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Archiver > WATERFORD > 1999-07 > 0932670294


From: Maura< >
Subject: Info on Irish Vital Records Index on Ancestry
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1999 14:04:54 -0500 (CDT)


Since the announcement by Ancestry that a "major" database was to be put
on line there today at
http://www.ancestry.com/ancestry/search/ivr/index.asp many people have
been awaiting what this contained. Remember this is free only for 10
days, til July 31. After that you would have to subscribe to Ancestry at
about $60/year to access it.

I was unable to access this page for quite awhile today as it was either
pulled off line or had an error message. However, I"ve now spent some
time searching it and can tell you this.....

It is NOT Vital records as we know and refer to them, as Civil
Registration records. It appears that a great deal of the entries have
been extracted from the Casey Collection, which is available on
microfilm via your FHC, and some other records that appear to have come
from private sources. Some also come from what appear to be indexes of
submitted Family Group Sheets to the LDS Church.

In other words, while it this may be a helpful database, it appears to
be transcriptions of facts available via other sources, and limited in
scope. I'm not being critical, any database will of course be useful,
but it should not be considered as a complete "Irish Vital Records"
database. The description on the Ancestry site is very vague as to what
it contains, and seems to indicate that this is some sort of "complete"
database that will constantly be added to.

I would recommend everyone use this site for the free time period, and
see what information you can get from it (there were only 7 or so
entries for GOUGH for example), and judge the usefulness for yourself. I
hope everyone finds something in it to help them, but please do realize
the limitations of the database.

I am sending this message to all my lists. Please do NOT forward this to
other lists.

Maura
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