Region could become ‘genealogy capital’

South Galway could become “the genealogy capital of Ireland”, according to one public representative, and Gort could be at the heart of it.
Deputy Mayor of County Galway, Bridie Willers, made the comment to The Clare Champion ahead of an event next week aimed at helping people across the West take the first steps to finding out about their own ancestry.
Investigating your Family History, A Practical Approach, is a special conference organised by the Western Family History Association (WFHA) on Wednesday. 
The WFHA is a genealogy association based in Galway with members from Galway, Clare, Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo and Leitrim. It is effectively a self-help group where members can share their experience and expertise in tracing their families’ history. At its regular meetings, members have access to the latest information presented by expert speakers including how to access family records, census data, emigrant data and the latest developments in genealogy, such as the digitisation of family records, births, marriages and deaths and information on how genetics can be used to help trace ancestry. 
One of the extra activities the WFHA organises each year is an event for Heritage Week and 2011 is no different. This year, in conjunction with Galway County Council, it is holding the ancestry workshop.
This will also include the launch of the Western Family History Association’s new website by Councillor Willers. 
“I see this website as something really important,” explained the deputy mayor.
“A website is the way to go. The WFHA has been in existence for a long time and meets regularly and have a great following and great support but the development of the webpage is the culmination of this work. The page will be of immense value because that is the first thing people are doing now, Googling,” she continued.
According to Councillor Willers, who is involved in the Ireland Reaching Out (IRO) project and its Week of Welcomes, the level of interest in genealogy and local history in South Galway is “huge really”.
“When the IRO project was going on, it became very obvious that the visitors who came to the week of welcomes were interested first and foremost in their genealogy. That was their primary purpose in coming here. They were very successful too. The ones that came to South Galway were particularly successful because there was a lot of people and information discovered with the help of the people on the ground. We were prepared to an extent but we were taken a bit aback by the depth of people’s intentions or what they wanted to find out. They were so enthusiastic about any bit of information we could give them. People brought them to places and in some cases they got to meet new cousins and it was an absolutely brilliant experience and they were very appreciative,” Councillor Willers commented.
The deputy mayor believes genealogy has a lot to offer in terms of tourism opportunities and says South Galway could be at the fore of this.
“It has huge potential for tourism. If we sit back and think about, it we could become the genealogy centre of the country.
“There is a fantastic centre in Woodford but you could have a genealogy outlet in lots of towns because people come to the area they think they are descended from and I think there is huge potential in that. I also think the South Galway Education Centre in Gort could be key to this. We were talking recently about potential courses that could be held at the centre over the winter.
“I said we should see if there was an interest in genealogy and hopefully we can pursue something there. That building is a great resource and the potential there for courses is huge and it is just a matter of tapping into it,” the deputy mayor concluded.
Among the events taking place as part of the evening, as well as the launch of the WFHA’s new website by Councillor Willers, is a talk on sources for tracing your family tree, outlining the administrative divisions and varying sources including census, church, civil and land records including the repositories where they are located. Siobhan McGuiness of Galway Family History Society West will speak on the history of the county genealogy centres, sources available at their centre, parishes covered and researching at the center, both commissioned research and online research. Gerry Naughton, WFHA Committee member, will speak on compiling your family tree together, the importance of writing down details and records available on the web.
Investigating your Family History, A Practical Approach, will take place at the Claregalway Hotel on Wednesday, August 24 from 7pm to 10pm.
“We would particularly love to see the active retired members of our community who have a wealth and knowledge of family history ready and waiting to be tapped into,” said Bríd Higgins, secretary of the Western Family History Association. 
For further information, contact Bríd Higgins, secretary of the Western Family History Association, at bridhiggins@eircom.net or 087 795 6229; Marie Mannion, Galway County Heritage Officer at mmannion@galwaycoco.ie or 091 509198. Further details are available from www.galway.ie or www.wfha.info.