GENEALOGICAL riches from Limerick have been uncovered in the latest release of records from the Virtual Treasury of Ireland. Now included in the 2025 findings is the 1981 Census showing the ‘rateable valuation’ of land across Ireland.

In Croom, farmers paid between £4 and £10, but neighbours in Newcastle West were only taxed between £2 and £5.

The Virtual Treasury has delivered eight local roadshows across the country since 2023, with Limerick to follow next on the list.

The Virtual Treasury of Ireland is now  home to over 350,000 records and 250 million words of searchable Irish history.

The following is a press release from TheGenealogist:

TheGenealogist is proud to announce the release of the International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC): Losses Database on its website. This significant collection honours the men and women who served and died while supporting Bomber Command operations.

The IBCC Losses Database includes detailed records of over 67,000 Bomber Command casualties, capturing personal details, aircraft information, missions, and circumstances of death. This fully searchable resource allows family historians, researchers, and aviation enthusiasts to access an unparalleled level of detail about those who gave their lives in the cause of freedom.

The records link on to the IBCC database, compiled from over 6.2 Million pieces of data, giving an incredible amount of information for each individual, often including a photo.

● 67,140 Records

● Covers 1936 to 1968

● Gives over 100,000 names of Parents, Spouses, Siblings and Children

● SmartSearch links to our AIR 27 Operations Record Books (ORBs), which can provide details of the fateful mission where the crew member lost their life

149 Squadron at RAF Mildenhall with a Wellington Bomber

Among the notable entries in the database is Percy Charles Pickard, the legendary RAF officer known for leading the daring Amiens prison raid in 1944. His inclusion in the records offers a poignant reminder of the bravery and sacrifice that marked the RAF’s wartime efforts. You can read his remarkable story here: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2025/target-for-tonight-8696/ 

Mark Bayley, Head of Online Content at TheGenealogist, said:
 "This is a moving record collection that sheds light on those who served in one of the most dangerous roles of the Second World War. We’re making this release free to everyone as a tribute to the Bomber Command staff and crew who paid the ultimate price."

The IBCC Losses Database is now available for free for all registered users. Sign up for your free account at https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/account/signup/

Don’t miss out! For a limited time, you can subscribe to TheGenealogist for just £129.95 - Save Over £100

Not only will you get a lifetime discount, but you'll also receive a 12-Month Subscription to Discover Your Ancestors Online Magazine worth £24.99 and four digital books worth £39.80

Explore these new records and start your genealogical journey today with TheGenealogist by claiming this offer here: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/MGBIBCC25  

Offer expires 11th October 2025.

About TheGenealogist

TheGenealogist is an award-winning online family history website, who put a wealth of information at the fingertips of family historians. Their approach is to bring hard to use physical records to life online with easy to use interfaces such as their Tithe and newly released Lloyd George Domesday collections. 

TheGenealogist’s innovative SmartSearch technology links records together to help you find your ancestors more easily. TheGenealogist is one of the leading providers of online family history records. Along with the standard Birth, Marriage, Death and Census records, they also have significant collections of Parish and Nonconformist records, PCC Will Records, Irish Records, Military records, Occupations, Newspaper record collections amongst many others.

TheGenealogist uses the latest technology to help you bring your family history to life. Use TheGenealogist to find your ancestors today!

####

A group of Philadelphia-area historical organizations are pooling their archives into “The Revolutionary City: A Portal to the Nation’s Founding,” a growing collection of original documents that has been digitized, catalogued and made searchable by the public.

More than 6,000 documents with more than 57,000 pages have already been uploaded into the publicly accessible website. The project began a decade ago with three major archives: the American Philosophical Society, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the Library Company. Since then, the cohort has grown to eight members.

Details may be found at: https://whyy.org/articles/revolutionary-city-digital-archive-philadelphia-revolutionary-war/ 

Henry Louis Gates Jr. visited the Vatican to meet with Pope Leo XIV to deliver his genealogical findings on his family tree.

Gates confirmed that the first American pope is related to Madonna, Angelina Jolie, Justin Bieber, Pierre and Justin Trudeau, Hilary Clinton and Jack Kerouac, as reported by The New York Times.

