Friday 18 January 2013

21m bmds for FMP.ie's Family History Day: 24 Jan

To celebrate the launch of 21million Irish birth, marriage and death records on FindMyPast, Thursday 24 January has been declared Irish Family History Day and the new collection will be made available to researchers absolutely free.

This is a terrific opportunity to kick start your Irish genealogy research!

FindMyPast Ireland's bmd collection consists of the Index to Civil Registration supplemented by an ad hoc record set that includes obituaries from newspapers and other published notices, indexes to wills, and gravestone details.

The Civil Registration Indexes are one of the most important resources for Irish family history. In Ireland, Civil Registration of non-Catholic marriages began in 1845. It was only in 1864 that ALL marriages, births and deaths had to be registered.

When you identify a record in these indexes, you make a note of its volume and page number reference and you can then order copies of the full register entries from the General Register Office.

The indexes are arranged on FindMyPast as follows:

Ireland Births 1864–1958
Ireland Marriages 1845–1958
Ireland Deaths 1864–1958

Please be aware that bmds in Antrim, Armagh, Derry-Londonderry, Down, Fermanagh and Tyrone are included in this collection up to 1921 only.

The marriage records can be searched using both names (if you know them) to find the correct entry. If you only know one name, the transcription will present you with up to four potential spouses (the names being those found on adjacent pages of the register). These facilities are not available in the free FamilySearch version of the marriage records.

The Supplementary record set includes about one million additional births, baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials. These records cover the whole island of Ireland and include obituaries from newspapers and other published notices, indexes to wills, and gravestone details.

How to get free access on Irish Family History Day: It doesn't matter where you are in the world, you can take part and enjoy a day of free access to the Irish bmd collection. But you'll need a promotional code. This code will be published here on Thursday 24 January, or just go direct to FindMyPast Ireland.

Don't want to wait? The new Irish bmd collection is already available across all FindMyPast's international sites (Find My Past UK, Find My Past US, FindMyPast Australia) as part of a World subscription.

UPDATE: These records are already available to subscribers of the appropriate FindMyPast subscription. See here.