Curle in 1709. On 15 November, in Ranfurly House, Dungannon, William delivered a lecture on the ‘Great Convention’ held in the town in February 1782. This convention was organised by the Volunteers, one of the most celebrated military forces in Irish history, and was an important demonstration in support of political reform in Ireland. The talk looked at the background to the convention, how it was conducted and its significance.

The Foundation’s Research Officer, Gillian Hunt, spoke at the Back to Our Past event in Belfast on 15 February 2019 on ‘Getting started with your family history’. Gillian also gave a talk to the Ben Madigan Women’s Institute in Belfast on 12 November 2019 on the subject of tracing ancestors.

Lecture tours In March the Foundations’ Executive Director Fintan Mullan and Research Officer Gillian Hunt travelled to the United States for another exhausting lecture tour that included 16 programmes in 13 states: Concord, NH; Philadelphia, PA; Chicago, IL; Madison, WI; Green Bay, WI; , UT; Denver, CO; Pittsburgh, PA; Louisville, KY; Coeur d’Alene, ID; Valparaiso, IN; Tampa, FL; Fairfield, CT; and New York City, NY. A fuller On 1 May William spoke in Carrickfergus Museum at the account of this tour is provided by Fintan elsewhere in the launch of churchyards exhibition developed through the Mid Directory. Antrim Heritage Partnership. The exhibition covered places of worship and burial in Antrim and Carrickfergus and included The Foundation’s Research Director travelled to New England artefacts from a number of churches in Carrickfergus. On 1 in April to take part in a couple of events. On 11 April, at the October William spoke at the equivalent launch in Clotworthy Community Library in Freeport, Maine, he spoke at the launch House, Antrim. On 18 May, in the Navan Centre, Armagh, of a new book, 1718 – 2018: Reflections on 300 Years of the William gave a talk on eighteenth-century records at a family Scots-Irish in Maine. This multi-essay volume, published by history event organised by Armagh Ancestry in conjunction the Ulster-Scots Agency and the Maine Ulster-Scots Project, with Armagh City, and Craigavon Borough Council. emanate from a conference held at Bowdoin College in This well attended gathering attracted participants from Brunswick, Maine, in August 2018. William contributed an around the world and will be repeated in May 2020. The same essay to this book that looked at life in Ulster at the time of the subject was covered by him in a lecture to the Foyle & East 1718 Migration. Donegal Family History Festival, An Grianan Hotel, Burt, on 3 October, and to the Ballymena Family History Society on Following his visit to Maine, William journeyed to New 31 October. Hampshire where on 13 April he spoke at ‘Nutfield 300: Founders Weekend’, an event in a year-long programme to On 12 June the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland held mark the tercentenary of the founding of the settlement by a special event to mark the 800th birthday of the oldest families from Ulster. In 1722 Nutfield was renamed document in its collections – a papal bull of 1219 relating to Londonderry (further subdivisions led to the creation of Derry Paisley Abbey in Scotland. The bull is found in the Abercorn and Windham). William delivered a lecture on the economy and Papers in PRONI. William delivered a lecture on James society of early eighteenth-century Ulster. The other Hamilton, the 1st Earl of Abercorn, who was the first member participants from the island of Ireland were Richard Hanna, of the family to settle in Ireland as part of the early seventeenth- Director of Education and Language with the Ulster-Scots century Plantation of Ulster. Among the other speakers was Agency and Dr Linde Lunney, recently retired from the Royal Lord Hamilton, the eldest son of the current Duke of Abercorn. Irish Academy.

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DIRECTORY OF IRISH FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH Lecture Tour 9–26 March 2019 In October 2018 Gillian Hunt and Fintan Mullan concluded their itinerary in Manchester NH. There was but a morning at the end (before the flight home) for some R&R after the week- long British Institute in SLC. This was spent trying to scale Mount Washington on its famous cog railway. It was already late in the season – the rich hues of a New Hampshire autumn were gone – and driving to the top was out as the road had closed for winter. We were to soon find out that going to the top on the cog railway was also out; the summit was shrouded in snow, fog, and ice. We had to make do – like the Grand Old Duke – with going only halfway up. Winter comes on hard in this location and it would be nearly six long months before it loosened its grip.

