The next meeting of the Rhode Island Genealogical Society will be held on Saturday, September 21st at the Greenville Public Library, 573 Putnam Pike, Greenville, Smithfield, RI and virtually on Zoom. This half-day meeting will begin at 12:00 pm with coffee and light refreshments, along with news and announcements. If you would like to bring something for the refreshment table, it would be greatly appreciated. Everyone is invited to attend, so bring along your nonmember friends who have an interest in exploring their genealogy. Free and open to the public. Mark your calendar! An e-mail reminder with the Zoom link will be sent prior to the meeting.
Ray McKenna will be our guest speaker and will speak on the following topics:
From Emyvale to Federal Hill: A Study in 19th Century Chain Migration.
The parishes that straddle counties Tyrone and Monaghan provided Providence with between a third and a half of all its Irish immigrants in the years from 1845 to 1860. The presentation starts with conditions specific to that small patch of land that led to such a mass migration. While discussing events that took place there during the Great Hunger, the major focus will be about the newcomers’ lives in the first couple of decades following their arrival in Rhode Island.
Secrets of the Old Stone Bank
This extraordinary collection brings added dimension to the story of our ancestors’ lives. Introducing the work, Ray will discuss its value and suggest ideas for accessing and interpreting the data. With 525,000 records containing 800,000+ names, the OSB’s Signature Series offers far more than addresses, occupations, and birthplaces. Beginning with a few written words, entire profiles can be created.
Ray McKenna represents the sixth generation of his Irish-American family in Providence. With degrees from URI and UCONN, he taught European, Russian and American History at Longmeadow High School before going into the fine wine trade. Returning to his love of the past in recent years, his website, federalhillirish.com, recounts the activities of Rhode Island’s early Celtic refugees. His soon-to-be published book is titled, Embracing Hope: The Famine Irish Generation in Providence, Rhode Island.
