News

2025

Moving outward from a single hearth recorded in Cullen townland in 1792, the talk carried listeners into the daily world of rural Meath: tenant farms measured in roods and perches, thatched cottages sheltering large families, hedge schools operating against the odds, and faith anchored in modest parish churches. National forces—the Penal Laws, the 1798 Rebellion, and the Act of Union—pressed in on these lives not as abstractions, but as realities shaping land, education, belief, and opportunity. Through carefully cited sources—hearth tax rolls, tithe books, leases, and parish records—Potter reconstructed the world his ancestors walked through each day, grounding memory in evidence and place.

At its heart, the presentation was about responsibility: how to honor the past without romanticizing it, how to distinguish fact from inference, and how collaboration between genealogists and local historians strengthens both disciplines. Potter reflected on absence as much as presence—missing records, faded names, and lives partially lost to time—while reminding the audience that persistence and care can still restore human dignity to the record. The evening closed with a simple truth echoed throughout the talk: when we weave family and local history together, the past comes alive—and in doing so, helps us better understand ourselves.