Where do I start in PRONI?
Personal Names Index and Catalogues
If you have little or no information on your family, the easiest way to begin a genealogical search in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) is to use the Personal Names Card Index in the Search Room.This alphabetically arranged card index will give you a PRONI reference number that directs you to the catalogues of the archives. The catalogues will give you give brief descriptions of the documents, allowing you to decide whether the document is relevant to your research and worth requesting.
Householders Index
If you have no idea where your ancestors came from in Northern Ireland, you can discover the distribution of any surname by looking in the Householders’ Index (available on the Search Room shelves in PRONI). This is a guide to the names listed in the Tithe Applotment books, 1823-37, and in the Griffith’s Valuation, 1848-64. From this index you can discover the localities where a name was most common between 1823 and 1864.Key Archives
Key Archives for family history in PRONI are:- Church Records
- The 1901 Census (PRONI holds the returns for Northern Ireland on microfilm)
- Valuation books and maps for Northern Ireland from 1828
- Tithe Applotment books for Northern Ireland, 1823-37
- School records for over 1,500 national schools in Northern Ireland, mainly from the 1860s
The Your Family Tree Series of leaflets will also help explain the above and many other archives that you can use for tracing your family history.
