Irish Americans looking for their roots will have an opportunity to
learn how to trace their family trees back to Europe at a genealogy
lecture scheduled to take place in Bridgeport on Saturday, March 15,
2008. The presentations by three noted researchers will take place at
Housatonic Community College 900 Lafayette Blvd in Bridgeport starting
at noon.
Prof. Jonathan Shea, a foreign language professor at HCC, will lead off
the sessions speaking about American sources needed to find information
about the family on this side of the ocean, some of which will take the
researcher back to the family?s place of origin in Ireland. Among the
sources to be discussed are local birth, marriage and death records,
probate files, church registers and similar documentation generated on a
local level as well as information laden records of the federal
government such as decennial census returns, WWI draft registrations and
ships passenger lists from Ellis Island and other ports of entry. Shea,
a New Britain native, traces his paternal roots to the counties of
Offaly and Mayo in Ireland and has done on site research in the National
Archives in Dublin, local county records offices and Catholic parish
archives in his counties of origin. Stated Shea, "My family not only
emigrated to the US but to the United Kingdom, Australia, Argentina and
New Zealand so tracking down all the various branches of the family has
taken me on a documentary journey to four continents."
Resources in Ireland will be discussed by Janet Pestey of the
Connecticut Society of Genealogists. Major records sources such as the
nineteenth century Griffiths Valuation Lists and the surviving Irish
census returns will be covered as well as information on national vital
records indexes many of which are available at the Family History Center
in Woodbridge and the resources to be found at Irish National Archives.
Also included will be Civil Registration records which began in 1864,
church records, tithe records estate records. Local sources and computer
sites will also be discussed. The speaker is a retired educator and a
frequent lecturer on the topic.
The third in the trio of experts is Daniel Lynch of Trumbull. Lynch will
concentrate on internet sources researchers can use from the comfort of
their own home to hunt for ancestors. As more and more records are
digitized and becoming available on home computers, this facet of
genealogical research is among the fastest growing aspects of genealogy.
a pastime of millions Americans. Lynch is a 22 year veteran of the
computer industry and served as a consultant to the Statue of
Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation and was featured on ABC News Good
Morning America as part of their genealogy series. The author of
numerous genealogy articles, Lynch is a frequent lecturer on genealogy
and technology.
The seminar is the result of a collaboration between Housatonic, The
Connecticut Society of Genealogists, headquartered in East Hartford and
the Connecticut Ancestry Society headquartered in Stamford.
Free parking in the college's parking garage is available to all
participants and all are welcome at the event. There is no charge to
attend the lectures. The Irish program is the second of a series of
genealogy lectures held at Housatonic. Last year's seminar on Polish and
Eastern European research attracted a capacity crowd from all over the
state as well as persons from neighboring states.
To obtain an approximate head count of those planning to attend,
would-be participants are asked to contact Prof. Shea at
jshea(a)hcc.commnet.edu, Stephanie Hyland of The Connecticut Society of
Genealogists csginc(a)ctfamilyhistory.com, or Rob Locke of Connecticut
Ancestry Society at info(a)connecticutancestry.org
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