From the time of their first arrival in Ireland in the 17th century The Society of Friends or Quakers kept rational and systematic records of the births, marriages and deaths of all of their members. In most cases these continue without interruption to the present.

Parish registers as such were not kept. Each of the local weekly meetings reported any births, marriages or deaths to a larger monthly meeting, which then entered them in a register.

Monthly meetings were held in the following areas:

Registers have survived for all of the above from an early date except Antrim and Cootehill.

The entries for births, marriages and deaths do not contain information other than the names and addresses of the immediate individuals involved, but the centralisation of the records, and the self-contained nature of the Quaker community, make it a relatively simple matter to establish family connections. Many of the local records are given in the form of family lists.

There are two main repositories for records, the libraries of the Society of Friends in Dublin and Lisburn. The LDS Library in Salt Lake City has microfilm copies of the records of the Dublin Friends' library, as does the National Library of Ireland. As well as records of births, marriages and deaths, these also hold considerable collections of letters, wills and family papers as well as detailed accounts of the discrimination suffered by the Quakers in their early years.

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