FamilySearch has added two new collections of Irish records – ‘Diocesan and Prerogative Wills & Administrations Indexes, 1595-1858’ (with 364,122 records) and ‘Diocesan and Prerogative Marriage License Bonds Indexes, 1623-1866’ (with 218,434 records).
Probate refers to the process of ‘proving’ a person’s will after their death by seeing that the administration of their bequests was carried out correctly. Civil probate was introduced in 1858. Previously, it was the responsibility of the church authorities. In Ireland, this was the ecclesiastical courts of the Anglican Church of Ireland, despite the fact that the majority of the population were Catholic. The indexes reveal the date your ancestor died and the place where the record was proved.
Marriage licence bonds were an alternative to marriage bonds. They allowed a couple to go to the ecclesiastical court and pay a sum to sign a witnessed declaration that the marriage was free to go ahead. The records include the names of the spouses and the date and place where they obtained the licence.
The records are taken from indexes compiled by the Dublin Public Record Office. Many of the original records were destroyed when the Public Record Office burned down in the Irish Civil War in 1922, so the indexes are all that remain.
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