In April 1845 civil registration was introduced in Ireland for non-Catholic marriages only. Then in 1864, civil registration in Ireland commenced for births, deaths, and Catholic marriages. Prior to these dates, family history researchers rely on surviving church records for their information.  While the records of most churches are available on microfilm at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, many of our members cannot visit Northern Ireland.

The records

Members of the North of Ireland Family History Society have been transcribing records for more than forty years and these records focus on the nine counties of Ulster.

The transcribed records include baptism, marriage, and burial records from over 180 churches. There are also gravestone inscriptions from more than 300 graveyards.  

Recorded in spreadsheet form and arranged by surname, many researchers  find this format most useful. This convenient format cannot be found anywhere else, and some of the records are exclusive to NIFHS.  

Printed copies are available in our Research Centre and our volunteers provide a lookup service for those members who cannot visit in person.

Transcribed church records

What else can we provide

The North of Ireland Family History Society is a vibrant society and we aim to help people as much as we can with their research.. We have a large range of booklets, pamphets etc and you can discover the range of records available by downloading our library list from our website.  

We have published a series of books on Researching Your Ancestors in the North of Ireland and Locating Church Records which is now in its 4th Edition.  The book describes the many different religions and denominations in Ulster and explains where records may be found.  

The book priced at £2.50 plus postage is available from the shop area of our website.

www.nifhs.org

Locating Church Records
This article was contributed by Sandra Ardis from The North of Ireland Family History Society.
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