Latest News from the Irish Palatine Association

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We ask for your Support in 2026 by:
Membership, Donation, Patronage

We appeal to you for support and we are asking for this help and support through, Membership, Patronage or Donation. We would like to thank all those who have contributed and supported us through the years and we actively encourage anyone who has an interest in Irish Palatine Heritage to support our endeavours by these means.
The IPA is a voluntary organisation and we rely on support from all people of Irish Palatine Heritage to help with the operation of the Irish Palatine Museum and organisation. Membership of the Association is 50.00 euros per year. The membership year runs from January to December each year. When membership is received in the course of the year, any literature published in the prior part of the year is mailed at the time of subscription. To learn of the many different ways you can help support us, please visit our SUPPORT section for details.

Irish Palatine Association Journal (No.32)

In this current edition Patrick Breen revisits the Nathaniel Switzer letters which are published in IPA Journal 31 and sheds some new light on the Teskey and Shier families. Clare McCormick contributes an intriguing article about Mary Delmege and her acquaintance with the first Earl of Dunraven, Valentine Quin. Charlie McConnell recounts a family history journey relating to the Corneilles while Grant Doupe presents a DNA study that proposes an alternative origin for Johann Michel Daub. Dennis Jones delves into the Palatine involvement in the American Revolution. Pat Coleman offers a vivid account of Palatine family life in a sequel to his previous work published in Journal 31. Austin Bovenizer presents two pieces the first of which explores the colony agreements from Killeheen. The second provides insights into the Fitzelle family from the perspective of those in their ancestral German home. We include a letter from Hank Jones, author of several works on the 1709 emigrants, whose correspondence challenges the long held belief that the 1760 migration, led by Philip Embury and Barbara Heck was the first to North America, but instead it points to an earlier settlement that was now the state of Maine, USA....(more)
Includes material related to Switzer | Teskey | Delmage | Corneill | Doupe | Lawrence | Modular | Neazor | Fitzelle.

Social - Dolmetsch/Delmage/Dulmage
Thursday March 19th 2026
You are invited to join the Social hosted by the IP-SIG of the Ontario Genealogical Society, which will be focused on the surname of Dolmetsch/Delmage/Dulmage (or variants thereof). Some may be in a direct Dulmage line, others may be descended from Irish Palatines who married into a Dulmage family. Whatever the case may be, you are welcome to participate.
You are invited to join this Social hosted by the IP-SIG of the Ontario Genealogical Society which takes place on Thursday, March 19th at 7.00pm (EDT) 12.00am (GMT).

Webinar - Princes, Prelates and Palatines
Saturday February 21st 2026
Join Dr. Claire McCormick who will be presenting a talk titled Princes, Prelates and Palatines – some new perspectives on the Great Migration of 1709. In her recently published book 'European Migrants in Eighteenth Century Ireland: The Great Palatine Migration of 1709 and its Aftermath' (published by Boydell and Brewer), she suggests overlapping networks of religious groups across Europe, alongside British colonists, keen to settle the New World, enabled the movement of Palatines. She will also share some new insights into the early experiences of Palatines in Ireland.
You are invited to join this Webinar hosted by the IP-SIG of the Ontario Genealogical Society, on Saturday, February 21st at 10.00am (EDT) 3.00pm (GMT).

Visitors

Newcastle West Womens Shed group visited us.

Long time supporter of the Irish Palatine Association Laura Coates called in to see us on her recent visit to Ireland. Pictured with Austin Bovenizer. Jill and Rob Kennedy spent an afternoon with us recently. Visitors from the Limerick Greenway Visitors from the Palatinate Visitors from the Canada Visitors from the Canada Visitors from Co. Clare Visitors from the Ireland

Webinar - Austin Bovenizer & Robert Ruttle Saturday September 27th 2025 Join Austin Bovenizer and Robert Ruttle as they explore the Palatine heritage of Ballingrane, one of the three parent colonies of the Southwell Estate in Rathkeale, County Limerick. Robert, who grew up in the historic Barbara Heck home is the ideal guide on this journey. The tour will feature significant sites such as the Embury and Heck Memorial Methodist Church “the cradle of American Methodism” and other locations of Palatine interest. You are invited to join this Webinar hosted by the IP-SIG of the Ontario Genealogical Society, on Saturday, September 27^th at 10.00am (EDT) 3.00pm (GMT).