Pope Leo, 69 is ninth-cousin several times removed to the celebrity group, and they are connected through a maternal ancestor who was born in the 1590s, according to Gates’ research.

Gates was able to trace Pope Leo’s ancestry back 15 generations and confirmed that several of his ancestors were enslaved people, while others in his lineage were slaveholders. He also has mixed Black and European ancestry.

Pope Leo, born Robert Prevost, was born and raised in Chicago, and always felt a calling to the role.

Professor LaKisha Tawanda David of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the Reparations Committee will provide Evanston residents who are interested in tracing their family ancestry with free genetic testing kits as a part of a program that's supported by an Illinois House bill. Illinois HR0453 states the initiative "provides African American descendants of enslaved individuals the opportunity to trace their roots back to their ancestral homelands, to reconnect with their ancestral heritage, and to promote their well-being."

Details are available at: https://evanstonroundtable.com/2025/07/11/university-illinois-genealogy-testing-program/ .

The following is a press release created by the (U.S.) National Archives and Records Administration:

July 4th Recap Did you celebrate Independence Day with the National Archives in Washington, DC? What was your favorite part? The National Anthem? The Fife and Drum Corps? The reading of the Declaration of Independence? The festivities had so much to offer, and if you missed out, you can still enjoy the fun on the National Archives YouTube Channel, Commander Everett Alvarez, Jr. (Ret.), the longest held POW in Vietnam—and the soon-to-be recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal—offered stirring remarks, which you can watch HERE. The National Archives also displayed very rarely-seen historical treasures over the 4th of July weekend, including an original first edition printing of the Declaration of Independence and the June 1776 Lee Resolution, which called for the American Colonies’ independence from Great Britain.  Check out some of the July 4th media coverage: NewsNation - Founding documents on display for Fourth of July  WENY News - National Archives Displays Rare Declaration of Independence Documents Every July 4, the National Archives marks the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence with its traditional Independence Day program! Baltimore Seniors Help Transcribe NARA's Cursive Holdings Seniors from the Springwell Senior Living Community in Baltimore, MD, have been using their skills to transcribe historical documents that were written in cursive, as reported by WBAL-TV 11.    They're part of NARA’s Citizen Archivist program and are helping to make records more accessible online. You can join in the effort, too! Every contribution helps unlock America’s history. Seniors from the Springwell Senior Living Community in Baltimore, MD, were recently highlighted on WBAL-TV 11 for their work transcribing historical documents as part of NARA’s Citizen Archivist program. (Screenshot from WBAL-TV 11 broadcast)  The Olive Branch Petition One year before declaring independence, the Continental Congress made a final appeal for a “happy and permanent reconciliation” by delivering a petition to King George III. The King refused to formally receive or respond to what became known as the Olive Branch Petition and instead declared that the American colonies were waging a war of rebellion.  The National Archives invites you to view The Olive Branch Petition, the latest rotation in its Road to Revolution Series now on display at the National Archives in Washington, DC, and learn more about the political actions that would directly lead to America’s Revolutionary War. Olive Branch Petition, page 1, July 8, 1775 (Courtesy of the National Archives, UK)

Hundreds of Donegal census records, thought to have been destroyed in the Public Records Office fires in Dublin in 1922, have been recovered.

They are among 60,000 ‘new’ accounts which were released this week by the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland (VRTI). The documents are now freely available online to mark the 103rd anniversary of the Four Courts blaze that destroyed the Public Record Office of Ireland, and with it seven centuries of Irish history.

Unfortunately, most of the original Irish census records (1813-1851) were in the Public Record Office, and were destroyed in 1922. During the 55 years they were located in the Record Office, however, they were open for public access, and many genealogists and record agents accessed the census records, and transcribed information from them. Many of the notes of these genealogists and record agents were submitted to the National Archives, in Dublin, or the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), in Belfast, after the 1922 catastrophe.

Dr Brian Gurrin, VRTI Research Fellow and Census Specialist, told Donegal Daily the VRTI project team has examined many of these genealogical collections in order to identify extracts from the census within their pages. 

