For the
first time ever, records dating back to 1750
will be within easy access to the public in
County Carlow.
The
register of births, deaths and marriages
from even Carlow's smallest towns and
villages are available on C.D. form in
Carlow County Library. And it's all thanks
to the work of local historian, Michael
Purcell and a Massachusetts woman, Sue
Clements.
As far as
I'm concerned, Carlow County Library is the
first library outside the United States to
have this facility,' Michael said.
Michael
is the owner of hundreds of birth, marriage
and death records in the form of microfilm,
but due to the dedication and endless hours
of work carried out by Sue, that information
is being converted onto C.D.
Tullow,
Arles, Killabin, Killeshin, Mayo and Doonane
have already been treated while the records
of Ballon and Rathvilly are next on the
list.
Sue
painstakingly took a copy of every page
featured on the microfilm before enhancing
and indexing them.
Even
though Sue has been researching her own
Cummins family history for years and can
date her family tree back to 1740 in Tullow,
her first visit to Carlow was last year.
Dismayed that the county has no archive to
hold its records, Sue then set about doing
something about the situation.
Having
heard what the American enthusiast was up
to, another history buff, Mr. Woods,
formerly of Killians Crescent,
Carlow transferred the data on CD to a
format for publication on the internet,
making access even more widely available.
According
to Michael Purcell, having the records in
the County Library will boost tourism in the
county as researchers can stay within Carlow
to carry out their work, and not have to
travel to Dublin like they had to,
previously.
A limited
number of records can be accessed through
the website
Carlow
Website Records - Killeshin.
