Researching your family History in Ireland.

Births, Deaths and Marriages

Civil registration in Ireland began in 1864, when it became compulsory to register all births, deaths and marriages.  Prior to the introduction of civil registration in 1864, non Catholic marriages were registered from 1845.

It should be noted that in the early years of civil registration an estimated 10-15% of births and marriages went unregistered.  This may explain why a birth or marriage does not appear in the index.  Records are also often missing due to clerical error.  While the birth may have been registered locally, this record may have been misplaced in transit to be included in the national birth index.

Birth, Death and Marriage certificates can be obtained from the General Register Office in Dublin:  www.groireland.ie

Births, Deaths and Marriages that took place in the 6 counties of Northern Ireland after 1922 can be found at General Registry Office Northern Ireland: www.groni.gov.uk

Civil certificates can often be more informative than church records.  A civil birth certificate records the date and place of birth.  The name of the child as well as the name, address and occupation of the father and the maiden name of the mother. 

A civil marriage certificate records the church or registry office in which the marriage took place, the date of marriage, the names, ages and occupations of the bride and groom and the names and occupations of their father’s.  The marriage certificate also records the address of the bride and groom at the time of their marriage.  While this is often the family address in some cases it can also be a hotel or boarding house and may not represent the permanent address of either bride or groom.  The witnesses to the marriage are also recorded as well as the minister who undertook the ceremony.  As the bride and groom and witnesses had to sign the marriage certificate you can also determine whether they were able to read and write.

A death certificate can always be useful but does not contain the extent of information often found in death certificates elsewhere.  The certificate records the date of death, the name, age, address, marital status and occupation of the deceased as well as the cause of death.  The informant is also recorded, however the informant is not always the next of kin and in the case of deaths that took place in a hospital or workhouse the name is usually of an inmate or staff member.  The drawback here is that a death certificate does not always name a next of kin, unless they were the informant. 

Parish Registers

Roman Catholic parish registers usually held in local custody, however, microfilm copies of registers for the entire country are held in the National Library of Ireland, which is located in Dublin.  You can find out more about the National Library of Ireland at www.nli.ie

Most of the microfilmed registers only date up to 1880.  Since civil registration began in 1864 it was thought that later registers were unnecessary for the purpose of genealogical research and thus not made available.  It is not possible to make copies of any of the microfilmed parish registers held in the National Library of Ireland and it is therefore necessary to search the registers yourself or commission a researcher to search them on your behalf and provide you with transcripts.

Roman Catholic parish registers are written in Latin, this, however, does not pose an insurmountable problem as surnames and placenames were written in English.  It is therefore possible to search the register for a particular surname without difficulty.  The greatest difficulty with the registers is legibility.  They are handwritten and the quality of the script varies hugely from a faded scrawl to neat and clear handwriting.  It is also important to note that parish priests did sometimes make mistakes when taking a record.  There are many cases of first names and surnames being recorded in correctly.  In earlier registers, with a largely illiterate congregation, mistakes made by the priest in the register would not have been identified and remain to this day.

Spelling was also not consistent and we often find baptismal records for a number of children in the same family where the surname is spelt differently each time.  This can be confusing.

Roman Catholic parish registers survive from as early as the mid 17th century, however registers for some parishes only date from the 1860s.  Records for each parish are different and it is necessary to identify the parish relevant to your family research before you will know how far back the parish registers go.

Church of Ireland parish registers for the Republic of Ireland are largely held in the Representative Church Body Library.  Information on the RCB can be found at: http://www.ireland.anglican.org/library/ Unlike Roman Catholic records, Registers for parishes in the 6 counties of Northern Ireland are held in the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland.  Details of the records held at PRONI can be found at www.proni.gov.uk

The church of Ireland was the established church in Ireland prior to disestablishment in 1869.  Records from Church of Ireland parishes were held in the Public Records Office, which was burnt down in 1922 and a huge number of registers were lost.  This has left a massive hole in researching a Church of Ireland family.  Many parishes around the country do not have records for most of the 19th century or earlier. 

Most of the records that survived have now been deposited with the Representative Church Body Library and microfilm copies of some of these registers have also been deposited with the National Archives of Ireland (www.nai.ie).  The RCB also hold vestry books and minute books for the parishes, as well as succession lists for Church of Ireland clergy.  In some cases registers are still held in local custody and it is necessary to contact the relevant parish to request access to these records.

Church of Ireland records, those that survive, are often easier to decipher than Roman Catholic records.  The organisation of information in the register began a lot earlier and this makes the registers easier to search. 

Quaker

The Quaker community in Ireland was small, however, the records for the Society of Friends are held at the Quaker Library.  Details for the library can be found at http://www.quakers-in-ireland.org/ The library is only open on Thursday mornings and it may be necessary, to save time, to order the records you are interested in in advance.

Presbyterian

Presbyterian records in Ireland are not held in one central location.  Presbyterian records for parishes in Northern Ireland and adjacent counties are held in both the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland and at the Presbyterian Historical Society. Details for the Presbyterian Historical Society can be found at http://www.presbyterianireland.org/phsi/

Presbyterian records for other counties in Ireland are often held in local custody or by a local society or organisation.  If you have a particular parish in mind it would be necessary to try and contact that parish or a surviving parish in the area to enquire about records.

Land Records

19th century censuses in Ireland began in 1821 and were conducted every 10 years until 1911.  Unfortunately the majority of census returns between 1821 and 1891 were destroyed, which once again leaves a huge gap in 19th century records.  One of the most valuable census substitutes is the Primary Valuation of Ireland, also known as Griffith’s Valuation.

