Reference Births: When I read Margaret's email I checked the LDS Volume and pages numbers against some of my family birth records. These were the same records that I had looked at in the registry office in person. The volume and page numbers all matched. Also I have just checked my worksheets (supplied by the registry office) from day visits to the registry office and when you look up the index you fill in a form for them to fetch the original record to you. The columns on these forms are BIRTH< MARRIAGE OR DEATH, Year, Quarter, Name, District, Volume number, Page Number. So as far as I am concerned all the information for relevant columns are supplied by the LDS site. However, just to confuse matters, although this form has MARRIAGE on it you are actually given a different order form for marriages. Reference Marriages: I do know that they (Belfast Registry office) have to order the marriage records from outlying districts as they don't hold the actual record. I think the problem here is that they want to know the Church as well as the district. When you look up their (registry office) marriage index database it does give the Church and this has to go on the order form to order the original or a transcript. Their order certificates website area states that all you need to know for copies of marriage records is: " Full names of the married couple and bride's maiden name. Date and place of marriage" but there is a footnote to say that " Please note that for marriages before 1922 searches are not possible without the district and place of marriage being known" Does place mean the Church? I don't know the answer to that. Surely if you know the District, Volume and page number they don't have to "search" The LDS have only the District and not the Church listed, however since they do list the district and the volume and the page number I don't see why it should be an impossible find. For anyone applying for a marriage in the future I would put on the Registry office website order form at field "(e) Any additional information to support your application" the district, volume and page number and see what happens. It would be interesting to see if they rejected it if the Church wasn't included but if the Volume and page numbers were inserted. I know they told you Margaret that it wouldn't but I think sometimes it depends whose desk the application lands on. Perhaps they are having a wee hissy fit because the LDS have put these on line and they are getting a lot of requests. To summarize I don't think there would be a problem with births but maybe they would be sticky if you didn't know the church for marriages. Remember, we are talking Northern Ireland here, who are behind the times when it comes to getting information out there to researchers. Get off your soapbox Lena........... On another issue, I was looking for a birth record for a g grandmother in Armagh and Belfast Registry office assured me they didn't have it although I found it in their index. It was then explained to me that there wasn't a clean cut when the records were split between North and South of Ireland for the border areas so I would have to apply to Dublin. Yet when the Irish Foundation site turned up, they had it on Armagh Ancestry so my faith in the Registry office dropped off a wee bit. Also my sister and I searched and searched the Registry office index for my g grandfather and g grandmother's death records. I searched so many times that I had come to the conclusion that he had gone back to Italy to die! Both turned up on the LDS pilot site dying in Belfast! Lena, Northern Ireland Above in reply to: ............Further to my earlier message I have just received today a letter from the General Register Office Northern Ireland stating that they cannot find any marriage record for my gr-grandparents using the information I had supplied. The LDS pilot site had both parties with the same volume # and page # and as both names were those of my gr-grandparents I was more than a little hopeful it was them, and expected there to be a record. However since this wasn't the case I phoned the office and explained the situation, and asked if it would have been helpful if I had given the volume # and page # as listed on the LDS pilot site, although there was no-where on the application form to fill this in. I was told no, and that they did not know where the LDS got those numbers from and that they may not be the same as the register office s own numbers, so they have been told to disregard those numbers, and since they could find no record of the marriage I was after, that was basically that!! Margaret.

Hello again, Many thanks to Lena, Alma, Jennifer and Bill for your kind help in explaining the registrations/ ref numbers/ areas etc, etc. I have tried re-submitting my first message to the site but it seems I must be doing something wrong as I think it has gone astray ! Basically, I was just saying what info the online forms had asked for when I applied for a death and marriage cert to GRONI. I'm sure your explanations have made everything a bit clearer to everyone. Only wish the woman I spoke to on the phone to GRONI had been as helpful! Many thanks Margaret.