Belfast

Welcome to the Belfast Branch of the North of Ireland Family History Society

Belfast Branch welcomes Members from all around the world as well as those who live locally.

We hold monthly meetings by Zoom to ensure as many people as possible can join them and we also arrange in-person events throughout the year to allow local Branch members to meet, interact and socialise together.

If you have any questions about joining our Branch or would like to join one of our monthly meetings, please email the Branch using the button on the right. If that doesn’t open your email account, it might be your computer settings. You can also message us via our Contact page.

Monthly Meetings

Belfast Branch monthly meetings are usually held on the fourth Tuesday of each month between September and May via Zoom .

These meetings are an opportunity for Members to hear about what is going in the Branch and in the wider Society.

Many of the meetings feature an interesting presentation given by a guest speaker.

Belfast Branch members will receive the link by email in advance of each meeting – anyone else interested in attending a talk can request the link from the Branch.

The presentations will be recorded and made available for a limited time for Belfast Branch Members in different time zones to watch at a more convenient time.

Here to Help

Branch volunteers have offered to provide help for Belfast Branch Members by:

• Mentoring beginners

  We will give advice and research tips for anyone wanting to get started on their family tree or anyone who doesn’t know what to do next!

• Looking up documents in PRONI or GRONI

  For those who can’t make it to Belfast, we will do a look-up at PRONI or GRONI and send you the details

• Photographing a building, grave or place

  We will take a photo of a graveyard, school, house, place of work or other building that is connected to one of your ancestors.

Belfast City Cemetery DNA Project

Many people in Belfast came from elsewhere in the mid 1800s to find work and it is often difficult to identify where they were originally from.

This Project aims to bring together DNA testers with ancestors in Belfast and build the family trees of those testers on Wikitree in order to make the connections that may help to unlock their origins.

Those buried in Belfast City Cemetery are being recorded on Wikitree for everyone to see. Click here to find out more.

We encourage all our Members to add their ancestors buried in the Cemetery to Wikitree and to transfer their DNA to FamilyTreeDNA.com.