Shier Reunion 2025
Sunday June 22nd 2025
The annual Shier Reunion Potluck Picnic will be held at the Cannington Legion, located at 72 Peace St. Cannington Ontario L0E 1E0, starting at 12:00 noon. For all that are able, please bring a main course and a dessert for this potluck picnic gathering.

Recent Visitors
Presentation Primary School Tralee
We were delighted to welcome 4th class children from Presentation Primary School Tralee with their teacher Gary Coughlan. We gave them a talk and they took some class notes for their trip. They had lunch on the plaza as it was a lovely sunny day and expended some further energy at the adjacent playground in the park before returning home later in the afternoon.

Recent visitors were Ross, Alison and Ralph Young from Canada.

The Great Palatine Migration of 1709 and its aftermath
Thursday March 27th 2025

Dr. Claire McCormick presents a talk on the Great Palatine Migration of 1709 and its aftermath to the Laois Heritage Society and will take place in the Midlands Park Hotel at 8.00pm on Thursday 27th March. Admission is €5.00 and is free to annual members.

Palatine Parade (print)

The Palatinate region of Germany, or “die Pfalz” as it is more commonly known today, is renowned for its parades and wine festivals. Each year over 300 such festivals take place in the towns and villages throughout the region. See our SHOP for more details.

Posthumous Presedential Pardon for wrongly convicted Kerrymen.
Tadhg Evans 2024 Kerryman
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee will recommend to President Michael D Higgins that Sylvester Poff and James Barrett receive a posthumous presidential pardon.
The men were wrongly convicted for the murder of Thomas Browne near Scartaglin, Co. Kerry in 1882 and hanged in early 1883. It follows a detailed report by Dr Niamh Howlin, and the pardon is being granted to the two men on the grounds that their convictions were unsafe. Minister McEntee has also acknowledged the work of the Castleisland District Heritage Incorporating Michael O’Donohue Memorial Project in bringing the case to her Department. Read more here...

New Publication
All Good Reason
The true story of Barbara Heck is recreated using meticulous use of historical fact and inherited details to bring history alive for the reader. Written in the present tense, she emerges as a stoic, forthright and mindful woman who has a claim to fame in the British colonies of America in the 1760s and who encapsulates the lives of women amongst the loyal supporters of their King of Great Britain and Ireland.

Copies are available from our Shop

Dorothy Teskey
Stories from My Life
This book is a collection of stories written in reply to Dorothy’s granddaughters questions over a period of time. Her upbringing would be typical of what a Palatine would experience for those years. As well as being of Palatine stock through her Miller and other Palatine family backgrounds, Dorothy Walsh married Ronald Teskey of Castlematrix in 1956. She was part of the Rathkeale Palatine Community from that time on for many years. Dorothy has a very optimistic outlook and this comes through very much in the stories of trials and tribulations of what life has thrown at her.
Profits from this book are in aid of Limerick Suicide Watch.
Copies are available from our Shop

Interview with Dorothy Teskey
Enjoy an interview with Dorothy Teskey from RTE Radio One’s (Irish Radio) The Nine O'Clock Show hosted by Brendan Courtney. Dorothy became a TikTok hit with her song "Remember me". The Limerick great grandmother's video has 1.6 million views. She has also written a book called, Stories of my Life.

New Publication
Some German Origins of the Irish Palatines

The Irish Palatine Association recently received the gift of a new exclusive publication titled Some German Origins of The Irish Palatines by Henry Z, Jones. Jr. This book is intended as a companion volume to Hank’s seminal book The Palatine Families of Ireland. In this new publication, some of Hank’s recent discoveries about the definite, probable and possible German origins of some of the Palatine families are set forth, documented, and discussed. This publication is exclusively available from the Irish Palatine Association and can be ordered from our SHOP.

A Rathkealean Traverse
I traverse a road between townlands.
Enniscoush on the right is trim and tidy, nursery of a rural order;
Courtmatrix on the left catches the ribbons of modernity
Spilling out from town. I meet with an old Palatine in a car,
His craggy, lived-in face a testament to humour and diversion.
He salutes as he passes. We are in the waving zone.
The sun dances in a blue sky and irradiates the earth.
Hedges and ditches carry the mayflower in full glory
And sumptuous displays of foliage. Rhythms of land and season
Weave into the rhythms of life.
Copyright © Dr. Patrick J. O'Connor 2017 from his book 'Home and Reach-a life in writing'

...more IPA News