I've noticed a discussion on the Tyrone newsgroup re the value of 'Tombstones of the Omey' - value may be the wrong word - it's more is it worth buying re information....... and I'd like to pass a few comments - to all the groups I am sunscribed to re transcribing gravestones and the publications which may or may not ensue....from the viewpoint of a transcriber and how I see them of value to those of you who search. I've read in the past how graveyards and the stones there in are of little genealogical value. I have to say that yes, for the most part if you are looking for information from the 1700's and early 1800's - then yes, gravestones will only be of value to those of you who had family rich enough and educated enough to put up a stone. Even then, if they did - a lot depends on the weather conditions in the area, how exposed the graveyard was and whether or not the inscription on the stone has withstood the test of time. *But* having said that - I see you all looking for gravestones in a particular area....that which your ancestors came from....way back then.....and it all boils down to what I have said since I first began posting on any newsgroup Geography - nad how you have your ancestors *penned in* nice little fences around those townlands.....keep em all there and Bob's your Uncle. They moved around, they travelled, they spread from townland to townland, parish to parish, county to county - and maybe all within a small radius but these people *moved* I am working and have worked the graveyards of Co. Laois - the earliest stone I've found is dated late 1670's 0r 80's - and only one of those. A good few 1700's but then when we get into the 1800's the numbers increase. i know the differences betwen Laois and other counties which people like myself have transcribed - and published.....Laois is not exceptional in the age of it's stone - really the bigest numbers for anywhere begin in the 1800's. You'll find earlier more like in the northern counties. What I also know and can see is how the people spread - i haven't got all that many names in my transcriptions compared to some counties where the same number of stones have been worked...it looks like our graveyards were all smaller On a stone - when the people were god enough to put place of origin on - they say late of X and then if you go to X you can see the same family there - or they may have put wife of X who is interred in Y and you go to Y and find himelf and the rest of his family. it may be 'erected by X of Y in memory of his father - so then you know where the son or daughter ended up living and can track their descendants from then on. That's just one point about looking at all graveyards. The other is that for every townland - there may have been more than one graveyard in the surrounding civil parishes.....and townland is irrelevant to where they went to be buried from what I can see......it may have to do with religion..the church in whichever parish they attended and it does not have to be the religious parish of the name of the civil parish from which they were from - or even the religious parish of the Union from which they were from. I once met a lady in a graveyard in a town in Kildare - she told me she was from Cork - had lived in this co. Kildare town for the last 40 years - but she was from cork and that's where she would be buried. The attitude of many......so while your direct ancestors may hve come from A, B or C - that's not to say that their parents actually originated there - and they may have gone home to be buried - wherever home was. Looking at Laois alone - the main graveyard for Portarlington is in co. Offaly. There is a graveyard on the borders of Co. Kilkenny which is in Co. Laois and it's full of Co. Kilkenny people - I can't remember the name off hand. Then another on the border with Co. Carlow and it's full of people from carlow and Laois... and if I was one of you - looking for someone from Portarlington, Co. Kilkenny or Carlow - it would never dawn on me to go searching thru graveyard information from Co. Laois...or thru that from co. Offaly for Laois info. At least not for the majority of you - because you don't know the geography of the area. My point being here is that you can possibly find family in any graveyard in any county - regardless of religion up to the late 1800's. There's something else to be considered also - i've asked people about parishes and parishes - civli and ecclesiastical and whether you can understand the info as published. i had intended getting back to my reply to those who replied - but I've lost all my mail again. however, the churches and graveyards, burial grounds you see on the current Discovery series OS maps - they may be medieval churches - they may have been used by catholics and Protestants alike. They may have fallen down and had a protestant church built on top of them.....the familiy mihgt have been buried there forever and so even when the religion of the church changed - they may continue to be buried there - from whereever they have spread to throughout the county/country. All that is just to add to the complications of finding your Irish ancestors and the state of our parish records..... But - to my mind - Graveyard transcriptions are very important - regardless of how many were buried in the early years. All you need is that one - the one stone which you can say - "Hey - that's one of mine" for......it can give you a driection for parish records while you search aimlessly through everything you can find on a county 'cos you just know your family came from that county. That's how important gravestones are to you the searchers. Now - then we get to the likes of me who transcribes......and there aren't very many of us in this country. The value of gravestones and graveyards is not recognised. A few counties have been done completely. Wexford, Wicklow , older graveyards in Dublin, some of Meath, Westmeath - and published. The various Heritgae centres around the country 'claim' to have transcriptions.......... Few of the people who have ever done transcribing have had funding. Brian cantwell did and it took him something like ten years to do Co. Wexford. his works were not really published - printed, bound and copies given to various Irish archival institutes - maybe a few sold to larger libraries. no great money making venture I'd guess......but he was a dedicated man. Like the rest of us are - and interested in doing the job properly or not at all. I have maybe 50 graveyards done, some with only a few stones visible, my county needs to get it's act together....gravestones and graveyards are protected - therefore let them rot rather than let someone work them or clean themup - I'm a cynic...please don't anyone say anything to me about not touching gravestones and their preservation - this is ireland and preserving means letting lie and suffer from the weather - don't say anything to me about kicking up a fuss either - we bang our heads off brick walls regularly in this country. me - I have no funding - it comes out of my own pocket. in one week alone last summer I drove 1000 miles. I worked from dawn till dusk....... and as an example - i spent 7 hours in one graveyard cleaning stones, and transcribing....a big graveyard so lots of walking from stone to stone as well. For that seven hours I had three-4 hours of tapes to type up. Each hour of tape took me a minimum of two hours typing - I ended up with approximately 300 names from that graveyard. Those three hundred names took me another 2-3 hours of typing while I indexed them....... and I still have to go back to that graveyard and check that what I have typed is correct - for each stone. and for what - the pleasure of paying a publisher to publish what I have done - or else my alternative is to go to the Archaeological/historical/genealogical Journals and say - here's a publication for you - spread it around. Where am I going to get the money to pay a publisher - I don't know. Why do I have to pay a publisher - because there's not much interest in Graveyard transcriptions....... how many publications will I be able to afford - maybe 500 if i'm lucky... and then - I will see people on the net posting the results of my work to all and sundry....yes. Will that encourage me to continue - no. Will it encourage any more who come along and may thing that this is something which is needed for any county - no. Will it help any of you in the long run - no so - we bang our heads off brick walls here in Ireland and we do so again internationally - on the net with those who search. and we don't even know we're doing it. I admire Cynithia Russell for recognising the work that has gone into production of 'Tombstones of the Omey' for recognising the value of that work - both to author and those who search. It is one thing to give information from something which is out of print but absolutely another thing to quote from that of a valid obtainable publication. Jane