Wednesday 26 February 2014

Drogheda C.of I. register transcriptions online, free

The Representative Church Body Library has released transcriptions of parish registers for St Peter’s, Drogheda, Co Louth, which is in the Diocese of Armagh. Each of the registers dates from 1702 to 1900 and the transcriptions, in alphabetical order, are now available for free download as pdfs, as follows:
  • Baptisms Register. Details can, are quite comprehensive in some (but, sadly, not all) entries with name, date of birth, date of baptism, father's first name, surname and occupation, and townland of residence. Where the mother's first name is recorded, her maiden name is not.
  • Marriage Register (sorted by husband’s surname). First names and surnames of bride and groom are recorded, together with date of marriage, and usually little else. There's a sprinkling of notes such as 'widow' or residence in another parish.
  • Marriage Register (sorted by wife’s surname). Same details as above.
  • Burials Register. These transcriptions record the name of the deceased and, in some instances, an identifier ie 'daughter to Charles'. About half the entries record an age, and a smaller number provide an address. The date of burial is provided.
Enjoy!


(Transcriptions of 12 other Church of Ireland parish registers are also available for free download via the RCBL website. Unlike the Drogheda records, these transcripts were carried out by the Anglican Record Project. You can view the list of parishes and download the files here.)

UPDATE: The RCBL made the St Peter's Drogheda collection the Archive of the Month for March 2014. You can find out more details about how the registers were transcribed here. And if you follow the link on the landing page to the South Armagh Genealogy Project, you'll discover an outstanding source of free Co Louth records!