3. Births, Marriages & Deaths

Civil Registration

One of the most important resources for Irish family history is the Index to Civil Registration.

In Ireland Civil Registration began in 1864 (non-Catholic marriages were recorded from 1845). The index is laid out like a phone book, with people's names listed in alphabetical order, alongside each name is a volume and page number. These relate to the location of the birth, marriage or death in the full register.

Using the volume and page number and other information from the index, you can order photocopies of the full register entries, for a fee, from the General Register Office

To make searching easier we have arranged the index into three sections
Ireland Births 1864 – 1958
Ireland Marriages 1845 – 1958
Ireland Deaths 1864 – 1958

Understanding Civil Registration Districts

Dates
These records are arranged by the date the event was registered. It is important to bear this in mind for births, marriages or deaths that occurred in November or December but which may not have been registered until January of the following year.

Geography of Registration Districts
The original civil registration districts were based on 160 medical dispensary districts and in many cases cut across county boundaries. This means that in certain cases events will be recorded in a county other than where the person lived. We have provided a reference map showing the borders of the registration districts, and list of the registration districts and their associated counties below (please scroll to the bottom of the page for the registration districts list).

Some districts were absorbed by others or changed name, these are as follows:

Parsonstown = Birr
Irvinestown = Lowtherstown

Donaghmore, after 1887 search: Roscrea and Urlingford
Glin, after 1892 search: Listowel and Rathkeale
Gortin, after 1889 search: Omagh and Strabane
Newport, after 1886 search: Westport

findmypast.ie Registration Districts Map

Parish Records

Before Civil Registration began in 1845/64 life events were recorded at a local level in the parish church. While some are now available online, most are still held locally or in archives.

Many Roman Catholic parish registers are available on microfilm in the National Library of Ireland and can be consulted in person. Some registers for Cork and Ross, Dublin and Kerry are available online at the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport’s Irish Genealogy website.

Church of Ireland registers are either held in manuscript form at the Representative Church Body Library in Churchtown, Dublin 14, on microfilm at the National Archives of Ireland, at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Belfast (Northern Ireland parishes) or in local custody by the rector. Some Church of Ireland parish records relating to Carlow, Dublin and Kerry are available online at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht’s Irish Genealogy website.

Methodist records between 1747 and 1817-18 are usually entered without distinction in the Church of Ireland parish registers. Presbyterian parish records for the counties of Northern Ireland are kept mainly in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, while those for the Republic of Ireland are usually held locally by the minister. Quaker (Religious Society of Friends) records are held in repositories in Dublin, Ireland and Lisburn, Northern Ireland. Most Jewish records can be accessed through the Irish Jewish Museum in Dublin.

Memorial records

Gravestones and Church memorials are an important tool for Irish genealogical research, especially in the absence of any papers records. The records on our site are the result of the dedicated work of historians who travelled to graveyards transcribing the names and dates found on gravestones and plaques.

Newspaper abstracts

We give you access to a collection of over 250,000 obituaries and other newspaper notices compiled from all over Ireland. The Tipperary Clans Archive comprises, principally, obituaries, death/funeral notices and burials transcribed from regional newspapers pre 1864. Byrne's Irish Times abstracts is another valuable collection of transcripts of almost 200,000 notices from that newspaper.

Wills

Although the majority of wills and testamentary records for Ireland prior to 1922 were destroyed in the fire at the Public Records Office, a number of records, including indexes and calendars, as well as some wills survive which go some way to filling in the gaps left in 1922.

Our wills collection includes four indexes to Irish wills, covering the years 1484 – 1858:

From 1859 a Calendar of Wills and Administrations was published annually, and these Calendars still survive, even where the original documents do not. The Calendars are arranged alphabetically, and each record contains the name, address and occupation of the deceased, the place and date of death; the value of the estate, and the name and address of the person(s) to whom probate or administration was granted. You can view the Calendars in person at the National Archives of Ireland

Acknowledgements: we extend grateful thanks to the National Library of Ireland for permission to use their Poor Law Union map in the creation of our BMD Districts Map.

