Day 4 Belfast Northern Ireland Monday 2nd July 2012

Our day at the PRONI was fantastic and we have just returned to our apartment after spending the whole day there. Firstly we were able to find the original letter Henry wrote to Lord O'Hagan in 1882 but the missing 4 pages still remain elusive. The rest of the time was spent going through some of the 5000 letters in the depository. We found many letters of interest but the find of the day was the Memorial Booklet for Lord OHagan which included an original photograph (in mint condition) of the statue that was installed in the Four Courts in Dublin to honour Lord O'Hagan after his death. This statue was destroyed in the Irish Civil War of 1922 so to see it in the photograph was fabulous. In the Memorial booklet it lists all those who subscribed to the statue fund and there was the name of one, Henry McGuigan of Melbourne! We were able to find many newspaper obituaries on the death of Lord O'Hagan and the details published were outstanding from a family history point of view. My head is spinning with every thing I read and trying to read that old handwriting does your head in. I have booked a research assistant tomorrow who can read the old handwriting so I can type them into my laptop to share with everyone. We are heading out on the town tonight to the older part of Belfast to enjoy some local music and food - cant wait to experience some of that Belfast craic............. google it if you dont know what that means all you Australians!!!!!