GRO Records

L1011 · 07-09-2016 1:13pm

Whats up and what isn't of the old stuff is very strange. Got an 1864 (so very start of the line) birth but 1878 death that's probably her father isn't there.

Hermy · 07-09-2016 1:34pm

It seems to have reverted to the old site without images.

shanew · 07-09-2016 1:36pm

same here... initially got a 503 service unavailable - and was asked for catcha again, looked like a reboot back to the old. Presume well have to wait until official launch..

Aglomerado · 07-09-2016 1:39pm

shanew wrote: »

same here... initially got a 503 service unavailable - and was asked for catcha again, looked like a reboot back to the old. Presume well have to wait until official launch..

Captcha not showing for me at all now. I was really enjoying dipping in and out and getting dates etc.

Still, I'm very pleased about it!

spuncy · 07-09-2016 1:44pm

And it's back..

Hermy · 07-09-2016 1:47pm

And it's...Internal Server Error

spuncy · 07-09-2016 2:06pm

It's been working fine for me since, Hermy, just had to kinda go back in again. Did you get in?

pinkypinky · 07-09-2016 2:17pm

Working for me.

Lots of the older records in the old format of page/volume etc don't have images.

shanew · 07-09-2016 2:17pm

Images are back for me - and they include NI records

snickerpuss · 07-09-2016 2:34pm

Yes working for me too! Able to see my great grandparents marriage certificate. Of course I already paid for a photocopy many years ago... So many €4s wasted! Little did I know...

pedroeibar1 · 07-09-2016 2:46pm

I'm not moaning yet but I've not had much success. I’ve the same captcha problems as above – plus a bit more
I have several GRO references from CLDS for the ‘name' or 'names combination’ so the certs giving parents’ names are needed to be certain I’ve the correct people. On the first one (an 1855 marriage) the groom’s record has come up with Vol and page number alnong with “There is currently no image to display. This may be because the record was registered or amended in a later year, or there are quality issues with the original image.” Trying under the wife’s name it gives the same register details but does not give any option to open an image. (an aside - It also is strange that each has a separate entry and there is no ‘combined’ one. I suspect the groom was RIC – would this have a bearing? C of I marriage perhaps?)

blue banana · 07-09-2016 2:51pm

I don't think there are any marriage images for before 1882 online yet. Hopefully the one's that are not there today will become available tomorrow, but I'm still not certain about pre-1882 marriages

Hermy · 07-09-2016 3:02pm

spuncy wrote: »

...just had to kinda go back in again...

That was it. Sorted now.

KildareFan · 07-09-2016 3:31pm

I'm sooooo happy. I need to take a break, but I'm scared that it's all going to disappear in a puff of smoke once that nice busy body hears about it.

Aglomerado · 07-09-2016 3:53pm

I'm google-eyed now.... :eek:

pinkypinky · 07-09-2016 4:18pm

Me too.
Might have to enforce no computers this evening.

L1011 · 07-09-2016 4:23pm

I'm not getting as much in the way of certs as others, for a few reasons:

*I spent far too much at the GRO
*I spent far too much at the IFHF (they have some transcripts for some counties I have relations in)
*It appears my fathers side of the family either didn't believe in actually getting married or someone never registered the weddings. From the 1880s to the 1920s so likely too long for one priest.

pinkypinky · 07-09-2016 4:27pm

Over the years, I prioritised direct ancestors, so I've gotten a huge amount of collateral family information today. Had always maintained a list of certs to get if funds were unlimited.

Waitsian · 07-09-2016 5:07pm

http://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/details-civil/e55d193572447

A Newry registered birth - no image. Teething problems, will be up in time? I hope so.

http://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/details-civil/67b4c915701256

A Cootehill registered death - no image. Just my luck! There are images missing for sure, so far anyway.

quartz1 · 07-09-2016 6:07pm

Am turning goggle eyed

P_1 · 07-09-2016 6:52pm

1st World Problem alert

As good as it is having the certs, sometimes the penmanship of the registrars has you slightly wishing for the printed indices.

spurious · 07-09-2016 7:01pm

P_1 wrote: »

As good as it is having the certs, sometimes the penmanship of the registrars has you slightly wishing for the printed indices.

I get this in transcription too and then all of a sudden you come across someone whose writing is a delight to see.
You'd think a clear hand might have been a requirement of the job, especially back then when everything was written.

eqwjewoiujqorj · 07-09-2016 7:56pm

These are not the original records, they are the copies sent to Dublin.

Which is why in the signature box you will see "his / her mark", because the informant couldn't write, but in the other boxes, where you would expect a signature, all the writing is the same, as it was copied down by the register.

So, in the millions or records sent to Dublin, could there have been a few mistakes? A page missing here or there?

