Ireland Church Records: Difference between revisions

IRELAND - CHURCH RECORDS<br>  

=== Burials  ===

Burial usually took place in the deceased's parish within a few days of the death. Burial records give the name of the deceased and the date of burial. Sometimes they also give the deceased's age, place of residence, cause of death, and occupation. Occasionally a wife's burial entry will provide the name of the husband, and a child's entry, the name of the father. Stillbirths are sometimes recorded in the burial registers. Stillbirths are not, however, listed in christening records.  

'''Vestry Minutes'''  

'''Bastardy Bonds'''  

'''Pew Schedules&nbsp;'''  

'''Parish Deeds'''  

=== Locating Church of Ireland Records  ===

Many Church of Ireland registers were destroyed in the fire at the Public Record Office in Dublin in 1922. To protect against further loss or deterioration, most existing records have been filmed or photocopied and the originals or copies deposited in national repositories in Ireland. Some of the deposited church records are closed to the general public. To search these records, you must obtain written permission from the minister of the parish or the bishop of the diocese over that parish.  

Ministers were never required to send vestry minutes to Dublin for safekeeping. Consequently, most vestry minutes are in local custody, though some have been deposited at the National Archives, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, or other repositories.  

To find Church of Ireland records at the Family History Library, consult the Place Search of the catalog under:  

=== Selected Bibliography  ===

11. The Stationery Office. ''The Fifty-sixth Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records and Keeper of the State Papers in Ireland'', Appendix VIII. Dublin: The Stationery Office, 1931. [A complete list of the copies of Church of Ireland parish registers made by the clergy before depositing their registers in the PRO prior to 1922, pp. 416-420, Family History Library microfilm [http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titledetails&titleno=302670&disp=Annual+reports+of+the+Deputy+Keeper+of+p%20%20&columns=*,0,0 990493], item 8.]  

== Catholic Records  ==

Catholic parish registers mainly include christening and marriage records. Few registers contain death or burial records. Occasionally a register will contain a parish census. Some Catholic registers are in Latin.  

Original parish registers are in local custody. Sometimes a priest will search parish records for you. Names, addresses, and parishes of priests are listed in the Irish Catholic Directory and Diary.  

Filmed copies of almost all pre-1880 parish records are held by the National Library of Ireland. Filmed copies of pre-1880 parish registers for Northern Ireland are also kept by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. Some of the filmed parish registers at the National Library are restricted. To search these registers, you must have written permission from the priest of the parish or the bishop of the diocese in which the registers were kept.  

9. Ryan, James. ''Irish Church Records, Their history, availability and use in family and local history research''. Glenageary, Dublin: Flyleaf Press, 1992.  

== Presbyterian Records  ==

=== Burial Records  ===

=== Other Presbyterian Church Records  ===

11. Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland. ''A History of Congregations in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland 1610-1982''. Belfast: Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland, 1982.  

== Methodist Records  ==

The Quaker faith kept its records separate and apart from those collected by the Church of Ireland or the State. As a result, many of its original records exist and are located in the repositories listed in Section 5.7.  

'''Quaker Monthly Meetings'''<br>Quaker records are not kept by parish, but rather by “monthly meetings”. Births, marriages and deaths were recorded at these meetings. Monthly meeting records extend from the late 1600s to the present, with the earliest record from Cork in 1675. Today records exist for 16 Quaker monthly meetings.  

In 1860, the Friends agreed abstract their birth, marriage and death records for each monthly meeting. These “monthly meeting registers” were created from the earliest records to 1859. An index, called the “Jones Index”, was later created. It lists if there are birth, marriage or death records for about 2,250 Quaker surnames by the monthly meeting. Those surnames listed in Irish Quaker Registers are listed in Goodbody (1967) and the Jones Index is on film in the Family History Library ([http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titlefilmnotes&columns=*%2C0%2C0&titleno=686334&disp=Jones+index+to+Quaker+births%2C+marriage++ film 1559454 item 10]).  

'''Quaker Terms and Meeting Maps<br>'''An explanation of Quaker terms can be found in Harrison (1997) &amp; (2008), and Berry &amp; Berry (1987). Butler (2004) provides a comprehensive overview of all the Quaker meetings in Ireland. It contains detailed maps of all the meetings by province, while Harrison (1997) &amp; (2008) contains a replica of a 1794 Quaker meeting map.  

'''5.1 Birth Records<br>'''Since the Quaker faith does not believe in baptism, birth records are collected. Monthly meeting birth registers contain records up to 1859. They include the name of the child, date of birth, place of birth, name of parents, parents abode, and the book and page of the original record. One must take care when transcribing the date of the birth, since the Quaker registers record the date as year, month, and day. A collection of Quaker birth records throughout Ireland from 1859 to 1949 is also available.  

'''5.2 Marriage Records'''<br>Marriages were recorded by monthly meetings, with these events occasionally being recorded in the Provincial or Quarterly Meeting minutes. Monthly meeting marriage registers contain records up to 1859. They include the name, residence, description (occupation), name of parents, parents abode, to whom married, and date of marriage. The book and page of the original record is provided and the date is recorded as year, month, and day. A collection of Quaker marriage records throughout Ireland from 1859 to 1949 is also available.  

Each monthly meeting also maintains a collection of marriage certificates. The certificate documents that the ceremony occurred in a public meeting place and describe what efforts were made to publicize the couple’s intention to marry. Quaker marriage certificates also contain a list of witnesses which were present at the ceremony.  

