RootsIreland

pinkypinky · 25-09-2014 11:22pm

Ponster wrote: »

Not in the least bit I'd imagine but they still have to say it.

I'd hope that a professional would be ordering the real certs rather than using transcripts.

Well yes of course for civil records but for speed they might use rootsireland and then go back to parish records in the NLI for verification. I've done that.

shanew · 04-10-2014 10:18pm

I finally tried out the new subscription version - couple of observations :

1. the first name restriction is a annoying, especially if you are trying to find extended families
2. there should be a parish selection option once a county has been chosen, i.e. to allow selection of several adjacent parishes
3. the initial search results are too basic - these should more detail, e.g. parish on a general county search
4. some records seem to be missing denomination - e.g. several in North Co. Dublin

The restrictions just complicate the search and mean you have to try a search for each decade, each initial etc... I appreciate that unrestricted searches can result in large number of results and also load servers etc, but maybe instead of requiring a firstname and surname, maybe they could allow the surname and a least one other search parameter - e.g. surname and parish, or two surnames ?

and a wish list item - an extended search, maybe for partial address (for those records that have one), or godparent/witness names or even occupation (e.g. on those CofI or civil records that have this) ? The witness names and occupations proved very useful in providing clues to my Coastguard ancestors, and related families

that said, being able to view details without worrying about credits being used up is great, and could be a great help in building up additional detail on families, especially in the time close to the beginning of available records.

montgo · 05-10-2014 10:07am

Ditto for me.
Despite the restrictions in searching and many transcription errors. it has been really worthwhile for me. It has always been on my wish list to be able to search for sponsors/witnesses!

Menas · 07-10-2014 11:02am

I bit the bullet yesterday and am so happy that I did so.

I had many brick walls in the Rathcormac/Middleton areas of Cork and was able to get back a couple of generations thanks to the good parish record coverage in those areas. Been able to easily find baptisimal records for people born in the very early 1800s was a very pleasant surprise.

Looking at the monaghan/fermangh side of my family I had less success as the records there are patchy.
It really is pain having to put in a Christian name, but I found that just putting in the first letter of that name also works.
And having details of the Sponsors was a big help as they are key clues to the links between families and generations.

I will keep working on this over the coming 4 weeks and expand my search to the Leitrim side of the family, but based on the 40 or so individuals added to the Cork side of my family I am already a happy man!

owenc · 07-10-2014 7:46pm

I got an email from them today.

A bit confusing

owenc · 07-10-2014 7:46pm

Trigger Happy wrote: »

I bit the bullet yesterday and am so happy that I did so.

I had many brick walls in the Rathcormac/Middleton areas of Cork and was able to get back a couple of generations thanks to the good parish record coverage in those areas. Been able to easily find baptisimal records for people born in the very early 1800s was a very pleasant surprise.

Looking at the monaghan/fermangh side of my family I had less success as the records there are patchy.
It really is pain having to put in a Christian name, but I found that just putting in the first letter of that name also works.
And having details of the Sponsors was a big help as they are key clues to the links between families and generations.

I will keep working on this over the coming 4 weeks and expand my search to the Leitrim side of the family, but based on the 40 or so individuals added to the Cork side of my family I am already a happy man!

I agree! It is so annoying having to do that considering you don't always know.

clashburke · 08-10-2014 4:52pm

A slight tangent, but a few quick Q about the site.

Currently i have about a dozen cert numbers that I'm almost certain are my ancestors and I'm a bit strapped for cash.
Is there a way on Roots to find the same cert i already have and get the father/mothers names and dates from them?

Ponster · 08-10-2014 10:19pm

clashburke wrote: »

A slight tangent, but a few quick Q about the site.

Currently i have about a dozen cert numbers that I'm almost certain are my ancestors and I'm a bit strapped for cash.
Is there a way on Roots to find the same cert i already have and get the father/mothers names and dates from them?

What 'cert numbers' are you talking about?

My initial impression is that no, you'd have to redo the work, searching again to find each reference on RootsIreland.

clashburke · 08-10-2014 10:44pm

Ponster wrote: »

What 'cert numbers' are you talking about?

My initial impression is that no, you'd have to redo the work, searching again to find each reference on RootsIreland.

