Contagious Genealogy: A Pandemic

I can't begin to explain how much this tour helped grow my research skills! It was a great opportunity to learn how different repositories operate and proper etiquette to use in each. Plus, I had the chance to meet plenty of other family history buffs, and every day I learned something new from our courageous leader, Donna Moughty. Buswells Hotel, Dublin, Ireland DAY 8 Since we had no formal plans as a research group for our final official day in Dublin, one of the last times to mingle with everyone at once was downstairs in Buswell's restaurant for breakfast, and then everyone would be off in their own directions around the city until dinner time. Donna was there, along with Drew, Janet, and Anne while I dined on some eggs and hot chocolate. We all sat in the back cove at a long table where everyone could come and go as they please. We chatted about our finds throughout the week, updates in the world of online genealogy software, and bits about our lives outside of our family ...

Although I haven't yet had the chance of visiting our own National Archives in the States, on Donna Moughty's Dublin adventure in October 2023, I made it to the National Archives of Ireland (NAI)! National Archives of Ireland, Dublin DAY 4 While this was my fourth day in Dublin, it was only my second day of research and second repository of the trip, so needless to say, I still had some nerves about me when it came to visiting the archives. Luckily, we were walking over there as a group (a healthy 17 minute excursion, as Google Maps would claim -- probably a more realistic 20 minutes, especially with crosswalks and traffic lights). However, we only discovered later that one participant in our group had set off on their own before us, hoping to get a head start and not slow us down. We all got worried when they hadn't beat us to the punch, and instead, were missing! Somewhat terrifyingly, they had been given repeated misdirection from locals, pointing them toward the Registr...