GRO Records

shar01 · 08-09-2016 3:13pm

pinkypinky wrote: »

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

Yeah - that's what I was doing with the search result but couldn't do it for actual image. I suppose Scotlandspeople spoiled me with its search engine and quality of images

dos1965 · 08-09-2016 4:29pm

shar01 wrote: »

Yeah - that's what I was doing with the search result but couldn't do it for actual image. I suppose Scotlandspeople spoiled me with its search engine and quality of images

Highly recommend Greenshot , a free screen shot and capture tool, the windows snip in Windows 10 does the same. Allows you to select a portion of the screen (cert image) and save it.

And I also am enjoying the liberation of the cert images.

Jellybaby1 · 08-09-2016 4:51pm

Is there any point to my saving information about errors to report to (whom??) i.e. one in particular I am finding continuously is the transcription not appearing on the image, i.e. wrong image attached to the transcription. I have found so many now, someone took their eye off the ball, a lot!

mickmackey1 · 08-09-2016 6:10pm

L1011 wrote: »

I'm able to see my great great grandmothers sisters birth record, and she's still alive (and 101) - must get on to the DPC immediately!

Claire Santry : ' Those over the age of 100 years old who don't want an image of their birth certificate to be available online are provided with instructions for applying for its redaction'.

shar01 · 08-09-2016 6:43pm

Have just discovered my great grand mother was a twin!

I need to take a break...

Tychoo · 08-09-2016 6:47pm

Did it go live yet. i'm still seeing the old stuff?

Tychoo · 08-09-2016 7:08pm

Very disappointed very big gaps, typical half ass job

KildareFan · 08-09-2016 7:55pm

Tychoo wrote: »

Very disappointed very big gaps, typical half ass job

Don't agree - it's an incredible leap forward. I've already found so many links, solved some mysteries... of course there are gaps, but we're getting so much for free. Maybe some don't remember having to pay astronomical fees to see RootsIreland's now pathetic collection of transcriptions.

Jellybaby1 · 08-09-2016 7:55pm

As much as I have had some disappointments, all in all I am happy that I have saved a lot of money today and I am delighted with what I have so far. I'm shattered, but I'm still going.

KildareFan · 08-09-2016 8:04pm

Now yiz have broken it... I'm getting a server error. Time to stop for a cuppa.

spurious · 08-09-2016 8:12pm

It is 11 o'clock Christmas morning and the batteries have died.

Waitsian · 08-09-2016 8:13pm

There is an email feedback service. Ive just used it to inform them of a birth index entry missing an image from 1890 and to comment on the historic records and images just made available.

My comments were mostly positive but where critical I've been polite and constructive, and made suggestions.

googled eyes · 08-09-2016 10:10pm

The one thing I would love would be to be able to cross ref births with known parents names, rather than trawling through many entries in possible years

mickmackey1 · 08-09-2016 11:15pm

I'm after clicking on the Feedback tab and somebody else's request is visible!!

Jellybaby1 · 08-09-2016 11:24pm

mickmackey1 wrote: »

I'm after clicking on the Feedback tab and somebody else's request is visible!!

Well, that's just one more problem to report!

pedroeibar1 · 08-09-2016 11:47pm

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.

Pinky,
I think you are misunderstanding where some of us are coming from.

Yes the new site is a great facility, there is no disputing that; it also is free, a huge bonus. But as others have pointed out, being critical has positives in addition to the negatives. What much of the comment is focussing on is detail and ‘getting it right’ now because what is there today will be the future.

One hundred and fifty years ago (an era noted for fine copperplate writing) had people passed comment on and not accepted - from what were paid civil servants - sloppy writing, inaccurate entry details, etc., many of us would not now have problems/questions on our dead relatives.

Getting the dataprocessing job correct is a ‘project management’ issue – setting, for e.g. parameters for an acceptable ‘error rate’ in transcription; also properly planning the launch of the images – if the Data Protection people are so fidgety about recent records, why did the GRO not start with the oldest images first and then work forward? The older images surely are to most interesting?

There is a huge amount of goodwill 'out there' for projects of this type, and IMO it would be far better for govt. depts. to tap into and harness it rather than build walls around their position.
(That's all from me about it, I intend to check a few records over the weekend to see if I can peep under a few veils.

)

RGM · 09-09-2016 5:18am

The stuff you stumble across...

Randomly came across the entries for six RAF men who died in 1943 when their bomber crashed into a Donegal bog.

eqwjewoiujqorj · 09-09-2016 8:53am

I think that posters criticisms here is genuine, and if heeded will make for a better product and user experience.

For example the captcha, it took me 29 clicks of the mouse, plus a bit of typing to start searching.
A lot of users might be logging in a few times a day, the session might time out requiring them to log in again, so it can be a bit of a pain.
Not the end of the world, but it could be improved, very simple to do.

And putting a direct link to the pdf from the search results shouldn't be too hard to implement.

Putting a contact link for broken / wrong images and corrections shouldn't be too hard.

