Dead Money

Jellybaby1

Folk here will be interested in this new Irish version of the Heir Hunters programme. I got the blurb from the RTE Guide.

Dead Money – RTE 1 – 7pm, Tuesday March 6th

“Steven and Kit Smyrl genealogical legal researchers who track down the heirs to unclaimed estates”


I must remember to record it.

shanew

some details of Ep. 1 (Digiguide)

...In Programme One, Steven and Kit's efforts to find the relatives of Dublin woman Maura Byrne reveal a tale of horror and tragedy, from the squalor of the inner city tenements in the 1910s to the sad abandonment of a young boy in an industrial school.



S.

Jellybaby1

It sounds very interesting, I am keeping my fingers crossed the production will be good.

shanew

thanks for spotting this - cross-posted a copy of this to RootsChat


S.

pinkypinky

Yes, I also meant to post about this! Looks interesting but hopefully not a carbon copy of Heir Hunters.

Jellybaby1

pinkypinky wrote: »

Yes, I also meant to post about this! Looks interesting but hopefully not a carbon copy of Heir Hunters.

Previously I thought the UK Heir Hunters was quite good, but the most recently updated version has been cranked up with the blonde presenter, quite unnecessary in my opinion.

Waitsian

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

It sounds very interesting, I am keeping my fingers crossed the production will be good.

Let's hope Derek Mooney isn't the presenter.

Jellybaby1

RTE Guide doesn't say if there is any presenter. It's on tonight at 7pm RTE1.

P. Breathnach

I was disappointed: apparently genealogy involves a lot of magic and chance.

[But it was interesting to have a face to match with that wonderful radio voice, Catriona Crowe.]

And no Derek Mooney!

shanew

cant believe that they searched the index books in the research room rather put together a list of likely matches beforehand using the online index!

quite a lot to squash in to 30mins...



Shane

jos28

I'd love to have their job all the same. Bit of researching, bit of travel and get to give someone good news at the end. Where do I apply ?

pinkypinky

shanew wrote: »

cant believe that they searched the index books in the research room rather put together a list of likely matches beforehand using the online index!

quite a lot to squash in to 30mins...
Shane

I know! A name like Silvester would have popped right out of familysearch!

Also, I had to laugh "after hours of research in the GRO, Kit only have 5 leads". Yes, because they'll only let you get 5 certs per day!!

The format works and I'm happier with a jam packed 30 mins than a padded out hour.

rhapsody

Yep I agree with what everyone has said really. Not showing the online search option seemed silly, though maybe they'd prefer people went and did the full day searches in the GRO. I do feel bad sometimes for the people who are there all day going through the books, while I just drop in for certs. The 5 cert limit never seems to be mentioned on these shows, nor the price per cert. It must be a shock for people the first time they go to the GRO!
The chance element was a bit annoying, and there was some mention of 'genealogical instinct' I think- is that what I've been missing all this time?! :rolleyes:
I was getting distracted by the guys' accents, must look them up & see where they're from! The travel thing irks aswell, they mostly rang people living in Dublin but then travelled to Blackpool & somewhere else? Maybe its that the Dublin people didn't want to go on camera; but it seemed odd to me.

As pinkypinky says, it's better than a padded out hour- which is what I thought the Genealogy Roadshow was. It's on series link now so we'll see what next week brings

Jellybaby1

I recorded it as I was out but the machine missed the first couple of minutes so I will have to catch up with that bit online. I watched the rest of it and felt it was better than I expected. The boys were full of energy themselves which brought a bit of life into what could have been a dull and boring programme, or zapped up to hell with bells and lights. I think the presentation hit a good balance overall. I can't comment on the genealogical methods as I'm not a professional - I will leave that to the more experienced. GRO has never looked so empty, though!

pinkypinky

rhapsody wrote: »

I do feel bad sometimes for the people who are there all day going through the books, while I just drop in for certs.

The chance element was a bit annoying, and there was some mention of 'genealogical instinct' I think- is that what I've been missing all this time?! /QUOTE]

I don't feel bad for them, but I do often get talking to people who look like they don't know about familysearch and enlighten them while I'm waiting for my certs.

Ah, genealogical instinct - that to me is just an educated guess. I've used the phonebook trick twice and hit lucky with it both times, but it took far longer to prove the connection. To us it's obvious that you'd have a better chance looking for the names already in the family but it has to be explained for, er, muggles watching the show.

familyseeker

Not a professional either but thought it was useful in showing the basics of how to go about doing a manual search in the GRO, etc. Hope they continue on to show other things like online searches of the index and the parishes, checking Thoms or other Directories, going to the National Library to physically search parish records, useful stuff to people who don't know how/where.

