Irish Family History Foundation's Heritage Centers

Heritage Centers

Location: All over Ireland

Website: http://www.irishroots.net/

Heritage Centres are located all over Ireland. They have computerized records that are in two categories, main records and other records. Much of the information housed in these centres are not available anywhere else. There is a great debate going on in a Usenet group called soc.genealogy.ireland on Usenet right now on these centres. You can access it by using a news server or going to http://www.deja.com and get the scoop. In fact I'm still reading up on it all. Very interesting.

Some are calling into question the usefulness of the records kept at the Heritage Centers. Claims of errors, on the computer data that's been entered, are flying around. The fact is folks that when using computerized data, and compiled genealogies, double check your data with the actual records. Assume nothing. That's good genealogy. Take nobody's word for anything. Even the best databases have mistakes. They just give you the data. It's up to you to verify it and make certain it's accurate.

My opinion is arm yourself with information then wade into the Heritage Center records. You have to pay for someone to access these archives. The rates vary and so does the information they hold. So check the webpage on the main site and check each centre out.

Walking in to a centre will not help you get the data faster. In fact if you think going there will get you information right away, think again. Check first to see if it's possible. The different centres offer different services as far as I can tell. It would be better for you to just mail in for an initial search. Then, if something is found, pay for a detailed search if that's available.

Don't bother requisition a search unless you have ALL the data you need for a good search and you'll not be wasting your money. That means have a birth date, birth place, parish (if possible), parents names, and if possible have brothers and sister's names. As much data as you have send them so they can confirm they have the correct records. You never know they may have the entire genealogy on record already. Once you have your data from the Center make your trip to Ireland to double check and verify records in other archives.

Make certain that you keep in mind that the person you are looking for may have spelling variations. You are dealing with trained Genealogists so they will know this. However if

Go To Page: 1 2