September 2, 2008
Do you remember hearing your grandparents talk about a distant cousin from County Clare? Since a tremendous number of Irish immigrants made their way into the Mid–South, many local residents can trace their ancestry back to Gaelic roots.
The Ulster Historical Foundation will visit the University of Mississippi on October 9th to offer a one–day workshop on Irish geneology, clans, history, and culture. Experts in the diaspora of native Irish clans, Brian Trainor and William Roulston will discuss the patterns of emigration from Ireland to America and the sources of its study. Participants will learn about civil registration records and records relating to the different churches for Irish and Scots–Irish research.
William Roulston is Research Director of the Ulster Historical Foundation, specializing in genealogical research and heritage consultancy. He holds a doctorate in Archaeology from Queen’s University, Belfast. He has written and edited a number of books including, (with Eileen Murphy) Fermanagh: History and Society (Dublin, 2004) and Researching Scots–Irish Ancestors (Belfast, 2005). He has also worked with the BBC on radio and television programs relating to local and family history and has participated in numerous historical and genealogical conferences. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and a Member of Council of both the Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland and the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society.
Brian Trainor retired as Research Director of the Ulster Historical Foundation in September 2006. He was educated at Queen’s University, Belfast, and from there went for a time to the Institute of Historical Research in London. He returned to Belfast where he lectured for several years at Queen’s before becoming in 1956 an archivist in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. He was Director of the Public Record Office from 1970 to 1987 when he became Director and then Research Director of the Ulster Historical Foundation. He holds an Honorary Doctorate of Law from the National University of Ireland. He has been on over thirty lecture tours to America and has spoken on Irish history and genealogy in over forty states.
The workshop will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the Yerby Conference Center Auditorium on the Oxford campus of the University of Mississippi and end at 3:30 p.m.. Cost is $40. For more information and to register, contact Leteria McDonald McGee at 662-915-1299 or lmcdonal@olemiss.edu