Sorry i mean the reference used to order the certs. I looked around the site today, i think your right, it might not be worth the hassle after all:( May hold my breath a little longer and wait to order the certs

L1011 · 08-10-2014 11:08pm

Rootsireland only has civil certs for a very sorry time period and they don't use the GRO index references on them either

VicWynne · 11-10-2014 7:48pm

I can't believe that they closed the PPV service on the 24th September and they only sent me my notification mails yesterday!

Newstreet · 18-10-2014 11:21am

I think I have discovered another difficulty with subscriptions to Rootsireland.

Basically, I applied for the €25 month's subscription on 5th October. Twelve days later I get an email to warn me I have used up 800 of my monthly allowance of 1000 views.

I only opened the site for three days out of those twelve, and there is no way in hell I opened a tenth of 800 records!

Thinking about it, the only way they could come to that, is by deducting me for every name that came up in searches, regardless of whether I opened the record or not.

So if I search for Mickey Murphy in Dublin ten years either side of 1820, and forty results come up, I am deducted all forty, regardless of whether I only opened two of them.

Beware.

Ponster · 18-10-2014 2:17pm

This sounds more like an error on their side. If you go to this address : http://ifhf.rootsireland.ie/curr_searches.php you can see the searches that you have made. I tried what you said but it didn't alter the total on the My Subscription page. The sum of page views only went up when I actually viewed a cert. I wasn't able to make it change with just searches.

Elizabetha · 18-10-2014 2:29pm

it must be an error....I checked my subscription and it shows that I have only viewed 10 records even though it pulled up pages of records during the searches which is right so you should query it.

dido2 · 21-10-2014 12:36pm

Same here I've viewed 210 records which I'd say is right so I'd say it's an error on your account, check what it says on My Subscription ...

Menas · 21-10-2014 6:45pm

I am on 852 views according to the My subscription page.
Sadly I think that is accurate....it was a quiet month at work!

CassieManson · 20-11-2014 1:52pm

montgo wrote: »

Ditto for me.
Despite the restrictions in searching and many transcription errors. it has been really worthwhile for me. It has always been on my wish list to be able to search for sponsors/witnesses!

I finally signed up for a one month subscription (knew it would be hugely time consuming so waited until I had some free time). I agree with most of the comments here. It is quite expensive, however I have been able to find some civil records so have saved money on sending away for BMD certs. Not sure how extensive their civil records are but I was able to locate some of my family in Galway and as the townlands are shown I can be sure the information is correct without sending away for the certs.

The 1000 views is an issue, it sounds like a lot but due to their limited search facilities you can view 20-30 items to find one correct one. On the old system you could tell which records you had previously viewed. That does not seem to be the case now so I suspect that I am being charged for multiple views of the same record.

A couple of days into my one month sub I have used nearly 300 of my views already. So not so generous really. I thought it was strange that new new system is more restrictive in searching, I guess this is the reason. Does not make sense for long term customer satisfaction though!

KildareFan · 20-11-2014 2:06pm

Has anyone compared the transcription of BMDs on RootsIreland with the actual record from the Civil Indexes?

The handwritten birth/death/records I've purchased from GRO can be challenging to transcribe unless you know the family, where they were from, and the likely names. Even where you see the actual handwriting, there may be mispelling/misinterpretation. For example. my great grandfather's occupation on his death record looks like "farmer" which surprised me at first, as he was a blacksmith and never had an acre in his life. I think the actually record reads "farrier" but could easily be misread as farmer.

So, I would prefer to find the Index references and pay the 4euro to GRO to get the actual record, than pay a fortune to RootsIreland to find out what they think the record says.

CassieManson · 20-11-2014 2:21pm

KildareFan wrote: »

Has anyone compared the transcription of BMDs on RootsIreland with the actual record from the Civil Indexes?

The handwritten birth/death/records I've purchased from GRO can be challenging to transcribe unless you know the family, where they were from, and the likely names. Even where you see the actual handwriting, there may be mispelling/misinterpretation. For example. my great grandfather's occupation on his death record looks like "farmer" which surprised me at first, as he was a blacksmith and never had an acre in his life. I think the actually record reads "farrier" but could easily be misread as farmer.

So, I would prefer to find the Index references and pay the 4euro to GRO to get the actual record, than pay a fortune to RootsIreland to find out what they think the record says.

