Re: Charles McCormick (1811-1880) Co. Derry & western PA
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In reply to:
Re: Charles McCormick (1811-1880) Co. Derry & western PA
Ralph Connors 6/20/09
I am confused.Is your message an advertisement of your services as a searcher?Maybe I am wrong but like I said it confused me a little.Thanks for a response
If not an advertisement, I might add that the response of Hugh McGranahan to your message does contain one excellent item.Brian Mitchell of Derry City is an excellent "for hire" researcher in County Derry -- if you have an interest there.Brian Mitchell is a thorough young man (maybe age 45).He did some work for me.Assuming your message was not an advertisement of some kind - I'll mention a couple NON-INTERNET (non-electronic database) sources that might help you if you have a County Derry search.
In addition to Brian Mitchell, there is a vast amount of County Derry information (including Roman Catholic church registers of baptisms and marriages) available -- but not in computer data bases -- BUT AVAILABLE.Two excellent sources of original data might be microfilms of Irish records from the Mormons (LDS) who microfilmed most of the Roman Catholic Church registers in BOTH the republic and in Northern Ireland in the 1970s and 1980s.For rural people like mine, the existing RC church registers usually get rather sparce prior to about 1830.Some big city churches might have better records.Of course you need a rather precise location to get much value out of those microfilms.Second, the Pubilc Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI)has a lot of land (deeds and tenant leases, rent books) as well as some other public records (some census records a lot of National School records) PRIOR to 1861.After 1861, CIVIL (public)RECORDS of all IRISH (north and south) marriages and births were mandated by law.PRONI is located in suburban Belfast but has an interbet site.Again, this is not an electronic RESEARCH source and the level of indexing (or lack thereof before 1861) leaves a lot to be desired -- unless you have a rather precise location.But PRONI has roven a value resource for me for County DERRY, and even for County Cavan (now in the republic, but formerly in Ulster).
I was lucky an I had the County of orgin of my McCormicks and some other Irish ancestors.That made searching easier.A lot of records are still at the County level an every county (north and south) has at least one research entity like the Tipperary Historical Society etc.The folks in County Cavan have been helpful to me finding a local 1887 newspaper obituary (very brief) of my great grandmother (1825-1887).Some of these firms are really good, some less good.But, a good research firm will be a lot cheaper than a trip to Ireland -- and furnish photo-copies of public documents etc. to verify research.In the case of my County Derry - McCormicks I was also able to get the local priest (in charge of RC records) to issue an official copy of marriage and birth records (with RC Church seal etc) for the pre-1861 events.Of course, I made a little donation to the parish too.
In the line of "for hire" research in the north -- in addidition to Brian Mitchell, the Ulster Historical Foundation (UHF) in Belfast.If you want to work with UHF I'd contact Dr. William Rouston, Ph.D. at UHF.If Dr. Rouslton feels a different "for hire" researcher in some county would be better or cheaper than UHF, he will tell you.He will give a name, address or phone number as appropriate in most cases.From a time - EFFICIENCY stand point, some of the professionals are a lot cheaper than flying to Ireland -- albeit I have been there 6 times in the last 20 years.Thanks again for your response.best wishes.
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Re: Charles McCormick (1811-1880) Co. Derry & western PA
Ralph Connors 6/22/09