Historic baptism and marriage registers available for free online

I am a researcher at family history website Findmypast.ie. Yesterday, we began publishing over 10 million Catholic baptism and marriage registers online. 

The registers span over 200 years of Ireland’s history from 1671-1900, contain over 40 million names from over 1,000 parishes and cover 97% of the entire island of Ireland, both Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.

This is the first time that the National Library of Ireland’s collection of Irish Catholic Registers (the most important resource for Irish ancestors prior to the 1901 census) has been fully indexed online and will make it easier than ever before for people to trace their roots back to Pre-Famine Ireland.

What’s more, the records will be completely free forever as we hope the collection will encourage more people to start exploring and connecting with their Irish heritage. The collection has revealed some fascinating statistics relating to population patterns and the impact of the famine.

The indexing of these documents also allows researchers to witness the effects of the Great Famine (1845-1852) first hand. Using the records to examine baptism rates in pre and post Famine Ireland has revealed that the number of children baptised across Ireland dropped by more 50% in the decade that followed. Across all 32 counties, 2,408,694 baptisms were recorded from 1835-1844, while 1,109,062 baptisms were recorded between 1851 and 1860.

Alex Cox

Findmypast.ie

Aungier Street

Dublin 2