Free BMD for Ireland

[brakn]

Is anyone planning to do a site with free BMD like the for England and Wales?

[EDO]

Good morning,

I, for one, will be pleased if someone does!

EDO

[Tees]

Hi,

I do not know if the Irish public do have access to the GRO indexes in their local or big libraries like in the UK.

I know that this type of information is only held by the Irish Governmental Department--namely, the GRO. Same goes for the Northern Irish GRO.

The only way one could do "free" transcription would if one have to rent the films on Irish GRO indexes from the LDS in order to collect the information.

Perhaps I am mistaken about this. It seems that the laws in Eire and Northern Ireland regarding the BMD records are a bit different from Scotland and England & Wales.

Kind regards,

Tees

[HugoBeauchamp]

If anyone has seen the March 2008 edition of Your Family Tree, they may have noticed the article by Chris Paton - Irish online records too expensive - on page 16. Towards the end of the piece he mentions that "there are already plans underway to tackle the digitisation of the official BMD records for Ireland, with contractors currently being sought" I wonder if the plans include making the indexes available on line?

I have just spent GBP 47.50 on hiring a number of microfilms at my local LDS Family History Centre that unfortuately can only offer rather limited hours of opening.

Stuart

[Leofric]

The LDS are presently transcribing Irish BMD Indexes from 1864 to about 1921, and later on up to the 1950s.

It states on their website that once transcribed they will all be free to access.

I have given a hand in this - transcribed several pages of marriages and births - about 375 names on each sheet. I hoped that some would be 'mine' - but it was not to be! Anyone can volunteer - you just need to download some simple software and ten minutes later you're typing.

So - fingers crossed - it won't be too long before they are added to the FamilySearch site....

[Leofric]

If anyone has seen the March 2008 edition of Your Family Tree, they may have noticed the article by Chris Paton - Irish online records too expensive - on page 16. Towards the end of the piece he mentions that "there are already plans underway to tackle the digitisation of the official BMD records for Ireland, with contractors currently being sought" I wonder if the plans include making the indexes available on line?

I have just spent GBP 47.50 on hiring a number of microfilms at my local LDS Family History Centre that unfortuately can only offer rather limited hours of opening.

Stuart

I haven't seen the article Stuart but I certainly agree with its sentiment. Recently I sought a couple of records from the Mallow Heritage Centre in Cork. The prices are exhorbitant - ten euros (about £6.50) to view each record. But the worst thing about it is that only the name and county are shown, not even a parish/village/town to steer you to the right record, so if you are looking for a common name, you could spend a fortune before hitting the right record.

In my case, I did hit on the correct record quite quickly (uncommon name helped me), but when the details came up, it didn't even show the name of the church, and although it was a marriage, nor did it show the names of the bride & groom's parents. I complained to them about this and they replied that in those days the parents' names were seldom recorded. But the sample on view for prospective purchasers...yes you've guessed it - shows the parents names !

So my advice to anyone contemplating spending money in any of the Heritage Centres is don't bother if you're looking for a common name. And even if uncommon, be prepared for disappointment.

[HugoBeauchamp]

The LDS are presently transcribing Irish BMD Indexes from 1864 to about 1921, and later on up to the 1950s.

It states on their website that once transcribed they will all be free to access.

I have given a hand in this - transcribed several pages of marriages and births - about 375 names on each sheet. I hoped that some would be 'mine' - but it was not to be! Anyone can volunteer - you just need to download some simple software and ten minutes later you're typing.

So - fingers crossed - it won't be too long before they are added to the FamilySearch site....

Hi Leofric

Sounds good, can you give us the link for this please?

Its OK, found it at http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp?page=/eng/Policy/ldschurch_sites.asp - then click on the link for FamilySearchIndexing.org.

All quite simple, but like many people I was looking for a link from the 'Search' page - which is not the 'front page!




Thanks

Stuart

[HugoBeauchamp]

If anyone has seen the March 2008 edition of Your Family Tree, they may have noticed the article by Chris Paton - Irish online records too expensive - on page 16. Towards the end of the piece he mentions that "there are already plans underway to tackle the digitisation of the official BMD records for Ireland, with contractors currently being sought" I wonder if the plans include making the indexes available on line?

I have just spent GBP 47.50 on hiring a number of microfilms at my local LDS Family History Centre that unfortuately can only offer rather limited hours of opening.

Stuart

I haven't seen the article Stuart but I certainly agree with its sentiment. Recently I sought a couple of records from the Mallow Heritage Centre in Cork. The prices are exhorbitant - ten euros (about £6.50) to view each record. But the worst thing about it is that only the name and county are shown, not even a parish/village/town to steer you to the right record, so if you are looking for a common name, you could spend a fortune before hitting the right record.

In my case, I did hit on the correct record quite quickly (uncommon name helped me), but when the details came up, it didn't even show the name of the church, and although it was a marriage, nor did it show the names of the bride & groom's parents. I complained to them about this and they replied that in those days the parents' names were seldom recorded. But the sample on view for prospective purchasers...yes you've guessed it - shows the parents names !

So my advice to anyone contemplating spending money in any of the Heritage Centres is don't bother if you're looking for a common name. And even if uncommon, be prepared for disappointment.

While I agree with your comments about the cost of just looking at one record, my own experience with Mallow has been quite OK. About 8 or 9 years ago I asked them to do an 'intial search' on both sides (about £30 each side if my memory serves me) of my Mitchelstown, Co Cork granny's family and the results were good enough for me to risk about £300 on having full family history reports on both sides commissioned.

All in all I am quite pleased with what they have done - I am in touch with a 3rd cousin on one side and a a couple of 2nd cousins once removed on the other - there are lots more to find when I retire!

Stuart

[Jax49]

If anyone has seen the March 2008 edition of Your Family Tree, they may have noticed the article by Chris Paton - Irish online records too expensive - on page 16. Towards the end of the piece he mentions that "there are already plans underway to tackle the digitisation of the official BMD records for Ireland, with contractors currently being sought" I wonder if the plans include making the indexes available on line?

I have just spent GBP 47.50 on hiring a number of microfilms at my local LDS Family History Centre that unfortuately can only offer rather limited hours of opening.

Stuart

I haven't seen the article Stuart but I certainly agree with its sentiment. Recently I sought a couple of records from the Mallow Heritage Centre in Cork. The prices are exhorbitant - ten euros (about £6.50) to view each record. But the worst thing about it is that only the name and county are shown, not even a parish/village/town to steer you to the right record, so if you are looking for a common name, you could spend a fortune before hitting the right record.

In my case, I did hit on the correct record quite quickly (uncommon name helped me), but when the details came up, it didn't even show the name of the church, and although it was a marriage, nor did it show the names of the bride & groom's parents. I complained to them about this and they replied that in those days the parents' names were seldom recorded. But the sample on view for prospective purchasers...yes you've guessed it - shows the parents names !

So my advice to anyone contemplating spending money in any of the Heritage Centres is don't bother if you're looking for a common name. And even if uncommon, be prepared for disappointment.


When I have used the site recently I searched by PARISH and name its on a drop down menu! It did narrow it down and I was successful. Mayo Library has an online service and for baptisms it shows the initials of the parents. If you combine it with the other Mayo online site and use the parish option you can narrow it down. It worked for me.
I agree it is very pricey especially if there are no guarantees.

I have emailed Mayo family History centre who provide the information, a couple of times and they have been very helpful...and quick to answer!