The second of three posts on Irish genealogy resources: the Civil registrations of Irish births, marriages, and deaths. This was started in 1864, although Non-Catholic marriages were registered from 1845. If you are looking for records from before these dates, you will have to rely on the Parish records, of which more in our third post. You should also be aware that a significant portion of births, marriage, and even deaths were never registered and thus go unrecorded.
The main resources for these records are the following two free databases:
- Irish Genealogy which is an Irish government website.
- Family Search which is the LDS website.
We recommend you search BOTH databases, because they are not identical.
On Irish Genealogy you will find the indexes for
- Births from 1864 to 1916
- Catholic Marriages form 1864 to 1940
- Non-Catholic marriages from 1845 to 1864
- Deaths from 1864 to 1965
The index often contain a link to the original registration, which you can download for free. But if not, the record will need to be ordered. If you require help with obtaining a record, please feel free to contact us.
When searching, be aware that you might have to try different variations and spellings of the names you are looking for. Also, you will be asked for the “Registration District”. There were usually 3 to 6 registration districts in each county, and some districts crossed county borders. If you don’t know, it can be quite a puzzle to find out. Again, we would be happy to help. Finally, be aware that people were not always born, married or died in the same area they lived in.
Family Search, Ancestry (paid) and FindMyPast (paid) also offer Irish civil registration indexes up to 1958 (excluding records from Northern Ireland after 1922). However these are indexes only, and it often hard to be sure that you are looking at “your” ancestor or someone else’s.
For Northern Ireland after 1922 you will need to go to GRONI This contains the records for births over 100 years old, marriages over 75 years and deaths over 50 years. You can search and view the original registrations for this period but you do need to sign up and purchase credits to undertake a search.