Ireland Civil Registration

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Ireland

Civil Registration

• Ireland Beginning Research Series: Civil Registration
• Ireland Civil Registration
• Finding Ancestry in Ireland Civil Registration Records

Introduction

Before civil registration, Church Records were kept on the island of Ireland to keep track of baptisms, marriages and burials. Protestant records often stretch back to the 18th century, while most Catholic records begin around the time of emancipation in 1829. Ireland was then part of the United Kingdom, where civil registration had been introduced in England in 1837. In 1845 this was begun in Ireland for non-Catholic marriages only, before being extended to births, deaths and marriages for people of all religions in 1864. A unified system of civil registration then operated until the partition of Ireland, after which Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland kept their own records with different formats and information.

A key distinction exists when searching these records between the indexes and the originals. The indexes only have very basic information such as name and year, and reference numbers to locate the originals. The indexes are widely available for free, but the originals have only recently become more accessible.

Record Type	Start Date	Record Content
Births	1864	Child’s name; sex; birth date; birthplace; parents' names (including mother’s maiden name); father’s occupation and place of residence; informant’s signature, residence and qualification (often the relationship to the child being registered.
Marriages	1845, Non-Catholic 1864, all religions	Marriage date, place and denomination (for church marriages); names of bride and groom, their ages (frequently given as “full age”); occupations, marital statuses, residences at the time of marriage; names and occupations of their fathers, and sometimes whether their fathers were deceased (this is not consistent); signatures of the bride, groom, and witnesses. Marriages were usually performed in the bride’s parish and were registered by the performing minister, priest or registrar. In the Irish Republic since 1956 both parties’ dates of birth and parents’ full names have been recorded in addition to the future intended town or country in which the couple intend to reside.
Deaths	1864	Name, occupation, age at death, and marital status of deceased; duration of illness; date, place and cause of death; signature, qualification, and residence of the informant. For a married or widowed woman a spouse’s name is sometimes recorded. Where a child has died, the child’s occupation is often given as “son or daughter of …”. In the Northern counties, the father’s names of unmarried adult females are often recorded. Since December 2005 in the Irish Republic the deceased’s date and birth and parents’ full names are recorded. In Northern Ireland, since 1973 death records have stated the deceased person’s date and place of birth.

Geography

The basis for civil registration in Ireland is the registration district, and all records are arranged by these districts. They usually include many villages, meaning the Index data alone cannot determine the precise place of an event. However the original may mention more specific localities, especially for residences.

The website of John Grenham has a Place Search Feature that gives information about which administrative subdivisions a place is located in, including Registration Districts

Finding Ireland Civil Registration Records

Ireland Civil Registration is increasingly becoming available online. However there are different websites and access arrangements for the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

• Ireland, Civil Registration Indexes (FamilySearch Historical Records), Indexes only for both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, up to 1958. The database is also on Ancestry and FindMyPast

• Ireland Births (FamilySearch Historical Records)- Part of the IGI, very limited coverage up to 1881 only
• Ireland Deaths (FamilySearch Historical  Records) Part of the IGI, very limited coverage up to 1870 only.
• Ireland Marriages (FamilySearch Historical Records) Part of the IGI, very limited coverage up to 1898 only.
• Ireland Civil Marriages (FamilySearch Historical Records) A work in progress, incomplete. Includes data from original records, but viewing images requires being in a FHC or affiliate library. Many of the records so far are pre-1864 marriages. Both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

• Irishgenealogy.ie For the Republic of Ireland only. Originals of births are online for 1864-1915, marriages 1882-1940 and deaths 1891-1965. The remaining records are index only, but the originals can be ordered.

• RootsIreland ($) Limited coverage for both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

• GRONI ($) Access to both indexes and originals for Northern Ireland

Books and Tutorials

Handran, George (ed). Townlands in Poor Law Unions. Salem, Massachusetts: Higginson, c1997. ISBN: 0832869937; FHL book 941.5 P32hg. This source identifies civil parishes, as well as townlands, within poor law unions (registration districts). It is not available online. General Alphbetical Index to the Townlands, Towns, Parishes and Baronies of Ireland, 1851. Dublin: printed by Alexander Thom for the Registrar General of Ireland, 1861. ISBN: 0806310529; FHL book 941.5 X22g. This source lists place names identified in the 1851 census of Ireland and gives their poor law union (civil registration district) and other jurisdictions. Also available online at http://www.thecore.com/seanruad and http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/placenames.

