How to successfully search the Irish BMD site?

[KiwiRose]

I am very grateful to all those who transcribed the BMD indexes and am excited that it has now been made possible to search, albeit as a pilot. However my arm is aching with searching the index.

It took me some time to realise that I could only put in "Antrim, Ireland" in the PLACE box to have any hope of finding family members pre 1922. Searching very common Antrim names has resulted in there being at times over a thousand possibilities!

The PLACE box does not find anyone when I enter Larne or Carrickfergus so I had to stick to "Antrim, Ireland". Nor does it find anyone who died after 1922.

So far I have not figured out what to enter into PLACE after petition for the Larne, Carrickfergus area of Co. Antrim.

What can I do to search more successfully? Any ideas would be appreciated.

Regards
KiwiRose

[Rody Lee]

It didn't take long for the complainers to come out of the woodwork. I am very happy that this resource is now available and its only ever going to be as good or as bad as the person who is using it.

[mariac]

Hi KiwiRose,
  I would also be interested if someone can give you ideas on how to search the site.
  When you are not familiar areas of Ireland it can be very confusing.
 Regards
Mariac 

[KiwiRose]

Hello Mariac


My problem is probably more due to having only basic computer skills and not knowing enough about searching .

I still haven't worked out how to search in just Northern Ireland after 1922!

There are some wonderfully helpful Rootschatters who may be able to steer us in the right direction so we can both better use this wonderful resource.

Regards

KiwiRose.

[percy porter]

Hello Mariac


There are some wonderfully helpful Rootschatters who may be able to steer us in the right direction so we can both better use this wonderful resource.

Regards

KiwiRose.

With respect it would appear as if Rody Lee is not one of them.

I too am having problems but then all I have is a name- James Sweeney - with the place of birth registered as Ireland, 1867 +/- a year or two, so where does one start.

Alan NZ

[TF13]

hi kiwirose ,

i would like to be able to help you out but i cant even get on the site; flashplayer is required and i haven't got it, nor will this laptop allow me to download it  . i was waiting for this as well so to find out i couldn't access it,well, lets just say that this "thing" i'm typing on nearly hit the wall !

it's my problem, i know, and not the sites so when the temper has left me i will get a professional to fix the problem and maybe then see if i can be any help. but no doubt your question will be answered by then; here's hoping anyway

tony

[shanew147]

the search on place seems to be based on the Registration District - e.g. part of Wicklow, and South Co. Dublin is district of Rathdown, this works for me in the place name search.

The registration districts are equivalent to the Poor Law Unions (PLU) which are included in SeanRuad's townland database at www.thecore.com/seanruad

there's a map of these districts here : http://www.rootschat.com/links/05d7/

and a list here : http://www.genfindit.com/irlplu.htm



Shane

[Berni]

hi
i couldn't find any of my family in cahersiveen or kerry
but if i just put the surname and changed it to partially correct on search
up they all popped
berni

[aghadowey]

First of all, Rody, KiwiRose has tried searching for information without result and is now asking for help so your remark about complainers coming out of the woodwork is most uncalled for in this case.

I had been looking forward to this  resource coming online to find a few strays that I've had trouble locating but so far, from the little I've searched have not found much. Therefore, I decided to do some searching for items where I already have certificates and came up with a few surprising results (or lack of results).

Searched for Andrew Lynd and 4 results appeared:
1. death 1901 Coleraine district, Antrim or Derry
2. death 1866 Coleraine district, Antrim or Derry
3. birth 1886 Coleraine district, Antrim or Derry (Thomas Andrew Lynd)
4. birth 1917 Ballymena district, Antrim (Andrew Lynn)

Then put Coleraine as place into search and choices available were (ones crossed out do not apply in this search):
1. Coleraine, Tipperary, Ireland
2. Coleraine, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
3. Coleraine, Offaly, Ireland
4. Coleraine, Londonderry, Ireland
5. Coleraine, Victoria, Australia
6. Coleraine, Itasca, Minnesota, United States
7. Coleraine, Peel, Ontario, Canada

So, I'm left with #2 and #4. Searching for Andrew Lynd with Coleraine, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom gives and added choice of Coleraine, Coleraine, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom but neither choice gives any results for Andrew Lynd. Choosing to search for Andrew Lynd with choice number 4 also yields no results.

So, where are the 3 results for Andrew Lynd from my original search?

You might think that it would just be best to search for a name without a place (easy with uncommon name like this) but in actual fact even the original search doesn't bring up all the results in the actual indexes as I have a birth certificate for Andrew Lynd born 1866 in Coleraine district which isn't even listed in the original search here.

Therefore, it would seem that there is a lot of scope for errors in this pilot.