See the bottom of image:

Jellybaby1 · 07-09-2016 8:26pm

I managed to get a few before lunch but haven't been back again to it yet. As another poster said, I've spent so many €4's over the years I could cry now. I hope to be able to get some more but the one record I've been chasing for the last seven years is still not appearing for me. Some of my father's mother's family don't have images yet, so all in all I'm a tad happy with what I have so far but still keeping my fingers crossed for more, and so jealous of all of you newbies who haven't forked out much money as yet!

Pippi Longstocking · 07-09-2016 11:00pm

This is great, I've already managed to find some birth certs I'd been missing. I'm going to have to put a time limit on myself or I'll be up all night!

Waitsian · 07-09-2016 11:41pm

http://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/details-civil/76ea8f14222091

Another no image! That's 3 now. It's well for you all, I'm beginning to feel like I'm cursed. :mad:

RGM · 08-09-2016 12:09am

mod9maple wrote: »

http://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/details-civil/76ea8f14222091

Another no image! That's 3 now. It's well for you all, I'm beginning to feel like I'm cursed. :mad:

I'm pretty sure it's been established that there aren't any images for marriages before 1880 or so, at least not yet.

shanew · 08-09-2016 8:13am

from what I can see the marriage images start beginning 1882, deaths start 1891 - there are exceptions. There are a few index errors, some possibly in the original books - worth skipping back or forward through a few images to check for these.

Jellybaby1 · 08-09-2016 9:31am

I've found several errors too, i.e. one transcribed record does not actually appear on the image referenced, another transcription has N/R for a child's sex and mother's name although they are clearly stated.

Jellybaby1 · 08-09-2016 9:50am

Who broke it?

pedroeibar1 · 08-09-2016 10:03am

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

Who broke it?

It was 'half broke' before it started.

I don’t want to start a moan, but the site access is really ‘clunky’.
Assuming there is a need for the captcha (presumably to prevent data-mining?) is the second step prior to access really necessary? The second one (agreeing to Section 61 of the Civil Registration Act, 2004) is meaningless when any letter/name will suffice – e.g. entering ‘a’ and ‘b’ in the name boxes works. So why not combine it with the first stage with a clause stating “by signing in to this site you are agreeing to Section 61 etc.?
Also, hit backspace on the browser and you can end up in an endless loop of captcha requests with no images.
Why do those in charge of projects like this never think of putting together a consultation/user group to bounce ideas off?

eqwjewoiujqorj · 08-09-2016 10:26am

I hope they will have all the images up today.

It has to be said while it's pretty impressive to have access to these records - what other country has as great as access to records like Ireland for free? - some improvements can be made in the future:

1. Make copies of the original records in the county offices.
The records made available are handwritten copies made by the country register and sent to the GRO in Dublin.
Although I found a few new records, there were no big surprises, as like a lot of people on here, I had purchased a lot of the 4euro certs using the FamilySearch.org index, which is of course the same as the records released.
Millions of records were copied and sent to Dublin, I'm sure there was some human error over the years and some records were omitted.

2. Make copies of the original books
Might be wrong on this but I think some of the records come from microfilm - quality is not always great.

3. Make more records available, instead of the 100/75/50 for BMD, perhaps make it 75/50/25.
Or even dispense with this altogether, it is public information after all.
Birth and marriage records I can understand but death records don't need to be limited for more that a few years.
Perhaps cause of death can be removed if that's what's required.

4.Make a direct link to the PDF file from the search page.

5 One captcha is enough - I always seem to have to do two.

L1011 · 08-09-2016 10:30am

The CRA requires a "person" to make an application hence the need to record a 'name' I believe.

Jellybaby1 · 08-09-2016 10:42am

When searching for a marriage I discovered the groom didn't have an image but the bride did. Happy days.:)

pinkypinky · 08-09-2016 10:45am

Yes, it's pretty standard that the index says N/R for mother's maiden name and it's there in the image. I suspect they'll never change that. I cannot think of a scenario where a mother's name wouldn't be recorded on a birth cert...father, yes.

L1011 · 08-09-2016 10:54am

Is it not N/R before a certain date that has been ever so slowly creeping backwards? Like the paired marriages.

pedroeibar1 · 08-09-2016 11:00am

eqwjewoiujqorj wrote: »

.........what other country has as great as access to records like Ireland for free?

I've only researched in France on mainland Europe and in general (some Departements are not yet available) they are miles ahead of us, and progressing with more info all the time. The person I was researching was a soldier in Napoleon's army, I found BMD's online, free, also details on his pension application, wife, children, service locations, etc, all free. The Ministry of the Marine also has some of his service records (off-line).

It's actually staggering when one thinks that all those records came through the horrors of both sides during the Napoleonic Wars, various risings/revolutions, (e.g. les Trois Glorieuses, 1830 & 1848) the Franco-Prussion war, WW1 and WW2. We just had a bitty affair in 1922 and look what was done. :mad:

pedroeibar1 · 08-09-2016 11:04am

L1011 wrote: »

The CRA requires a "person" to make an application hence the need to record a 'name' I believe.