• Irish Civil Registration - Where Do I Start? (No. 2 in 'Exploring Irish Genealogy' series) by Eileen O'Duill Steven C. ffeary-Smyrl. Published by the Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations, Dublin, 2000. www.cigo.ie
• Falley, Margaret Dickson. Irish and Scotch-Irish Ancestral Research. Evanston, Illinois: privately printed, 1962.
• Grenham, John. “Civil Records” in Tracing your Irish Ancestors, 3rd ed. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2006.
• Ó Dúill, Eileen and Steven C. ffeary-Smyrl, Irish Civil Registraion – Where Do I Start?, Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations Exploring Irish Genealogy Series. Dublin, Ireland: Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations, 2000. [The definitive guide on the subject.]
• Radford, Dwight A. and Kyle J. Betit. “Civil Registration” in A Genealogists Guide to Discovering Your Irish Ancestors. Cincinnati, Ohio: Betterway Books, 2001. [Includes a list of the Superintendent Registrar’s Districts.]
• The following FamilySearch Tutorials cover the topic of Ireland Civil Registration
• Ireland Beginning Research Series: Civil Registration
• Ireland Civil Registration
• Finding Ancestry in Ireland Civil Registration Records

Using Indexes

Indexes provide the information necessary to locate the actual registration record the year or quarter of the year when the event was registered, the registration district, volume number and page number.

The Civil Registration birth records to 1881 and marriage and death records to 1870, as well as the index references to 1958, have been extracted and can be found in the Historical Records database on www.familysearch.org. Extracted records do not cover all areas and do not contain all of the information on the actual registration record, but they should contain enough information that you can determine if you have located the event for the correct person.

Note: The index information for the records at the General Records Office of the Republic of Ireland (GRO) differs from the index information at the General Records Office of Northern Ireland (GRONI). FamilySearch has digitized the indexes. The digital images, available at familysearch.org are based on the GRO index for 1845 to 1921. After 1921, they are based on the GRO index for the Republic of Ireland and the GRONI index for Northern Ireland. You must have the corresponding index information for the source you chose to obtain the complete registration information.

Civil registration records are also indexed online at www.ancestry.com, www.findmypast.ie and www.rootsireland.ie. These are either pay-as-you-go or subscription websites.

Birth Indexes

1. For 1864 – 1958, search the computerized registration indexes at www.familysearch.org. (The microfilm indexes are also available at the Family History Library or through local family history centers.)
2. From 1864 -1921, searches can be made of the indexes at either the General Record Office (GRO) or the General Records Office of Northern Ireland (GRONI). After 1921, the GRO contains the indexes for the Republic and GRONI has the indexes for Northern Ireland.
3. Proceed to the instructions on obtaining certificates or locating the actual registration information.
   

Marriage Indexes

Note: If you know the surnames of both spouses, search for both spouses. If the index information matches, then you have the correct marriage.

• For 1864 – 1958, search the computerized registration indexes at familysearch.org. (These indexes are also available on microfilm at the Family History Library or through local family history centers.)
• For all years, searches can be made at the indexes at the General Record Office (GRO) for the Republic of Ireland or the General Records Office of Northern Ireland (GRONI).
• Proceed to the instructions on obtaining certificates or locating the actual registration information.
  

Death Indexes

• For 1864 – 1958, search the computerized registration indexes at familysearch.org. (These indexes are also available on microfilm at the Family History Library or through local family history centers.)
• For all years, searches can be made at the indexes at the General Record Office (GRO) for the Republic of Ireland or the General Records Office of Northern Ireland (GRONI).
• Proceed to the instructions on obtaining certificates or locating the actual registration information.

Identifying Registration Districts in each County

To identify the districts in a county, see Ireland, Civil Registration, County/Volume Arrangement.

For more information about the indexes, see also Ireland, Civil Registration: Additional Information About the Indexes.

Obtaining Birth, Marriage, and Death Certificates

When ordering certificates with index information, it is important that you use the index information for the repository from which you are ordering the certificate. For example, you cannot use The General Register Office index to order certificates from The General Register Office of Northern Ireland and vice versa. If using the Family History Library or FamilySearch computer index, please see the note under the Section: "Using Indexes" to see which register office these indexes cover.

For all of Ireland, The General Register Office in Roscommon, Ireland has records of:

Births
•1864-1921
Marriages
•1845-1921
Deaths
•1864-1921

And for the Republic of Ireland:

Births, marriages and deaths
•1921-present

Birth records from 1864 may also be ordered online at www.certificates.ie.