'''5.3 Death Records'''<br>Death records are collected in the Quaker faith. Monthly meeting death registers contain records up to 1859. They include the name, date of death, parents, age, residence, description (son or daughter of father and mother), date of burial, and the place of burial. The book and page of the original record is provided and dates are recorded as year, month, and day. A collection of Quaker death records throughout Ireland from 1859 to 1949 is also available.  

'''5.4 Quaker Wills'''<br>Like other Quaker records, wills were kept separate and apart from those required by the State, and avoided being destroyed in the Four Courts fire of 1922.&nbsp; Quaker wills were recorded by the monthly meeting. Eustace &amp; Good body (1957) contains abstracts of 224 Quaker wills, while Goodbody (1967) contains an additional 50 wills. However, the number of records from Ulster is limited.  

'''5.5 Quaker Biographies and Pedigrees<br>'''In 1997, Harrison authored A Biographical Dictionary of Irish Quakers. In 2008, he produced a significantly expanded second edition which includes short sketches of about 650 Irish Quakers from the founding of the faith up to current times.  

Some monthly meetings and some province or quarterly meetings collect ‘family lists’. In 1927, Thomas Henry Webb donated a collection of Irish Quaker pedigrees to the Dublin Friends Historical Library. The 232 surnames are listed in Ryan (2001). The Webb Collection provides detailed family records, but includes only about 10 percent of the Quaker surnames listed in the Jones Index.  

'''5.6 Other Quaker Records'''  

Records of the Quaker National or Half-Yearly Meeting date from 1671. There are also, early lists of sufferings and testimonies against tithes.<br><br>'''Province or Quarterly Meeting'''<br>Records of the provincial or quarterly meetings extend back to 1670 for Leinster, 1674 for Ulster, and 1694 for Munster. Marriages were sometimes recorded within the province or quarterly minute books.  

'''Monthly Meeting'''<br>Each monthly meeting attempted to create a record of its actions. Minute books were kept for both the men’s and women’s meetings, with most church matters appearing in the men’s meeting minutes.  

'''Certificates of Removal'''<br>A unique type of Quaker record is the “Certificate of Removal”. Many monthly meetings organized these certificates in a separate register. They served a traveling Quaker much like a passport, and would be presented upon arriving at a new meeting. The certificate noted that the holder was debt free, his or her marital status, and that they were a member in good standing at that monthly meeting. When not organized separately, these certificates were recorded as a part of monthly meeting minutes.  

'''Quaker Suffering Records '''<br>Throughout its early history, the Quaker faith has been forced to endure a number of injustices. These included imprisonment, corporal punishment, the paying of fines, and the collection of goods for not tithing to the Church of Ireland. As a result, Quakers began to records the types and severity of these injustices by monthly meetings. Later these were printed in a series of suffering books.  

*Besse, Joseph. A''Collection of the Sufferings of the People called Quakers''. London. 1753.

'''5.7 Locating Quaker Records'''<br>The Dublin Friends Historical Library was created in 1908. It preserves the books, documents and other artifacts of the Quaker faith. In 2005, the library moved to a state-of-the-art facility in the south Dublin suburb of Rathfarnham.  

Microfilm copies of the National/Half-Yearly Meetings, all the monthly meeting registers, the province or quarterly meeting minutes, and Quaker vital records from 1859 to 1949 are available at the National Library and National Archives of Ireland, both in Dublin.  

Dublin Friends Historical Library<br>Religious Society of Friends in Ireland<br>Quaker House<br>Stocking Lane<br>Rathfarnham<br>Dublin 16<br>IRELAND (EIRE)<br>Internet: http://www.quakers-in-ireland.ie/archive/indexarc.htm  

Records for the Ulster Province or Quarterly Meeting and all of its monthly meetings are located on the campus of the Quaker School in Lisburn, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Microfilm copies of the Ulster Province or Quarterly Meeting minutes, and the monthly meeting registers within Ulster, are available at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) in Belfast.  

Religious Society of Friends<br>Ulster Quarterly Meeting Archives Committee<br>4 Magheralave Road<br>Lisburn<br>BT28 3BD<br>NORTHERN IRELAND<br>Internet: [http://www.quakers-in-ireland.org http://www.quakers-in-ireland.org]  

'''5.8 Selected Bibliography '''<br>Butler, David M. ''The Quaker Meeting Houses of Ireland. Historical Committee of Friends in Ireland''. Kelso Graphics, Scotland, UK. 2004.<br>Eustace, P. Beryl &amp; Goodbody, Olive C. ''Quaker Records Dublin - Abstract of Wills.'' (2 Vols, 1704-1785) Irish Manuscript Commission, Dublin, IRE. 1957. Reprint - Clearfield Company, Baltimore, MD. 1992.<br>Goodbody, Olive C. ''Guide to Irish Quaker Records 1654-1860, with contribution on Northern Ireland records by B.G. Hutton''. Irish Manuscript Commission, Dublin, IRE. 1967.<br>Harrison, Richard S. ''A Biographical Dictionary of Irish Quakers. Four Courts Press'', Dublin, IRE. 1997.<br>Harrison, Richard S. ''A Biographical Dictionary of Irish Quakers''. 2nd Edition. Four Courts Press, Dublin, IRE. 2008.<br>Ryan, James G. ''Irish Church Records''. 2nd Edition. Flyleaf Press, Dublin, IRE. 2001.<br>Wigham, Maurice J. ''The Irish Quakers – A Short History of the Religious Society of Friends in Ireland''. 2nd Edition. Historical Committee of Friends in Ireland, Dublin, IRE. 2003.  

<strike>Around 1653 Quakers emigrated from England to Ireland. If you are not sure your ancestors were Quakers, consult the list of chief Irish Quaker surnames found in the appendix in:</strike>