Yes I agree the transcriptions can be a problem. I have actually sent away for a cert even though I have found the record on rootsireland. The townland is listed as "Spiddal Martin" which I am sure is not a real place. Will be interesting to see what is written on the cert. Also according to rootsireland my g-g-grandparents were married a year after their first son was born (possible I know, but unlikely I think). I have to go to the National Library I think to see microfiches of the original records, have not got around to this yet...

shanew · 20-11-2014 2:58pm

CassieManson wrote: »

...The townland is listed as "Spiddal Martin" which I am sure is not a real place. Will be interesting to see what is written on the cert. ....

maybe a misread for the townland of 'Spiddle Middle', 338 acres, Moycullen c. parish, Co. Galway. PLU/Registration district Galway, and sub-district probably Spiddle.

Ponster · 20-11-2014 4:51pm

CassieManson wrote: »

A couple of days into my one month sub I have used nearly 300 of my views already. So not so generous really. I thought it was strange that new new system is more restrictive in searching, I guess this is the reason. Does not make sense for long term customer satisfaction though!

Believe it or not but this means that you viewed 300 certs which would normally have cost you 1500e so pretty good value I think. If you believe that you have not viewed 300 certs then I'd suggest contacting them as something seems to be wrong. Views are cert views, not searches.

dido2 · 20-11-2014 5:19pm

When it comes to the records on Rootsireland, the GRO Certs etc, I'd only take them as guidelines, and if possible even with the GRO records they can be used with church records aswell to find info....
I just don't think it's too wise to take someones version of what they think is wrote on a cert that at the best of times isn't very clear and often it requires someone who knows the area to figure out a place name

pinkypinky · 21-11-2014 12:04am

I'm just finishing up a month's sub with Rootsireland. My genealogy is quite advanced but I used this month to verify some research done by another branch of the family. I also did some speculative work with a couple of my more unusual surnames. I feel I've had good value for the month and only used 205 searches out of the 1000. I can see if I was a newbie, I'd make more use of it but my ancestors are mostly Dubliners, so this site is unhelpful.

CassieManson · 21-11-2014 7:35pm

Ponster wrote: »

Believe it or not but this means that you viewed 300 certs which would normally have cost you 1500e so pretty good value I think. If you believe that you have not viewed 300 certs then I'd suggest contacting them as something seems to be wrong. Views are cert views, not searches.

Yes, when you put it like that its not too bad. I did get a lot for my money so far. Just frustrating to think that I may run out of views so quickly. I guess I am used to the flexibility of searches on Ancestry and FamilySearch!

KildareFan · 21-11-2014 8:51pm

I've taken the plunge with RootsIreland and paid €25 for the month; so far I've 'viewed' over 50 records most of which are relevant. So, yes, it's a better deal than seeing those valuable credits disappearing every time you select a record that may or may not be the one you want. My main problem is that I'm not sure how far I can trust the transcription and would love to see the original image.

dido2 · 21-11-2014 11:48pm

Kildarefan

I would use Rootsireland as means to filtering out all the wrong ones and then either order the Civil Record from the GRO or try getting a copy of the baptism if it's available, these are all open to being transcribed wrong, I've seen it with my grandmothers baptism and marriage details being transcribed wrong, even my own marriage cert has the wrong surname for my brother in law and that was only 2003!!

Hermy · 24-11-2014 12:25pm

So my sub has just four days to go and I'm trying to get the most out of what's left. Despite my misgivings I have to say it was €25 well spent. I found a lot of new information and I even found the odd baptismal record had a note about who the person later married which was a bonus.

Having said all that, the site is so terribly restrictive and I've just discovered that I can only save 100 records online which is a bit of a pain.

pinkypinky · 24-11-2014 12:41pm

I took screenshots of every cert I wanted to keep, even wrong ones.

Rox_88 · 24-11-2014 12:54pm

I've been hitting print and saving as a pdf from there (using chrome). I have about 400 relevant files saved, it's been invaluable for the Limerick/Tipp branch of my family. My heads spinning a bit if I'm honest.

KildareFan · 24-11-2014 3:20pm

I'm transferring the data to an excel spreadsheet; I started printing the details, but there's so little on each sheet that it wasn't worth it. Also the 100 limit on saved searches isn't much use.

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