Thought it was a bit light on detail though - the name of the uncle's first wife and his myriad of children just magically appeared. Hard to believe NONE of them married and had children? And it looked as though there were three beneficiaries - the first cousin once removed in Dublin, first cousin and first cousin once removed in UK - but only mentioned two of them getting a split? Or am I confused?

Anyway, enjoyed it and looking forward to next episode.

pinkypinky

They mentioned that the guy and his mother would get half and the cousin in the UK would get half. The former was because the mother was in-law, so she would get a portion of her husband's share and their son the other part.

Catsmeow

I enjoyed the programme & am looking forward to next week's episode. However, I was amazed that there were only 3 heirs last night, considering the amount of children listed on the various branches. Did no one else get married and/or have children? Also the phone calls shown weren't the actual phone calls, if you look closely at their phone while they are talking you'll see that.:D Catsmeow

pjproby

I wonder what percentage of the inheritance is paid to them for their fees? Who refers the case to them?

Jellybaby1

The UK Heir Hunters agency I think which I picked up from one of the programmes was paid 12-15% but I'm not a hundred percent sure. Everyone has to be paid for the work they do so I've no problem with that. Some heirs declined to sign with the agency and did it themselves or went with another agency. But it would be of interest to know how the Irish system works compared to the British which is quite well advertised via the Bona Vacantia website below:

http://www.bonavacantia.gov.uk/output/are-you-an-entitled-relative.aspx

Anyone can check that list out. How is it done here?

pinkypinky

Tonight's episode was solid too. Nice to get the American connection in before St Patrick's Day.

Am dying to know about the clarification at the end re: last week's episode. As far as I remember, the younger man they interviewed - his mother was the wife of a descendant. Where they saying there that those people were not heirs? I'm confused.

Jellybaby1

One of the dangers of heir hunting I expect - you just can't get it wrong, and that's what would terrify me! :eek:

familyseeker

I believe, and correct me if I am wrong, that last week they said that Sylvester AND his mother both were heirs when actually only Sylvester was here in Dublin and two cousins in the UK were also heirs.

shanew

They've had some quality 'guests', Catriona Crowe in ep.1, and in tonight's ep. I get to finally see Jim Herlihy!



S.

shanew

pjproby wrote: »

I wonder what percentage of the inheritance is paid to them for their fees? Who refers the case to them?

interesting detail on John Grenham's blog about this aspect of the business - "...most of Massey and King’s income actually comes from hourly commissioned research paid for by solicitors."


S.

pinkypinky

shanew wrote: »

They've had some quality 'guests', Catriona Crowe in ep.1, and in tonight's ep. I get to finally see Jim Herlihy!



S.

Me too! But I hardly understood him - that's a thick accent.

familyseeker

I wish it was longer - I was really interested in the stories they found out about the various members of the family. Then suddenly they had to cut to the chase at the end and finish up with "oh yeah, we found all 6 heirs"... but they had only pinpointed two up to that point. It was a bit rushed I thought.

pinkypinky

I think 30 mins is better than an hour. Look how sparse the US WDYTYA is... BBC2 showed it without all the "before the break" and "coming up" and it was so refreshing.

rhapsody

pinkypinky wrote: »

I think 30 mins is better than an hour. Look how sparse the US WDYTYA is... BBC2 showed it without all the "before the break" and "coming up" and it was so refreshing.

+1

& seeing Jim Herlihy finally! He's just how I imagined him Where's he from? Another good episode & I have Cunninghams and RIC people in my clan! It did feel a bit rushed at the end unfortunately- maybe 45 minutes would be a good compromise

Jellybaby1

Some RIC background information here, and pictures of uniforms from different eras. Very interesting stuff:

http://www.policehistory.com/index.html

pinkypinky

I'm just watching the final episode.

Paraphrasing here: we've got an exact birth date in the 1880s so the only place we can find her father's name is on a baptismal record. I know we're dealing with tv here but that is just misleading beginners!

Coolnabacky1873

pinkypinky wrote: »

I'm just watching the final episode.

Paraphrasing here: we've got an exact birth date in the 1880s so the only place we can find her father's name is on a baptismal record. I know we're dealing with tv here but that is just misleading beginners!

Ah jaysus. *Open palm hits forehead*

I'll have clients repeating this back to me now as they saw it on the telly so it must be true.

justagirl

I am trying to get to watch this online but cannot find it can anyone point me in the right direction? It seems to be gone off RTE website.

Thanks so much.

Wyldwood

here you go
http://www.rte.ie/player/#!v=1144407

Coolnabacky1873

Sorry for the mega-bump but Massey and King just started on Twitter and posted a link to the first episode of Dead Money, from a few years ago.
http://vimeo.com/93893981

There might be a few others, like myself, who didn't get to see it on RTE.

Jellybaby1

I don't think they gave it another series, did they? I'd like to see another series.

Coolnabacky1873

From what I can tell, just the one season with 6 episodes. If they tweet any more I'll add them here.