Births, Deaths and Marriages

 

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Births, deaths and Marriages   

CIVIL OR STATE REGISTRATION of all births, deaths and marriages began in Ireland on 1 January 1864.  Non-Catholic marriages, including Protestant and Jewish marriages as well as those conducted in a government registry office, were required in law to be registered from 1 April 1845. 

BIRTH CERTIFICATES 

Birth certificates normally give the name of the child, but in some cases only the sex is recorded, i.e., the child had not been given a name by the time the birth was registered.  The name and residence of the father is registered.  The mother’s maiden name is provided as well as her first name.  Finally, the name and address of the informant is recorded, together with his or her qualification to sign.  This will usually be the father or mother or someone present at the birth, such as a midwife or even the child’s grandmother.

MARRIAGE CERFICATES

Civil records of marriage normally given fuller information than birth and death certificates, and are the most useful of civil records.  Information on the individuals getting married includes their name, age, status, and occupation.  The names and occupations of their fathers are also given.  The church, the officiating minister and the witnesses to the ceremony are named.  In most cases the exact age of the parties is not registered, and the entry will simply read ‘full age’ (i.e., over 21) or ‘minor’ (i.e., under 21).   

DEATH CERTIFICATES 

Civil records of death in Ireland are sadly rather uninformative.  The name of the deceased is given together with the date, place and cause of death, marital status, the age of death, and occupation.  The name and address of the informant is also recorded.  Usually this is the person present at the time of the death who may be a close family member, or even an employee or servant.

GENERAL REGISTER OFFICE, DUBLIN

 The General Register Office (Oifig An Ard-Chlaraitheora) is the civil repository for records relating to Births, Death and Marriages in the Republic of Ireland.  The records held by the GRO include:

 ·             Registers of all Birth registered in the whole of Ireland from 1 January 1864 to 31 December 1921, and in Ireland (excluding Northern Ireland) from that date.

·             Registers of all Deaths registered in the whole of Ireland from 1 January 1864, to 31 December 1921, and in Ireland (excluding Northern Ireland) from that date.

·             Registers of all Marriages registered in the whole of Ireland from 1 April 1845, to 31 December 1863, except those celebrated by the Roman Catholic clergy.

·             Registers of all Marriages registered in the whole of Ireland from 1 January 1864, to 31 December 1921, and in Ireland (excluding Northern Ireland) from that date.

Indexes are currently in a manual format so accurate dates are required.  Three types of indexes which contain entries relating to either birth, death or marriage records and cover the following periods:

 Birth indexes                 - 1864 onwards

Death indexes               - 1864 onwards

Marriage indexes - 1845 onwards

Only the indexes are available for public inspection, not the records themselves.  The Public Office and Research Room are open from Monday to Friday, (excluding public holidays) from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm for the purpose of searching the indexes to birth, death and marriage records and obtaining certificates.  A particular search to a maximum of 5 years costs €1.90: a general search for one day covering all years costs €15.24.

The General Register Office is located at Joyce House, 8/11 Lombard Street, Dublin 2, Ireland.  Applications for certificates can be made in person, by post, by telephone (www.grioreland.ie/applu_for_a_cert.htm).

 GENERAL REGISTER OFFICE, BELFAST AND DISTRICT REGISTRAR’S OFFICES

The General Register Office (GRO) in Belfast holds the original birth and death registers recorded by the local district registrars for Northern Ireland from 1864.  Marriage registers are available from 1922.  The following computerised indexes to the civil registers are available:

 ·             Birth indexes        - 1864 onwards

·             Death indexes        - 1864 onwards

·             Marriage indexes    - 1845 onwards

 A general search of records assisted by members of GRO staff for any period of years and any number of entries. The cost of this service is £24.00 per hour.

 If you wish to search the indexes yourself    (only indexes are available for public inspection, not the registers themselves) it is possible to visit the GRO, if you have arranged a time and date in advance.  An index search costs £10 for a period not exceeding six hours.  This includes four verifications of items found in the indexes, with the option of further verifications of items found in the indexes, with the option of further verifications at £2.50 each.  An assisted search service is also provided.  This can be a much quicker method of extracting information from the civil registers, especially if a specific location is known but costs £19 per hour.  A full certified copy of a birth, death or marriage certificate costs £11.

The General Register Office is located at Oxford House, 49-55 Chichester Street, Belfast BT1 4HL.  Applications for certificates can be made in person, by post, by telephone (028 9025 2000) or online (www.groni.gov.uk).  Searches will be made in the year quoted plus the two years either side unless a wider search is requested.  A further fee will be required for each extra five years searched.  Personal applications are processed within three working days; postal or telephone applications are processed within eight working days. 

 Although indexes to civil marriages registers for Northern Ireland are available at the GRO from 1845, the original registers are located at the District Registrars’ offices at local councils.  Applications for marriage certificates can be made directly to them or through the GRO in Belfast. 

CHURCH OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS

 From 1948 the Church of the Latter-Day Saints (LDS), or Mormons, began microfilming documentary material in Ireland.  The most important resource acquired at that time was the registers of births, deaths and marriages as well as the indexes to these records held in the Registrar General’s Office, Custom House, Dublin.  Unfortunately the Mormons were not able to complete the filming of all registers before work was suspended. 

The LDS collection of microfilms of civil registers and indexes is as follows: 

·             Birth indexes 1864-1959

·             Birth registers 1864 to first quarter 1880; 1900-13

·             Marriage indexes 1845-1959

·             Marriage registers 1845-70

·             Death indexes 1864-1959

·             Death registers 1864-70

 It is important to note that, although there are gaps in the birth registers, microfilm copies of the actual official registers are available to researchers.  This is a vital resource, because in the General Register Offices in Dublin, Belfast and London the public have no right of access to the original records.  In addition, some parts of the early years of birth registrations appear to be included in the LDS International Genealogical Index, which is searchable online (http://www.familysearch.org/), and the 2002 edition of the LDS CD set, British Isles Vital Records, includes an index to birth registrations from 1864 to 1875.

Assess to microfilmed copies of the indexes and registers are also free of charge at any of the Mormon Family History Centres.  The Family History Library Catalogue is the best way to finding collections in the Family History Library.  It is usual to search by place to find the available records for where your ancestors lived.  The records are listed by country, county, or civil parish, depending on the nature of the records.  Within each locality, the records are organised by topic – in this case ‘Civil registration’. 

An excellent introduction and guide to civil registration in Ireland is Catherine Blumsom’s Civil Registration of Births, Deaths and marriages in Ireland: a Practical Approach, published by the Ulster Historical Foundation.