TONY'S GENEALOGY BLOG I've decided to start 2018 with a challenge to myself: Write 26 genealogy blogs in 52 weeks ie. one blog each fortnight. On the face of it it seems like a manageable thing to do (...famous last words?) and I look forward to the creative writing aspect of it with both enthusiasm and a certain amount of trepidation. I also look forward to, by year's end, having a bunch of family and other stories written down for posterity. Some blogs may be inspired by my work as a genealogist, others by my own family history which is full of stories - just like everybody elses! Each blog will include a photograph or image. THE START - IS THE END! For my first blog I'll start right at the very beginning - the very beginning of ME at any rate! I was born not long after midnight on New Year's Day 1963 in Airmount Maternity Hospital, Waterford. My (still slightly older) friend Pat Mahon had been born in the next bed at the stroke of midnight. We both and our respective mothers, who each had played a significant part in fairness, made the front page of the Evening Herald the following day ("Quick Missus! put on some lipstick - the Man from the Newspapers is outside!") under the banner headline 'IRISH TROOPS MOVE INTO KIPUSHI - AND TWO MORE INTO WATERFORD!' (The Irish Army were on peacekeeping duty in the Congo at the time). In all my years since I haven't been able to reach those dizzy heights of fame - although (come to think of it) just this week I'm pictured in the weekend paper in my birthday suit (almost) after a Christmas Day Swim. I know - it's hard to imagine I was once 7 pounds 3 ounces! The Winter of 1962/63 is in the record books as the coldest of the 20th Century in Ireland; the snow arrived in dramatic fashion on New Year's Eve and continued virtually unabated until the end of February. Being honest I have no recollection of it although I do remember my father saying he burnt a whole Winter's worth of coal in my first week home trying to keep our half of the Glen House, with it's high ceilings, warm. He would also declare on occasion that I was 'born in a sack of coal': on the morning I was born he was pulling a 'hundred' of coal along on a handcart (the coal lorry couldn't deliver with the snow) when some joker shouted at him "Is that the new baby in the sack?" From a genealogy point of view one's own birth is kind of the END of the story - in terms of research. When one starts 'tracing the family tree' there is lots of advice on offer. I believe in one Golden Rule which I happily impart here: Work from the Present to the Past and not the other way round. (The Other Way Around is a dark road to travel!). So you use what you know to find and confirm what you don't know. Or in other words you start at the END of the story and follow along in your ancestors footsteps all the way back to Once Upon A Time. Tony Hennessy M.A.G.I. Genealogist

SERIES XII OF JULIAN WALTON'S ACCLAIMED DUNHILL LECTURE SERIES kicks off on Thursday next 11th Jan. I've been invited to deliver a talk on Week 3, 25th Jan. My topic will be “MY ANCESTOR WAS SENT TO JAIL - HOORAY!” The Petty Sessions Court and prison records as genealogical sources (with a focus on Waterford). All are welcome

Here's my own December contribution to Accredited Genealogists Ireland's Image of the Month. Hope you like it. ‘HISTORY REMEMBERS THE CELEBRATED, GENEALOGY REMEMBERS THEM ALL’ When I was about fourteen or fifteen I was shown an old, creased and slightly blurry photograph of an ancient looking woman standing in a field or a garden with a child in her arms. I was told she was my grandmother’s grandmother. My grandmother’s grandmother?! But would she not have been around in the famine times? Did they have camera’s then?? “What was her name?” “Mrs Bergin” I was told. “First name and maiden name unknown, lost forever…” I was told. Staring at the photo I was struck by the realization that such a distant ancestor was actually a person in their own right, a human being who lived a life and not just a name and a date. In time I discovered that Mrs Bergin was born Margaret Quann shortly after the famine in a two-roomed thatched cottage in the townland of Keiloge not far from Waterford City. Known as Peg she was the daughter of Patrick Quann, a blacksmith. Despite its small size their home was a gathering place for music and playing cards and one might even a free haircut from Peg’s brother Andy. And I was reliably informed that Peg’s party piece was to play the fiddle while dancing around two hot pokers taken from the fire! (I’d pay €1000 for a video of that!). Peg married Francis Bergin, a stone cutter with an established family business in the city and they went on to have six sons and one daughter - my great grandmother Margaret Bergin. Peg Quann’s story may not be of great significance on a global level but for me, as her direct descendant, it is an important part of my own family story. I have long since discovered that everybody has a story to tell but unfortunately not every story gets told. As professional genealogists it is our job to help people rediscover and tell their own family story, to move beyond a list of names and dates and put flesh on the bones and colour in the cheeks of the ancestors.

...HOW ABOUT A €50 GENEALOGY GIFT VOUCHER.... for a one hour genealogy consultation at the Medieval Museum with Resident Genealogist Tony Hennessy...? You can receive it by email & pay with Paypal (PM me) or call in to the Medieval Museum and pick one up at the counter. Here's a New Year Resolution for you: DO YOUR FAMILY TREE!

HEY THERE LEO - IT'S TIME TO PUT THE 1926 CENSUS ONLINE (like Enda promised when looking for our votes...)

RECONNECT WITH YOUR ANCESTORS THIS CHRISTMAS. It's the perfect time to start. Share if you care my friends

LUNCHTIME GENEALOGY TALKS AT THE MEDIEVAL MUSEUM WEEK No. 5: FOOTPRINTS ON THE LAND This week we'll be learning a lot from the faint footprints your ancestors left in 19th and 20th Century land records including Griffith's Valuation and associated maps, the Revision (Cancelled) Books, the Tithe Applotment Books and the Encumbered Estates records (the NAMA of their day!) Wed. 29 Nov. 1.15 - 2.pm. €5 entrance. Hope to see you there - Tony Here's a nice photo of my great grandaunt Ellie Quinn nee O'Connor and her son Paddy Quinn who farmed at Butlerstown

LUNCHTIME TALKS AT THE MEDIEVAL MUSEUM No. 4: BIRTH, BAPTISM, MARRIAGE, DEATH. I'm halfway through my series of lunchtime genealogy talks at the Medieval Museum. My talk this week will explore both civil registration and church records - the nuts and bolts of genealogical research and will include some wonderful recent developments...! Wednesday 22 Nov. 1.15 - 2pm. €5 entrance. Hope to see you there.

TRACING YOUR FAMILY TREE: HOW TO START WHERE TO START Join me for my 2nd of 6 Lunchtime Talks at the Medieval Museum Tomorrow Wednesday 8 Nov. 1.15 - 2pm. €5. Stop making excuses to yourself - NOW is the time to start!

SAY HELLO TO THE NEW RESIDENT GENEALOGIST at the Medieval Museum in Waterford's Viking Triangle. To announce my arrival I'll be giving six lunchtime genealogy talks at the museum beginning Wednesday coming 1st Nov. at 1.15pm and for the five Wednesdays following. The first talk is called 'WELCOME TO THE GOLDEN AGE OF IRISH GENEALOGY'. It's free and all are welcome. I look forward to seeing you there - Tony.

LAST CALL for my 10 Week evening course in genealogy. Starting tomorrow, Wednesday 11 Oct. at the Edmund Rice Centre. Contact Tony at 087 152 8582 to book.

The start date for my forthcoming 10 week EVENING COURSE IN GENEALOGY at the Edmund Rice Heritage Centre has been put back by one week and will commence on Wednesday 11th October at 7pm. Two places still available. Contact Tony at 087 1528582 to book your seat on this Voyage of Discovery!