NLI August 2012 Lectures

VicWynne wrote: »

Hi folks,
Just wondering if anyone else is going to these lectures?
I've been to the second two and they were excellent.

http://www.nli.ie/en/list/current-events.aspx?article=8306d5ac-33c7-4e3b-86c6-143bafa3d065

They're starting at 1 and you're out of there be 1:30 which is great.

Vic

Was there many at them Vic? I know they moved to a bigger room following the first one, but is there need to arrive pretty early to avoid missing out or are there normally seats empty? I'm hoping to go Thursday.

Alot of these look great. Sorry if this is a silly question, but where is the Seminar Room in the NLI? I had a very quick look on their site but couldn't see any info.

Thanks for that, I'd be running there for 1pm & it's good to have an idea where to go

So I've attempted three lectures so far, as christmas2010 mentioned, the Military Archives lecture didn't go ahead. I wonder have they found Cpt. MacEoin yet! I haven't gotten an email about the re-arranged lecture- has anyone else?
Newspapers as Genealogical Tool- Jennifer Doyle on Wednesday 15th was grand, I use papers a fair bit anyway but it was good to get an overview, particularly on sources for papers.
Births, Marriages & Deaths- Eileen Ó Dúill today was very good I thought & there was a good turnout! They ran out of handouts in fact so I lost out- it seemed to be the history of the GRO & bibliography. The talk was good, Ms. Ó Dúill was an engaging speaker & didn't get bogged down in personal anecdotes during the Q & A section! Again, I use the GRO alot already but still learned a fair bit.
If anyone wants more info on these, let me know; I'm a note taker

christmas2010 wrote: »

Rhapsody, like you I've used the GRO quite a bit in my research so I'd be interested in hearing about any of the extra information you picked up at the lecture.

Summary of the lecture... I hope it's not too long & I hope I wrote the dates down correctly!:

Speaker- Eileen Ó Dúill
The gentleman introducing her (Aidan, didn't get his surname unfortunately) mentioned how qualified & experienced Ms. Ó Dúill is etc, has written a book on the inner workings of the GRO, presumably this: http://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000181562
Works mostly in legal genealogy, tracking heirs of landed estates

GRO originally in Custom House, it moved to Joyce House in 1983, then to the Abbey Life Centre in 2007. Civil registration started in 1845, Catholic registration from 1864. People were initially distrustful of the system so some events unregistered. Note 1921+ records for 6 counties are in NI GRO, Belfast rather than Dublin.

Went over opening hours, fees for searches & certs. Showed copy of order cert, mentioned how helpful the staff in GRO are.

* Example of twin birth certs, time of day given on multiple births. In the case of twins (& triplets etc I guess) GRO don’t charge for the second cert.
* Example of marriage cert, which generally gives a lot of info. Full age = over 21, minor = under 18.
* Death certs: watch for rounding of ages. 40-> more likely they're estimating, 47-> more likely its a definite age. If a detail on cert e.g. the cause of death is very small, the clerk at GRO will blow it up for you. If an inquest is mentioned, check for a newspaper mention. Gave examples of 1916 heroes who did not have civil death records until recently; the assumption being that their next of kin didn’t register them as a form of protest against the state. Look for other evidence e.g. memorial card/ gravestone.

* There were fines for late registration (over 21 days), so some birth dates would have been altered to get around this. Occasionally you’ll find a baptism cert for a few weeks/ months earlier than civil cert. Ms. Ó Dúill has had occasions where the baptism record has been stronger in court than civil cert.
* Spelling often an issue. Various versions of surname spellings, as well as Ó and Mac being added to names after the Gaelic Revival. If the bride & groom etc cant spell, they wont realize if the priest/ registrar has listed a detail incorrectly.
* Final point, use familysearch.org to save going through the indexes in the GRO.

Small points from Q & A:
- getting a civil cert. altered is difficult! Apparently only the mother can alter a birth cert.
- births on ships in GRO Roscommon only.
- reminder of Catholic Emancipation Act 1829, most priests “on the run” before this so unable to keep good records!
- difficulty with transcription errors
- stillbirths were generally not registered until The Stillbirth Registration Act 1995. It wouldn’t be registered “unless the child took a breath”.

I was at today's talk too. Interesting but I thought he strayed off topic a lot.
I came to hear about tracing RIC records which was how it was advertised but he seem to spend more time speaking about the Black and Tans and auxillaries and his current research for a new book on this subject.