County Fund Genealogy Project.

Who or what is the fund? The County Monaghan fund has paid out in excess of €95,000 in grant aid to several County Monaghan projects over the last seven years. I will just mention four of these to give you an example of the kind of project we have got involved in. We funded a training of trainers for defibrillators in community groups right throughout the County and we now have 41 people trained as trainers in this scheme. Our trainers have trained over 800 responders in community areas, outside their own, thereby saving those community groups a substantial amount of money. We have been working for a number of years with the Monaghan County Enterprise board to promote enterprise studies in second level schools and I'm glad to say that all schools in the County are taking part in this project. We have also paid €24,000 for three County Monaghan students to get a degree through the access program in DCU. We supported the Wetlands Project who received a grant of €20,000 which enabled them to draw down a substantial European grant to develop this very worthwhile educational project.

We also put together a promotional DVD of County Monaghan called “This is County Monaghan” to help with tourism. It is for sale in shops in every town in the County. The DVD, which includes photographs from every community area in the County, is also for sale on our website and can be bought from anywhere in the world. We have had terrific feedback from those who have bought the DVD, many couldn’t believe the beauty of Monaghan and how much Co. Monaghan has to offer.

The Gathering 2013 (We need your help) As you are probably aware the government hopes to encourage Irish emigrants to return to Ireland during 2013. We want to make sure that County Monaghan people both at home and abroad get maximum benefit from this initiative. With that in mind the County Monaghan Fund wishes to ensure that a serious effort is made to coordinate a countywide project to attract maximum numbers of Monaghan emigrants back to their native County. We believe that this can only be achieved with the full cooperation of the people from every community or parish area of the County. We are looking for a list of people who have good local knowledge or an interest in genealogy and or local history from each parish in the County. Our hope is that these people will be able, through contacts in each townland, to identify a number of people who have left each townland in their parish and have settled in a foreign country. In this way we hope to trace not only people who have left within living memory, but also a substantial number of people whose ancestors left from Monaghan maybe several generations back. When these people are identified it is our intention that they would receive an invitation to return for at least a week during 2013. A number of special attractive events would be organised for their entertainment plus a number of trips showcasing the beauty of County Monaghan. Also personal trips to their ancestral home, school and burial places which would be of interest to these visitors. We feel that this would give a much needed boost to the tourism industry in County Monaghan and we are sure that local Hotels, Guest Houses and B&Bs will put together a very attractively priced package for these returning emigrants.

We have already been talking to people in Monaghan County Council who are very interested in encouraging this project and we have got the support of the Monaghan Photographic Society who have agreed to go around and photograph any ancestral homes, headstones etc. throughout the County, which have been identified by the local team in each parish.

In addition to organising the parish survey, we hope to set up a special section on the County Monaghan Fund website on which Monaghan people living abroad may register their interest in following up their County Monaghan ancestral roots. You could also help us here by communicating our website address to as many people abroad as possible (www.countymonaghanfund.com).

One way to get this Project off the ground in your parish would be to get a notice in your Parish Bulletin/News or Parish website similar to the one below that Ciaran Deeney set up in Errigal/Truagh.

“Help needed in contacting relatives abroad XXXXXX Community Centre in conjunction with the County Monaghan Fund Genealogy Project are looking for your help in identifying people from the townlands of XXXX Parish who have emigrated, either within living memory, or whose ancestors may have emigrated from as far back as the Famine. We would like to invite these people and their friends to “come home” on a visit to coincide with the “Gathering Ireland 2013” – a government led tourism initiative. All we need is a name and contact number or email address – we’ll do the rest! If you know of any emigrants from your townland, please contact XXX at the XXXX office at 04X XXXX, email: [email protected]. Alternatively you can contact Seamus McDermott at the County Monaghan Fund 087 2050365 or email: [email protected]”

If you have an interest in helping us with this project, please fill out the following form and email it to [email protected] or ring Séamus at 087 2050365

Name______Parish/Community Area______Phone Number ______Mobile No. ______email address ______Is anyone else in your parish involved in Genealogy or local history ___ If Yes would you be willing to share his or her name and contact details ______Names of other people in your parish, with good local knowledge, that you feel would be willing to contribute to this project______Would you be willing to identify people who have left your area ______Would you be willing to help to organise a parish event for a group of these returning emigrants _____

Example of the type of information we would like to collect about each emigrant. Full name______address of ancestral home ______address and contact details of descendants______

Is ancestral home still in existence ____ if yes would present occupant allow photographs to be taken ______is there a family headstone in existence_____ if yes where is it located ______.. Are there any relatives of this person still living in the area_____ if yes, please give names and addresses Ph. Num. ______

For those people that we manage to build up a record for we will send an invitation to return to County Monaghan for the Gathering in 2013.

My contact details: Séamus McDermott Mobile Number 087 2050365 Email Address [email protected]

Civil parishes of County Monaghan

Aghabog, Aghnamullen, Ballybay,Clones, , Currin, Donagh, Donaghmoyne, Drummully, Drumsnat, Ematris, Errigal Truagh [Errigal ], Inishkeen, Killanny, Killeevan, Kilmore, Magheracloone, Magheross, Monaghan, Muckno, [Tedavnet], [Tehallan], Tullycorbet

Townlands There are a total of 1,852 townlands in the county. I am sure it wouldn't be difficult to trace two or more families who have emigrated from each of those townlands.

If we could get even a few from each townland we could have a substantial number of visitors to the County and maybe the owners of some of the beautiful private houses in the county might consider providing B&B if needed in their area.