Dear Cara I am finding your discussion interesting. In all research one would start with what ones knows.Start off in the country of Death, from death certificate with luck find year of birth place of birth, date of marriage, who married, where and age. Next is to move out can we find parish records of christening, or record of birth, I would use family Mormon Family Library nearest from you, and order film of records of that time.. If you can not locate where born, to narrow search use cd of Griffith's Valuation put in surname of ancestor and make note town land then do the same for the spouse you may find both surnames in the same townland or near by.Once you have sorted out likely family. it is time to test out your theory. Can you get birth records? What about Grave stone inscriptions from Grave yard You see you go from what is known to new information Regards Dave Visit my homepage http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/djgriff/ -- I am using the free version of SPAMfighter for private users. It has removed 26 spam emails to date. Paying users do not have this message in their emails. Try www.SPAMfighter.com for free now!

The recent List discussions about the importance of reading books, recognizing on-line records as helpful second-hand (or further) information, hiring professionals, knowing the difference between prof.genealogists and county heritage centre clerks, the value of personal visits to see actual vital records, etc. are exactly the sort of discussion that got me started out on the right (I hope) foot a few years ago when I began to research my husband's Irish family. I read every book my local LDS family history library holds on searching for your Irish roots. (I visited 3 local libraries and one had their own Irish 'expert,' someone who had done travel to collect information from Irish record offices and had helped those searching for Irish roots.) Of course some of the information from books was introductory - suggesting one first talk to all living family, etc. But what if a person might not have actually done so before looking on-line. That would be a classic waste of time and the information on the Web could then lead one down that garden path...In our case, it took two people three years to collect the stacks of information I "started" with - all gathered from living family. I have been listening to the RTE Radio 1 broadcasts called "The Family Tree." I was delighted to recognize Paul Gorry on that program as a contributor to the Wicklow List. I heartily recommend these programs to all: http://www.rte.ie/radio1/thefamilytree/ You can listen to them on your PC. The LDS library supplied a blank paper pedigree chart called "Where Do I Start?' - step 1: Identify what you know about your family. Step 2: Decide what you want to learn about your family. (For determining what you want to learn next, I would refer you to Dave Griffith's concise posting, attached below.) Then they supplied a way to search, by using their own "Ancestral File" - the LDS computerized collection of genealogies that links families into pedigrees. Their directions to using Ancestral File are three pages. Paul, if you are reading - would you kindly expand your comments about Ancestral File. I think it would be enlightening to read more about how records can and do get into the LDS File and why we should always 'consider the source.' I completely agree with you, but I think the List could benefit from your knowledge and familiarity with Ancestral File. I have searched Ancestral File with benefit of that volunteer 'expert' (whom I paid to help me at the LDS library) and photocopied pertinent pages of parish records, censuses, etc. I'd like to hear how (if) they photocopied the actual parish registers, for example. Can those photocopied records be considered as valid as the actual parish register, if, of course, legible. From books, I learned which vital records exist, in both the States and in Ireland (for my situation). For example, don't waste time looking for a government record of a BMD before governments began to record same, and know where to look instead. I learned from books how to search for a birthplace in Ireland, how to search for church records in Ireland, how to search civil registers in Ireland, which Irish censuses exist. I read books from individual Irish counties, from societies and dioceses etc. Probably most important -I learned some Irish history (and have learned much more from the Rootsweb Lists) - for example, the history of religion in Ireland and how records were affected by that history. History of wars and rebellions. I learned about Griffiths Valuation from books, about Famine history and dates, immigration etc. In other words, before I ever looked on-line, I knew what I was looking for, because I had already gathered all that I could from family, from U.S. vital records (by U.S. mail) and then from books. During the years of my research, much of the reading I did has made it onto the Web. But, as we all know, someone with their own agenda decides what information to post online - the info is abridged, as it were. Someone else has decided for you what you won't ever know unless you have read the book. What was omitted is often what you seek. No, you might not find a family BMD in a book - but you might find a fact that saves you years of searching on-line for something that doesn't exist because of what you don't know and can't know from working only on-line. So I can tell you that books are invaluable and I ask Paul, and the List, for guidance in using Ancestral File in the future, and also for help in determining the significance of individuals of same surname being listed consecutively in Griffiths - how significant is that when those individuals have all the 'correct' family given names, for example. Thanks to all for postings. This is the most active List I monitor. Sharon Sharon At 03:51 PM 9/5/2005 +1200, you wrote: >I am finding your discussion interesting. In all research one would start >with what one knows.Start off in the country of Death, from death >certificate with luck find year of birth place of birth, date of marriage, >who married, where and age. >Next is to move out can we find parish records >of christening, or record of birth, I would use family Mormon Family Library >nearest from you, and order film of records of that time.. >If you can not locate where born, to narrow search use cd of Griffith's >Valuation put in surname of ancestor and make note town land then do the >same for the spouse you may find both surnames in the same townland or near >by.Once you have sorted out likely family. it is time to test out your >theory. >Can you get birth records? >What about Grave stone inscriptions from Grave yard >You see you go from what is known to new information >Regards >Dave

Sharon asks Paul " - would you kindly expand your comments about Ancestral File. I think it would be enlightening to read more about how records can and do get into the LDS File and why we should always 'consider the source.' I completely agree with you, but I think the List could benefit from your knowledge and familiarity with Ancestral File" My understanding of Ancestral File is than this is where church members list there people they won't baptised, It would appear that this used to be a bit of completion to see how many one could put into Ancestral File, some may were put in that were not researched as well as you would. While they are a pointer treat with caution All ways check out the source, it is listed. This only one file that one can access on LDS Familysearch site www.familysearch.org Visit my homepage http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/djgriff/ -- I am using the free version of SPAMfighter for private users. It has removed 26 spam emails to date. Paying users do not have this message in their emails. Try www.SPAMfighter.com for free now!