Hello all.
Some of us (myself included) over on Rootschat have recently taken out a 1 month subscription (there is a 1yr option as well) to a fairly new site, Emerald Ancestors. So far, I have found it to be money well spent, albeit records it holds are not always complete, they do have a very good range and it can help you narrow down where to search further.
Hopefully this will be of interest to many of you researching in the Ulster counties.[/url]
New Resource for research of Ulster B/M and some D's.....
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scotmum
- Posts: 67
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DavidWW
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Re: New Resource for research of Ulster B/M and some D's.
This from the sitescotmum wrote:Hello all.
Some of us (myself included) over on Rootschat have recently taken out a 1 month subscription (there is a 1yr option as well) to a fairly new site, Emerald Ancestors. So far, I have found it to be money well spent, albeit records it holds are not always complete, they do have a very good range and it can help you narrow down where to search further.
Hopefully this will be of interest to many of you researching in the Ulster counties.
"The following is provided for guidance only, and the databases should not be regarded as a full account for any location or time period."
In other words "All" doesn't mean "All" !
Database Date Range Counties
VITAL RECORDS (BMD's)
Northern Ireland Births 1796 to 1924 All
Northern Ireland Marriages 1823 to 1922 All
Northern Ireland Deaths 1803 to 1900 All
CENSUS RECORDS
1901 Fermanagh Census 1901 Fermanagh
Northern Ireland Census Extracts 1841 to 1851 All
MISCELLANEOUS School Registers 1892 to 1938 Down
David
Last edited by DavidWW on Tue Mar 13, 2007 1:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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SuperTrouper
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2007 5:33 pm
- Location: Birmingham, UK
It costs £9.99 for a month or £49.99 for a years subscription and is very useful if anyone has ancestors from the Six Counties. The subscription covers unlimited searches in the indexes which in the case of births will give both parents names and the church, district & townland. It costs £12.00 for them to do a search for the original entry & email you a very nice facsimile.
I used them to get a copy of my GG Grandparents Marriage Cert which had loads of useful info and even had a surprise as I had thought my GGG Grandfather was James Hunter, turned out it was a Robert Hunter who was a Land Steward & James was a witness to the marriage. If there is a delay with them gaining access to the records, which in my case there was, they will email and let you know but it was still less than 2 weeks from ordering to receiving. And they are adding more records to the database all the time
I used them to get a copy of my GG Grandparents Marriage Cert which had loads of useful info and even had a surprise as I had thought my GGG Grandfather was James Hunter, turned out it was a Robert Hunter who was a Land Steward & James was a witness to the marriage. If there is a delay with them gaining access to the records, which in my case there was, they will email and let you know but it was still less than 2 weeks from ordering to receiving. And they are adding more records to the database all the time
Researching TROUP, COWIE, ALLARDYCE, FERRIES of Aberdeenshire
COGHLAN, REGAN, HUNTER, MCMORRIS, CUNNINGHAM in Cork, Sligo & Fermanagh
COGHLAN, REGAN, HUNTER, MCMORRIS, CUNNINGHAM in Cork, Sligo & Fermanagh
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scotmum
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Or if you want to pay a bit less for a transcription, you can use Family Ulster at £4 a time.
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Chris Paton
- Posts: 433
- Joined: Sun Jan 14, 2007 9:14 pm
I've been in touch with Emerald Ancestry re: the high transcription costs, and received a very nice response from the man running the service, David Sommerville.
My main points were the high cost for the look ups (£12 each), and the lack of source notation which can help you to identify if a record exists or has just not been put into their system yet.
Hi Chris
Many thanks for taking the time to give us such detailed feedback. We are still developing the site and it is genuinely appreciated.
As we have been adding quite a lot of information recently it would have been difficult to keep details of the sources up to date so we chose to maintain a fairly broad definition for the time being. Once things have stabilised we will however provide clearer indications of what has and hasn't been included. We do put details of what each update includes on our news page but are also looking at having this placed somewhere more accessible as we realise it can be a chore to have to search through the same records to see if something new has been added.
The transcription service is a bit of a dilemma for us as I take your point about the cost. It is however based on the time it takes us to obtain and transcribe the record which can be very time consuming. We make all the information we hold on a record available to members and therefore each look up involves a trip to either the GRO or PRONI or Dublin. Obviously there are some economies of scale when we are fortunate enough to have a number of look ups to complete at the same time but things often don't work out that way and we have to cost appropriately.
