The growth of Methodism in Ireland dates from 1747 when John Wesley first visited Ireland. The majority of its members were adherents of the Established Church and from the mid-eighteenth century to 1816, when the movement split (Primitive Methodists remained within the Church of Ireland and Wesleyan Methodists formed their own Church), most Methodist baptisms, marriages and burials can be found in the local Church of Ireland register. However some may have belonged to the Presbyterian Church or to the Society of Friends (Quakers) and be recorded in the corresponding registers.

The majority of Methodist baptism registers do not begin until the 1830s and marriage registers until 1845. There are few Methodist burial registers because Methodist churches did not have their own burial grounds.

In 1876 the Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists reunited outside the Church of Ireland.

The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland holds the largest collection of Methodist registers (MIC/429/1).

Baptisms normally record:

• Date of baptism
• Name of child
• Name of father
• Name of mother (normally without mother’s maiden name)
• Names of sponsors (occasionally)
• Address of the family (in most cases)
• Occupation of father.

Marriages normally record:

• Date of marriage
• Name of groom
• Name of bride
• Names of witnesses
• Names and addresses of parents (in some cases, especially from 1860s onwards).

Where they exist, burials normally record:

• Date of death or burial
• Name of deceased
• Age
• Address (occasionally).