I don't know if anyone else has tried the approach of writing a letter and sending a donation but I wrote to the Parochial House in 2002 and sent a fair donation but got no response. Since I sent cash maybe the money was stolen along the way? From what I've read in family papers the specific connection I mentioned in the letter should have been recognized by the priest and he should have been able to forward my note if he ever received my letter. I have an address for my Greencastle McLaughlin/Hegarty relatives and even though it's 10 years old I've written a letter to them to see if they can help. I'll let you know if I make any headway but I frankly think a personal visit is the best thing! Kathy > >Dear Cheryl ............. I have the same problem that you have & to this >day it remains unsolved. The only records available, that I'm aware of, >for your required period, are in the church's. So, I've the following >Donegal Catholic Church's as listed, with 'tel nums' but no street >addresses (not listed), in my telephone directory for Telecom Eireann : > >Glencolumkille ....... (073)30025 >Glenswilly Church Hill .... (074)37020 >Glenties ....(075)51117 >Pettigo Parochial House .... (072)61666 >Rathmullan .... (074)58156 >St Peter's Dungloe .... (075)21264 >Tory Island .... )074)35505 > >You/we have 2 options, maybe 3: > >1. Telephone these guys directly, ask for data, > make mailing arrangements, donate. > >2. Hope for some kind soul to post the addresses > on Donegaleire, then do a mailing, donate. > >3. Catch the next plane to Donegal & 'hoof it" > around to these church's & ask them for the data. > >Options #1, #2, #3 require a $donation of some sort. >Option #2 & maybe #1 require return envelopes > >I favor #2, although, I've had little success with any >kind of mailings. It may be worth another try though. >Lets see if somebody comes thru w/addresses & >take it from there. Otherwise, I may have a way to >get street addresses, I'll have to check it out. >Keep in touch. > > All The Best, ED COSTELLO > >

I inquired of the list previously about the particular church from which I was seeking records. One person replied that she had sent a letter to that church and received a letter, I think, from a parishioner to whom the parish priest had given the letter. He told her for a certain price, he would look up the records. That's better than no reply and no money! I was recently in Ireland and visited with family, especially those who are interested in the work I'm doing. When they realized that I was not only NOT looking for family skeletons, but did have information that was of interest to them, i.e., tracing the land from the Griffith through the Cancel Books, there was much interest. I elicited the help of the locals to approach the parish priest with an offer - if they would supply photocopies of the parish records, I would set up a database of their information. That way they could do a search for the requested record and it would automatically come up with a "certificate" that they could print - for a donation if that was their wish. Even if they had the database, I'm not sure the majority of clerics are computer literate to that extent. They're suffering the same lack of vocations for the priesthood in Ireland as they are in the US. Let's face it - the rest of the world is not as crazy as we are - looking for dead relatives. I'm lucky because I have one first cousin once removed who has a great interest in the information I've put together. He's in Ireland and was considering contacting the local genealogy society to come up with the information I provided - and I'm in the US. His problem is that he's young, married, with young children - his wife would be on Dr. Phil if he was spending as much time as I am on THE SEARCH. Conclusion - don't expect much as far as church records are concerned unless you're willing to pay - AND - don't send cash. PS - if I do get the records (I offered to make a trip and scan them myself), they'll be on Lindel's website with a disclaimer that I expect anyone securing the information from parish records to send a stipend to the parish - with the correct address. Cass McCready -----Original Message----- From: K [mailto:ktzndgs@cox.net] Sent: Saturday, July 17, 2004 4:11 PM To: DONEGALEIRE-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [DONEGALEIRE] McLaughlin's of Moville I don't know if anyone else has tried the approach of writing a letter and sending a donation but I wrote to the Parochial House in 2002 and sent a fair donation but got no response. Since I sent cash maybe the money was stolen along the way? From what I've read in family papers the specific connection I mentioned in the letter should have been recognized by the priest and he should have been able to forward my note if he ever received my letter. I have an address for my Greencastle McLaughlin/Hegarty relatives and even though it's 10 years old I've written a letter to them to see if they can help. I'll let you know if I make any headway but I frankly think a personal visit is the best thing! Kathy > >Dear Cheryl ............. I have the same problem that you have & to this >day it remains unsolved. The only records available, that I'm aware of, >for your required period, are in the church's. So, I've the following >Donegal Catholic Church's as listed, with 'tel nums' but no street >addresses (not listed), in my telephone directory for Telecom Eireann : > >Glencolumkille ....... (073)30025 >Glenswilly Church Hill .... (074)37020 >Glenties ....(075)51117 >Pettigo Parochial House .... (072)61666 >Rathmullan .... (074)58156 >St Peter's Dungloe .... (075)21264 >Tory Island .... )074)35505 > >You/we have 2 options, maybe 3: > >1. Telephone these guys directly, ask for data, > make mailing arrangements, donate. > >2. Hope for some kind soul to post the addresses > on Donegaleire, then do a mailing, donate. > >3. Catch the next plane to Donegal & 'hoof it" > around to these church's & ask them for the data. > >Options #1, #2, #3 require a $donation of some sort. >Option #2 & maybe #1 require return envelopes > >I favor #2, although, I've had little success with any >kind of mailings. It may be worth another try though. >Lets see if somebody comes thru w/addresses & >take it from there. Otherwise, I may have a way to >get street addresses, I'll have to check it out. >Keep in touch. > > All The Best, ED COSTELLO > > ==== DONEGALEIRE Mailing List ==== To browse through the archives of the list go to http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl Visit my homepage at http://freepages.genealogy.com/~donegaleire ============================== You can manage your RootsWeb-Review subscription from http://newsletters.rootsweb.com/