Scots-Irish Seminar: Early Bird Rate extended to 2/5!

Are you among the 33.3 million people claiming Irish descent in the US? This number is seven times greater than the population of Ireland (4.6m) itself. Between 1830 to 1914, almost 5 million persons left Ireland for the US alone. 

California has 2.5 million people of Irish descent, which is the highest of any state, with a concentration of 13.3 percent in Moraga in Northern California. 

 Would you like to learn more about how to trace your Scots-Irish ancestry? Fintan Mullen & Gillian Hunt of the Ulster Historical Foundation in Belfast, Northern Ireland will be here with a full day event featuring training and tips on how to find your Scots-Irish ancestry. Established in 1956, the foundation helps people discover their Irish and Scots-Irish ancestors. 

CGS' Scots-Irish Seminar will be held on Sunday March 29, and we wanted to give you an opportunity to take advantage of the Early Bird Rate, which is extended to February 5. 

Copyright © 2014 by Ellen Fernandez-Sacco, California Genealogical Society and Library.

Scots-Irish Seminar: Registration Now Open!

Do you have Scots-Irish ancestry? 

Did you believe that researching Irish ancestors is a near impossibility because of the destruction of the Public Record Office in 1922? 

Actually it's not-- and there's more.  
We have a special Irish and Scots-Irish seminar scheduled for Sunday March 29 featuring Fintan Mullen and Gillian Hunt from the Ulster Historical Foundation, one of Ireland's foremost genealogy research organizations and publishing houses. Mullen is Executive Director and Hunt is a Research Officer with the foundation.  

This all-day seminar will provide very practical and detailed information on how to trace your Irish ancestors, with a range of topics that include an introduction, overview of records and history, to solving your brick walls. 

We'll be providing additional details in future posts, but wanted to give you the opportunity to take advantage of our Early Bird Special for registration. 

Registration for our Scots-Irish Seminar is now open!


Copyright © 2015 by Ellen Fernandez-Sacco, California Genealogical Society and Library.

Finding Fintan's Family

One of the most satisfying outcomes of the recent Scots-Irish Research Seminar involved turning the tables on one of our speakers and helping him to find his family.

It started on the drive from the San Francisco International Airport when Fintan Mullan mentioned that his mother's first cousin had come to Oakland and the families had lost contact with each other. Fintan and Dr. Brian Trainor, of the Ulster Historical Foundation in Belfast, Northern Ireland were here for the CGS Scots-Irish Seminar.

As soon as we saw CGS President Jane Lindsey I informed her of Fintan's missing cousin. I know how much Jane loves a search so I wasn't surprised to learn the next day that she had made considerable progress in a short amount of time.

Fintan was able to provide Jane with some details about Hugh Moreland who had left Ireland and went first to Australia but settled in Oakland. Hugh had made one trip back to Ireland to visit family but they lost contact after that. Hugh died in California and Fintan knew the names of Hugh's children.

Jane worked the California Death and Birth Indexes and checked the California passenger records. She found Hugh H. Moreland, born in Ireland, came from Australia to San Francisco in April of 1930. Kathleen DiGiovianni of the Oakland Public Library helped the cause by finding Hugh's obituary in the Oakland Tribune.

Jane was able to locate Fintan's first cousin once removed, Eileen, who lives in Napa. Fintan called his mother in Ireland to tell her the good news. Eileen and her husband drove to Oakland the next day to meet with Fintan after the seminar.

First cousins, once removed: Eileen and Fintan.

Fintan and Eileen were reunited after almost thirty years of lost contact between their families.

Great work, Jane!

Photographs by Kathryn Doyle, Oakland, California, 3/7/2009.