The Church Records search facility allows the user to search for records using the name of the person, a location, a date or a combination of all three.
When searching with a name, both the first name and surname can be entered if known. However, the user can also search with a surname only, although the number of results may be large and other information may be required to narrow the search (see the relevant help section).
It is important to remember that the names on this site have been transcribed as written on the original church registers. Misspellings have not been corrected and some names were transcribed, even when only partially legible. The researcher may have to try a number of different approaches to find the right records.
If the spelling of a person’s name is not known, the wildcard character can be used, where an asterisk (*) is entered to represent letters that are unknown. For example, ‘M*Carthy’ will present results for ‘McCarthy’ and ‘MacCarthy’. Names that begin with O as a prefix, like O’Brien, can be transcribed as O’Brien, O Brien or Obrien. Try all the variations. However, some name variations are difficult to anticipate. For example, in the Kerry records, the name McKenna is often recorded as Gna, Gnaw, Guinaw, etc. These spellings arose over time due to local pronunciations and custom.
The search facility incorporates a surname variation search. A database of surname variations, including many of the known spelling variations, is automatically searched and variations of the searched name are presented. Thus a search for McKenna, will also present results for MacKenna, Mc Kenna, M’Kenna, Gna, Guinaw, etc. The surname variation facility on the search portal is an aid to searching and it does not purport to identify all name and spelling variations, nor indicate direct relationships between different surnames. For example, the surname McElligott, which occurs commonly in Kerry, may occasionally have been transcribed as Elliot, but the latter is also an entirely separate and unrelated surname and occurs more commonly in the Dublin records.
A further complication can occur if the first names were recorded in Latin, rather than English. Some of the more common Latin-English first name translations are as follows:
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- Carolus – Charles
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- Demetrius – Jeremiah, Diarmuid, Darby
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- Gulielmus – William
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- Honoria – Nora
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- Jacobus – James
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- Joannes or Ioannes – John
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- Petrus – Peter
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- Thaddeus – Timothy
Search results presented will include all records on which the name appears. The person may be a spouse, child, parent, sponsor or witness, etc. This provides the greatest possibility of finding the required record and facilitates establishing family connections. For example, sponsors and witnesses may be closely related (e.g. a brother, sister, cousin, etc.) to the child or the spouses.
When presented with results of a search, hovering the cursor over a single result, will display a pop-up of a subset of the record details, to assist the researcher. The user can click on a record summary to view the full record.
Researchers can search for records by location. The basic topographical structure for the church records are: Diocesan Area (or more commonly, Diocese); Parochial Area (Parish); Townland or Street. When searching by location all records containing that location in one of the address or location fields are presented as results.
When searching for a street, parade, avenue, terrace, square, gardens etc., it is recommended that the user only enter the name of the street, without the suffix. For example, enter ‘Glengariff’, instead of ‘Glengariff Parade’, ‘Mountjoy’ instead of ‘Mountjoy Square’, and ‘Park’ instead of ‘Park Avenue’.
In the past, address information was not uniformly entered in the records and addresses were often not recorded at all. Additionally, the spelling of townland names varied considerably. During the period covered by the records, the traditional boundaries of townlands may have changed or could be incorrect, if there was uncertainty in relation to the boundary.
There are online resources available that may assist on topographical issues, specifically in relation to townland names and locations.
- The Place names Database of Ireland – Bunachar Logainmneacha na hÉireann is a useful reference and can be accessed online at www.logainm.ie. This is a valuable resource for historians and researchers in genealogy and provides details on the location and meaning of place names.
- Tailte Eireann is the national mapping agency of Ireland and is accessible online at Tailte Eireann. This site contains an interactive map viewing facility which allows the user to view maps of the locations and aerial photographs.
In some circumstances, it may be useful to get an overview of all the records in a diocese or parish. ‘Browse the database by location’ is available on the initial Search church records tab.
Selecting the relevant Diocese and Parish will present all the associated records for that area in date order.
On inputting search criteria with initial results, researchers may want to refine the search results by selecting ‘Narrow your search’ in the sidebar of the results window.
Results can be refined by event by selecting baptism, marriage or burial, reducing results to those relevant to the chosen event. Search results can also be filtered by diocese or parish and century or decade, by selecting the appropriate options on the side bar.
The numbers next to the options in the side bar represent the number of records within each option. For example, Lucan R.C. (70), Palmerstown R.C. (14) indicates that there are 70 records in the results for Lucan with 14 relevant to Palmerstown.
Researchers can also add the name of another person involved in the event, for example, the second spouse in a marriage. Entering details in the ‘With an additional name’ box will refine search results to those where this additional name is also included in the particular record.
The search facility allows searching for records by date, even where only a partial date is known. For example, for March 1867, enter 03 in the month box and 1867 in the year box. All records containing that date in one of the date fields will be presented.
In some cases, the date of birth is included in the baptism record and the date of death in the burial record. These date fields are also searched.
The search results are presented with two sort options accessible from the top banner of the search results page.
Option 1. Sort results by relevance. This allows records to be presented in the following order:
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- Accuracy of the searched field, i.e. the actual spelling of the name as entered. Variants of the name are given a lower relevance and appear further down the list of results.
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- Within records with the same accuracy level, records are sorted with reference to the number of times the searched field appears. For example, if searching for the surname Harrison, records with multiple individuals with that name will appear higher on the list than those with only one reference to that name.
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- Finally, records are sorted by reference to the date of the event.
Option 2. Sort results by date. The date of the event determines the order the record is presented. For the social historian, this option provides a chronological view of events for a particular area.
Access is available to a large volume of pre 20th century records of Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, that in many instances pre-date the Civil Registration. These include:
- Transcripts of the baptism and marriage records of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kerry to c. 1900
- All Roman Catholic baptism, marriage and burial registers for Dublin City
- All surviving Church of Ireland baptism records
- Marriage and burial registers for Dublin City
The church records preserve details of the baptisms, marriages and burials which took place within a particular parish, church or congregation and were usually compiled by the relevant clergyman.
There is a great degree of variation in the level of detail contained within these records and there can be considerable variation even within a single parish, church or congregation over a period of time.
In general, baptism records record the date of the baptism; the names of the child, the parents and the names of the child’s sponsors or godparents. The family address and the name of the clergyman may also be recorded.
Marriage records generally record the date of the marriage, the names of the spouses and witnesses. Other information such as the names of the spouse’s parents, residences of the spouses, ages, occupations and the name of the clergyman may also be recorded.
Roman Catholic Church burial records may contain very limited information, often no more than the date of burial, the name and address and possibly, the age of the deceased. Many parishes did not have a register of burials before 1900 and those that did are typically in the northern half of the island. Church of Ireland registers records tend to contain more burial details.
Occasionally the records may also contain further comment such as the names of additional witnesses or details of subsequent events pertaining to one of the parties.