Irish Civil Registration

I would like to share some of my findings about Irish Civil Registration. It is the Irish Government’s registration of birth marriages and deaths. Straightforward  – not a chance. Rewarding – Oh yes!

Protestant marriages were recorded in all of Ireland from 1845. Make no mistake, you will find mixed-marriages, even if they only occurred in the clerk’s office. By the way, this is a marriage between a Catholic and a Protestant.

All marriages, births and deaths were registered from 1864. I have found marriage registration to be pretty consistent. Births and deaths can be sketchy through even 1900.

Some civil registration is online at www.familysearch.org under their British Isles databases “Ireland, Births and Christenings, 1620-1881,” and “Ireland, Marriages, 1619-1898.” What these include are; Births: 1864-1881, Marriages: 1845-1870; and Deaths: 1864-70. This is only an extraction, and you will need to order the microfilm of the original from a family history center www.familysearch.org/locations or from the General Registrar’s Office in Ireland http://www.groireland.ie/

The FamilySearch database “Ireland, Civil Registration, 1845-1958” is an index to the original records. The reference gives you a district name where the event was registered, not where the family was living. You still have to order a certificate to get all the details.

Once you obtain certificates, they will give you the exact townland of residence for the people listed in the events. Now that really opens up a wide variety of fascinating records.