We know because in March 2019 we returned to New Hampshire, to the state capital, Concord, to start the tour with the New Hampshire Historical Society. With snow heavy on the ground we were in for a special treat. First, the programme The Shute Petition, New Hampshire Historical Society: Fintan was to take place in the sophisticated and attractive building of Mullan, Wesley Balla, Director of Collections & Exhibitions, the Society. Second, our programme coincided with the three- Gillian Hunt, 9 March 2019 hundredth anniversary of the arrival of Ulster settlers from the 1718 migration at Nutfield (renamed Londonderry), New friends in Green Bay was toasty-warm. Back with Mary Jane Hampshire on 11 April 1719, and as part of our day’s Herber and her crew, and Dave, the programme delivered to proceedings, the original petition presented to Governor Shute Brown County Library was to another full house. containing the names of some 319 individuals from Ireland was on display for participants at the Foundation’s workshop. In Green Bay we enjoyed a lovely evening at the home of 2018 conference delegate, Valerie Plasky, and her husband. On the This document announced to the Boston authorities in spring atmospheric drive to her very rural location we drove mile 1718 the intention of these Ulster migrants to come to New after straight mile, interspersed with many 90-degree turns at England. It is held by the New Hampshire Historical Society unmarked junctions. As Joyce’s Dubliners might describe it in and during the programme Wesley Balla, Director of ‘The Dead’: ‘snow was general all over … falling on every Collections, explained its historical significance and the on- part of the dark central plain … and faintly falling … upon all going efforts to conserve this important source. the living and the dead.’

The 2019 tour was another extensive itinerary covering 15 Being back in SLC so soon after our British Institute outing events in 14 locations across the lower 48 states, ranging from from October 2018 was dandy as we were back with mates Concord, Fairfield and New York in the east, to Coeur d’Alene Stan Lindaas and his wife Rocky. The contrast between SLC and Salt Lake City in the west; from Tampa to Madison and and Green Bay was marked. We arrived to a fresh fall of crisp, Green Bay, with Denver, Chicago, Valparaiso, Louisville, white snow in bright sunshine – like a Hollywood-perfect Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, completing the set. smile. So much so someone went out to the yard to make snow angels. She would not have done that in Green Bay. Taking the last flight out after our Philadelphia programme bound for Chicago, we were dismayed with others in the last Returning to our friends at W.I.S.E. in the Denver Public group to be held back from boarding with the comment ‘the Library, with the legendary James Jeffries as MC, was a plane has some problems’. Such is the lot of the late night pleasure. While we dodged the storms raging over Denver just traveller. The bad news: we arrived nearly two hours later than before we arrived, proving you cannot ride your luck forever, hoped; the good – the Irish American Heritage Center is within Gillian was laid low with a terrible winter bug (which lasted a ‘stone’s throw’, relatively speaking, of O’Hare. from leaving SLC until after Pittsburgh). She showed considerable pluck and resilience to be able to deliver her Our first programme with the Irish Center was one of the presentations, in some discomfort, to the large, welcoming highlights of the 2019 tour. A huge crowd, some 200-people crowd (including many previous UHF conference attendees). strong, were eager, interested and great fun. We start the 2020 tour with these wonderful folks. The grounding of the Boeing 737 Max fleet impacted directly on the tour. Our Saturday night flight from Denver became a The snow did not let up as we headed off to the attractive city Sunday morning to get to Pittsburgh, by way of a quick visit to of Madison WI, home to the main campus of the University of our stalwart supporter, Gary Hawbaker in Hershey PA. The Wisconsin. This second visit allowed us to make new friends delay disrupted our journey to wonderful hosts, the Heinz and meet old ones from previous US tour engagements, the History Center and the Westmoreland County Historical SLC event of only the previous October, and a real treat – an Society, but we made it. We must pay tribute here to our hosts old family friend from my son’s days on the Ulster Project in in Pittsburgh and the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. In 20 years ago. We also had time to catch up with March 2020 we return to both (Philadelphia on 15 March, our pal Dave Miller of Green Bay WI, now enjoying a second Pittsburgh on St Patrick’s Day), and wish to acknowledge their career as a genealogist, following his retirement from outstanding commitment to the Foundation: we have presented meteorology later in 2019. in both cities every year since 2014.

It is a truism that the warmth of the welcome is often in direct As much as we like revisiting old haunts, we relish travelling contrast to the biting cold outside, and the welcome among our to new locations to encourage family historians to pursue their

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DIRECTORY OF IRISH FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH ancestors and showcase the Foundation’s work. New venues in 2019 included: Concord and the Irish American Heritage Center (both mentioned above), Coeur d’Alene, Valparaiso IN, Tampa, and two venues in New York City.

