The following excerpt is from the January 29, 2013 edition of the Derry Journal.
A Derry genealogy expert says a revamped digital street directory database will be a valuable tool for the city’s amateur family historians.
Brian Mitchell, the genealogist with Derry City Council, says the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland’s (PRONI) Street Directories – which have undergone a major overhaul – will be a great resource for anyone researching their family history.
“With PRONI’s Street Directories database researchers now have a free online facility to search a large number of directories for many towns in Ulster for the period 1819 to 1900 including the New Directory of 1839 and New Commercial Directory of 1840 for Derry City,” he says.
PRONI’s street directories first went online in 2009 but a number of improvements to the database have now gone live.
Director of PRONI, Aileen McClintock, said: “This application provides free access to an important 19th Century genealogical and local history resource.
