RootsChat.Com

It seems the Cullen funfair is still growing strong:
http://www.cullensfunfairs.com/index.html

I found a marriage for this family in 1947 in Aughnacloy, Tyrone, although I don't think these Cullens are from the area. Maybe the groom's family was.

Also interesting that there is a Cullen Amusements in Houston, Texas, USA. Probably not related: http://www.cullenamusements.com/

Thanks for the information Christopher,

From http://www.wikipedia.org it looks like Clogher is in the Dungannon district and Eskra is in the Omagh district.

To update my original post, I think the boundaries/names of the districts were not changed starting 1956, instead, the indexes listed the more specific registration district instead of the larger Superintendent Registrar's District.

For example, the Clogher Superintendent Registrar's district contains the towns/villages of Clogher, Augher, Fivemiletown, Aughnacloy, Ballygawley, Eskra in County Tyrone and a small area of County Monaghan.  Prior to 1956, births etc in these towns and surrounding rural areas would just be listed as "Clogher" in the index, but when you examined the actual record it would list both Clogher and the more specific district name such as "Ballygawley". But there was no way to search for births occurring in Ballygawley only.

"Clogher" was composed of four districts: Aughnacloy, Ballygawley, Clogher and Fivemiletown, and after 1956 births and deaths are indexed under these 4 names. Likewise Omagh was composed of subdistricts: Gortin, Fintona, Omagh 1, Omagh 2 etc. and these are the names that appear in the indexes after 1956.

So it's not really a problem when you are familiar with the districts in an area, it actually helps your search be more specific. The reason I didn't immediately notice how the new indexing worked is that my surnames of interest are rare enough that I didn't find any listings for them in these districts.

But for areas that you're not familiar with, you would need to find out the names of the districts in the area, and the district councils would be a good place to start.

Bernie

I've been looking thru the microfilms of the birth and death indexes for every year starting in 1864. All of that time, the records were listed by Superintendent Registrar's District which is equivalent to Poor Law Union. Examples are Omagh, Clogher, Belfast, Newry, Armagh, Dungannon etc.

Starting in the December quarter of 1956, a new set of placenames appear in the index. They seem to be more specific: "St. George's No. 2", "Castlereagh No. 1", "Omagh 1"

Does anyone know what areas are included in the new districts? I am mostly interested in Clogher and Omagh PLUs.

Marriage records were still indexed under the old system through the end of 1959 (when the microfilms end).

Bernie

Anne,

Irish Civil registration of births began in 1864. You already have names of parents and child, birthdate, and town.  You would expect to find in addition:
--townland or more specific address
--occupation of father
--name of informant who registered birth (often the father)
--whether informant could sign his/her own name (if not, his "mark" is recorded)
Also you would confirm the information that you already have.

I think it would be worth it, you can order a research copy of the birth record from Roscommon GRO for 6 euros.--Bernie

I'm researching my ancestors who lived in County Tyrone in the late 1800s. Both the Republic of Ireland General Register Office (GRO) and the Northern Ireland GRO can provide records for the 6 counties of Northern Ireland for the period 1864-1921. I ordered records about a month ago, and this is what I learned:

There are two cheaper ways to get birth, marriage, death records that I wasn't initially aware of. The Belfast (Northern Ireland) GRO will provide a record for 5.50 pounds when you can provide "full particulars including the register entry number and date of registration the fee will be £ 5.50. We regret this facility is not available online."

However I applied online and supplied the particulars from the birth index (1884 q2 vol 3 p 125) and I was charged £ 5.50 plus perhaps a little extra for postage, which came to $11.56. They processed my order about 2 days after my request (according to my credit card statement) and it was postmarked the next day. After about 10 days total I received a large official looking certificate with a "seal" and a what looked like a xerox copy of the birth register in the middle, just like I would have made myself from the microfilm.

The second time I tried to order online from the Belfast GRO, I supplied the same volume and page information, but they charged my card the full amont of ten pounds, which came to $21.98. Maybe I was just lucky the first time.

The mail order office of the Republic of Ireland GRO is in Roscommon. They do not have a way to order records online. If you do not need an official certificate, they will provide a photcopy for 6 euros. It took about 3 weeks from the time I mailed my request form until I received my photocopy. It was just a standard photocopy on a piece of normal paper, but it was all I needed. They charged me 4 euros only for some reason, which came to $5.10

I hope this information is helpful to someone. Here are the links for the two GROs.--Bernie

http://www.groireland.ie/
http://www.groni.gov.uk/index.htm

Hello,

My ancestors are from Tullycorker townland just north of Clogher town. I have been there twice but I was young and not researching my roots.

I believe the small village of Eskra has its own Catholic parish, but I do not know if baptismal and marriage records were ever kept there.  According to Wikipedia Eskra seperated from Clogher parish in 1869: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskra but I haven't been able to find any listings for Catholic registers for Eskra, just for Clogher and for Donacavey/Fintona.

Is there a graveyard at St. Patrick's church in Eskra?

I'm new to this rootchat and I am finding it a great resource. I am researching all Cullen and Cullinan families in the Clogher, Eskra, Fintona, Fivemiletown and even Omagh areas. Mostly I am trying to trace forward to see how my line fits into the rest.T

My ancestor Thomas Cullen of Tullycorker married Mary daughter of Michael McCann of Eskra in 1864, and they had 8 children.

Thanks!

Bernie
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~tullycorker/
http://worldfamilies.net/surnames/c/cullen/