It's a great resource that's free and I'll be using it a lot in the future - I still use the census every so often.

But with a few small tweaks it can be made so much better.

Anyone know a time frame for the rest of the records,
ie: Marriages (18 Years Missing ) and Deaths (27 Years Missing)?

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

Jellybaby1 · 09-09-2016 9:22am

Quote eqwjewoiujqorj: "And putting a direct link to the pdf from the search results shouldn't be too hard to implement."

Absolutely, I said the same when the last lot of records came out (and disappeared). If you click on a name you obviously want to see the record, the transcription page is just irritating and unnecessary and on top of that when transcription and image don't match its completely irrelevant or at least misleading.

pinkypinky · 09-09-2016 9:45am

I would imagine the reason they haven't directly linked from the index to the pdf is that people will still need the GRID reference at times, i.e. if you needed a full legal copy of the certificate.

I spoke briefly to the main tech person last night at the launch and I didn't want to badger him with questions so I just asked the most important one: when would the rest of the images be available? The response was not definitive. The GRO is responsible for the scanning part and it will take as long as it takes. So we'll just have to wait on that front.

If we want to put together a coherent and succinct list of issues, I'd be happy to pass it on directly to him.

L1011 · 09-09-2016 9:52am

Based on the creep back of paired marriages and mothers maiden names on births to date, I'd take a guess at another 18 months or so to get the rest done - the indices launched 2 years ago and they are more than half way back. Bigger population the further back you go, though (although they are already well in to the 32 county era)

dos1965 · 09-09-2016 9:53am

Speaking of transcriptions and the joys of OCR, here's my favourite census transcription: tick the 'Show all information' button to see Occupation

http://census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Dublin/North_Dock/Gloucester_Street__Lower/14867/

L1011 · 09-09-2016 9:55am

dos1965 wrote: »

Speaking of transcriptions and the joys of OCR, here's my favourite census transcription: tick the 'Show all information' button to see Occupation

http://census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Dublin/North_Dock/Gloucester_Street__Lower/14867/

Fair few nuns did turn out to be monsters, but who's Lady Christy? :pac:

eqwjewoiujqorj · 09-09-2016 10:37am

L1011 wrote: »

Based on the creep back of paired marriages and mothers maiden names on births to date, I'd take a guess at another 18 months or so to get the rest done - the indices launched 2 years ago and they are more than half way back.

Perhaps they could upload them in 1/2/3 ect yearly batches - would avoid any server surges on a big day launch.

L1011 · 09-09-2016 10:56am

eqwjewoiujqorj wrote: »

Perhaps they could upload them in 1/2/3 ect yearly batches - would avoid any server surges on a big day launch.

They have never announced the existing work (matching/maiden names) in the past, so I imagine the images will be the same - put up when done.

BigCon · 09-09-2016 11:32am

Is the site down for anyone else?

Hermy · 09-09-2016 11:37am

Yep, I was trying to view the Census and now I see it's all down.

pinkypinky · 09-09-2016 11:44am

Good to know but please let's keep this thread for the GRO release.

Hermy · 09-09-2016 11:49am

Unfortunately they're all on the one platform so if one goes they all go.

BigCon · 09-09-2016 11:53am

pinkypinky wrote: »

Good to know but please let's keep this thread for the GRO release.

I would think that the fact the GRO site is down is pretty relevant to the GRO release.

pinkypinky · 09-09-2016 11:55am

I was talking about the census site being down, actually, but I see now irishgenealogy.ie is down too.

Hermy · 09-09-2016 11:57am

That's why I mentioned it.

josip · 09-09-2016 1:40pm

pinkypinky wrote: »

Just reviewing my wishlist of certs to get: almost all are within the unrestricted period so it is genealogical Christmas for me.

Considering running a pool on how quickly the site crashes though.

I had been hoping that this wouldn't turn out to be the case but the site is still down

I managed to get a few missing dates/certs for my grandparents this morning, but the great-grandparent plan for this afternoon doesn't look like it will happen.

Considering this wasn't publicised as much as the census data I didn't expect that there would be a initial surge of users sufficient to take down the site.

eqwjewoiujqorj · 09-09-2016 3:20pm

It's back up

josip · 09-09-2016 3:41pm

eqwjewoiujqorj wrote: »

It's back up

Shhhhhhh

tabbey · 09-09-2016 4:13pm

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

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:

I had experience of just one French registration, the death of a teenager in a boarding school in Brittany, 1899. I wanted to know the cause of death, but this is not given on French death certs.

Other less important (from my point of view) details were given;
the names and occupations of the two informants,and that the death took place at seven in the evening, and reported at seven the next morning.

The service was superb, email with image within the working day, and nice note. Of course it is a matter of luck, some other requests might be less well answered.

tabbey · 09-09-2016 4:30pm

eqwjewoiujqorj wrote: »

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

The original registers are kept in local HSE custody, some Superintendent Registrars are helpful, some are not.

The copies are supposed to be the same as the originals, that is why the entry numbers in the local register are written into the copies bound into the GRO volume. Inevitably mistakes are made from time, to err is human.

