The web has been promoted as a tremendous boost to free Irish Family History information but the possible role of telephone data in a similar context gets little mention. Suppose one wanted to trace from the UK possible living relatives of an ancestor called McGeever from County Donegal. Entering the name and the County at the URL http://159.134.203.172/search.asp?source=Eircom provides 40 hits with addresses and telephone numbers. Parish Maps of County Donegal are available at the URL http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~bhilchey/DonegalMain.html so it is possible to build up a population density map of McGeevers currently living in the various Parishes and townlands in the County (and provide an indication of which Parish and Townland your ancestor originated from). The same could be done in a search involving counties Antrim and Derry The aim would be to contact all 40 McGeevers and possible find one who is a Family History enthusiast or at least has a wide knowledge of the clan. Writing to Irish contacts has traditionally been rather a disappointment as the folk at home are very reluctant to put pen to paper. So why not give them a bell - the Irish love to talk? Very expensive you will reply - but is it? My UK "Talk Talk" telephone bill is so full of zero charges that I have difficulty finding a charged call outside "mobile phones" "special numbers" and "overseas calls". But that only covers Northern Ireland - calls to the Republic still cost. However if one registers with www.call1899.co.uk the call rate to The Republic of Ireland (and vice versa) is only 1p per minute - http://www.call1899.co.uk/rates.php. See also http://www.call13434.ie/rates.php for the rates from Ireland to the UK (0.5 ct/minute). A ten minute talk from the UK with each of the 40 Donegal McGeevers would cost only (where's my calculator) £4. I recently organised a Family Reunion in Ireland with a church service and a meal at an hotel for 270 friends and relatives at a relatively close to zero telephone cost. This procedure would be an ideal prologue to any folk planning a visit to Ireland, as opposed to the subsequent traditional - possibly more enjoyable but probably less effective - tour of the local pubs. It should be feasible to get the e-mail addresses of interested McGeevers and use the completely free services of Skype - see the URL http://www.skype.com/download/ which allows free internet telephone calls to most countries in the World. Google also plan to introduce internet telephone calling soon see the URL http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1454225,00.html Are there services such as www.1899.co.uk which currently allow very low cost foreign calls available in other countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA? Liam "A bird in the bush is worth two in the cat" ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DONEGALEIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.407 / Virus Database: 268.12.10/459 - Release Date: 29/09/2006

Liam - Any way we can get this kind of stuff for County Antrim? Bob Wilson Beaufort, SC USA Liam Martin <L.Martin@zen.co.uk> wrote: The web has been promoted as a tremendous boost to free Irish Family History information but the possible role of telephone data in a similar context gets little mention. Suppose one wanted to trace from the UK possible living relatives of an ancestor called McGeever from County Donegal. Entering the name and the County at the URL http://159.134.203.172/search.asp?source=Eircom provides 40 hits with addresses and telephone numbers. Parish Maps of County Donegal are available at the URL http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~bhilchey/DonegalMain.html so it is possible to build up a population density map of McGeevers currently living in the various Parishes and townlands in the County (and provide an indication of which Parish and Townland your ancestor originated from). The same could be done in a search involving counties Antrim and Derry The aim would be to contact all 40 McGeevers and possible find one who is a Family History enthusiast or at least has a wide knowledge of the clan. Writing to Irish contacts has traditionally been rather a disappointment as the folk at home are very reluctant to put pen to paper. So why not give them a bell - the Irish love to talk? Very expensive you will reply - but is it? My UK "Talk Talk" telephone bill is so full of zero charges that I have difficulty finding a charged call outside "mobile phones" "special numbers" and "overseas calls". But that only covers Northern Ireland - calls to the Republic still cost. However if one registers with www.call1899.co.uk the call rate to The Republic of Ireland (and vice versa) is only 1p per minute - http://www.call1899.co.uk/rates.php. See also http://www.call13434.ie/rates.php for the rates from Ireland to the UK (0.5 ct/minute). A ten minute talk from the UK with each of the 40 Donegal McGeevers would cost only (where's my calculator) £4. I recently organised a Family Reunion in Ireland with a church service and a meal at an hotel for 270 friends and relatives at a relatively close to zero telephone cost. This procedure would be an ideal prologue to any folk planning a visit to Ireland, as opposed to the subsequent traditional - possibly more enjoyable but probably less effective - tour of the local pubs. It should be feasible to get the e-mail addresses of interested McGeevers and use the completely free services of Skype - see the URL http://www.skype.com/download/ which allows free internet telephone calls to most countries in the World. Google also plan to introduce internet telephone calling soon see the URL http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1454225,00.html Are there services such as www.1899.co.uk which currently allow very low cost foreign calls available in other countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA? Liam "A bird in the bush is worth two in the cat" ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DONEGALEIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.407 / Virus Database: 268.12.10/459 - Release Date: 29/09/2006 ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NIR-ANTRIM-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message "...In A Little Brown Shack in South Carolina, Someone Waits for Me..." (at 12 Wade Hampton Drive) --------------------------------- Get your email and more, right on the new Yahoo.com