“It must be remembered that these genealogical collections are simply working notes, taken, often hurriedly, by genealogists while working in the Record Office,” he explained.

“Often (usually) there is no structure to the records, and historical notes and extracts are presented in a most haphazard manner. I estimate that I have examined more than 250,000 individual pages, examining each one carefully, to see if it contains any census information or transcriptions. We were pleased to be in a position to report, on Monday of last week, the release of more than 60,000 names gleaned from the nineteenth century censuses of Ireland – all of these names available freely online via the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland’s website (www.virtualtreasury.ie).

“For Donegal, there are a smattering of census entries for parts of the county, but there are three clusters where substantial recovery has occurred,” Dr Gurrin added. 

These are:

• 1821, Killymard parish, near Donegal Town. These extracts sourced from the book Killymard, ancient and modern. Attempts to track down the original notebooks containing the original transcriptions have so far proved unsuccessful.
• 1851, Gartan parish. Complete census records for about 15 townlands in the Glenveagh area.
• 1821, Clonmany and Desertegny civil parishes. All Doherty/Dogherty households and all households containing at least one person called Doherty (e.g. as servants or live-in labourers). This has resulted in the recovery of about 40% of the original census returns for both parishes.

 “We will be continuing our searches, and have many more names from censuses to introduce to the VRTI over the coming months. “Overall, Donegal performs quite well in comparison to many other counties, and significant census extracts are available for some parts,” Dr Gurrin continued.

Census extracts can be accessed in a number of ways:

Browse the VRTI

1. Browse. Go to www/virtualtreasury.ie and select Browse the Treasury.
2. Now scroll down to near the bottom of the list, and click on Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland.

 The second option in the list should be VRTI CEN – Censuses of Ireland, 1766-1891

1. Click the arrow to the left of VRTI CEN – Censuses of Ireland, 1766-1891 to open the census area.
2. Now select your census – say 1821 (click the arrow to the left of it to open it.
3. Now open Ulster (click arrow to left).
4. Now open Donegal (arrow to left).
5. Now open your barony (say Inishowen).
6. Now open your parish (say Clonmany).
7. Now click on your townland of interest – say Dunaff townland.
8. Now scroll down to see a table containing a significant number of names recovered from the lost 1821 census.

 Access via Census Gleanings

1. Go to www.virtualtreasury.ie and click the Gold Seams button.
2. Select first option on list (right hand side) – Gleanings and fragments from the censuses of Ireland.
3. Click the explore button.
4. Now enter something in the search box. This can be a name, place, occupation, or anything else. Let’s try Dunaff, and click Search.
5. We get one hit – select it, and we get to Dunaff (same as above).

 Access via Knowledge Graph map.

1. Go to www.virtualtreasury.ie and click the Portals button.
2. Select Population portal, and click Explore.
3. Scroll down and click Explore places when you see the large, horizontal green (or blue) rectangle.
4. The image of a charred fragment in the circle is part of an original page from the 1821 census, from Ramelton Town.
5. Scroll down and you will see a map, populated with pins (you won’t see the pins until you zoom in on a location). Zoom in on Inishowen or south Donegal and you see townlands appearing. Click on a pin when it appears and you can access the census data for that townland.

Note – this map is work in progress. It will eventually contain extracts from all censuses, but at the moment it displays only 1821 data, and not all pins have been added.  

On Friday, June 20, Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke MPP Billy Denault met with the Upper Ottawa Valley Genealogical Group (UOVGG) to hear more about the $13,700 grant from the provincial government’s Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) that was used to update the group’s equipment and services. These funds will assist the group’s board in strengthening the offerings to members, make the organization’s services more accessible to current members and attract new members from both the Upper Ottawa Valley and those whose ancestors used to call this home. 

“We are grateful to the Ontario Trillium Foundation for making this meaningful investment in our community,” said Billy Denault, MPP for Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke. “This support will empower individuals to discover their family roots, preserve local history, and deepen our community’s connection to its heritage. The project ensures that more residents will have the tools and resources to explore their stories and contribute to the rich historical fabric of our region,”

This grant has enabled the Group to purchase new research and educational support equipment and programs, install a state-of-the art library management program, and launch a new, more comprehensive website.  

