General question about Irish History

[Daisy Loo]

Hi there

I have volunteered to do a little class at my kids' National School, for the kids in 5th & 6th classes, on Ancestry.

The basic idea in my head, was to help them do a basic family tree, going as far back as 1901, to include the two census's. Another couple of ideas, would be to do up a simple questionnaire, for them to ask their parents, and grand parents and great grandparents if possible, on standards of living.  So, just for example, how many rooms in the house, what food did you eat etc etc.

I would also like to do a timeline...and this is where I get a little stuck.  I am English, so Irish history isn't my forte!  Does anyone know of any sites that are trustworthy, that I could use to create a timeline?

Also, if anyone has any other ideas, I would much appreciate the input.  I would love kids to take an interest in History, and I think that family history is a perfect way to get a child hooked!

[shanew147]

in case it's of any use - here's the timeline I use for my online tree data. It's focus is Irish events, but includes some key International  items also...


Shane


1169    First Norman landings in Ireland at Bannow and Baginbun, Co. Wexford.
1607    The flight of the Earls 
1649    Cromwell leads an army to Ireland and lays siege to Drogheda.
1690      The battle of the Boyne. 
1695      The first penal laws are passed. Catholic education is severely restricted.
1759      Guinness is brewed for the first time
1798      The Society of United Irishmen under Wolfe Tone rebel but the rebellion is crushed at the battle of Vinegar Hill in June. 
1800     The Act of Union joins England and Ireland
1803     Louisiana Purchase: Napoleon sells French possessions in America to United States
1803      Robert Emmet's rising in Dublin. 
1829      The Catholic Emancipation Act allows Catholics to enter parliament and to hold public office
1836     First (Potato) famine in Ireland
1837     Beginning of the reign of Queen Victoria
1843     The first railway in Ireland from Dublin to Kingstown opens
1845-1852        Great famine in Ireland (An Gorta Mór)
1847-1864        Griffith's Valuation of Ireland
1858      The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) is formed
1864      Full Civil BMD Registration Started in Ireland
1867      Fenian rising
1884      The Gaelic Athletic Association is founded
1893      The Gaelic League is founded
1903      A final Land Act makes it still easier for tenant farmers to obtain loans and buy their land.
1913     Third Irish Home Rule Bill rejected by House of Lords
1914     Irish Home Rule Act provides for a separate Parliament in Ireland
1914-1918     World War 1
1915     RMS Lusitania sunk by German submarine off coast of Ireland
1916     Easter Rising in Ireland
1919~1921     War of Independence in Ireland
1922     Foundation of the Irish Free State
1922-1923    Irish Civil War
1929     The Shannon hydro-electricity scheme is finished
1937     A new Irish constitution comes into force. The Irish Free State becomes Eire.
1939-1945     World War 2
1949      The Republic of Ireland Act makes Eire a republic
1955      Ireland joins the United Nations
1961      RTE TV begins broadcasting
1968     Beginning of the 'Troubles' in N Ireland
1969     Apollo 11 lands on the Moon / Maiden flight of 'Concorde'
1972     'Bloody Sunday' in L/Derry, Northern Ireland
1973     Ireland joins the EEC 
1981     IBM launches the first PC
1998     Good Friday peace agreement in Northern Ireland
2007     A Northern Ireland Executive formed under the leadership of Ian Paisley (DUP) and Martin McGuinness (Sinn Fein)

[Berlin-Bob]

Some more dates in the RootsChat Timelines
http://surname.rootschat.com/lexicon/reflib-timelines.php

Country: Ireland
Category: (blank) = All !


regards,
Bob

[myluck!]

Its a great idea and well done taking it on

My kid's school do a similar project in 5th class and here is some ideas and problems from it

Make a time line that includes interesting facts as well as actual history e.g. Walt Disney was born in 1901 or pick sports stars etc. Have questions of interest - who is older your grandparents or the movie "The Wizard of Oz" (1939)?

