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May 22, 2009

Using Ireland Civil Registration Indexes to obtain Vital Stats Certificates

FamilySearch.org has Ireland, Civil Registration Indexes 1845-1958 online. This collection includes births from 1864-1958, marriages 1845-1958 and deaths 1864-1958

I wanted to use this index to order the full certificates from the GRO for Ireland. I was searching for a marriage for Rebecca Massey in Dublin Ireland.

At FamilySearch I got 1 page of possible hits and this was the information from the hit that was the one I wanted:

Name: Rebecca Massey
Registration district: Dublin South
Record type: MARRIAGES
Registration date - quarter and year: 1859
Film number: 101247
Volume: 5
Page: 212
Digital GS number: 4195893
Image number: 00401
Collection: Ireland, Civil Registration Indexes 1845-1958

You will not be using anything from the index entry other than the invididual's surname and first name, year of marriage and location (Registration district) but you will likely want to copy all the information and save it. It is important to go first to the indexes for Irish Civil Registration in order to be sure the event is there and to be sure of the year and location of the event.

Next step is to go to the General Register Office certificate order page. Note that The General Register Office (Oifig An Ard-Chláraitheora) is the central civil repository for records relating to Births, Deaths and Marriages in Ireland. The GRO records of marriages other than Roman Catholic marriages date back to 1st April 1845 . Records of Births, Deaths and Roman Catholic Marriages date back to 1st January 1864.

An important note here is that if your ancestors lived in Northern Ireland, you cannot use this GRO website. Those of us with ancestors in Northern Ireland must go to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland which holds different records. I'll talk about the PRO of Northern Ireland in a separate post, but for now, back to ordering our marriage registration from the GRO.

Next step at the GRO is to choose Birth, Marriage or Death and whether you want your Certificate Application Form in English or Irish

Step 2 will be posted tomorrow

3 comments:

The Grandmother Here said...

Thanks for this information. I have a line that goes back to Ireland and I don't know where to begin.

Irish Ancestry said...

Hi 'Grandmother' just to let you know that Irish Roots magazine ran a very information series in their 2008 issues on how to get started in genealogy. Irish Roots are giving away a free set of 2008 back copies with every subscription purchased in May. Well worth a read and jam packed full of articles all to do with Irish genealogy. Hope this helps. Irish Roots website is www.irishrootsmagazine.com

eddiec said...

Actually... to obtain copies of records relating to Births, Deaths and Marriages in Northern Ireland you need to go to the General Registers Office (GRONI) and NOT the Public Records Office (PRONI). PRONI would only have copies of the indexes