Street directories from 1819 now online

Do you know where your ancestors lived and what they worked as? You can now find out using the Belfast and Ulster Street Directories.

Street directories from 1819 to 1900 have been launched online today at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) by Minister Nelson McCausland.

Speaking during the event the Minister said: “Tracing your family tree has become increasingly popular with programmes such as ‘Who do you think you are?’, sparking the public interest. Everyone wants to know who their ancestors were, where they came from and what they did for a living and these online street directories will make finding out a whole lot easier.

“An increasing number of PRONI visitors come from outside the UK and one of my Department’s key goals is to digitise key cultural resources and make them easily available to the worldwide audience. This service will prove valuable for those visitors who prefer to start their research in the comfort of their own home.”

The online service contains over 29 directories, approximately 20,000 pages, and covers Belfast and provincial towns in Northern Ireland and in counties Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan from 1819 to 1900. Street directories contain a wide range of information about people, places and organisations and are an extremely useful source for all kinds of research such as tracing the location of a particular person or checking when a firm was in business. You can also search your own address to find out who lived there many years ago.

The Minister concluded: “The Street Directories on-line complement the existing databases and records which are available electronically, such as the Ulster Covenant, the Freeholders Records and the Wills Indexes. This is the next chapter in the continuing work of PRONI to make more of its resources available online.”

Street directories can be accessed on the PRONI website and is part of the continuing work of PRONI to make more of its resources available electronically.

Notes to editors:

1. PRONI’s records cover every aspect of life from the Minutes of Cabinet meetings to records of a local corner shop; from the thoughts and actions of the ‘great and good’ to the reminiscences of the working man. The oldest document held is the 13th Century Papal Bull.
2. PRONI was established under the Public Records Act (NI) 1923 for the reception and preservation of public records. The 1923 Act also made provision for the deposit of private records in PRONI.
3. Other databases scheduled for digitisation in the 2009/10 financial year include the 1766 Religious Census Returns, the 1775 Dissenters Petitions and the pre-1910 Coroners’ inquests.
4. Media enquiries should be addressed to the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure Press Office Tel 028 9051 5045 or email press.office@dcalni.gov.uk. Out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.