The National Library of Ireland (NLI) has spent the last three years developing the Catholic Parish Registers website at the NLI. This is a landmark resource that allows you to connect to your past from the comfort of your own home, whether that’s in Mayo or Minnesota. Last year, approximately 60,000 people visited the family history room in the NLI. Most of these visitors spent hours trawling through microfilm of parish registers. Only those who have undertaken this task will know how arduous the process is.

Now, people the world over can log on to the website and access over 370,000 digital images from the original registers of baptisms and marriages from 1,086 Catholic parishes in Ireland dating from the 1740s to 1880s. These images can be downloaded, printed or shared on social media.

The parish registers are considered to be the most significant and valuable resource on Irish family history prior to the 1901 census. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the majority of the Irish population were small farmers, labourers or servants. Most didn’t own their own land, sign deeds or belong to a guild or a trade, so in many cases there is no other record of their existence.

In order to make it as easy as possible for people to search for their ancestors, the parish registers website has been designed to be very user-friendly. You simply enter the name of the parish in the search box or click on the interactive map to locate a parish. You can then filter the results by event, year and month within an individual register to locate your ancestor’s records.

Finding roots

Through research commissioned by the library ahead of the launch, Irish football star Stephanie Roche discovered that three generations of her family hailed from Wicklow. Stephanie’s grandfather, great-grandfather and his father before him were all baptised in Wicklow. At the time of the censuses in 1901 and 1911, the Roche family was residing in the townland of Templerainey in the civil parish of Kilbride (Arklow).

Speaking about the research into her family history, Stephanie said: “I’m delighted to have discovered these fascinating details about my family history, which I wasn’t aware of before now. I didn’t know when or where my great-great-grandfather was born, and I didn’t know the name of his parents or godparents.

“Finding out about my ancestors and seeing their details handwritten on the records from the parishes where they were born way back in the 19th century has really affected me. This experience has piqued my interest in tracing my family tree.”

Famous faces

History buffs and celebrity spotters will also be interested in checking out the online resource, as the parish registers website holds a host of information about historical figures and famous faces who hail from Ireland. The original baptism records of 1916 leaders Padraig Pearse, Thomas MacDonagh and Sean Mac Diarmada are all available to view, as well as that of Kerry-based author Peig Sayers. Even the family of Bruce Springsteen has been traced through the parish registers.

Since its launch, the website has had almost five million page views and over a quarter of a million users worldwide have logged on to trace their roots. With an estimated 70 million people of Irish descent in the world, and given our huge diaspora community, it’s no surprise that a quarter of those visiting the website are based in the US.

By providing free online access to these baptism and marriage registers, the National Library of Ireland has enabled people in Ireland and across the world to access a tool that will connect them with their past. So, what are you waiting for?

Visit www.registers.nli.ie

Ciara Kerrigan is the Assistant Keeper at the Office of the Chief Herald and Genealogy, National Library of Ireland. She managed the digitisation of the parish registers.