The access system as we have it is meaningless when a + b suffices as a 'name'. They already have a record of an IP address. If a name were a legal requirement they would ask for an email addy (and even that would be daft as most of those are fictional). It's a CYA Sir Humphry-ism

pinkypinky · 08-09-2016 11:21am

Guys, less of the moaning. We've been given a huge pile of stuff for free, it's not perfect, but it's only being launched today. I'll personally ask Tadhg later when they'll resolve these issues.

Waitsian · 08-09-2016 12:09pm

pinkypinky wrote: »

Guys, less of the moaning. We've been given a huge pile of stuff for free, it's not perfect, but it's only being launched today. I'll personally ask Tadhg later when they'll resolve these issues.

From Claire:

"I've heard back from the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs who manage the site. The website now holds 12.5million Index records linked to 2.5million images from the historic registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths. Images are available as follows:

Births: 1864 to 1915
Marriages: 1882 to 1940
Deaths: 1891 to 1965

The Images of the pre-1882 registers of Marriage and pre-1891 registers of Deaths are being updated by the General Register Office and will be added to the website in due course.

I have also been advised that the website may fluctuate a bit today while some last-minute checks are run before this evening's official launch."

Aglomerado · 08-09-2016 12:12pm

pinkypinky wrote: »

Guys, less of the moaning. We've been given a huge pile of stuff for free, it's not perfect, but it's only being launched today. I'll personally ask Tadhg later when they'll resolve these issues.

+1, a fantastic resource. I'm delighted with it so far.

I see now that the registrars' handwriting is the reason behind the multiple variants of spellings in the index for some unusual names in my family!

Hermy · 08-09-2016 12:22pm

The 'moaning' is legitimate criticism in my opinion.
Making the images available is absolutely brilliant news for anyone interested in family history but that doesn't mean we should ignore the flaws that have been present since the site launched some years ago.

Waitsian · 08-09-2016 12:32pm

Hermy wrote: »

The 'moaning' is legitimate criticism in my opinion.

I see it as constructive criticism. It's people like us to whom they should be listening and from whom they get their best feedback.

shar01 · 08-09-2016 2:52pm

Well I'm a very happy bunny! The person I had (based on Irish census and Canadian death cert) as a 3rd great uncle, is in fact the illegitimate child of his "sister". And the crossed out birth entry before his official record shows the father.

Well done GRO - and the credit card stayed in the wallet! Bonus!:D

pinkypinky · 08-09-2016 2:55pm

I am in favour of criticism and I am a fan of letters of complaint, as people of this parish will be aware, but I fear we're very quick to do it. Let's give it a chance to bed in.

I actually think this new captcha system is much improved on the old sometimes illegible random word in weird font version.

shar01 · 08-09-2016 2:58pm

Plus you can save the image. That was a bugbear of mine with GRONI - after forking out (albeit a small sum), you couldn't save the image or look at it after 72 hours.

pinkypinky · 08-09-2016 2:59pm

shar01 wrote: »

Plus you can save the image. That was a bugbear of mine with GRONI - after forking out (albeit a small sum), you couldn't save the image or look at it after 72 hours.

You can always do a screen print and paste it into MS Paint and save there. That's what I do.

RGM · 08-09-2016 3:02pm

I suppose it was unrealistic of me to expect an easy way to browse, but that's my one complaint. As it is, we are limited by the indexes which are known to be flawed. Still can't find several certs.

Alun · 08-09-2016 3:05pm

Probably a silly question, but can anyone tell me if births are registered both in the church parish records and the civil records, or can it be only one or the other?

My English wife has been trying to track down the birth of an Irish relative (great-great-grandfather) born around 1831 somewhere in Co. Cork, probably Mallow, but the parish baptismal records for the period in question, 1828-1832, unfortunately seem to be missing.

So, would someone born in 1831 have typically have been registered in the civil register or only in the parish baptismal register, or both? Preliminary searches in the GRO records have drawn a blank, but it'd be good to know if it's even worthwhile continuing the search

RGM · 08-09-2016 3:07pm

Alun wrote: »

Probably a silly question, but can anyone tell me if births are registered both in the church parish records and the civil records, or can it be only one or the other?

My English wife has been trying to track down the birth of an Irish relative (great-great-grandfather) born around 1831 somewhere in Co. Cork, probably Mallow, but the parish baptismal records for the period in question, 1828-1832, unfortunately seem to be missing.

So, would someone born in 1831 have typically have been registered in the civil register or only in the parish baptismal register, or both?

Civil records didn't begin until the 1860s, so it's only after that that there would be both.

GRO Records

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