tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4518232392780308567.post8459177280794380790..comments2024-02-06T07:18:51.137+00:00Comments on The Family Recorder: Rootstech - good news from IrelandAudrey Collinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17109060807297085410noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4518232392780308567.post-43089356259418595902011-02-20T14:43:57.459+00:002011-02-20T14:43:57.459+00:00I once filmed part of a documentary on Ellis Islan...I once filmed part of a documentary on Ellis Island, and inside there is (or was at least!) a large interactive map which showed number of people per state who perceived themselves to belong to an ethnic grouping (hyphenated Americans). 2 million claimed to be Scots, 5 million claimed to be English, 2 million Ulster Scots (Scotch-Irish) and 38 million Catholic Irish. That's a potential market of 40 million Irish folk looking for their roots. Never understood why the Irish, north and south, have taken so long to cotton onto this as a market for genealogy - but so glad it is happening at last. <br /><br />I think the reason why people haven't asked too many questions about their Irish ancestry in the past is because sometimes they've been afraid of what the answers might be - or the two states have been afraid to facilitate the journey. Thankfully it's all a bit more confident now, and considering the state the economy is in now, there's no better time to plunder the archives. <br /><br />Personally speaking, I can't wait for the court records - I suspect that they will be the most democratic source there, I'm sure we'll all have someone in the bag! On the indexing of BMDs - I believe the GRO in Ireland visited ScotlandsPeople 4 years ago for advice, but on reading that Enecann link earlier today from 2008, I hadn't realised the whole programme was started in 1995. The sooiner it is finsihed the better. last time I visited the GRO search room in Dublin, I flew over for the day from Glasgow - I could access the indexes, but could not get photocopied slips from the registers as "the photocopying guy was doing a course". I looked up four index entries then had to leave, as I could go no further back. I eded up spending the erst of the day loking up census entries on microfilm at the NLI/NAI (forget which!). Thankfully things seem to have progressed a bit since then!<br /><br />Thanks Audrey,<br /><br />ChrisChris Patonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05073425769475523109noreply@blogger.com