FAMILY HISTORY GROUP RESEARCHING YOUR ANCESTORS IN IRELAND

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Arnold Allison
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1 Brighton and Hove FAMILY HISTORY GROUP RESEARCHING YOUR ANCESTORS IN IRELAND RS2015

2 Registration of births, deaths and marriages in Ireland Registration of all non-catholic marriages in Ireland began in In 1864, civil registration of all births, marriages and deaths commenced All births, marriages and deaths since 1 January 1864, as well as Jewish and non- Roman Catholic marriages occurring since 1 April 1845, should be on record in the General Register Office, Werburgh Street, Dublin 2.

3 Northern Ireland Birth, Marriages and deaths records For the six counties which make up Northern Ireland (Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry/Derry and Tyrone), records of births, marriages and deaths from 1922 onwards should be held by General Register Office Northern Ireland, This General Register Office also holds all local register books for births and deaths in Northern Ireland from 1864 and for marriages from 1922.

4 Church Records for the North and the South of Ireland The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland holds a fairly complete collection of church records, for all denominations, for all of Northern Ireland as well as many other holdings. It is important to note that for records before 1926, you should check also with the National Archives in Dublin. The National Library of Ireland is Ireland's main repository of 'filmed' Catholic parish registers as well as newspapers, estate records, city and regional directories, and the householders index.

5 Church records include records of births or christenings, marriages, and sometimes deaths or burials. These records were kept in the Parish Registers. In 1876, a law was passed requiring that the Church of Ireland parish registers were to be sent to the Public Record Office in Dublin for safekeeping. The law was amended in 1878 to allow those parishes with good storage facilities to keep their records, so not all parish records were sent to Dublin, and others were copied before being sent. For this reason many Church of Ireland records remain, even though the records sent to Dublin were destroyed in 1922 when the Public Record Office was burned. Information from Genuki.

6 Differences in Irish Church Records by religion Civil parishes in early censuses, tax records and land surveys, are almost identical to the Church of Ireland parishes. The Catholic Church, that had been weakened by the confiscation of assets and restrictions on its clergy, had to create larger parishes, allowing them to be centered on new, growing population centres and permitting the creation of new parishes to accommodate the growth in the population. For this reason registers for a geographic area may be divided between two parishes. Members of the Church of Ireland were almost always a small minority of the total population, covering a smaller area than Catholic records, and so are relatively easy to search. Catholic records cover the majority of the population and a larger geographical area, so can be time-consuming to search.

Irish Genealogy.ie is a free site at http://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/.

7 Irish Genealogy.ie is a free site at It has searchable indexes and some images for Civil Records and Church Records. It is a work in progress at present.

8 Gaps in Irish Church Records For all denominations, there are large gaps in Irish Church Records. There are various reasons for the deficiencies: The destruction of many of the Church of Ireland records held by the Public Record Office in Dublin in the fire of The loss of locally held records through fire, flood and neglect. The political and social conditions prevailing in Ireland discouraged record keeping. As it was not compulsory for churches to keep records, many did not bother.

9 The Destruction of Irish Records held at the Four Courts building in Dublin during the 1922 Uprising.

10 Census records A full government census of the Irish population was taken every ten years from 1821 to 1911 but the first four, apart from a few fragments, were destroyed in the fire at the Public Record Office in The original census returns from 1861 and 1871 were destroyed shortly after they were taken. Those from 1881 and 1891 were pulped during the first world war, probably because of paper shortage. Earliest surviving comprehensive returns are for 1901 and 1911 and are both fully searchable online, free of charge on the National Archives of Ireland website No census for 1921 was taken because of the War of Independence.

11 is the website to access a free online search of the 1901 and the 1911 census for Ireland. See below one result of a search

12 Below is the Household Return form for Robert Montgomery and his widowed mother Margaret. Image source The National Archives of Ireland website

13 Census records From 1841 the householders themselves filled out these returns, rather than government enumerators. The information collected in 1841 was: name; age; occupation; relationship to the head of the household; marriage date; literacy; absent family members and family members who had died in the previous ten years. In 1851 additional information, about religion, was collected. Surviving returns for 1851 relate to County Antrim.

14 1901 census for William and Isabella Hamilton and family of Manorcunningham in Donagal. Note the columns for literacy, religion and Irish language speakers. Image source National Archives of Ireland website

15 GENUKI Genealogy for UK and Ireland provides links to websites related to the subject headings below. To find a timeline of Irish history click on Chronology. Image source -

Finding Ancestors Using the Family History Research Wiki

Finding Ancestors Using the Family History Research Wiki The Family History Research Wiki is an extremely valuable tool we can use to learn how to find information on our ancestors. It offers information