Ireland Research Trip - Final Day in Dublin

This was our final day in Dublin. It was a free day to do whatever we wanted. So people went to the various repositories or did some sightseeing.

I began with the National Library of Ireland and finished up with the newspapers I had been going through. Came up empty but still enjoyed reading about what was going on in the 1840s.

After that I went to the National Musuem of Archaeolgy which is next to the library.  Could have stayed there all day.

I then had a late lunch and then went to Dublin Castle.

Then we had dinner at the Shelbourne Hotel on St. Stephen's Green with Irish genealogist John Grenham. 

The next day after breakfast, I checked out and then went to the bus stop to returned to the airport and pick up my rental car. The next part of my trip was to go north to the area where my great great grandparents were from,  Falcarragh, County Donegal.

Ireland Research Trip - Day 6

A small group went to the Registry of Deeds because for several of us there wouldn't be anything relating to our ancestors.

The Registry is summarized in our tour organizer Donna Moughty's blog at IrishFamilyRoots.com,

The Registry of Deeds began operation in 1708 and records not only land deeds, conveyances marriage settlements, mortgages among other documents. There was never a requirement to file a deed so it does not represent every transaction. It was mostly used when there was the possibility of a legal action in the future. The vast majority of the records, especially in the early years was for Protestants. You might find your Catholic ancestors mentioned in the mid to late 19th and 20th century.

After breakfast there was some time before it opened, so I took another walk around Dublin. Unfortunately, I did get turned around and got back to the hotel too late. And since the Registry was not in walking distance I decided to return to the National Library of Ireland and go through more newspapers and look for more books and materials for County Donegal. I did find more relevant information for my research than I likely would have looking through the deeds.

After that, I returned to Liberty University and took the tour.

Here is the outside of the Long Room Library.

 At the entrance of the library there is this sculpture. The Sphere Within Sphere or in Italian, Sfera con Sfera by artist Arnaldo Pomodoro, The first of spheres was made in 1963.  Others are spread out over the world including the United Nations plaza in New York and the Cortile del Belvedere at the Vatican Museums.

 

 And the inside of the Long Room Library. I hadn't realized this was where they filmed the library scene in Attack of the Clones. I might actually re-watch this movie now, though it will likely be the RiffTrax version.

And these books are still used by researchers today.

 And the last part of the tour was to see The Book of Kells which is a 9th century manuscript that documents the four Gospels of the Bible.

After we headed to the oldest pub in Dublin, Brazen Head Pub for music and storytelling. We heard tales of fairies and sang songs such as the classic Finnegans Wake. A very memorable evening with much food and Guinness (at least in my case).

Ireland Research Trip - Day 5

Half the group began the day by visiting by visiting Epic - The Irish Emigration Museum  

After that we had a talk from one of the staff of the Irish Family History Centre on what to do when there are no more records.

After that the groups switched and we headed of the the Valuation Office.  "The Valuation Office is Ireland's State property valuation body. Our core business is the valuation of commercial and industrial property for commercial rates purposes."

As per usual, my known ancestors won't appear in this record having left a good bit before they started being kept. But I was able to find many McFadden's, Collum's and Ferry's who may be distant cousins. My next plan is to map out their locations and figure out how to determine who may of may not be a cousin. This will likely be a long term project, but once completed I plan to take another research trip and hopefully fill in some blanks.

After the Valuation Office closed everyone headed back to the hotel. I decided to go and see the Famine Memorial not too far away.

Then I walked to the Four Courts.Unfortunately there was a lot of construction and stuff blocking the view and I couldn't get a good picture.

This is where the Battle of Dublin took place in 1922.  From Wikipedia:

"The Battle of Dublin was a week of street battles in Dublin from 28 June to 5 July 1922 that marked the beginning of the Irish Civil War. Six months after the Anglo-Irish Treaty ended the recent Irish War of Independence, it was fought between the forces of the new Provisional Government and a section of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) that opposed the Treaty. The Irish Citizen Army also became involved in the Battle, supporting the anti-Treaty IRA in the O'Connell Street area. The fighting began with an assault by Provisional Government forces on the Four Courts building, and ended in a decisive victory for the Provisional Government."

Also from Wikipedia:

"Several hours before the surrender, at either 11:30 or 2:15 the Irish Public Record Office located in the western block of the Four Courts, which had been used as an ammunition store by the Four Courts garrison, was the center of a huge explosion, destroying 1000 years of Irish state and religious archives."

So, apparently, storing ammunition and old historical records in the same building is not a good idea.