Birth Certificate from Belfast

[louann]

Hello all,
I recently discovered an ancestor was born in Belfast, Ireland in 1853 according to her Death Certificate (thanks to Kath and Nicolina who helped me with that!). Her name is Helen Thomson, her parents William Thomson and Helen Muir married 1847 Glasgow. Could someone please let me know how to purchase a Birth certificate as I live in Australia and have only ever bought them in Aus. Do I have enough information? Thank you.

[Elwyn Soutter]

Statutory birth registration only began in Ireland in 1864 so you won't get a birth certificate for Helen. You might find her baptism but to do that you would need to know her religious denomination and her parish in Belfast.

[louann]

Dear Elwyn,
thank you for your reply. Sadly, I have no idea what Parish she came from. I could take an educated guess at her religion but looks like that's it....until a bit more info pops up somewhere along the line!
Louann

[AudreyF]

Elwyn,

I'm a bit slow on this and you might have resolved it already. I've done some searches for Irish ancestors (Armagh) and there are several websites with records on line. Try the Irish Family History Foundation at

www.
irish-roots.ie

although there are others I got through Google. I've also used a researcher but that is, inevitably,
more expensive.

Good luck!

Audrey

[grisel]

If you think she may be a sibling there is a Sarah Thomson born Antrim 1850, father William Thomson, mother Ellen Muir. ( I found it on Ulster Historical Foundation(which gave me her forename), costs £4 to download details from them. Can also download it from Roots Ireland ( see post #4) cost 5 Euros. UHF is now part of the Irish History Foundation I think.

Assume this is a baptism record and I don't know what further details it would contain.

[Elwyn Soutter]

The name Helen in Scotland is usually Ellen in Ireland (and vice versa) so it could be the same couple. You don't get a lot on a baptism, but you should get the parish which would help search further. You might also get a townland (address).

[louann]

Dear Grisel and Elwyn,
Whacko! Thank you both so much for your information. Yes, Helen does have an older sister Sarah! I shall follow it up immediately and let you know how I fared.
Louann

[louann]

Dear All,
thanks to your guidance I found the Birth/Baptismal record for Sarah Thomson, daughter of William Thomson and Ellen Muir. Their denomination is Church of ireland and the address details given are "Belfast, Shankill, Belfast, Antrim". Does that mean the Parish is Shankill?
I can find no record of their other daughter Helen, but unfortunately this mum has a tendency to fail to record her children - three in Australia. But maybe I'm just not looking in the right areas!
Once again thanks for your help.