AN INTERVIEW WITH NERGC 2015 PRESENTER MICHAEL BROPHY

The 13th New England Regional Genealogical Conference is only a few more weeks away,
(April 15-18 2015 at Providence, R.I.) and it's loaded with knowledgeable speakers giving
presentations on a variety of interesting subjects. One of those speakers will be professional
genealogist Michael Brophy. He's done research for the Who Do You Think You Are on Gwenyth Paltrow and for Dead Money, an Irish TV series.  He specializes in Irish and Irish-American
genealogy and in heir tracing, as well as technology for genealogy. Michael also is my fellow
resident of Abington, Massachusetts, a heavily Irish-American community. 

The organizers of the Conference asked New England genealogy bloggers to help get
out the word by conducting email interviews with the speakers.  I chose Michael because
of my own interest in my Irish heritage, and he graciously answered some questions for
me:

1. What prompted you to become a professional genealogist?
After a beloved Aunt died on my maternal side her son published a book that included a well researched family history. After admiring the work, I asked my recently retired father what we know about the Brophy side. He replied “Not much”. That set me us off on a father-son research project to find out as much as we could about our ancestry. A few years later, after taking several courses and attending a number of conferences, I started to take on clients for research and giving lectures.

2. What are the unique challenges of researching Irish genealogies?
Some the main building blocks of genealogies in the United States are federal census records and vital records which are birth, marriage, death and divorce records. In Ireland, the most of the 19th century census records were either destroyed deliberately by the British government or lost in the destruction of the Irish Public Records Office in 1922. Civil registration of vital records did not start for all Irish citizens until 1864, a late start when compared to the vital records we have for most New England town dating back to colonial times. Other records such as tax records and church records are typically used to compile genealogies that are not nearly as complete as the records we have in the US.

3. We live in a state, Massachusetts,with one of the largest Irish-American populations in America.
What are the the advantages and disadvantages of researching Irish-American genealogy here?   

The advantages are we in Massachusetts are the most open record state in the nation. Vital records have no restrictions, meaning that anyone can view any birth, marriage, or death record up to the present day excepting special cases such as adoption and illegitimacy. Our records repositories are close by in the Boston area and are easily accessible. We have an active genealogy community here with experience and know how in researching Irish-American families.

I suppose the drawbacks are that getting into Boston to the record repositories means traveling into Boston with all the associated headaches with traffic and parking. As with Irish-American research, researching a common Irish surname such Murphy, Kelly, or Sullivan will require a lot of patience and persistence as you eliminate the possibilities. Published genealogies of Irish-American families in Massachusetts are rare when compared to more established families in Massachusetts and elsewhere in New England.

4. Assuming we aren't still buried in snow drifts, will you be attending the Abington St. Patrick's Day Parade this year? 

My family and I were there and the parade was great as always. We kept moving to stay warm!

Michael will be giving a variety of presentations at the NERGC:
Snag-it For Genealogists on "Tech Day", Wednesday, April 15  9:30-10:30am.
Descendancy Research on Saturday, April 18 8:30-9:30am 
Kilroy Was Here: A Genealogy Case Study of a WW II Icon on Saturday, April 18 3:15-4:15pm.

He'll also be holding a free Special Interest Group discussion on Thursday, April 16 at
7:45 pm in the evening. The subject will be Irish genealogy.

That's a wide range of subjects! You can read fuller descriptions at the Conference Registration 
Brochure page and learn how to register for the NERGC on their main page here.

My thanks to Michael Brophy for taking part in this interview!

KING PHILIP'S WAR:AN INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL TOUGIAS

The 13th New England Regional Genealogical Conference is only a few more weeks away,
 (April 15-18 2015 at Providence, R.I.) and it's loaded with knowledgeable speakers giving
presentations on a variety of interesting subjects. One of those speakers will be historian Michael
Tougias, the author and co-author of bestselling books on stories of survival such as Ten Hours 
Until Dawn and The Finest Hours. He also co-authored King Philip's War: The History and 
Legacy of America's Forgotten Conflict with Eric B Schultz, and his presentation at NERGC
will be "King Philip’s Indian War in New England" .

The organizers of the Conference asked New England genealogy bloggers to help get
out the word by conducting email interviews with the speakers.  I have Colonial
ancestors who fought in King Philip's War so I was familiar with Mr. Tougias' book and he
graciously answered some questions for me:

1. How did you first become interested in the King Phillip's War?

I grew up in Longmeadow Mass and remember seeing various roadside signs about this war and wondered what it was all about.  When I learned it had a higher per capita casualty rate than the civil war, I became very interested.  Then when I learned that the Natives were winning in the first few months I was hooked!

2. Why do you think that one of the bloodiest wars in American history is among the
    least known?

I think the text books used in the schools skipped right over this period because it didn't fit with the "all-american" view of the first Thanksgiving, etc. So they conveniently jumped from the Pilgrims land here and the next thing you know we are in the American Revolution, skipping over a hundred years history!


3. What was the biggest effect on the English settlements in New England from the war?

It all depended on where you lived.  If you were in CT, the colony escaped with just one attack (Simsbury), while MA and RI were devastated, and took years to recover.

4.You've also written a novel about the war, Until I Have No Country. How did that come
about?


My historical novel Until I Have No Country, was something I wanted to write since I was a boy.  I had dreams about this period and felt that if I could time travel I'd love to go back and see New England before the colonist's had expanded to every region.  I also felt readers would connect with a book told with balance.  That's why part of it is told from the perspective of a Native American, Tamoset, and part from Colonial farmer John Homer.  I'm an avid reader of historical fiction, and the best books have a realistic love story, and so Until I Have No Country also has a love story: between Tamoset and another Native American.  Even in war, there is love and day to day living.

My thanks to Michael Tougias for taking part in this interview. If you had ancestors in Colonial New England at the time of King Philip's War, Mr. Tougias' talk will give you some new insights into their lives, as will his books. 

You can see the information here on how to register for the NERGC, and see the Conference program
here.

NERGC EARLY BIRD DEADLINE SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28TH

NERGC Early Bird Deadline Saturday, February 28th
The 13th New England Regional Genealogical Conference Navigating the Past: Sailing into the Future will be held in Providence, Rhode Island on 15-18 April 2015. The conference will include more than 60 lectures by speakers including Judy G. Russell, Lisa Louise Cooke, and Genealogy Roadshow host Joshua Taylor, as well as Ancestors Roadshow, Special Interest Groups, workshops, and a bonus track of presentations in the exhibit hall. 

Early Bird registration ($120) ends 28 February 2015.
Registration after 28 February 2015 is $150.
Single day registration increases from $90 to $100 after 28 February 2015

For more information or to register visit www.nergc.org.