There’s big news in the world of Irish genealogy research this week! For the first time in history, more than 2.5 million birth, marriage and death record images for Ireland are now available online to anyone. And the best part of all? They’re free.
These important civil documents are the official state vital records of Ireland and are maintained by the General Register Office. Records date as far back as 1864. Find out how to access these free Irish records below.
Accessing These Free Irish Genealogy Records
The records are hosted at IrishGenealogy.ie, the family history site of the Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs in Ireland. To begin searching these records for your ancestors start by visiting the Civil Records page here.
Once on the page, you’ll see a search box like the one below. Fill in your ancestor’s name, your years of interest and the type of record you are looking for. Dates available are: Births: 1864 to 1915, Marriages: 1882 to 1940 and Deaths: 1891 to 1965. Leave the check boxes blank to search for all types of records in this collection.
If you have never used this site before you may be asked to enter your name for permission to search the records. No email or further registration is required.
After entering your name you will be presented with your search results and you will have the ability to sort these results, or alter your search, in the left sidebar.
When you find a result of interest and click on it you will be presented with the birth, marriage or death index entry for that record, if the image has been added for this entry you will see a link to it on the bottom of the page.
Clicking on it will open the document as a PDF file which can be easily saved to your computer. Note that some record images are still not available online for this collection.
“The General Register Office are currently working on updating further records of Marriages dating back to 1845 and Deaths dating back to 1864. These will be included in future updates to the records available on the website.”
You can read more about this free collection and what is offered by visiting the information page from Irish Genealogy here. The site also offers a wide variety of other important Irish records and educational materials, including church records. If you have Irish ancestors you’ll definitely want to take some time to get to know this free resource.
You might also enjoy:
Free Genealogy Sites for Researching Ancestors in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland
Nearly Half a Million Free Irish Parish Records Just Went Online: Here’s Where to Find Them
Happy Searching!
Image: Dignified beauty of a typical Irish castle, Kilkenny, mirrored in the river, Ireland. c1904. Library of Congress
Seeking information about Margaret Hutchinson, born around 1855 in Ireland, either Antrim or Armagh county. Married a Singleton Major. They lived in Liskeyborough, Rich Hill, Armagh. Her children included James, George,Thomas, Emma and others. I have no information about her. She is my great grandmother. James, my grandfather joined the army to fight in the Boer War in South Africa. Any information about either Margaret or Singleton Major would be greatly appreciated.
My great grandfather was John Charles O’Connor, born in Tipperary in 1843. From what I have read he had two older siblings. His mother and father, I have limited information on. His father was Jack Charles O’Connor and was a ship captain who supposedly came to American with John Charles and has brother Oeter in 1848. John Charles mother’s maiden name was Rheins. The first name was possibly Joanna. We don’t know what happened to her or her husband. Jack Charles had a brother, Tom O’Connor who ended up in America, but I don’t know the dates. I am hoping as your information goes back further in time I will be able to discover more information. I am particularly concerned about the mothe, Rheins. I fear that she may have died in Ireland during the potato famine, because there is no mention of her coming to America. I think that’s why her husband and children fled to Anerican, possibly. I sure wish I knew about her and her husband Jack Charles O’Connor.