The Irish Special Interest Group (I-SIG) meets four times a year, in-person at the StLGS office in Maplewood and also livestreamed via Zoom. See below for specific instructions and directions to the library.
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Click here for more information on Irish in St. Louis.

The city of St. Louis also provides some interesting information about Irish immigration to St. Louis. Click here to link to that page.

For details or questions about StLGS Irish-SIG, contact Kathy Franke, I-SIG leader, at

SIG Meetings

Irish SIG meetings  are both via Zoom and hybrid. In-person meetings are held at the St. Louis Genealogical Society office (4 Sunnen Drive, Suite 140, St. Louis, MO 63143), or you can attend remotely via Zoom.

For a printable version of this year’s Irish SIG meetings, click here.

 

All Irish SIG meetings are free and open to the public; however it is necessary to register, if you want to join the Zoom webinar. You do NOT need to register for an in-person meeting at our office or to view the digital recording that will be posted on this page.

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Irish SIG Meetings for 2026

 

Saturday, 25 April 2026

1:00 p.m. (Central)

Census Returns in the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland—Recovering Ireland’s Lost Census Records

A disastrous fire in 1922 at the beginning of the Irish Civil War destroyed much of the archive of the Public Record Office in Dublin. The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland (VRTI) is an all-island and international research partnership working to reconstruct these records.

Featured Speaker: Dr. Brian Gurrin, research fellow and census specialist for The Virtual Record Treasury

 

This meeting will be hybrid. You do not need to register to attend in person at our office, but you will need to register to attend virtually. Registration for this meeting will open in late March. Please check back.

If there is a handout for this meeting, it will be here.

 

Remaining Meetings for 2026

 

Saturday, 25 July 2026

1:00 p.m. (Central)

Understanding Land Ownership in Ireland from 1600–1900

The Irish Catholic farmer, for the most part, had no rights to land ownership from the mid-1600s to the early twentieth century. How was this possible and how did it come about? Our speaker will explain how the Anglo-Irish landowners acquired Irish property, and how the lifestyle of those landowners impacted the predominantly Irish Catholic tenant population.

Featured Speaker: Gabrielle Woeltje, Irish genealogist

 

Saturday, 24 October 2026

1:00 p.m. (Central)

Using DNA for Your Irish Family History

Many Americans have Irish ancestry and are keen to know more about their Irish forebears. However, a stumbling block to researching those ancestors is not knowing where in Ireland they came from, as most often all we see on documents for place of origin is “Ireland.” However, the advent of DNA testing may be just the thing to help you overcome this obstacle.

Featured Speaker: Claire Bradley, Director of Irish Studies, International Institute of Genealogical Studies

 

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Recorded SIG Meetings Available Online

Saturday, 24 January 2026

Organizing for Genealogy: Getting Your Research Year Off to a Good Start

Featured Speaker: Susan McKee, Irish genealogist

Many of us feel the challenge of organizing the large quantity of documents, photos, and items we accumulate as we research. Learn some techniques for creating a plan to better organize yourself.

The recording for this webinar is here.

The handout for this meeting is here.

 

Saturday, 25 October 2025

Medieval Irish Genealogical Sources: Bridging the Gap to the Modern Genealogist
The medieval era (The Middle Ages or Dark Ages) began around 476 CE and spanned nearly 1,000 years. We will explore how the medieval Irish established and documented the ancestry and heraldry we pursue today. Many source records remain accessible, including textual documents, maps, and landscape information.

Featured Speaker: Thomas J. Finan, Ph.D., professor of medieval history and archaeology at St. Louis University

The recording of this meeting is here.

 

Tuesday, 25 October 2022

Placing an Irish Ancestor into StLGS’s First Families

Bernard/Barney/Brian King was an Irish immigrant who came to Missouri as a child with his parents during the infamous potato famine. Careful research led to placing him in St. Louis before the Civil War and recognizing him in the First Families program. You can honor your early ancestors by enrolling them in a lineage society with knowledge of the process.

Featured Speakers : Viki Fagyal and Kay Weber

The link to the First Families page is here.

The recorded webinar can be viewed here.

Password for the recording is    dD0=^+mR

 

Last modified: 24-Jan-2026 22:42