Here are our courses that start in April,  including a course in Irish research to celebrate St Patrick’s Day, getting organised with your genealogy and taking a look at community history.

Progressing Your Irish Research Online

Tutor: Chris Paton
Start date: 4th April 2022
Course length: 5 weeks 

* COURSE OF THE MONTH*

Many believe that researching Irish ancestry is a non-starter because “all the records” were destroyed during the Civil War in 1922. This course demonstrates that this is simply not the case and will describe the many state created records and church records that can be used to research your Irish ancestry. It will provide a context to understand why they were created, and by whom and point out exactly where to find them online, and how to use them effectively.

Lesson Headings:
* Understanding Ireland’s boundaries, key repositories and platforms
* The vital records of Church and State
* Documenting the people: Irish censuses and substitutes
* Valuation records and inheritance
* The Decade of Centenaries

Organizing Your Genealogy

Tutor: Barbara Baker
Start date: 4th April 2022
Course length: 3 weeks

This is a hugely popular course on getting organized with your genealogy research. As you begin your family history journey you can quickly become overwhelmed with information, charts, copies of records, notes, lists of sources searched, etc. You may have been researching for years and stop and think “I really need to get more organized here”.

Whether you are just starting your research or whether you have been at it a while, it is important to be organized and have a record keeping system. It should be easy to file and store information when you get it, and to find it long afterward. Good organisation and record keeping will help you assess what you have, what you have learned, and what you need to learn. This three-week course is designed to help you get organised, stay organised and be ready for research online and on location by developing good record-keeping habits.

Nonconformity – Its Records and History 1600 – 1950

Tutor: Alec Tritton 
Start date: 7th April 2022
Course length: 4 weeks
COURSE FULL but booking now for October 2022

Recording the Poor – From Parish to Workhouse and beyond

Tutor: Simon Fowler
Start date: 18th April 2022
Course length: 4 weeks
COURSE FULL but booking now for August 2022

Church and Community, Selected records 1540 – 1800

Tutor: Emma Jolly
Start date: 25th April 2022
Course length: 4 weeks

This is one of the courses in our Advanced Certificate programme, but can also be taken in isolation.

This course considers the places our ancestors lived in the context of the wider community. It gives you the tools to understand the nature, jurisdictions and administrations under which different types of community existed in the past, and seeks to bring genealogy and local history closer together.

Lesson Headings:
* Introduction to Communities in the Past
* Details of Parish Life
* The Diocese and Church Court
* City and Borough

17th Century Sources

Tutor: Stuart Raymond
Start date: 27th April 2022
Course length: 4 weeks

This is one of the courses in our Intermediate Certificate programme, but can also be taken in isolation.

For genealogists the 17th century presents new challenges. These are not discouraging – if anything, challenges add interest and enthusiasm to research. Historically it is a fascinating period, and genealogically some familiar records continue to be used so the research is not with entirely new material. Themes within the course include: the structure of a gentry dominated society, the records created by 17th century civil and ecclesiastical government, and the problems created by the “Commonwealth Gap”.

That’s all for this month, happy studying!