----- Original Message ----- From: Sue Martinson < Why are people writing > to parish prests in Ireland asking for family information if the Mormons > have filmed all the records ? > Not everyone lives within easy reach of a Morman Research centre to be able to see the films, which usually have to be ordered in by that centre, so that you can wait for weeks for it to be available. You also have to have a lot of spare time as opening times for centres are often limited (some only once a week, or only afternoons) and it can take days to go through the films transcribing them. If I visit a centre, I have 7 hours travelling for 2 hours research, and might find nothing in the time I have. I've also spent hours ploughing through films in Dublin without success, and still haven't found the parish of the family of a Dublin ancester yet. A full time job doesn't leave much time for these research trips. Sometimes you need to contact the church to verify something you find, which is difficult to read, or if you need a copy of the baptism or marriage certificate for a particular purpose. However, I agree that people should not be bothering overburdened parish priests, if they can get to a LDS Research Centre. Another alternative is to use the fee paying service of the South Mayo and North Mayo Research Centres if people do not wish to, or do not have time to do the grinding work of personal research themselves. Some priests automatically direct enquirers to the county research centres, sending them leaflets. Mary

Someone said: > Not everyone lives within easy reach of a Morman Research centre to be able > to see the films, which usually have to be ordered in by that centre, so > that you can wait for weeks for it to be available. You also have to have > a lot of spare time as opening times for centres are often limited (some > only once a week, or only afternoons) and it can take days to go through the > films transcribing them. If I visit a centre, I have 7 hours travelling > for 2 hours research, and might find nothing in the time I have. After reading your message, I think I am very lucky indeed! My local LDS Family History Centre is about 5-10 mins drive away (if I were keen, I could walk) - and there are others in Adelaide just a tad further away! And all are open 4 or 5 days a week for several hours each day!! Sure, it can take a while for the film to come in - but then I can spend many hours on it if I wish. And the volunteers are amazingly helpful. It's strange that sometimes, the further away one is, the easier it is to do family research!! Very best regards, Jduy Philip Adelaide, South Australia, Australia