Griffith’s Valuation is a nationwide survey of property holders taken between 1847 and 1864 for the purpose of assessing the rate of local taxation, which was levied for the upkeep of the poor and destitute of the parish.  The valuation recorded the name of the occupant of each land holding in Ireland.  The occupant was usually the head of a household.  The valuation also recorded the name of the immediate lessor, often described as the landlord, the immediate lessor was the person who collected the rent from the occupant.  In many cases this was a middleman and not necessarily the land lord or outright owner of the property.  The size, type and value of the property was recorded, which means that the property is described as a house, garage, forge, ruin with the number of acres of land, garden, yard, water, bog, mountain, etc.   Small farmers often leased more than one plot of land and can be recorded several times in a particular parish.  The valuation is organised by townland, parish, barony, poor law union and county.  The valuation is the most comprehensive survey of the population that we have for mid 19th century Ireland.  It poses the greatest difficulty in urban areas where tenement dwellers and lodgers are not recorded and are thus absent from the valuation.

Microfiche copies of Griffith’s Valuation can be found in the National Library of Ireland (www.nli.ie) and the National Archives of Ireland (www.nai.ie).  Online, you can research Griffith’s Valuation at www.irishorigins.com which allows you to search the entire valuation by surname and view a copy of the original valuation online.

Cancelled Books

The Primary Valuation of Ireland Cancelled Books are manuscript copies of Griffith’s Valuation which were updated every 12-18 months to record any changes to the occupancy, ownership, size, type or value of a property.  This means that you can trace the occupancy of a family land holding forward to determine when it passed to the next generation or when the family left their land holding and moved elsewhere.  These records date up to the 1970s and can be found at the Valuation Office.  Details of the Valuation Office can be found at www.valoff.ie   The Valuation Office also hold cancelled maps.  Using the Primary Valuation maps, made between 1847 and 1864, which generally denote each land holding as recorded in the Valuation, the cancelled maps, which usually date from the 1890s and later, record any physical changes made to the property.  Boundary changes are the most common as land holdings were divided or consolidated.

Tithe Applotment Books

The Tithe Applotment was a similar survey to Griffith’s Valuation, taken between 1823 and 1838 for the purpose of assessing the rate of the Tithe (religious tax) which was levied for the upkeep of the poor and destitute of the parish.  The Tithe did not apply to all house and landholdings in Ireland, which means that the books are certainly not as comprehensive as Griffith’s.  However, for the early 19th century they offer a very valuable source.  The Tithe Applotment Books are available to consult on microfilm in the National Library of Ireland (www.nli.ie) and the National Archives of Ireland (www.nai.ie)

Estate Records

In some cases, if you are able to identify the estate on which your ancestor lived, there are surviving estate records.  These are usually filed under the name of the landlord or ultimate owner of the property.  Estate records vary greatly but can consist of account books, rent rolls and other ledgers which refer to staff of the estate as well as tenants.  It is sometimes possible to trace a family on a particular land holding back to the 18th century using estate records by following them back through the rent rolls.  In some cases the date and terms of the original lease are cited in a rent roll and these often cite the names of children of the tenant.  In the case of staff on an estate, account books can contain references to payments made to members of staff.  Estate records are largely held in manuscript form in the Manuscript Department of the National Library of Ireland (www.nli.ie) although some records are still held on the estate in question or are in private custody.

Many Irish landlords were in fact English and also owned property in England.  This means that their entire estate records may be held in a library in the UK.  The records might be held in the National Archives of the United Kingdom (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk) or in a county record office or repository.  The website: http://www.a2a.org.uk/ holds a catalogue of archives in England and Wales with records dating from the 8th century.  It is possible to search this catalogue online and possibly identify estate records that relate to properties in Ireland.

Registry of Deeds

Although the majority of the Irish population were tenant farmers and labourers, who lived on year to year leases, without any security, transactions involving larger amount of land were generally recorded and lodged with the registry of Deeds.  Details of the Registry of Deeds can be found at the following site: http://www.landregistry.ie/index.asp?locID=140&docID=-1

The registry was established in 1707 and contains memorials of deeds, leases, mortgages, wills and marriage settlements.  The records are indexed by name and by placename.  While the manuscripts are weighted down with legal terminology they can contain valuable information.

Architectural Archives

If you are interested in a particular building, architect, builder or craftsman associated with buildings the Architectural Archives holds a wealth of information, including a very useful dateabase.  Details of the Irish Architectural Archive can be found at www.iarc.ie

1901 and 1911 Census

The earliest complete surviving census returns for Ireland are 1901 and 1911.  Copies of these returns are held in the National Archives of Ireland (www.nai.ie).    These records have not been indexed and are not available online.  It is necessary to visit the archives to view microfilm copies of the returns.  In order to locate someone in the 1901 or 1911 census it is necessary to have their address as the records are organised by place.

The returns contain valuable detailed information including the name, surname, religion, literacy, age, occupation, marital status and county of birth of each person recorded.  The 1911 census has several additional fields, which are pertinent.  In the 1911 census married women were asked to state the length of time that they had been married as well as the number of children that they had given birth to and the number of children who were still living.  Another form, as part of the census, records details of the accommodation of each family including the number of rooms in a house, the material of the structure and the number and type of out offices.  It is therefore possible to find out that a family of 14 are living in a two roomed house built of stone with a thatch roof.  This can be particularly illuminating for the lifestyle of a particular family.

Dublin City Library and Archive

Dublin Databases

County Heritage Centres

County Libraries

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Offaly
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