The Irish Family History Forum continues its busy fall with two Zoom-only presentations featuring prominent guest presenters.
“The Famine and Irish New York,” on Saturday, Oct. 19, at 10:45, will host Tyler Anbinder, emeritus professor of history at George Washington University.
Dr. Anbinder will discuss his most recent book “Plentiful Country: The Great Potato Famine and the Making of Irish New York.”
Dr. Anbinder, who taught at George Washington for 30 years, is also the author of three award-winning books: “Nativism and Slavery,” “Five Points” and “City of Dreams: The 400-Year Epic History of Immigrant New York.”
Dr. Tyler Anbinder.
The historian upends popular beliefs about the Famine Irish in New York and beyond. Drawing in particular on the Emigrant Savings Bank records, Anbinder will present the stories of the Irish refugees who settled in New York and helped reshape the entire nation. The Wall Street Journal has called Anbinder’s book “a superb revisionist history.”
On Saturday, Nov. 16, at 10:45, “Researching Irish Probate Records,” is the topic under discussion with Steven Smyrl, author and leading professional genealogist, who will speak directly from Dublin on how to research wills in Ireland.
Smyrl, who has been a professional genealogist since 1989, is a past president of Accredited Genealogists Ireland. He is a founding member of the Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations, serving twice as its chairman. He was elected a Fellow of the Irish Genealogical Research Society in 2007. He is author of Dictionary of Dublin Dissent: Dublin’s Protestant Dissenting Meetinghouses 1660-1920. He was co-presenter with his brother Kit Smyrl on the popular RTÉ show “Dead Money.”
For details about registration for either or both of these events, go to www.ifhf.org.
