Irish Quakers: genealogy records

Irish Quakers recently celebrated the 350th anniversary of the opening of their first Meeting House. This was in Lurgan, co Armagh, and the event took place just one year after the first Quaker, an Englishman called Wililam Edmundson, arrived in Ireland and settled in Mountmellick, co Laois.

Like all Quakers, the Friends held both weekly and monthly meetings; births, marriages and deaths were systematically reported at the monthly meetings.

Much to the delight of Quaker genealogy researchers, the majority of these records go back to 1655 or the 1670s, and most continue up to the present without a break.

They are not really like parish registers, though, and the entries often don't contain any more information than the names and addresses of those involved.

However, because all Irish Quakers' communities were self-contained, it is relatively easy to work out the family connections of the individuals. Marriages, however, are sometimes recorded with dozens of family members listed as witnesses.

Another plus is that records of Irish Quakers are not split between countless repositories. There are just two regional archives: The Dublin Friends Historical Library, which has records for Irish Quakers in what is now the Republic of Ireland, and the Religious Society of Friends which mainly has records for Northern Ireland. (The contact details for both are below.)

Meeting House, Lurgan, where the first Irish Quakers' house was established

Both the National Library of Ireland in Dublin and PRONI in Belfast have some copies of these records. So, too, does the LDS Church (Mormons). Links to these sites are in the Resource box on the main Irish Church Records page (see below).

For information about the Quakers in Ireland, contact The Religious Society of Friends, Quaker House, Stocking Lane, Rathfarnham, Dublin 6 or Lisburn Meeting House, Prospect House, 4 Magheralave Road, Lisburn, co. Antrim.

Alternatively, take a look at Irish Quakers website for a detailed list of publications that may help your ancestral search.

General advice on how to trace family history in Irish church records.

Go to Irish Genealogy Toolkit Home page.