“This grant has been a life-saver for us, especially in dealing with the ‘pandemic hangover’ that has decimated many organizations similar to our own,” said Larry Schruder, current UOVGG board chairman. “Moving a good portion of our reference collection into an electronic format available online is an important recognition that some of our elderly members are less able to visit our library in person – and that a significant portion of our members live in other parts of Canada and beyond. Moving into the digital world with some of our records and education programs will enable these two groups, and many others, to more easily complete their genealogical journey.” 

For the past 35 years, The Upper Ottawa Valley Genealogical Group (UOVGG) has served as a non-profit organization to foster the study of the genealogy of the families who live, or lived, in the Upper Ottawa Valley. 

The UOVGG’s objectives are to collect and preserve local genealogical records including census recordings, births, marriages and deaths, obituaries, cemetery transcriptions, family histories, charts and pedigree charts. 

The group shares genealogy information with its members and the public and publishes a newsletter, TIMBERLINE, on a regular basis. 

The UOVGG maintains a reference library for members and encourages ethical principles and effective techniques of genealogical research with primary interest in the Upper Ottawa Valley. 

The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) is an agency of the Ontario government with a mission to build healthy and vibrant communities across the province. Last year, OTF invested nearly $105M into 732 community projects and multi-sector partnerships. Projects aim to enhance economic well-being, foster more active lifestyles, support child and youth development, provide spaces for people to come together and connect, and create a more sustainable environment. Visit otf.ca to learn more. 

In October 2021, the skeletal remains of an unknown individual wearing a one-piece jumpsuit/fleece longjohns (likely an undergarment for a scuba diving dry-suit or a survival suit) were found after becoming entangled in a fishing net just beyond the boundaries of California's Monterey Bay. The remains were given to the Monterey County Coroner's Division in Moss Landing, California. Investigators determined that the remains were likely a man who was 35 to 50 years old. He was likely between 5'8" and 6'3" tall. He was found with five keys and two coins, but no identification.

Despite an extensive investigation, including a thorough search by the Missing and Unidentified Persons Section of the California Department of Justice, the man could not be identified and the case went cold. Details of the case were entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) as UP99784.

In 2022, the Monterey County Cold Case Taskforce, which is comprised of the Monterey County District Attorney's Office, Sheriff-Coroner's Office, Monterey Police Department and is assisted by the California DOJ Bureau of Forensic Services, teamed with Othram in The Woodlands, Texas to determine if advanced DNA testing could help identify the man.

Forensic evidence was submitted to Othram’s laboratory, where scientists used Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing to build a comprehensive DNA profile for the unknown man. Othram's casework costs for the case were provided by the Roads to Justice (RTJ) program. Othram’s in-house forensic genetic genealogy team then used the profile in a genetic genealogy search to develop new leads in the case. These new leads were provided to investigators with the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office.

Using this new information, a follow-up investigation was conducted leading investigators to potential relatives of the man. A reference DNA sample was collected from a relative and tested using KinSNP Rapid Familial Relationship Testing, which allows investigators to infer kinship in both closely and distantly related individuals. This comparison led investigators to identify "Sandholdt Doe" as Jeffrey Lyndon Hulliger, who was born on May 30, 1960.

Hulliger was 36-years-old when he was lost at sea with a friend while fishing in Monterey Bay on January 14, 1997. His friend and boatmate, Greg Mitchell, has never been found. After the duo sent out a distress signal from their boat, “The Salmon Patty”, the Coast Guard attempted to locate the vessel, which was reported to have been taking on water.

According to newspaper accounts at the time, the Coast Guard launched a multi-day search with volunteers, two Coast Guard cutters, a helicopter and an airplane in an effort to rescue the men. Their boat was equipped with a life raft, two survival suits and an electronic satellite beacon. No signal from the beacon was ever received. Only debris was found, and both men were presumed drowned, but neither the boat nor their remains were located in the search.

