I have to admit, I thought that the release of the Free Catholic Parish Records by the National Library of Ireland would make the website RootsIreland obsolete but I was so wrong. As a matter of fact, I bought a one month membership yesterday, this cost me $28.
Why did I pay $28 when the NLI records are free? Because they are not indexed and I am impatient. Actually I have more money than time to put it bluntly. I knew one branch of my family is from Queens County but looking on my own through the parish book I could not find what I wanted.
By paying $28 I was able to search and find the exact date and parish of the record I wanted and that find led to two more very important finds. I now have the baptism for my second great grandmother, I proved she had a sister and I found her parents marriage. Believe me, after 30 years, that knowledge was well worth $28.
Before you buy a membership, I suggest that you have your information nailed down. Look at the free records and try to imagine how a spelling error could affect the transcription in Rootsireland. In my case Talent became Tallon and Moran was Horan. Without that knowledge the index would have done me no good.
The combination of these two resources can yield exciting results but you have to know what you are looking for.
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Irish Genealogy: Using the NLI Free Catholic Parish Records
The National Library of Ireland has released the Catholic Parish records for the Republic of Ireland. I thought that they might be swamped with people searching the records so I waited until over the weekend to check them out.
The link to the records is prominently displayed. Here is the link to the NLI website.
Once you click the link you get choose what county your records are in. Then the available parish records will be listed with the dates and what is included in each book. The records are not indexed so you need to know what parish to look in or you need to look through every parish for the dates of your ancestors event. It may take a while but it is free so that is all good.
I had no problem looking through the records but I have to warn you, handwriting is an issue and some of the pages are quite dark along the bottom.
In spite of the small issues, this is the biggest thing to happen to genealogist of Irish origin ever!! If you haven't taken a look, what are you waiting for?
The link to the records is prominently displayed. Here is the link to the NLI website.
Once you click the link you get choose what county your records are in. Then the available parish records will be listed with the dates and what is included in each book. The records are not indexed so you need to know what parish to look in or you need to look through every parish for the dates of your ancestors event. It may take a while but it is free so that is all good.
I had no problem looking through the records but I have to warn you, handwriting is an issue and some of the pages are quite dark along the bottom.
In spite of the small issues, this is the biggest thing to happen to genealogist of Irish origin ever!! If you haven't taken a look, what are you waiting for?
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