Leading family history site, Findmypast, has announced today the online release of over 10 million Irish Catholic Parish Registers as part of their ongoing commitment to making Irish family history easier and more accessible than ever before. Fully indexed for the first time, the registers form one of the most important record collections for Irish family history and are free to search forever.
Spanning over 200 years of Ireland’s history from 1671-1900, the Irish Catholic Parish Registers 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 National Library of Ireland’s collection of Irish Catholic Registers has been fully indexed with images to the original documents linked online. The records can now be searched by name, year and place, allowing relatives and historians the opportunity to make all important links between generations with the baptism records and between families with the marriage registers.
The indexing of these important documents also allows researchers to witness the devastating 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 the whole of 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, a difference of more than 1,299,000 baptisms.
The records also reveal the worst affected regions, with counties Limerick, Wexford, Roscommon and Kilkenny seeing the most dramatic drops in baptism rates.
To celebrate the release of this essential collection, Findmypast is also making its entire archive of over 110 million Irish records, the largest available anywhere online, FREE from 9am Tuesday 1st March to 9am on Tuesday 8th March.Findmypast is home to the most comprehensive online collection of Irish family history records with millions of exclusive records, published in partnership with The National Archives of Ireland, The National Archives UK, and a host of other local, county and national archives.
Kay, Sheila Mary Ryan Falkowski here asking you if these would be the same records that you already spoke to me about? These would not include marriage or death records of any of my great great grandmothers siblings, nor her parents I assume? In other words there have been explored by you prior to this release?
Just a short response is fine Kay, if you have a moment
Sheila hope you are keeping well. You are correct, what is now on Find My Past and Ancestry is an indexed version of the original registers which have been available on Registers,Nli.ie since last summer. You will remember that I had a copy of ‘Bridget Gnaw’s’ baptism reproduced from this register on your Research Report. There is no harm of course in putting in various names into these indexes in the hope that something will turn up, but I wouldn’t be that hopefull, when we have already searched.
I was dissapointed to say the least Kay..I could not find my Grandmother’s baptism ,born 1876 Behihane..Catherine Brennan,..also my great Grandmother,Mary Danihy , Dingle area handwriting was bad [1846],..is there an area named Milltown or similar near Dingle ?
Ger, its the old story – there are no shortcuts. I myself will be first checking for an exact date & surname on the transcriptions on http://www.IrishGenealogy.ie and having got the information from there (that someone else has gone to the trouble of transcribing from the mostly illegible entries) I can then check the original results for myself on Registers.Nli.ie or on the free websites (for March anyway) of Find My Past and Ancestry.
I had a quick look for you but I am not sure what ‘Behihane’ means. Is it meant to be a Dingle townland? Yes there is a townland called Milltown now in the suburbs of Dingle town.
Hi Kay,maybe I was expecting too much,I suppose we are lucky to have these records at all.Behihane is near Castlecove, the nearest town is probably Caherdanial,I dont know the Parish..my grandmother was Catherine Brennan 1876, father James,mother Catherine McGillicuddy. Thanks again for your time,…Ger
Ger, I had a quick look and why I didn’t recognise the spelling of ‘Behihane’, the correct title for that townland should be Behagane. It is in the Civil Parish of Kilcrohane, Barony of Dunkerron South. I also located a record for James Brennan in Griffiths Valuation – sharing 30 acres with Jeremiah Brennan. (If you can’t get this, get back to me & I will send to you). I also gave the same quick look at http://www.IrishGenealogy.ie (Church Records) and I am wondering if you have the correct name of mother – Catherine McGillicuddy. There is a Katherine Brennan, father James, mother Katherine Moriarty with an address at Capparuadh,baptised 1st December 1875, not a million miles away. This could also be a transcription misprint of course. You need to do a bit more ‘digging’. I would advise going into Registers.Nli.ie Kenmare and having a look at the original register on that date. Last resort then is to go the the free site FamilySearch.org and search in the CIVIL Records for Catherine (& Katherine) Brennan with just father’s name and Kerry. Let me know how you get on.