There are two main registers from the Catholic churches in Ireland - Baptism and Marriage.  Some churches have  Confirmation records as well. These recorded the names of the twelve year old children who were confirmed in any given year. We have often been asked if the Irish church records include death and/or burial records.  Unfortunately the answer is 'no'.

Baptismal Records Ireland

The names in these books are usually in Latin, and this is another reason why the service in Waterford is worth availing of.  They have already done the translation for you. For instance, Jacobus is James and Gulielmi is William.  For Catholic parents in the 1800s, having their children baptised was often more important than having their birth registered in some official register so this might be where you find your ancestor. Babies were normally baptised as soon as possible after birth so the date of baptism is a good indication of when the baby was born. Some of the baptism entries have a short address such as the name of a townland or sub-division of a townland.  Don't expect this always to be the case as it varied from priest to priest.  You will find the sponsors' names, and these names can be important in later research as they were almost always close relatives or neighbours. The mother's maiden name is always used, which makes identification easier. Be sure to remember to check various spellings of the name because the priest may have entered it differently from the way the family spelled it.  An obvious example is the use or non-use of the prefix O'... so that O'Riordan might be entered as Riordan.

Catholic Marriage Records in Ireland

The information contained in the Catholic Church Marriage register can be sparse enough, depending on the officiating priest.  Bride's and groom's names will be found, date and location of marriage, and  the witnesses are also listed. Watch out for changes in parish names when conducting searches.  There was some reorganisation in the Catholic Church parish structure  during the 1800s, and you may find that a parish has been divided or amalgamated with another parish.

Protestant Church Records 

The National Libary of Ireland at Kildare Street, Dublin, has a listing of the Protestant Church Records available throughout the country.  The original Protestant Church records had been kept in the Four Courts in Dublin along with  countless other records.  Sadly, these too, were lost when the building was shelled by one side and dynamited by the other during the civil war in 1922. Fortunately, copies had been kept by many of the Churches in their respective parishes and the National Libary listing will guide you to these. It is worth checking the county registrar's offices as they sometimes hold the Protestant church records.

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