More About the 10M Irish Catholic Parish Registers Coming in March

Drumgooland Parish Baptisms 1833

Ancestry.com will be launching the Ireland Catholic Parish Registers online in March of this year. With more than 10 million Catholic Parish records, this launch will help create the largest collection of Irish registers available online.

Here's some facts to keep us all anticipating this debut!

The collection means that Ancestry.com will have over 55 million Irish records and will provide the largest collection of Irish Catholic parish records available online.

The collection is made up of Baptism, Marriage and Burial records from over 1,000 Catholic parishes across the whole of the island of Ireland - both in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. 

Baptism and Marriage records make up the majority of the collection and Burial records can be found primarily for parishes in the northern regions.      


Ancestry.com has indexed records from over 3,500 parish registers. This is the first time that the collection has been indexed with the images linked online.

10 Million Irish Catholic Parish Records Coming Online!

More than 10 million Catholic Parish records from Ireland are to be published online by Ancestry.com, the world’s largest family history resource. The collection means that Ancestry will have over 55 million Irish records and will provide the largest collection of Irish Catholic parish records available online.

The collection is made up of Baptism, Marriage and Burial records from over 1,000 Catholic parishes across the whole of the island of Ireland - both in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Baptism and Marriage records make up the majority of the collection and Burial records can be found primarily for parishes in the northern regions.

Ancestry has indexed records from over 3,500 parish registers. This is the first time that the collection has been indexed with the images linked online.

John Slyne, VP, International Operations at Ancestry comments: “The Ireland Catholic Parish Registers is the single most important collection needed to trace Roman Catholic ancestors in Ireland in the 1800s and we are delighted to make it available through Ancestry.  Providing the very best Irish records to our members is important to us and this collection helps us do that, taking the total number of Irish records to over 55 million.  It also means we continue to provide the largest online collection of Irish Catholic parish records available anywhere which is good for those in Ireland and also those across the World with Irish roots.

The collection is set to go live on Ancestry.com in March 2016.

Ask and Ye Might Receive!

Have you ever hit that proverbial brick wall and wondered where to look next for a reclusive ancestor? Often we genealogists find ourselves stuck because the records we want are in another country and we aren't sure how to access them.. or  if they even exist!

Don't overlook asking Libraries, Archives and Museums for help. My husband's ancestor Michael Jackson (yes truly that is his name) lived in Nenagh, Tipperary Ireland. Finding details on him or his family have been challenging! 

Marriage Michael Jackson & Mary Moynahan 1835

What I had found in my research was that Michael married a woman named Mary Moynahan (Minihan) on 14 February 1835 in Monsea Parish, Tipperary. I found the christening records of three children in the online Catholic Parish Registers at the National Library of Ireland. I also found instances of Michael and a man I believe is Mary Moynahan's brother in  Parish Poor Law Union Records for Loughnora, which is where the two families lived. 

4 February 1847: Rate for the Relief of the Poor of Nenagh Union: Michael Minihan"  house and land, Sarah Minihan, Michael Jackson 

But I wanted details! After a search of various websites to find out where these records might be held, I learned from the National Archives of Ireland that the Tipperary Public Library had the Rate Books. An hour on their website didn't yield any information that led me to believe they offered any research services, and I could not find a working email address. 

Since I'm not one to give up, I ended up "creating" a few email addresses based on their domain name tipperarylibraries.ie. Most websites have an admin address and other standard ones such as "info".  So I wrote to info@tipperarylibraries.ie and a few others I thought might work. None bounced back so that seemed successful. Of course whether or not anyone would respond was another matter. I kept my email request concise but provided necessary details, offered to pay for research services and requested assistance.

To my surprise and delight, early this morning I received a lovely email from a woman who is part of a Tipperary Studies project. I guess one of my emails was forwarded to her. She took quite a bit of time to research all the Rate books on my behalf, as well as gravestone inscriptions and prison records. She also provided a link to a subscription Irish Newspaper site where I could search for the individuals in question. 

What a lovely surprise that was! I now have more details on Michael Jackson and his possible brother-in-law Michael Minihan. 

So never hesitate to ask.  Offer to pay for services, keep your email brief but be sure to give details needed (names, dates, locations), and ask for help with ONE question. You never know - you might get lucky.

If You Have Irish Catholic Ancestors Today's Your Lucky Day

If you, like me, have Irish Catholic ancestors, today is your lucky day. The National Library of Ireland is due to launch their entire collection of Catholic Parish Registers at 2 p.m. It's free for researchers and should help many of us break down a brick wall or two!

The collection covers 1,086 parishes throughout the island of Ireland and consist primarily of baptismal and marriage records from the 1740s to the 1880s.

I'm eagerly waiting for this set of records but expect their servers to crash for the first few days as genealogists rush to the site. In fact I went there just now and got this message when I chose various topics:

"Due to technical difficulties the main National Library website is currently unavailable."

Fingers crossed it will be up and running this afternoon. If anyone has success today, please let me know!