Indexes, have to love them, have to hate them. A lot of genealogy resources are made accessible or easier to utilize because of indexes. The thing to remember is that indexes are not infallible and can be error ridden in some cases.Always go look at the original full record after you find a lead in the index.
Recently, I looked for a 1907 birth registration for Denis Christopher O’Riordan and a 1948 death certificate for his aunt Julia McAuliffe.
I could not find this child’s birth registration at irishgenealogy.ie even though he appeared in the 1911 Irish Census. Their index provides the maiden name of the mother as an aid to know you have the correct record. There was a Denis O’Riordan at Rathdown but it was a female child and her mother’s name was O’Kee. My Denis was the son of Catherine O’Shea.
GRO
Name: DENIS O RIORDAN
Date of Birth: 19 December 1907
Group Registration ID: 578055
SR District/Reg Area: Rathdown
Sex: Female
Mother's Birth Surname: O KEE
Genealogy teaches persistence and I looked elsewhere. Indexes for the Irish Civil registrations through 1958 are available at both FamilySearch and Ancestry. I was able to find a Denis Christopher O’Riordan in both of these websites registered in the first quarter of 1908 at Rathdown.
FamilySearch
Name Denis Christopher O'Riordan
Event Type: Birth
Event Date: Jan - Mar 1908
Event Place: Rathdown, Ireland
Registration Quarter and Year: Jan - Mar 1908
Registration District: Rathdown
Volume Number: 2
Page Number: 814
Ancestry
Name: Denis Christopher O'Riordan
Date of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar 1908
Registration district: Rathdown
Birth Country: Ireland
Volume: 2
Page: 814
FHL Film Number: 101072
The 1911 Census showed that Denis Christopher was born in County Dublin around 1908. I e-mailed feedback to the GRO through irishgenalogy.ie and they responded
“The records on our website are provided by the General Register Office and based on the original Index books and registers. The other websites you mention made their own transption which may also be incorrect. You can send in the details to the GRO seeking a copy of the register entry to see if you can verify that citation, see https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/civil-records/help/i-want-to-get-a-copy-of-a-certificate-what-do-i-do. Try also scanning through Rathdown for that year’s Births that are all available to view the website.”
I did follow the bolded advice and found the record. It took quite a while to go through each birth entry from 1907 until I found the one from 19 Dec 1907. Denis Christopher was born at 21 Ardee Street, Bray, County Wicklow, male, to Denis O’Riordan, bricklayer, 21 Ardee Street and Kate O’Riordan formerly O’Shea; Katie O’Riordan, mother, Ardee Street informant. This was registered at Rathdown near Dublin.
I can see why the indexer chose O’Kee but I think it very clearly said O’Shea. Having the exact date of birth made tracking this gentleman later in life. He died in England.
At irishgenealogy.ie the following was the result for my search.
Death results for Julia McAuliffe from ? / ? / 1948 to ? / ? / 1948
No results found.
However, at both FamilySearch and Ancestry I found the following citations.
FamilySearch
Name: Julia Mcauliffe
Event Type: Death
Event Date: Oct - Dec 1948
Event Place: Cork, Ireland
Registration Quarter and Year: Oct - Dec 1948
Registration District: Cork
Age: 81
Birth Year (Estimated): 1867
Volume Number: 5
Page Number: 91
Ancestry
Name: Julia McAuliffe
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1867
Date of Registration: 1948 - Oct-Nov-Dec[1948]
Death Age: 81
Registration district: Cork
Volume: 5
Page: 91
FHL Film Number: 101744
I emailed the GRO for help again and received this response.
“Have you checked for her birth details, the registers start in 1864 and are all online here. Also, was she married? Is McAuliffe her birth name or married name? The death registers often only show the married name. You can always send a request for a copy certificate to the General Register Office, see https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/civil-records/help/i-want-to-get-a-copy-of-a-certificate-what-do-i-do They can examine the details you submit and check against the original books, if necessary.”
Moving from knowns to unknowns, I knew that she was born, baptized, married and bore children. Therefore, I knew she had to have died at some point. Julia’s grandson wrote that she died in late October 1948 in Cork City. I searched at irishgenealogy.ie trying to browse for Julia’s, McAuliffe’s, and 81 year-olds. No results, although a Mary McAuliffe, 81 died in July.
Searching at FamilySearch I decided that I wanted to try to find one of the seven other people registered on the page with Julia in Volume 5 Page 91 from 1948. I was able to restrict my searches to look at 1948 only. I looked for 4Q deaths only and then opened the index citation to see what page they appeared on. After about 5 minutes I found George Nicholson, 0, Volume 5, Page 91, Cork. This was a very likely candidate to be on Julia's page.
I looked up this little boy at irishgenealogy.ie and found his citation
Name: George NICHOLSON
Year of Death: 1948
Group Registration ID: 2444587
SR District/Reg Area: Cork
Deceased Age at Death: 0
Clicking on the Image button took me to page 91. At number 432 was George Nicholson. Just below his entry at number 433 was Julia McAuliffe, 1948 twenty-seventh October, Cork District Hospital, Julia McAuliffe, late of 280 Blarney Street, F, widow, 81 years, widow of labourer, cardiac 1 year, 8 months, 3 days in hospital certified. 280 Blarney Street is the address that Julia’s daughter-in-law, Christina, had died at in 1947. This was a good find.
I shared my success with the GRO.
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