William James McGrew. Omagh Branch: 1924 - 2007Author(s): Kenneth CollinsSource: North Irish Roots, Vol. 19, No. 1 (2008), pp. 3-4Published by: North of Ireland Family History Society (NIFHS)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27697747 .

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I am glad to report the society has started a new venture of Themed Days' in our Research Centre. Chairperson, Ann Robinson has arranged workshops on "Maps and Land Records", and "Church Records, Clergy, Gravestone Inscriptions, Wills", with other titles to follow. Each themed day will be repeated on different Saturday mornings for the convenience of members.

The society's A.G.M. will be hosted by the Portadown Branch in Craigavon Centre on Saturday, 24th May, when we hope members from all branches will gather to hear

reports from up and down the country.

As we go to press word has come in to say that the inaugural meeting of the long awaited Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, branch is planned for the end of March, 2008. I hope we will have more news in the next issue.

Randal Gill B0017

William James McGrew. Omagh Branch 1924-2007

An Appreciation by Kenneth Collins. B1433

It is with sadness and deep regret that the members of Omagh Family History Society record the death of their valued and highly respected founder member William James

McGrew who passed away on 11th July 2007.

Although ! had known Bill McGrew for most of my life it was only in comparatively recent years that I came into closer contact with him when I became a member of Omagh Branch. I quickly learned that he was a very active and loyal member of the North of Ireland Family History Society who played a full part in the life and

progress of our organisation, attending Council Meetings and AGMs in the past, usually accompanied by our then chairman Claire McElhinney. He was always present at our local meetings and I became aware of his willingness to contribute to all discussions with his considerable knowledge and experience, even though his verbal communication was impaired through earlier illness.

Bill had taken up genealogy when he retired and immediately started extensive research tracing his family back to 1631 . He was an enthusiastic and dedicated researcher who was only too willing and delighted to share his findings with others.

This generous characteristic is best illustrated by the fact that in 1985 he undertook a programme involving five years arduous work within fifteen graveyards in and around Omagh, clearing undergrowth, cleaning headstones, and listing the details of over three thousand inscriptions. He even went on further and prepared two detailed

maps to scale showing the headstone positions in two of the oldest graveyards in the Omagh area which are no longer in use, and to my knowledge these maps are the only records in existence. Bill made this valuable research available to all in 1988

when the book "Tombstones of the Omey" was published by Omagh Family History Society.

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In the course of his investigations into his own family ancestors Bill began searching the local and provincial newspapers for records of Births, Marriages, and Deaths

which were all on microfilm in the local library. He decided it would be helpfuf to record the details of other Omagh families in addition to his own, and faithfully listed almost two thousand notices which involved countless hours and days on the library reader to do so. Just within this last year I had the opportunity to work with Bill in

proof reading his hand written manuscripts in the process of publishing yet another book titled "Hatches Matches and Dispatches" which was published in March 2007. Our members were delighted that Bill we able to be present at the launch in spite of his failing health. Sadly this was to be his last attendance at a branch function.

We will sorely miss Bill at all levels in the North of Ireland Family History Society but are grateful that the legacy of his information lives on.

BOOK REVIEWS

Over the past few issues of North Irish Roots we have drawn members' attention to books about local casualties of the Great War. This time we have three to mention.

? First is Inishowen Heroes: 1914-1918, another in the excel lent series by Robert Thompson. It is published by Coler

aine Printing Company ISBN 0-9537583-6-2 and is available from Robert Thompson by post, as are his other books in the series. He may be contacted on email robert@riverside.

? freeserve.co.uk

Inishowen Heroes is about the men and women from the Inishowen area of Co. Donegal who were killed in World War I. For each casualty there are details where available about their service and family background, and photographs of the

person or of their grave. As might be expected the number of mariners is high.

Portadown has 321 names on its war memorial and James S. Kane has researched them all. Portadown Heroes: A Tribute to the men commemorated on Portadown War Memorial is

published by James S. Kane ISBN 978-0-9554987-0-1 at 15. Details of each casualty are given in the chapter devoted to the theatre of war in which they fought, with information about

family, service, and burial if known. Many contemporary ex

tracts from the Portadown News are included.

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