Watch for family dynamics, most of the problems teachers encountered the first time they tried this were around who is family? lack of knowledge about estranged parents, foreign relatives and adoption etc.
I suggested that they ask the children to discuss at home the idea of a family tree before doing work at school, and each to come in with a basic child-parents-grandparents list. Also to choose maybe just one person to research further; this allowed the family dictate who was researched and how far back and hold back on some information if necessary.
It meant that researching just one person (e.g. one of four grandparents) gave similar information for each child to work with.

They did as you suggest look at house size, no. of rooms etc.
The kids wrote down how many rooms in their current home and compared this to their ancestors, whether there was more than one family in a house, how many shared a room, whether they currently do etc.
Information around TV shown first in public in 1925, colour TV in US from 1950, in UK from 1967 and in Ireland from 1969. How many children today have TVs in their rooms??!!

Kids are great sponges and they can be encouraged into history quite easily if it is interesting.
Here are a couple of census returns for 11 year olds in 1901
11 year old Mill Doffer is someone who clears full bobbins, pirns or spindles holding spun fiber such as cotton or wool from a spinning frame and replaces them with empty ones.
11 year old Carriers Labourer most likely working with his father
12 year old apprentice as his father is a farm servant being an apprentice allows William Joseph to better himself and become a printer

Hope that this helps a little bit and best of luck

[Daisy Loo]

This is wonderful!  THANK YOU all 

I am looking forward to getting my teeth into this, so all these suggestions are brilliant.

I am a little nervous, as I have only really had dealings with younger children..and I am conscious that I mustn't talk down to these kids, or over simplify things!

Thanks again

Daisy Loo

[Sonas]

I've done some history type workshops with kids and totally agree with what myluck says about family dynamics, who is family and being ready for all questions that come your way.

Another thing to watch for are the descriptors used under the illness heading in the census eg idiot, imbecile and lunatic.

There are ideas for classroom activities in the history curriculum or in the teacher's workbork. Can't remember which but I think at least some of it should be on the internet.

[heywood]

Hi Daisy Loo,

I am smiling because you say you are going to do a 'little class' - you will probably have enough ideas to keep you going for quite some time!!

In the past, I devised a simple set of questions to send home for a grandparent if possible -on the lines you mention - what was life like when you were young - school/home/pastimes etc.  That was with 5/6 yr olds. We got a fair response and more importantly there was lots of chat between generations. One or two sent photographs etc
With older children 10/11 yrs, we looked at 1901 census and maps of our local area. We are in an industrial setting so it was good to see where families had moved from to work in our town and occupations- cotton mills and mines generally. We were able to look at the houses that were still there and then see how the area had changed.
I know you are in Galway so census occupations would not be as varied perhaps if you are in a rural area. However, you would be able to compare maps/censuses and distribution of houses etc- then and now. Maybe the decline in population or otherwise. Even emigration records if available. Look at surnames in the area too. Are those names still around. Are there now any surnames from other countries? Why has this happened.  This may be widening it out too much but I know that family stories are usually quite successful.
I am sure it will go well no matter what. I do get a bit carried away and ambitious but I hope that something may help!

good luck
heywood 

[1pds]

I'm not familiar with Irish history timelines, but in Scotland's schools we would include Roman invasion of Britain, Anglo Saxon invasions and Viking invasions - followed by Norman conquest. It would be useful to check what eras in history are included in the Irish curriculum perhaps?

[eadaoin]

.. I'd be inclined to start the timeline at 1800 or so - not earlier.
It's 25 years since my kids were in 5th or 6th class - at that stage they had "done" Vikings, Monks, Normans ...

... since it's the Galway area - anyone got stories of the Famine?
... did anyone fight in 1916 or later? (my kids liked the fact that my Dad was involved in setting fire to a prison!)
... Grannies with stories of WW2 - (a relation of ours crashlanded a plane in Schull Harbour, and another was shot dead on a boat in the Irish Sea)
... when did the Clifden railway open/close?

... there may be fishing tragedies ...

eadaoin