In the early days, the copies would be made by the same person, the registrar, generally the dispensary doctor. Later on, clerical assistant registrars were more numerous, so more people were involved in making copies, more cases of inability to read the doctor's writing etc.

KildareFan · 09-09-2016 4:33pm

One mystery solved - if you can't find granny or grandad, just put in 'Unknown' with the surname. Dozens of kiddies born in the Rotunda and the Coombe were registered by the 'Occupier' of said hospital who couldn't be bothered to find out the first names of the infants and left the firstname column blank. They also filled in the names of the parents and addresses, so there may be errors there too. Drat you E. Anderson of the Rotunda...

tabbey · 09-09-2016 5:19pm

KildareFan wrote: »

One mystery solved - if you can't find granny or grandad, just put in 'Unknown' with the surname. Dozens of kiddies born in the Rotunda and the Coombe were registered by the 'Occupier' of said hospital who couldn't be bothered to find out the first names of the infants and left the firstname column blank. They also filled in the names of the parents and addresses, so there may be errors there too. Drat you E. Anderson of the Rotunda...

It was not just the institutions who were indifferent about children's christian names.
Look at Dr Brassington in Rathmines in the early days (1864). He only recorded half the children's names, and none of them were registered by institutions.

eqwjewoiujqorj · 09-09-2016 8:14pm

Anyone noticing a lot of 1940 marriage are missing images, with the following message:

Athlone 1940 search

example

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.

Photocopies or official certificates can be obtained via the following link.

If you have any further queries you can contact the General Register Office at gro@groireland.ie.

As far as I can see it's only 1940, which is within the 75 year limit.

pinkypinky · 09-09-2016 11:56pm

Just found a marriage for someone I didn't know got married. Indisputable too, based on the witnesses.

This is going to be the long term joy of these registers: random discoveries made by putting in family surnames and trawling.

Boscod · 10-09-2016 4:49pm

Have come across a record with no image attached. Am I correct in thinging that if a GRID is included in the search result, an 'Image' should be attached?

Waitsian · 10-09-2016 5:09pm

I found an 1890 birth with GRID number and no image. I reported it. We'll see what happens.

CassieManson · 10-09-2016 5:17pm

Boscod wrote:

Have come across a record with no image attached. Am I correct in thinging that if a GRID is included in the search result, an 'Image' should be attached?

I have found a lot of Galway records with no image. On a positive note I have finally found a death certificate for my great grandmother!

Trizo · 11-09-2016 11:06pm

The online images from the GRO have been great so far and has allowed me piece together many missing pieces of the tree that would have otherwise taken me far longer and with great expense.

Two questions for those in the know ,

1.I read in the thread that these are not the original records, they are the copies sent to Dublin. Does that mean originals reside somewhere for instance can I get an original that would have my ancestors real signature on it ? From a church perhaps?

2. A death in 1967 would answer a question or two of mine but obviously I'll have to wait till next year or do they release these a little earlier or is it 1 Jan 2017 that I'll see this ?

Thanks

Hermy · 12-09-2016 2:22am

When I click to view the image for Catherine Coulter who died 1898 in Dublin SOuth I get an image for Dundalk deaths.
Is there a way of navigating to the correct image?

pinkypinky · 12-09-2016 9:29am

Trizo wrote: »

The online images from the GRO have been great so far and has allowed me piece together many missing pieces of the tree that would have otherwise taken me far longer and with great expense.

Two questions for those in the know ,

1.I read in the thread that these are not the original records, they are the copies sent to Dublin. Does that mean originals reside somewhere for instance can I get an original that would have my ancestors real signature on it ? From a church perhaps?

2. A death in 1967 would answer a question or two of mine but obviously I'll have to wait till next year or do they release these a little earlier or is it 1 Jan 2017 that I'll see this ?

Thanks

1. To answer this, you must understand that each registration district had sub divisions and each sub-division maintained its own records. Periodically, the sub-division would send its records to the HQ of the RD and they in turn would send them to the overall HQ. I have never heard of the original copies being made available, and the original copy that your ancestors signed would have been given to them to take away, with an exact copy of the details entered into the register. For more info, read the small book on civil records by Steven Smyrl & Eileen O'Duill.

2. You can just go the GRO in Werburgh St (or order by fax/post from Roscommon) and get a copy of that 1967 death. You'll have to check the indexes for the year first to get the references, as nowhere online has 1967 yet.

pinkypinky · 12-09-2016 9:30am

Haven't discovered a way to navigate, Hermy.

Hermy · 12-09-2016 10:01am

A shame the pdf's aren't done the same way as the church records at the same site where you have the facility to turn a page so to speak.

Actually it's a complete mystery to me the difference between searching the two sets of records.

pinkypinky · 12-09-2016 10:15am

John Grenham's blog this morning has a good summary of the GRO actually

https://www.johngrenham.com/blog/2016/09/12/welcome-to-the-promised-land/

GRO Records

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