For Northern Ireland (the counties of Antrim, Armagh, Derry, Down, Fermanangh and Tyrone only) The General Register Office for Northern Ireland has records of:

Births
•from 1864 to present - district or full address of birth must be supplied
Adoptions
•from 1931 to present
Marriages
•from 1845 for registered non-Roman Catholic marriages and all registered marriages from 1864
Deaths
•from 1864 to present - district or full address of death must be supplied

Local Registrars can be contacted through this website.

Filmed certificates are available through the Family History Library system. See the table below.

Locating the Actual Registration Information

City Hall, Belfast.jpg

There are two index systems used to catalog the civil registration information; the GRO index and the GRONI index. If you have GRO index information, you must obtain the registration from a repository that catalogs the information based on this index and vice versa for the GRONI index information. GRO indexed information is shown in bold and GRONI indexed information is shown initalic.

Step 1: Determine where to obtain the actual registration information. Below is a table showing the civil registration information available at the Family History Library or through Family History Centers, the GRO and the GRONI. Determine whether your index information is based on the GRO or the GRONI catalog system and then identify where you want to obtain the actual registration information.

Event	FHL or FHC	GRO	GRONI
Births:	(Click link then scroll down)	.	.
Republic of Ireland	1864–Mar 1881; 1900-1913;    1930 -1955	1864 to present	1864-1921
Northern Ireland	'1864–Mar 1881;' 1900-1913;   1922-1959	1864 to 1921	1864 to present
Marriages: (Protestant only)	(Click link then scroll down)	.	.
Republic of Ireland	1845–1863	1845 to present	1845–1863
Northern Ireland	1845-1863	1845-1863	1845 to present
Marriages: (all marriages)	(Click link then scroll down)	.	.
Republic of Ireland	1864-1870	1864 to present	1864-1921
Northern Ireland	1864-1870; 1922-1959	1864-1921	1864 to present
Deaths:	(Click link then scroll down)	.	.
Republic of Ireland	1864-1870	1864 to present	1864-1921
Northern Ireland	1864-1870; 1922-1959	1864-1921	1864 to present

Step 2: Obtain the actual registration information.

*Obtaining Civil Registration Information at Family History Library or Family History Center:

The Family History Library (FHL) has microfilms of the actual registration information the years shown above. Click on the link in the above table to see the Family History Library microfilm number that contains the certificate you are looking for based on the index information you have.  These microfilms can also be ordered through the local Family History Center.  Then find the certificate by looking at the microfilm.  First find the appropriate year or quarter of the year and then proceed to the page number found in the indexes to locate the registration information.

*Obtaining Civil Registration Information at the GRO:

With the GRO index information, you can obtain the registration information through the GRO. Click on this link to see the GRO ordering information.

*Obtaining Civil Registration Information at GRONI:

With the GRONI index information, you can obtain the registration information through the GRONI. Click on this link to see the GRONI ordering information.

Naval Records: Marriage Certificates=

Research use: Used to locate marriages where location is hard to establish.

Record type:

• Transcripts of marriage certificates. Note: A regulation required married officers to submit marriage certificates as a condition of eligibility of their wives for widow's pensions.
• Time period: 1801-1902.

Contents:

• Name of bride and groom
• Date and place of marriage
• Information about navel service (PRO-classes Adm. 30/57, Adm 13/70-71 and Adm. 13/186-192).

Location:

• The National Archives
• Ruskin Avenue
• Richmond, Surrey
• TW9 4DU,
• England

Population coverage: 4 %.

Reliability: Good.

Accessibility: Through a researcher or a professional genealogist.

Additional Information

For more information about the indexes, see Ireland, Civil Registration: Additional Information About the Indexes.

For tips on searching the indexes, go to Tips on Searching the Civil Registration Indexes.

For additional information on death registration records, go to Ireland, Additional Civil Registration Information.

For additional collections available at the Registrar General's Office, go to Ireland, Additional Civil Registration Information.

• Irish Civil Registration - Where Do I Start? (No. 2 in 'Exploring Irish Genealogy' series) by Eileen O'Duill Steven C. ffeary-Smyrl. Published by the Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations, Dublin, 2000. www.cigo.ie

 

International Genealogical Index (FamilySearch) - free

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Family History Library (FHL); now called, FamilySearch Library (FSL)