Ireland, Non-Conformist Marriages

Each result includes both a transcript and image. The amount of available information will vary from transcript to transcript depending on where the register originated. However, most transcripts will provide a combination of the following:

• Name

• Denomination

• Age – Oftentimes, a specific age will not be listed but rather a notation referring to whether the individual is a minor or legal adult. ‘F’ stands for ‘full’ meaning that the individual is the age of majority or older.

• Birth year

• Occupation

• Townland

• Father’s name

• Marriage year and date

• Spouse’s name

• Spouse’s age

• Occupation

• Spouse’s townland

• Spouse’s father’s name

• Parish

• County

• Source

The images of the original registers will usually include additional information to that which is found on the transcript. For instance, you may be able to discover your ancestor’s father’s profession or rank and any witnesses present by looking at the image.

The signed witnesses on these marriage records can provide useful clues in your family history research, as witnesses were often close family members or friends of the couple. For example, we see from the original marriage register image for Kathleen May Smyth and Henry Topham Jennings that James Smyth and May Smyth were witnesses. May Smyth is perhaps Kathleen May’s mother and, since Kathleen’s father is listed as Edwin Smyth, James Smyth could be a brother or uncle.

Please note that the images from Dublin, Registers of the French non-conformist churches, are in French. However, the relevant genealogical information can still be easily identified.

Non-conformist marriages refer to those performed by Protestant churches not aligned with the Church of Ireland. There are four separate collections represented in these records:

• Ireland Down Anaghlone Presbyterian marriages 1845-1913 – First and second congregations of Anaghlone (Annaclone) Presbyterian Church near Banbridge, County Down, in Northern Ireland.

• Ireland Down Ballyroney Presbyterian marriages 1831-1906 – Ballyroney, near Banbridge, County Down, Northern Ireland

• Registers of the French non-conformist churches Dublin 1702-1731 – Published by the Huguenot Society of Great Britain and Ireland in 1901, this volume, edited by Thomas Philip Le Fanu, had a print run of 450. The introduction for this volume explains the meaning of the title Non-Conformist Church, their relationship with the Conformed Church, and provides some of the history of the Huguenots in Dublin. Two congregations are covered in this publication: Peter Street and Lucy Lane. The original records are in French but the genealogical data can still be easily identified and extracted.

• Limerick non-conformist marriages, 1813-1946 – Marriage registers provided by Joint Presbyterian and Methodist Congregation of Christ Church, Limerick