To be honest we originally intended the look up service to just be a bit of an added benefit to members who couldn't source the original material through other means. It has however been very popular amongst members and I would say that the feedback we have got from those using it has been excellent. I myself have just spent the morning at PRONI looking through church records to confirm and add to the details that were supplied in a civil registration record as I felt these were inadequate to pass on to a member. It would not be unusual for us to consult 2 or 3 different sources when providing look ups and we are extremely confident that we provide the most accurate details possible. I therefore don't feel a direct comparison can be made with the other site you mentioned that has the details already databased. [ie the Ulster Historical Foundation site at www.ancestryireland.com]
We are trying to provide more information on new records so that there is no requirement for members to request a look up but I do promise to review the look up situation over the next couple of months. If we can come up with some more efficient methods of obtaining the information without reducing the quality and speed of the service then we will gladly reduce the costs to members.
Many thanks again for your comments.
Regards
David Somerville
I think, in short, this is going to develop into an excellent service over time, and something long overdue for Northern Irish records. I was really impressed that he went to corroborate a wedding at PRONI because he thought the civil record was not up to scratch. So whilst it is much cheaper to get the records from GRO or Family Ulster, I think there is a genuine reason for the high cost, though I am still not sure I am willing to pay that yet! But certainly for the indices, you are certainly getting great value for money, and if you do decide to use the transcription service, it's a bit clearer as to where your money will go!
Hope that helps anyone with a huge black hole in their tree in Ulster!
Chris
My main points were the high cost for the look ups (£12 each), and the lack of source notation which can help you to identify if a record exists or has just not been put into their system yet.
Hi Chris
Many thanks for taking the time to give us such detailed feedback. We are still developing the site and it is genuinely appreciated.
As we have been adding quite a lot of information recently it would have been difficult to keep details of the sources up to date so we chose to maintain a fairly broad definition for the time being. Once things have stabilised we will however provide clearer indications of what has and hasn't been included. We do put details of what each update includes on our news page but are also looking at having this placed somewhere more accessible as we realise it can be a chore to have to search through the same records to see if something new has been added.
The transcription service is a bit of a dilemma for us as I take your point about the cost. It is however based on the time it takes us to obtain and transcribe the record which can be very time consuming. We make all the information we hold on a record available to members and therefore each look up involves a trip to either the GRO or PRONI or Dublin. Obviously there are some economies of scale when we are fortunate enough to have a number of look ups to complete at the same time but things often don't work out that way and we have to cost appropriately.
To be honest we originally intended the look up service to just be a bit of an added benefit to members who couldn't source the original material through other means. It has however been very popular amongst members and I would say that the feedback we have got from those using it has been excellent. I myself have just spent the morning at PRONI looking through church records to confirm and add to the details that were supplied in a civil registration record as I felt these were inadequate to pass on to a member. It would not be unusual for us to consult 2 or 3 different sources when providing look ups and we are extremely confident that we provide the most accurate details possible. I therefore don't feel a direct comparison can be made with the other site you mentioned that has the details already databased. [ie the Ulster Historical Foundation site at www.ancestryireland.com]
We are trying to provide more information on new records so that there is no requirement for members to request a look up but I do promise to review the look up situation over the next couple of months. If we can come up with some more efficient methods of obtaining the information without reducing the quality and speed of the service then we will gladly reduce the costs to members.
Many thanks again for your comments.
Regards
David Somerville
I think, in short, this is going to develop into an excellent service over time, and something long overdue for Northern Irish records. I was really impressed that he went to corroborate a wedding at PRONI because he thought the civil record was not up to scratch. So whilst it is much cheaper to get the records from GRO or Family Ulster, I think there is a genuine reason for the high cost, though I am still not sure I am willing to pay that yet! But certainly for the indices, you are certainly getting great value for money, and if you do decide to use the transcription service, it's a bit clearer as to where your money will go!
Hope that helps anyone with a huge black hole in their tree in Ulster!
Chris
Last edited by Chris Paton on Fri Mar 16, 2007 4:11 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Tha an lasair nad anam aig meadhan do bhith
Nas làidir 's nas motha na riaghaltas no rìgh.
Nas làidir 's nas motha na riaghaltas no rìgh.
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Chris Paton
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scotmum
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ninatoo
- Posts: 1231
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- Location: Australia
Thanks so much for letting us know about this new site. Nearly all of my mother's side are Irish, so when I am able, I will be signing up!
Nina
Nina
Researching: Easton ( Renfrewshire, Dunbarton and Glasgow), Corr (Londonderry and Glasgow), Carson (Co. Down, Irvine, Ayrshire and Glasgow), Logan (Londonderry and Glasgow)