Thursday 3 July 2014

'Enhanced' online bmd indexes searchable up to 2013

The General Register Office's 'enhanced' indexes to Ireland's civil registration records are in the process of being uploaded to IrishGenealogy.ie. Test pages are running at the moment so the site is a bit wobbly and probably won't be up to full speed until later.

Like the Church Records, the Civil Records have their own dedicated section of the site, which is reached via the horizontal menu.

I'm just about to start making my way into the City ahead of tonight's formal launch at the Royal Irish Academy, so I haven't time to play with this as much as I'd like, but here are some brief details of what this version of the indexes holds:

Geographical coverage: Indexes to the registers of births/marriages/deaths from 1845/1864 to 1921 for the entire island of Ireland. Indexes to the registers of births/marriages/deaths from 1922 for the 26 counties of the Irish Free State and the Republic of Ireland ie not counties Antrim, Armagh, Derry-Londonderry, Down, Fermanagh and Tyrone.

Births: From 1864 to 2013 with the mother's maiden name and actual date of birth included in the returns from 1903. As it happens, one of my searches found an entry dated 1842 (really!) and a 1901 record with a mother's name, so I guess the criteria aren't set in stone.

Marriages: From 1845/1864 to 2013. Names of both partners show up in search returns in some instances (haven't quite worked out the date limitations)

Civil Partnerships: From 2010 to 2013

Deaths: From 1864 to 2013. Search results show marital status.

With the extended range of dates, this is a huge improvement on what we've had up to now. But I've a number of queries. Hopefully I'll get these resolved this evening. I'll do a fuller post tomorrow, along with any other info gleaned from the official 'do' tonight.

Friday 4 July: Please see follow-up post. It's a long one, and requires some effort from you, but I promise it's worth it!