How and Where to Obtain Co Donegal Certificates, Records and Maps
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Birth, Death and Marriage Certificates
1. Civil Registration Office, Co Roscommon. You can purchase photocopies of entries in the registers, which contain exactly the same information as a Certificate, but are only of use for research purposes.
Cost: Full Certificate of Births, Marriages and Deaths €10 - Photocopy of entry €6
Period: From 1864 (1845 for non-Catholic Marriages)
Request: You can download the appropriate form, then complete and fax it to +353 906632999
Address: Civil Registration Office, Office of the Registrar General, Government Offices, Convent Road, Roscommon, Co. Roscommon, Ireland
Telephone: +353 (0) 90 6632900; Local Call: 1890 252076
2. Civil Registration Office, Co Donegal By far my preferred way of obtaining certificates/copies. All queries and payment can be handled over the telephone, while you wait.
Address: Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriage, Tirconaill House, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, Ireland
Telephone: +353 749124576 or 353 749123772
Opening Hours: 09.15 - 16.30 M-F Late opening Thurs 19.30
3. LDS. You can view, print, and/or transcribe the register entries from microfilm, held at LDS Family History Centres (FHCs).
Cost: The hire of the microfilm (abt $5)
Period: Births 1864 to 1880 & 1900 to 1955, Marriages 1845 to 1870, and Deaths 1864 to 1870
FHC Locations: http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHC/frameset_fhc.asp
Online Searching:
Main Search (Civil Registrations of BMDs, Passengers Lists, Wills, Regional)
Land Records
1. 1796 Spinning Wheel Premium Entitlements List - online at this Website.
2. Tithe Applotment Books - these are similar to the 1857 Griffith's Valuation, only they occurred 20 to 30 years prior to that document. They are also available to order and view through the LDS Family History Centres. A list of the film numbers and areas covered is Here.
3. 1857 Griffith's Valuation - this Valuation is available at major libraries, most family history societies and also can be ordered and viewed at your local LDS Family History Centre. It is also online at AskAboutIreland
4. Valuation Lists - these generally cover the period from 1857 to the 1950s, though there may be some variation in the period covered. What these enable you to see is the change in occupancy of any tenanted property in Donegal. If, for instance, you have an ancestor that you know occupied a particular piece of land which you have located in the 1857 Griffith's Valuation, you can follow who occupied the land and when changes occurred. Generally, the only times a name disappeared from the valuation was due to immigration or death. Therefore, the valuation lists are a handy way to narrow down the dates of those events - it was how I found the year of death of my gr gr gr grandfather, enabling me to obtain his death certificate. These Valuation Lists are available to order and view through the LDS Family History Centres. A list of the film numbers and areas are detailed Here
LDS
The LDS holds a huge amount of information on Donegal - on microfilm, microfiche and in book form. A comprehensive list of the holdings for Donegal, including title details and film numbers, can be found Here.
Lookups
Genealogy CD List - This website lists a HUGE number of genealogy CDs and the best part is, there are one or more volunteers for each CD, who will be happy to check the contents of them for you. There is one thing you MUST do however, and that is to take a minute and use that website's online Family Finder Index first, to identify whether your ancestors appear on any CDs AND to identify which CDs they appear on. The CDs cover the US, Canada, Ireland and include census, land and passenger info as well as the Vitals CDs for Australia, Western Europe, North America and the British Isles.
Maps
1. Valuation Maps - If you have located your ancestor and his land in the 1857 Griffith's Valuation, then the next step would be to obtain the Valuation map which corresponds to the Griffith's. These show the exact location of the property and are only available from the Valuation Office in Dublin. Visit the website and you can then email them with what you require.
2. Modern Ireland Ordnance Survey Discovery Maps - these can be purchase online from various places, including Gould Genealogy and Amazon.com. The map numbers, to give you coverage of all of Donegal, are Discovery maps 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 16 & 17. If you require a map for a specific area, please email me and I will let you know which map covers that particular area.
© 1998 Donegal Genealogy Resources