Coeur d’Alene was our furthest foray west in 2019, but before we got there first lay an exciting return to the Filson Historical Society in Louisville. This venerable, elegant Society first hosted us in 2018. In 2019 we had the added bonus of having Jerry Miller in the audience. Jerry is a keen genealogist – he and his wife attended the Foundation’s June 2016 conference, and he sponsored both the 2018 and 2019 visits to Louisville.

Staff first visited Coeur d’Alene in May 2005. The late Dr Eager participants queuing in the Florida sunshine for the Tampa Trainor and Fintan Mullan spent the night there prior to the programme, 23 March 2019 deer-impact incident en route to Calgary. The 2019 visit was a lot colder, with perhaps eight inches more snow on the ground, With two gigs to go we were in danger of becoming ‘demob’ but immense fun. Jan Clizer, her daughter Jessica (both of happy. Both were linked to the Carnegie Migrations festival whom are conference alumni), and their neighbour, Todd Neel, which ran through March and April. This opportunity was staged an all-day event. Jan and Jess are bringing us back in thanks to the initiative of Billy Condon, VP Marketing USA of March 2020 as part of a festival Jan is organising. She is an Tourism Ireland. The final event was with the august artist of some note and an all-round good egg. American Irish Historical Society on Fifth Ave. Famous Irish- Americans – past and present – have graced its halls, including The Foundation always enjoys library programmes and we many Scotch-Irish patrons, not least President Teddy were not disappointed by the one in Valparaiso IN, part of the Roosevelt. We were impressed to see a number of those at our Porter County Public Library System. We met delightful folk final workshop had also attended the day before. there, and as with all of the other venues, people dedicated to finding their Irish and Scots-Irish forebears. Our host Emily Our last but one event felt a bit special. The New York Duran and her team were superb and we had the chance to Genealogical and Biographical Society – the second-oldest meet an old acquaintance, Don Glossinger of Michigan City genealogical society in the USA – was unknown to us. It was Library, where we delivered a programme in 2017. satisfying that the group at this final programme confirmed all our best experiences of the tour: the dedication to their We had to hasten away from Valparaiso to catch a late evening ancestry, goodwill, humour, intelligent questioning, love of flight to Tampa FL to rendezvous with our host, Donna buying books and desire to go further in their research. It was Moughty. Donna is a regular speaker on the genealogy circuit a good day for other reasons: as mentioned, several people and she brings research groups to Ireland annually. The Tampa returned the following day; individuals attended the June 2019 programme was the most successful of the whole 2019 tour. conference as a result; Pat Phelan, a friend from years back, With six supporting host organisations this was a well- has set up a date in 2021 with the Long Island Forum. Best of organised and highly-professional event. We thoroughly all NYGBS is planning an Irish tour in late April 2020 in co- enjoyed it. After slushing through snow in the northern states operation with the Foundation. it was nice to feel sunshine on our shoulders (for a max. of 22 hours: arrived midnight Friday; departed 10:00pm Saturday). Driving to New York was thrilling as it meant we got to stay again with our dear friend Jane Rymer. Jane’s house in A late night arrival in Hartford was made later still by the Ridgewood NJ has been a home from home for our staff since rental car company closing their office 45 minutes early. 2007: for the programmes we delivered in the New Jersey and Arriving in Fairfield at 3:00am, over two hours later than New York area and often as a rest stop when we were passing expected, we were a little groggy on the last Sunday morning through north to south, or vice versa. The very essence of of the tour, but you cannot help but perk-up visiting the Gaelic Irish-American hospitality, Jane was beloved by all who knew American Club in Fairfield, and especially as one of UHF’s and met her, including the whole street where she lived who oldest pals, Clare Lawler Kilgallen, was an organiser along turned out to throw her a surprise 90th birthday party. Jane had with John Minehan of the Club. This thriving institution gave a passion for life and for things Irish, including family history. us another magnificent experience. Her own family hailed from Belfast and worked in Barbour’s mill in Paterson NJ where they settled. It was a delight to see her again in March. We mention this as it was the last: Jane died 5 September 2019, aged 91.

We dedicate the hard work, enthusiasm, laughter and support provided by everyone who attended, sponsored, organised and helped to deliver our programmes in 2019 to Jane.

The itinerary for March 2020 can be found here: www.ancestryireland.com/usa-lecture-tour-2020/

We will happily travel to any location where an invitation is extended: North America, Australasia, UK and Ireland, etc. If you would like to help set up a future lecture programme, or Breakfast at the ‘Daily Treat’, Ridgewood NJ: Jane Rymer, belong to a society that might be interested, please contact us: Bob Marshall, Gillian Hunt, Fintan Mullan, 27 March 2019 [email protected]

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