In the last NolanFamilies.org  News Brief  I stressed the fact that the prime aim of the  website was to implement a world-class repository of Nolan-related historical information and formulated three major initiatives (Archives 2025, Nolan Book 2021 and Family Treetops 2021) to move us closer to that final objective.

In what follows I report on my recent progress in attaining this objective and hope that, after reading the update,  you will consider joining me and others in turning this non-profit website into a world-class repository of Nolan-related information which will endure for generations to come.

With St Patrick’s day now upon us I also leave you with all good wishes in celebrating your Irish heritage on that special day.

May the day bring
good luck to your home
and great joy to your heart.  

Roger Nowlan(Email Me ) webmaster and long-time member of the Nolan Clan aka Clan O Nolan

Archives 2025 – the implemention  by 2025  of a non-profit knowledge base capable of  supporting the needs of Nolan family researchers for years to come

Since the last News Brief I have made great strides in converting the old 2004 vintage NolanFamilies.org into an easily manageable and maintainable WordPress-based website and porting the information at the old website to the new one.  This effort is now complete and I invite you to peruse the new website and to provide comments as appropriate.

The main divisions of the website are now:

• an About Page
• a News Briefs section
• an Online Forums+ webpage
• a Nolan Clan webpage
• a set of Nolan History webpages
• a Family Stories knowledge base
• a Memorials knowledge base
• a new Anecdotes knowledge base

With the technology infrastructure now in place I am now  shifting my focus to populating the Archive and ensuring its survival after 2025 when I hope to divest myself of my duties as webmaster.

To facilitate this transition I have just set up a fourth knowledge base (KB) at the website, what I call the “Gold Mine”, where volunteers will soon be able to get involved in the collection of information, the extraction of “nuggets” from collected information, the generation of KB articles and management of the website. If this interests you I invite you to Submit your Offer of Asssistance.

Nolan Book 2021 – the completion by 2021 of the seminal online version of a Nolan family history book intended to be a “living book” refined and expanded upon by current and future generations

The main focus of the past six months has been the setting up of an infrastructure necessary to support the storage and retrieval of Nolan-related information for generations to come i.e. the “Archives 2025” infrastructure as outlined in the first part of this News Brief.   Nonetheless, some progress was made  on the implementing the new online history book.

A  tentative cover page for the new book has been designed

and a draft version of the new Nolan family history book is now online.

I am also in the process of rethinking how the history of the last 400 years will be presented in the book.  Through examples taken from known early family stories (i.e. the end-result of the Family Treetops 2021 initiative, discussed in the next part of the News Brief) I intend to identify and document the major undercurrents which underpinned the lives of Nolans over the past  400 years, such as being  part of the landed gentry or not, being a royalist or not, being a Catholic, a crypto-Catholic, a Protestant, a Quaker or other, etc.

Family Treetops 2021 – the collection of early Nolan family stories in sufficient number to be able to identify the major  undercurrents which underpinned the lives of Nolans over the past  400 years

I already have collected quite a few early Nolan family stories (see Family Treetops) which give a good picture of Nolan family history over the last four centuries in Ireland, the United Kingdom and North America but I cannot say the same for certain parts of the world such as Continental Europe, Africa, India, the Far East, etc.  The early stories for Nolan families who settled in such places are certainly different than most  and should be reflected in some form or other in the new  history book.

If you or someone else know of any Nolan family which falls into this special category I would appreciate hearing from you or them.  A personal Email to myself or an online submission of an early Nolan family story would be great.

On another front, I also recognize that most early Nolan family stories still have brick walls and that seeking to overcome these  is what sheds the most light on the forces and events which shaped the lives of our forefathers, thereby increasing our understanding of early Nolan family history.

For that reason, I now have set up a “NolanFamilies”  Email-based discussion group at the Groups.Io website where, relying upon group synergy, we can hopefully surmount at least a few long-standing brick walls and review the interpretation of key early Nolan family records and texts.