Become a member of the North of Ireland Family History Society today and enjoy all the following benefits:
Branch Meetings
You may attend monthly meetings of all Branches, many of which feature an interesting presentation given by a guest speaker.
Research Centre
Our dedicated Research Centre, just north of Belfast is packed with books, transcriptions, maps and records. Some of the niche records we hold may very well help you to break down that brick wall!
Look Up Service
Use the free Look Up Service if you cannot attend the Research Centre in person. You can request a Look Up for any indexed record.
Members’ Area of the Website
The Members’ Area of the new website is under construction and will be available in due course. In the meantime, members can access the Members’ area of the “old” website.
Profile Forms
You may have your Research Interests and Queries listed in the Members’ Area of our website and in our Newsletter. Find other members with the same interests and get in touch with them.
Ancestors Charts and Family Trees
You are invited to submit a Record of Ancestors Charts and your Family Tree, which will be added to the Members’ Area of our website. Find other members who potentially share the same ancestors and get in touch with them.
E-newsletter
The newsletter is emailed to all members and contains news about upcoming events, Society activities, updates on branch initiatives such as ongoing DNA projects and much much more!
North Irish Roots
The Society Journal “North Irish Roots” is packed with articles, resources and stories about a multitude of family history related subjects.
It is published twice a year, usually in the spring and late autumn and is posted to those members whose membership is current at the cut-off date for its publication. (Joint members receive one copy between them).
A searchable digitised index of all past issues has been created to make it easy for you to locate articles of specific interest to you.
JSTOR
You have free access to the online JSTOR Ireland Collection of many digitised journals, including back issues of the Society’s Journal “North Irish Roots”.
Essay Competition
This competition is held every two years and run by the Belfast Branch. Members can enter a short essay based on a specified subject and be in to win a cash prize. Winning entries are published in North Irish Roots.
Volunteer
You do not need to be local to volunteer with the Society – lots of overseas members take part too. There are lots of opportunities so find one that interests you and join the team!
Just two examples of ways you could get involved:
- Take part in the various DNA Projects run by the Society and some branches. Get involved with recording information or analysing data and learn lots along the way.
- Join our Transcribing and Indexing Projects and help us to make even more information available to our members.
Voting Rights
Members may vote at Annual General Meetings. The Members’ Area of the website contains Management Policies and Guidelines.
Operational Costs
Your membership fee goes towards covering the operational costs of the Society including the rent of the Research Centre, the annual insurance and the cost of printing and posting the journal twice a year. If you join as a Branch Member, part of your fee goes towards covering the cost of running the Branch, principally room hire and speakers’ expenses. The Society has no paid employees and relies on the voluntary activities of its Members to deliver its many services.