Greetings! Returned from an all too brief trip to Dublin recently. My sister and I were prepared to NOT find anything on our people (, just to save ourselves from crushing disappointment). Within about 3 hours after arriving in Dublin, we knew where our great grandparents had lived when their 1st three sons were born. I found that information in the 2nd index that I looked in, verified by the photo copy that followed a few minutes later. Perhaps our experience varied from that of others, but we found the staff at the GRO to be very patient, helpful, and quick about providing both indexes and photocopies. I made 3 trips there in the few short days we had in Dublin ,and did not go away disappointed . I'm glad that I won't be there in the summer at the peak of the research period, heat, etc., however. The room was quite crowded one day and no doubt gets much worse. But WOULD I go there in the heat and a crowd??? And pay for the privilege of searching the indexes?? You betcha! We've only been searching less than 3 yrs., since just after our father died ,but we started out not even knowing our great grandparents' first names. The volume of information that we have accumulated from records in the U.S., on these "everyday people "whom we have never even seen a photo of, is amazing in itself. but we needed to know where in Ireland they came from. Now we have that information and a direction. We can go to Moher and Derryvokeel in Galway, and to Ballymintan in Roscommon, and get a little closer to our Reynolds and Anderson great and great-great grandparents, if only in our own minds and hearts. We call that a blessing. We are also grateful for the provision of meeting with a genealogist at both the NLI and the National Archives. We had very positive experiences at both of those places also, in addition to just being able to stand in that gorgeous library reading room. WOW!! Thanks Josi ,and AnnMarie, and Janet for your help and encouragement. Happy and successful hunting to all. Sheila

At 12:39 AM 5/5/2005, you wrote: >I'm glad you had a better trip to the GRO then I did and I agree about the >Library they were very helpful there and I just got the wrong staff on the >day I went to the GRO. But I'm going back next year. So maybe I will have >better luck in finding my Grandmothers birth record. That happened to me in Boston I had great luck in Vitals and my friend (Who is a Reynolds) did not Phyllis > > > >==== IRL-GALWAY Mailing List ==== >Have you traveled or are you planning to travel to Ireland??? >http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Eire_Travel/ >To unsub or change your Irl-Galway mailing >mode: http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/IRL/IRL-GALWAY.html > >============================== >Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the >last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: >http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx