A recent article in the Irish Echo, a New York Irish-American newspaper, extolled the contribution of one of Accredited Genealogists Ireland’s (AGI) former presidents to the world of Irish genealogy and to wider civil society. Steven Smyrl has been a member of AGI for over thirty years, and during that time has achieved significant success not only in improving the data recorded in Irish civil registration records, but also in gaining public access to records of great use to genealogists. Steven’s work in probate genealogy made him all too aware of the shortcomings in data recorded in death registrations in … Read More

The popular collaboration between City Colleges and Accredited Genealogists Ireland will run the Certificate in Family History Foundation Course during the summer term. The aim is to deliver comprehensive courses in family history research for the dedicated amateur and budding professional alike. The “Professional Certificate in Family History Research” takes place online every Thursday evening from 27th April 2023, over the course of ten weeks.  Lectures are given by AGI members who are recognised experts in their field. Students are introduced to the building blocks of genealogy: Civil records Church records Census records In addition they then guided through exciting resources, … Read More

Gillian Johnson, having utilised the Association’s Affiliate Programme, has now been admitted into Membership of Accredited Genealogists Ireland. Over the years Gill Johnson has developed her approach to genealogical research by extensively investigating and documenting her own family history. She has been fascinated with genealogy from an early age, evident in the many interviews she conducted with older family members, recording family lore for future generations. In her professional life, for almost a decade Gill has been working with Timeline, a Dublin-based genealogical research company run by fellow AGI Member, Nicola Morris. As an employee of Timeline, Gill has undertaken … Read More

On Saturday 18th March, AGI Member Sandra Doble gave an online lecture entitled ‘Researching Your Church of Ireland Ancestors’ to the New York based genealogy society, The Irish Family History Forum (IFHF). Her talk particularly examined Church of Ireland parish registers and the challenges of using these resources given so many were destroyed in 1922 in the fire which consumed the Public Record Office of Ireland. Despite the destruction, there survives many transcripts and abstracts which help to plug the gaps. Sandra also covered a myriad of other resources pertaining to Church of Ireland families, including vestry minutes books, marriage … Read More

The popular collaboration between City Colleges and Accredited Genealogists Ireland (AGI) is moving up a notch with an online course suitable for students who are already familiar with basic Irish resources. It aims to advance students’ knowledge of the sources for Irish genealogy. This Diploma in Family History Research (advanced) course is aimed at both the dedicated amateur and budding professional and is suitable for students who already have a good grounding in civil registration, census, parish and land survey records. Its object is to advance students’ knowledge of Irish genealogy with topics such as military records, DNA, Estate records, … Read More

On Thursday, 1st December, Accredited Genealogists Ireland held its 35th Annual General Meeting at the Dublin City Library & Archive in Pearse Street, Dublin 2.  Though it proved to be a shorter meeting than in recent years, the usual reports were given by the President, Hon. Secretary and Hon. Treasurer. In a detailed address, the current President, Nicola Morris, outlined the various activities of the Association has been involved with over the past year, particularly highlighting those where AGI Members had been able to offer specific skills in expertise and advocacy. The following officers were elected to serve for the … Read More

September 2022 sees the launch of a new stage in the popular collaboration between City Colleges and Accredited Genealogists Ireland to deliver comprehensive courses in family history research for the dedicated amateur and budding professional alike. The Certificate in Family History Research takes place online every Thursday evening from 29 September 2022, over ten weeks.  Lectures are given by AGI Members who are recognised experts in their field. Students are introduced to the building blocks of genealogy: Civil records Church records Census records Then they are guided through exciting resources, from land surveys to historic newspapers. Each lecture has time … Read More

At its recent Extraordinary General Meeting, Accredited Genealogists Ireland (AGI) announced the election of a new Fellow, Paul Gorry, one of its founding Members. Paul is a former President of AGI, serving from 2007 to 2009. Previously he has served as the Association’s Hon. Secretary and on numerous sub-committees, panels and in many other and varied voluntary capacities.   His career in professional genealogy began in 1979 at the age of nineteen when he began as a freelance genealogist attached to the Genealogical Office, then still based in the Bedford Tower in Dublin Castle. With a number of other professional … Read More

In collaboration with Dublin City Council’s Culture Club and under the title ‘Ask the Genealogist’, the National Archives of Ireland is hosting a talk to be given by Vincent Brogan, a member of Accredited Genealogists Ireland, on ‘ Researching your Family History in the North of Ireland’.    After the partition of Ireland in 1922, accessing sources in Northern Ireland (NI) gradually became different, and all aspects of undertaking research in NI will be discussed in this lecture. Vincent Brogan developed an interest in genealogy at an early age thanks to his grandmother who was a native of the Sperrin … Read More

We in AGI, as a group, were saddened by the news of the death of our much loved colleague Patricia Moorhead. Pat was one of our number since 2000.  She retired from professional genealogy in 2014 and the following year AGI introduced the new category of Emeritus Member, and Patricia was the first to receive the honour. Pat was particularly interested in the history of her native Kenilworth Square, Rathgar, and in the achievements of her granduncle Thomas Joseph Crean, VC, DSO.  She had a gift of serendipity, in life and in genealogy.  She was a great raconteur and regaled … Read More