First Time Visit the GRO research rooms

Spook_ie

What can I expect? I suppose is the catch all question, do I find PC screens or people at a counter or a combination, what do I need to know in advance to try and find the people I'm looking for

e.g Apparantly there was a relative on the wife's side named Dilly Dolan, no D.o.B D.o.D etc. will I possibly be able to find details on him/her ( yep I haven't a clue what sex they are either.

55Gem

You'll find a description of how it works here.

Where to search Irish civil registration indexes - online & offline (irish-genealogy-toolkit.com)

Hermy

No computers at the GRO research room unfortunately.

Instead there are shelves of books containing the indexes to births, marriages and deaths.

You pay a fee to search a given five year period.

If and when you find the event you note down the page and volume number on the slip provided.

And after paying a fee the counter staff will get you a copy of the register containing that event.

If the event you are looking for occurred before 1959 you can search the same indexes on Family Search for free.

Then you only have to pay for the copy of the register at the GRO counter.

_________

Dilly sounds like a woman's nickname to me and is not likely to appear in the entries in the index books.

How do you know of this persons existence?

Spook_ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118582402#Comment_118582402

Given to me as a list of 13 brothers and sisters of the wife's grandmother, a few I've managed to find on the irishgeneaolgy site, the others were ( I assume ) born too late to be included yet.

On another note, going back a further generation I have a mention of Sister Joseph Dolores but no other details, I have her parents names and her 10 brothers and sisters, any thoughts how I might find her original name before she joined the nuns?

55Gem

There is a memorial in the Irish Independent Aug 1963 for a Mary Dolan 2 Nugent Rd, Rathfarnham and Swords by her youngest daughter Dilly.

If that is the correct family the mother Mary Elizabeth died 1958

Her death cert ( died at her daughter's house according to the newspaper)

4135535.pdf (irishgenealogy.ie)

Hermy

Great find 55!

Spook, to find the nun in the previous generation I'd try to account for all of the siblings and see if there's a girl left over who didn't marry.

55Gem

Listed under Dolan, Sister Joseph Dolores died March 3 1979 at the convent of the Sisters of Charity, St Mary's home for the blind Merrion, in the 60th year of her religious life.

Lime Tree Farm

A neighbour known to all as Dilly died recently. I was surprised to see her name listed as Bridget followed by Dilly in brackets on her funeral notice.

pinkypinky

Hermy's given a good summary but just a few more points.

There's no wifi but you can bring your own pc/tablet/phone and use the free indexes up to 1958 on familysearch to save time. There's only one copy of each book. I have at times been left waiting a while because someone had the one I wanted.

If you do that, make sure your device is charged fully because there are limited plugs.

Spook_ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118582744#Comment_118582744

Columbo has nothing compared to you detectives, I assume i need a subscription somewhere to pull that up? It could be correct as there are references to Cremona? In Swords and Mary would be the correct christian name

55Gem

Irish Newspaper Archives. They used to have a 24 hour sub but I don't see it now, you can take out a month though.

Cremona Swords was also mentioned on the memorial notice.

Just using Cremona and Dolan I see a death for James Dolan Jan 1938 which lists all his children, James, William, Michael, Patrick, Frank, Maureen, Peggy, Kathleen, Sheila, Mary, Ita, Patricia and Dilly.

It also appears they called their house on Nugent Rd. Cremona as well as it goes up for sale after Mary's death.

Sr. Joseph might have her death registered under her original name, I've seen nuns registered with and without so no harm to have a look for it in the GRO now you have the date.

Spook_ie

Just for the record Dilly = Dymphna this time around

Garlinge

So what is going on in the GRO place in Werburgh Street now? and Pearse Library? is it all back to precovid conditions? I feel I have been hibernating now for too long as it is along time since I visited either.

L1011

The DCLA reading room in Pearse St Library is still undergoing works and hasn't reopened - not COVID related.

pinkypinky

Afaik, the GRO has some public walk-in days.

https://www.gov.ie/en/organisation-information/55ccbe-general-register-office-gro-research-facility/

Much worse service in person than pre-pandemic but the email service is super.