IGI - Irish records

[ChrisAllonby]

Just found some details of the Mormon Family History Marriage records for Ireland:

Family search irish records. - Link

Has anyone had experience of using these records? I'm interested in Irish marriages 1860-1870, approx. What's the quality of the data and how comprehensive is it? There's a Family History Centre near me - are these places worth a visit?

Thanks,
Chris.

[Tees]

Hi Chris,

In my opinion, you would be better off getting a photocopy of a marriage entry from the Irish GRO directly.

The information would be same as you found in the marriage entries in England & Wales (GRO).

If you were not sure when your Irish ancestors got married, then a visit to the Family Centre would be a good idea but you will have to wait some weeks for a film or two to arrive then you get to view the entry that you are seeking.

But I think you have to order the indexes in first to ascertain if the marriage was registered or not. Many marriages were not registered, they would be in the parish registers providing you know where they lived.

If you know when your couple were married, you can order a photocopy from the Irish GRO yourself or go to this website: www.familyulster.com. They will do a look-up in the years you wanted to look in. I think this is a bit cheaper than ordering all the films at the LDS centre.

Hope this helps a bit!

Kind regards,

Tees

[ChrisAllonby]

Hi Tees,

Thanks for the advice. I had wondered whether the Family History Centres had copies of the films on site, but from what you say it seems that they don't.

My problem is that the two sets of gg-grandparents I'm interested in were both married "somewhere" in Ireland during the 1860s. At least, I assume that to be the case since there are no marriage records at FreeBMD, which now has virtually complete records for the period in question. It's possible that one of the couples were married in Newry or Drogheda. The other couple originated from Donegal, as far as I know. I was hoping that a comprehensive index of Irish marriages in the 1860s might have helped.

I expect these records will eventually find their way onto the Internet.

Regards,
Chris.

[Tees]

Hi Chris,

You are correct that the IGI does not have all of information on the Irish BMD entries on their website. Most of the Irish entries were births extracted from the GRO.

BUT at the LDS centre you can order the Irish GRO indexes on Marriages to see if your gg grandparents' marriages were registered or not. It all depends on what faith they were belonged to.

From 1845 to 1863, the marriages were registered happened to be mostly of Protestant faith. From 1864 onwards, all the BMD information are expected to be registered throughout Ireland by every Irish person.  Unfortunately, it was not common to see many children missing from the Birth Registration and same with Marriages & Deaths.

By 1900, the BMD registration is well-entrenched in the Irish populace.

There is no Free Irish BMD site. Sorry about that. I doubt that the Irish government is willing to allow this--your best bet would be to go to the LDS and order many films on indexes as you can afford OR hop on an aeroplane to Dublin or Belfast where you can pay one fee to access their indexes at their GROs.

Do try and check to see if your gg grandparents were registered or not. You may get lucky!!

Kind regards,

Tees

[aghadowey]

Registration of births, deaths & all marriages was introduced in 1864 (Protestant marriages 1845) but was not compulsory until 1870 but even then there are mis-spellings, missing entries in the index or some that seem not to be there at all.

[Tees]

Hi Aghadowey,

I concur with your statement about the BMD in Ireland. 1870 was compulsory yet Irish continued not to follow the law until mid-1870s, the British Gov't made a penalty fee a bit steep as an incentive to register early (to behoove them to avoid such fees). But it does not wholly solve the problems--but as time went on, more and more BMDs were registered in Ireland. That is what I learnt from various sources.

Interestingly, the Protestant marriages started in 1845 up to 1863/4--does not necessarily mean 100% Protestant marriages! I found my Irish Catholic ancestor who married to a Protestant in the Marriage entries from this period!

I learnt from a knowledgable person on this site that there were such marriages occurred during this period and many of these marriages were registered (not all of them but many). Worth a try to see if they are in the indexes or not.

For all the Irish ancestors, the best bet would be in the church records but this is quite a problematic for one has to know which church they were married in! Same goes for the baptism records.

Kind regards,

Tees

[Butlerclan]

This may be of help and interest for searching for marriages:  The LDS do have GRO marriage indexes on film at Hyde Park Library for all of Irelandup to about 1880 (Births and Deaths too covering more years)  But the relevant entries are not always on film there.   I have had around 50% success.   You look up the marriages partner and having found it check for the other partner in the same year and quarter and note the ref.   if they match you then look in the idex to films book for Ireland again and find the relevant film for that quarter.   As I say I have had around 50% success Antrim is separate from Eire  etc., and just have a go.   I have had to send to Belfast for a few certs. but it is useful for looking up births too if you know names of children.

Hope this helps.

Butlerclan

[aghadowey]

Tees- Registry Office marriages would be separate from church marriages so perhaps that's why you've found them.

Butlerclan- civil records (births, deaths, marriages) arranged by year (then later sub-divided into quarters) and registration district. If you look at microfilm for say births 1864 each registration district has a section (i.e.: all Aghadowey for that period, then all Antrim for that period, etc.). The indexes will give a broader area (Aghadowey comes under Coleraine, etc.).

I have been to LDS libraries in several countries and have found that they tend to have microfilmed copies of the records for their area and for other locations you have to order the films.

[ChrisAllonby]

It looks like the LDS records are my best bet for tracking down marriages in Ireland, so I might just visit the local Family Records Centre. However, I would need several film rolls, since the marriages I'm interested in (both almost certainly catholic) might have taken place any time between 1860 and 1867, although I would tend towards 1867, since in both cases the eldest known child was born in that year.

How amenable are they to providing multiple rolls, how long does it typically take, and what is the likely cost?

Are these records not yet (easily) available anywhere else other than on the LDS films?

Thanks,
Chris.