To answer one question: Ulster is the only one of the four provinces in Ireland that covers both Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland counties. One lister said that his family birth/marriage/death records are "always sent to Belfast for safekeeping." He must be referring to his church's religious records (possibly Church of Ireland?) or copies of his personal family research, as the civil birth, marriage and death record books for Co. Monaghan from 1864 on are at the North East Health Board offices in Monaghan Town, Co. Monaghan, on the grounds of St. Macartan's Hospital. Civil records for Protestant marriages (only marriages) begin in 1845. However, it is always smart to check other research centers (such as Public Record Office of Northern Ireland in Belfast) for information they may have on your ancestors -- you never know what you will find in unexpected places! Catholic records are kept at the parish level with, I was told in Magheracloone Catholic Parish, some of the very oldest marriage records believed deposited in the archives of St. Macartan's Cathedral in Monaghan Town. But check the parish first. Microfilms for most older records up to around 1890 or so for Co. Monaghan are found in both the National Library of Ireland in Dublin and at PRONI, with only a few available for loan through the LDS Family History Centers. If you are researching ancestors in the 1864-ca. 1874 period, many of those civil birth records (including many from Monaghan) are found on the five-CD set issued by the LDS Family History Library titled "British Vital Records." It also includes a few marriages, but they are mostly from Co. Roscommon, for the same period. The set costs, as I recall, $15 US. Check the LDS/FHL website, or perhaps your nearest FHCenter has it for sale or to use. In using this CD set, don't include too much information in each search, try filling in different aspects (such as mother's surname only one time, father's another, child's first name and surname third), and beware of mistaken spellings the registrar of the record "heard" and used (for one of my ancestors "Wilson" for "Gulshinan"), or variations in the surname spelling (such as "Murry" for today's "Murray). This is, of course, a secondary source and may be inaccurate, and a copy of the original record should then be sought from the North East Health Board. Note, also, that the church record and the civil record often conflict by a few days or perhaps a week or so as to birth date, as the civil record was set down when the registrar appeared at the area's next market day or even two weeks or more hence, while at least in Catholic families the child usually was baptized within a day or two of birth and thus the church record is likely to be the more accurate. Also, the old estate records for the Shirley Estate, which covered almost all of Magheracloone and Magheross civil parishes in south Monaghan were deposited at PRONI. Other estate records for Monaghan may be there as well, or at NL, Dublin. Sally M