How to find Irish resources

[chipchippotato]

Hi,

I am trying to find some historical documents (birth, death, marriages) for ancestors from Ireland pre-1845. Most of them come from present-day Northern Ireland. Are there any websites that can give me access to records for that time period? I have Ancestry.com but I can't find much on there.

[Calleva]

There are some highly experienced experts familiar with Irish records on this site who I’m sure will help beyond what I can suggest.

You may be on to these already but there are references to certain records pre 1845 on the Irish Genealogy website. I’ve found it very helpful, also it’s free!

Good luck with the research.

https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/

[aghadowey]

You may be on to these already but there are references to certain records pre 1845 on the Irish Genealogy website. I’ve found it very helpful, also it’s free!
https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/

The pre-civil registration records (church records) do not cover Northern Ireland counties.

Ancestry is the last place to look for Irish records. The resources you are looking for depend on location and religion (for church records).
PRONI, Belfast has microfilmed copies of lots of church records which require a personal visit but many church records are not available there or online. To see what church records they have see their Guide To Church Records. See here under PRONI links-
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=753389.0
Lots of Catholic registers online (free)- https://registers.nli.ie/
Irish Ancestors website can show you what church records are available from various places-
https://www.johngrenham.com/browse/

Each Irish board on Rootschat has a sub-board/section for resources- while many of the links are out of date and I can't update them it will give you an idea of what you might find. There are also useful links on the Ireland Resources board.

If you give us a better idea of what you might be looking for we can suggest other resources to check.

[Andy J2022]

For a general and up-to-date summary of the resources available for Irish genealogy, I can highly recommend this recent video produced by the (British) National Archives with a contribution of someone from the Irish National Archives. In particular they talk about the resources to be found in the Virtual Treasury, which is the partial reconstruction of those records which were destroyed in 1922. Not much on the PRONI resources unfortunately.

[Kiltaglassan]

Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland.
The Treasury re-imagines and reconstructs through digital technologies the Public Record Office of Ireland, a magnificent archive destroyed on June 30th, 1922, in the opening engagement of the Civil War.

https://virtualtreasury.ie/

[Jon_ni]

Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland
https://www.johngrenham.com/blog/2022/07/08/the-rabbit-holes-outnumber-the-rabbits/

RootsIreland's indexes are a resource for church records pre-civil registration especially for Protestant ancestors, given the R.C. ones are name indexed on Ancestry & Findmypast already. However it is incomplete and many church records remain only accessible offline, weren't kept, or were lost 1922. Depends on your ancestors' denomination and particular parish.

[chipchippotato]

Thanks for all your responses. An example of who I am looking for is James Edgar (born about 1785 in Ireland and died 1855 in Maybole, Ayrshire) who was married to Janet Kean (born about 1791 and died before 1851 unsure where). They had a child called Elizabeth Edgar who died 1877.

[aghadowey]

Thanks for all your responses. An example of who I am looking for is James Edgar (born about 1785 in Ireland and died 1855 in Maybole, Ayrshire) who was married to Janet Kean (born about 1791 and died before 1851 unsure where). They had a child called Elizabeth Edgar who died 1877.

What details are on the 1855 death certificate? In 1855 (the start of death registration) the place of birth is included (as known by informant and may just say Ireland)
https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/help-and-support/guides/statutory-register-deaths
Daughter Elizabeth's death says age 42 so born c1835. Was she born in Ireland or Scotland?

[chipchippotato]

She was born in Maybole. This is what was written on the death cert. All I can make out is County Down.