Two years after Jeffrey Hulliger disappeared, his brother, who was also a fisherman, said in a newspaper interview that he tried to convince Jeffrey Hullger to not go out fishing for black cod that day because the weather was so bad. John Hulliger said he believed that his brother and Greg Mitchell drowned when their boat capsized in 18-foot waves off Point Reyes.

When it was discovered that Jeffrey Hlliger's remains had been floating around Monterey Bay for 24 years, he also became known as the "Ancient Mariner" a reference to the famous poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" which recounts the experiences of a sailor who has returned from a long sea voyage. Hulliger's identification is also featured by the Cold Case Project of Monterey County, a non-profit dedicated to raising funding to solve cold cases.

Individuals who have taken a consumer DNA test can aid ongoing forensic investigations by joining the DNASolves database. Expanding the pool of available DNA data increases the likelihood of successful identifications, helping to reunite families with their missing loved ones and resolve cases that have remained unanswered for years. This identification represents the 64th case in the State of California where officials have publicly identified an individual using technology developed by Othram.

The following is a press release written by the Yiddish Book Center:

After nearly a decade in development, a groundbreaking new initiative—the Universal Yiddish Library (UYL)—has launched as a public beta, bringing together the Yiddish book collections of four major institutions: the Yiddish Book Center, the National Library of Israel (NLI), the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, and the New York Public Library (NYPL). For the first time, more than 60,000 Yiddish book records can be searched in a single catalog, offering unprecedented access to the world’s Yiddish literature.

The Universal Yiddish Library’s platform allows users to search across the combined collections and link directly to the owning institutions’ catalogs. Of these 60,000+ records, nearly 20,000 books have already been digitized, and over 18,000 are currently fully searchable via OCR (optical character recognition)—making this the largest digital collection of searchable, full-text Yiddish books ever created. With the platform now live, partners will continue identifying and scanning additional titles. The catalog also allows participating libraries to determine which books are unique, helping guide future preservation work and digitization.

“We estimate we’re about halfway to our goal of scanning the complete Yiddish holdings,” said Amber Kanner Clooney, the Yiddish Book Center’s director of web development and the Digital Library project lead. “This collaboration ensures we’re not duplicating efforts and can focus our resources on what matters most: safeguarding what hasn’t yet been digitized and making it available to everyone.”

The initiative was first envisioned by Aaron Lansky, founder of the Yiddish Book Center, in a conversation with Oren Weinberg, director of the National Library of Israel. The Universal Yiddish Library marks the culmination of the Center’s years-long effort—combining preservation, technology, and collaboration—to make Yiddish literature more widely available.

“Forty-five years ago, when the Yiddish Book Center began, many believed that Yiddish literature was on the brink of extinction,” said Aaron Lansky, founder and president of the Yiddish Book Center. “Now thanks to new technology—and a new spirit of collaboration—Yiddish is well on its way to becoming the most accessible literature on earth. As I approach my own retirement, it’s hard to imagine a more fitting culmination of everything we hoped to accomplish.”

“Researchers, students, and readers can now explore a critical mass of Yiddish literature through a single search,” said Susan Bronson, executive director and incoming president of the Yiddish Book Center. “This transformative resource creates new opportunities for engagement with Yiddish culture.”

The Universal Yiddish Library is open to additional institutional partners with Yiddish book collections. By contributing records and scans, new collaborators can help grow what is already the most comprehensive digital resource for Yiddish books ever assembled. If you are interested in discussing potential partnerships, please contact Amber Kanner Clooney at aclooney@yiddishbookcenter.org.

To explore the universal Yiddish Library and search the collections, visit universalyiddishlibrary.org.

Major support for the Universal Yiddish Library has been generously provided by the David Berg Foundation, the Abby J. and David Cohen Family Foundation, the David and Barbara B. Hirschhorn Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, Michael (z”l) and Linda J. Schmelzer, Robert and Nina Schor, and Josh Weston.

About the Yiddish Book Center: 

The Yiddish Book Center recovers, preserves, teaches, and celebrates Yiddish literature and culture to advance a fuller understanding of Jewish history and identity. Over the span of 45 years, the Center has launched an extensive array of bibliographic, educational, and cultural initiatives and programs. For additional information, visit yiddishbookcenter.org.