From Ireland

I was recently surfing the internet for any resources in Ireland that would help me access records.  I found a rather interesting site at www.from-ireland.net.  It seems to divide the information by province (Connaugh, Leinster, Munster, and Ulster) and under each province are found the familiar counites of Ireland.  As near as I can tell, all of counties are there including those that fall under Northern Ireland.

The following is a quote on the site:   "How do you say thanks to people who come and dig your snow, who grit your area of the road just so you can access the main road? Nobody pays them to do this. How do you repay someone like that? Thing is, that is exactly how all our ancestors worked together to survive." - Dr. Jane Lyons

While the site does seem to be a little sluggish in response time (I'm used to a "lightning fast" internet and website.), I have mustered up a bit of patience for this site.  My first test of this site was to review County Louth records.  Can I find my Flanagan ancestors on this site with ease?  Let's see what I can come up with. 

Gravestones Transcriptions - Gravestones, Co. Louth
-No Flanagan's Found
Commentary -  It would appear that this site is reliant on people to transcribe gravestones and submit the information the appropriate adminstrators who provided this information online.   I guess no one has transcribed St. Fechin's graveyard in Termonfechin or maybe it's lost in the search on this site.

I was able to find Maguire's, Bellew's, and Kirwan's indicated as being buried in the Ballymakenny graveyard, County Louth, Ireland.  The full information is published in a book called Seanchas Ardmhaca, by James McGary.  That could be an interesting bit of reference material.   I still don't think that the first place that I should start.

Civil Records:  Birth Register Indicies
Commentary -  Narrowing the search on this, did not produce Louth records.  I'm thinking that the site has an issue.  Instead, I reviewed each and every page without narrowing the search so that Louth records would display.  One of the main things that I noticed here is that the records only go back to 1864.  Also, I did not find any Flanagan's.  There really aren't that many records for County Louth in this index. 

I put my searches aside on this site after checking a few other section of it for County Louth.  I'm sure that this site has merit, I'm just not finding what I'm looking for.  That seems to be the case in searching Ireland.  I'd offer this advice to people about this site.  Give the site a few searches but spend no more than a hour on it.  If you don't find anything during that time-frame about your ancestors, it is unlikely that you will find anything down the line. 

I am making note of this site, just case I can use it again in the future.