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Leitrim-Roscommon Forum Index

Free Leitrim & Roscommon Search Facility

 
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Mike Lennon



Joined: 14 Jan 2005
Posts: 30
Location: Dublin, Ireland

PostPosted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 3:33 pm    Post subject: Free Leitrim & Roscommon Search Facility Reply with quote

Last week the Irish Family History Foundation launched its new website www.irish-roots.ie From this site you can access birth, marriage and death records up to 1900 for 16 counties, including Roscommon and Leitrim. More counties will be added over the coming months.

There is a Free Search facility as well as Pay-Per-View when you require full details from either the church or state records.

The Free Search window is easy to use and can save you a lot of time.

Happy searching

Mike Lennon
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Jim Irvine



Joined: 14 Jan 2005
Posts: 59
Location: Liverpool, England

PostPosted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 6:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had a look at this and I'm not sure how useful it actually is. I suppose it could narrow down a search if you really had little idea of who you were looking for and where.

I would certainly prefer if the search results gave a parish instead of just 'Leitrim'. Otherwise you could have far too many hits, especially on common names - and at 5 euros a throw that's a lot of cash.
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Karen Elias



Joined: 22 Feb 2005
Posts: 7
Location: Flanders New Jersey

PostPosted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 8:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It is possible to figure out where the various records come from without paying for them. It's just a bit of work.

You have to check for a first and last name. Once you have found the hits for that name you will need to enter a specific parish/civil district in the space indicated. For instance, two Patrick Scollans were married in Leitrim. One in 1847 and one in 1851.

I would have to click on 1847 Patrick and start entering different parishes/civil districts to see where that record was found. Then do the same thing for 1851 Patrick.

Sometimes you will find both a civil and church record for the same person if the records are after 1864. You can also check to see what records are available for each parish and civil district.

It's definitely doable but it takes a little time.
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Jim Irvine



Joined: 14 Jan 2005
Posts: 59
Location: Liverpool, England

PostPosted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm sure you're right. I'm just a bit cynical when it comes to the Genealogical Centres. Everything they do seems just a mite too expensive for my liking. I'm sure it would work quite well if the name you are looking for is a bit unusual but for a common name I imagine it would be less friendly.

I tried looking for one person whose details I know and got quite a few possible hits. At 5 euros per query that would have added up to quite a lot of money. If I was looking for someone whose details I was unsure about I dread to think what it would cost.

Fortunately I have an LDS library near at hand so I will just continue looking at the microfilms they provide.
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reynoldsk



Joined: 18 Jan 2005
Posts: 17
Location: new york city

PostPosted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 7:34 pm    Post subject: Buyer Beware! It's not worth the $$$ Reply with quote

I decided to bite the bullet and purchase credit to view the records. I don't think I got my money's worth. Paid 10 euros to view a marraige and a baptismal record.

On the marriage "record":
No information other than the names and date of marriage. No witnesses or place or residence listed so I basically paid Five euro to see nothing.

On the baptism "record"
again- the only info you see is paren'ts name and the child's name and date of the baptism. No information on occupation, residence, or witnesses.

Someone on this message board was able to provide the witness, residence, and occupation information on these exact same marriage and baptism records for me(FOR FREE NO LESS! thanks fellow researchers!), so I know the info is available in the records.

This is just my humble opinion- but this web site is a rip off.

Also- you only get access to the record for 48 hours. if you don't transcribe or print the record you have to pay the fee again to access it.
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Tom Coughlan



Joined: 18 Jan 2005
Posts: 60
Location: Dublin

PostPosted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 6:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I agree the search facility is very useful, but would caution against the use of the actual charged view facility. I availed of the special Easter discount to request some views. Not one of the baptisms gave sponsors' names. Most of them did not include townlands. The only marriage transcription I asked for did not include the fathers' names or townlands. And I paid to view 2 death records for similarly named men - they turned out to be identical records listed twice. I would recommend using the basic search facility, then either going to the film yourself or even paying a professional to do so. At least then you will get the full detail, and either confirmation it is record you're looking for or isn't. For €10 a go, the least one could expect is a full transcription, and clearly that isn't available, and as for the duplicate records, that is shockingly poor.

Tom
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Fiona



Joined: 17 Jan 2005
Posts: 14
Location: Ireland

PostPosted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 1:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dear All, I have paid for quite a few records online and, as has already been said, got a few pretty scanty reports back but have also gathered quite a bit of information from some which have included townlands, sponsors etc. I'm trying to avail of the 5 Euro offer at the moment as I'd hate to count up how many 10 Euro's I would have spent otherwise. I was just thinking that for future searches it would be helpful to share the costs if people were researching the same surnames or by posting that which we have purchased but does not have a connection with our own ancestors. Just a thought. Fiona
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Nuala



Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 45
Location: Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dear All,
It is always fascinating to read other people's comments on a new link. I too took a quite evening an gave this site a workout using data from original source documents to test my theories. My conclusion - typical heritage centre rip-off! Some of my observations:
1) these are transcriptions, not origial images, thus secondary sources, not "proof" of anything
2) seem to have "corrected" the spelling of surnames (they say varients, but don't list all the varients found)
3) Not all data on the record is transcribed
4) found the husband in a marriage but not the wife (interesting)
5) they seem to have ignored the PLU districts which were the ones used for Civil registration
6) beyond me why anyone would pay 5 euro to look at a Civil Reg index when you can go to the FHC and look for free, plus get vol and page number to order original if required
7) takes quite a bit of work to search all possibilities
On the positive side:
1) it can be used to narrow a range of years if you are not sure of dates
2) Catholic Parish records such as Athleague/Fuerty which were not filmed by the FHL are on this site and again, can be used to give leads to further research. Personally, I would pay a researcher to look up and transcribe from the film at the NLI rather than this route.
All in all, I will use it, but only the free area.
Nuala
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