County	Registration District	County	Registration District

Antrim	Antrim	Leitrim	Ballyshannon
Antrim	Ballycastle	Leitrim	Bawnboy
Antrim	Ballymena	Leitrim	Carrick-on-Shannon
Antrim	Ballymoney	Leitrim	Manorhamilton
Antrim	Belfast	Leitrim	Mohill
Antrim	Coleraine
Antrim	Larne	Limerick	Croom
Antrim	Lisburn	Limerick	Glin
Antrim	Lurgan	Limerick	Killmallock
		Limerick	Limerick
Armagh	Armagh	Limerick	Mitchelstown
Armagh	Banbridge	Limerick	Newcastle
Armagh	Castleblaney	Limerick	Rathkeale
Armagh	Dundalk	Limerick	Tipperary
Armagh	Lurgan
Armagh	Newry	Londonderry	Ballymoney
		Londonderry	Coleraine
Carlow	Baltinglass	Londonderry	Londonderry
Carlow	Carlow	Londonderry	Magherafelt
Carlow	Enniscorthy	Londonderry	Limavady
Carlow	New Ross
Carlow	Shillelagh	Longford	Ballymahon
		Longford	Granard
Cavan	Bailieborough	Longford	Longford
Cavan	Bawnboy
Cavan	Cavan	Louth	Ardee
Cavan	Cootehill	Louth	Drogheda
Cavan	Enniskillen	Louth	Dundalk
Cavan	Granard
Cavan	Kells	Mayo	Ballina
Cavan	Oldcastle	Mayo	Ballinrobe
		Mayo	Belmullet
Clare	Ballyvaughan	Mayo	Castlebar
Clare	Corrofin	Mayo	Castelreagh
Clare	Ennis	Mayo	Claremorris
Clare	Ennistimon	Mayo	Killala
Clare	Killadysert	Mayo	Newport
Clare	Kilrush	Mayo	Swineford
Clare	Limerick	Mayo	Westport
Clare	Scariff
Clare	Tulla	Meath	Ardee
		Meath	Celbridge
Cork	Bandon	Meath	Drogheda
Cork	Bantry	Meath	Dunshaughlin
Cork	Castletown	Meath	Edenderry
Cork	Clonakilty	Meath	Kells
Cork	Cork	Meath	Navan
Cork	Dunmanway	Meath	Oldcastle
Cork	Fermoy	Meath	Trim
Cork	Kanturk
Cork	Killmallock	Monaghan	Carrickmacross
Cork	Kinsale	Monaghan	Castleblaney
Cork	Macroom	Monaghan	Clogher
Cork	Mallow	Monaghan	Clones
Cork	Middleton	Monaghan	Cootehill
Cork	Millstreet	Monaghan	Dundalk
Cork	Mitchelstown	Monaghan	Monaghan
Cork	Skibbereen
Cork	Skull	Offaly	Edenderry
Cork	Youghal	Offaly	Mountmellick
		Offaly	Parsonstown
Donegal	Ballyshannon	Offaly	Roscrea
Donegal	Donegal	Offaly	Tullamore
Donegal	Dunfanaghy	Offaly	Birr
Donegal	Glenties
Donegal	Inishowen	Roscommon	Athlone
Donegal	Letterkenny	Roscommon	Ballinasloe
Donegal	Londonderry	Roscommon	Boyle
Donegal	Milford	Roscommon	Carrick-on-Shannon
Donegal	Strabane	Roscommon	Castlereagh
Donegal	Stranorlar	Roscommon	Roscommon
		Roscommon	Strokestown
Down	Banbridge
Down	Belfast	Sligo	Ballina
Down	Downpatrick	Sligo	Boyle
Down	Kilkeel	Sligo	Dromore West
Down	Lisburn	Sligo	Sligo
Down	Lurgan	Sligo	Tobercurry
Down	Newry
Down	Newtownards	Tipperary	Borrisokane
		Tipperary	Callan
Dublin	Balrothery	Tipperary	Carrick-on-Suir
Dublin	Celbridge	Tipperary	Cashel
Dublin	Dublin North	Tipperary	Clogheen
Dublin	Dublin South	Tipperary	Clonmel
Dublin	Dunshaughlin	Tipperary	Nenagh
Dublin	Naas	Tipperary	Parsonstown
Dublin	Rathdown	Tipperary	Roscrea
		Tipperary	Thurles
Fermanagh	Ballyshannon	Tipperary	Tipperary
Fermanagh	Clones	Tipperary	Urlingford
Fermanagh	Enniskillen	Tipperary	Birr
Fermanagh	Irvinestown
Fermanagh	Lowtherstown	Tyrone	Armagh
Fermanagh	Lisnaskea	Tyrone	Castlederg
		Tyrone	Clogher
Galway	Ballinasloe	Tyrone	Cookstown
Galway	Ballinrobe	Tyrone	Dungannon
Galway	Clifden	Tyrone	Enniskillen
Galway	Galway	Tyrone	Gortin
Galway	Glennamaddy	Tyrone	Irvinestown
Galway	Gort	Tyrone	Lowtherstown
Galway	Longhrea	Tyrone	Omagh
Galway	Mountbellew	Tyrone	Strabane
Galway	Oughterard
Galway	Portumna	Waterford	Carrick-on-Suir
Galway	Scarriff	Waterford	Clonmel
Galway	Tuam	Waterford	Dungarvan
		Waterford	Kilmacthomas
Kerry	Cahersiveen	Waterford	Lismore
Kerry	Dingle	Waterford	Waterford
Kerry	Glin	Waterford	Youghal
Kerry	Kenmare
Kerry	Killarney	Westmeath	Athlone
Kerry	Listowel	Westmeath	Ballymahon
Kerry	Tralee	Westmeath	Delvin
		Westmeath	Granard
Kildare	Athy	Westmeath	Mullingar
Kildare	Baltinglass	Westmeath	Tullamore
Kildare	Celbridge
Kildare	Edenderry	Wexford	Enniscorthy
Kildare	Naas	Wexford	Gorey
		Wexford	New Ross
Kilkenny	Callan	Wexford	Shillelagh
Kilkenny	Carrick-on-Suir	Wexford	Wexford
Kilkenny	Castlecomer
Kilkenny	Kilkenny	Wicklow	Baltinglass
Kilkenny	New Ross	Wicklow	Naas
Kilkenny	Thomastown	Wicklow	Rathdown
Kilkenny	Urlingford	Wicklow	Rathdrum
Kilkenny	Waterford	Wicklow	Shillelagh

Laois	Abbeyleix
Laois	Athy
Laois	Carlow
Laois	Donaghmore
Laois	Mountmellick
Laois	Roscrea