Raymond As the Ballynahinch library is the Headquarters and local studies centre for that part of Northern Ireland, I would contact Mary and Gemma as the first step. Her Email is mary.bradley@NI-libraries.Net Over the last 3 years I have been thrown out of a number of Irish Libraries at closing time. I normally ask if there are any books on Boyd families. Mostly the reply is no, but when you start going through the shelves and checking the Indexes it is quite surprising how many Boyd families and references you can pick up. Certainly websites would be useful with what they contain. (i) The list of the local family history group (and contacts including website and Email) (ii) List of local Newspapers for the County and Belfast (iii) Local historians whom can be contacted. (iv) On my first visit I was told to contact the local Radio Station as most Irish listen to the radio. Never been able to find one. So perhaps a list of radio stations and their contacts may be useful to let local people know that you are looking for a family of XYZ. (v) for being an Australian, finding townlands when you are in a library is quite often difficult. I have most of the 1:50,000 series maps for Antrim and Down, but these do not have an Index and not all the official townland names are on them. So suitable townland maps may another useful aid. As I am also the Clan Boyd's Chairman of its Historical Committee, I leave my business card at all the libraries I go to and saying I would be quite happy to help other Boyd researchers. However, I can't recall any Library passing on my name - as yet. Mike Boyd Brisbane ----- Original Message ----- From: "Fiona Jones" <mourneminers@optonline.net> To: "'the_researcher'" <the_researcher@raymondscountydownwebsite.com>; <nir-down@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 4:28 AM Subject: Re: [NIR-DOWN] Ancestor research, County Down > Well done Raymond on taking the initiative. I know there are some > wonderful > staff at Ballynahinch library (May Bradley & Gemma Ward) who have helped > me > enormously. Perhaps it might be worth you having a chat with them. > > A very useful library resource is the newspaper indexes compiled by Jack > McCoy - I know Ballynahinch have copies but I am not sure about the other > libraries. > > Good luck to you. > > Fiona in freezing New Jersey > http://www.rootsweb.com/~nirdow2/ > > > -----Original Message----- > From: nir-down-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:nir-down-bounces@rootsweb.com] > On Behalf Of the_researcher > Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2008 12:29 PM > To: nir-down@rootsweb.com > Subject: [NIR-DOWN] Ancestor research, County Down > > Over the years whilst visiting kilkeel, and other libraries in County > Down, > i have met people from abroad on holiday who were trying to get some > information on their ancestors who came from that particular area,although > the library staff are not trained to help with genealogy, some of them > give > a bit of advice and are quite helpful, > So i decided to explain this to the Library Headquarter bosses and put a > few > suggestions to them, starting with Kilkeel library, by luck the lady in > Armagh headquarters who is in charge, is a Sloan from Greencastle, a good > stroke of luck, my suggestion to her was,as there is computers in all the > libraries for the public to use, if a notice board was put up giving the > website addresses that deal with that area, and some of the contents of > the > websites, mebbe something else that someone on the list can suggest for a > visitor from abroad who is researching ancestors, so good people any ideas > , > as i would like this notice board put in most libraries, the good lady in > charge thinks its a good idea so any suggestions please let me know, > > Raymond > in a cold and snowy Scotland > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NIR-DOWN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes > in the subject and the body of the message > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NIR-DOWN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message