There is no shortage of published works on Irish Presbyterianism. In the nineteenth century several men, usually ministers in the Church, began to write detailed histories of Irish Presbyterians. Foremost among them was James Seaton Reid who wrote the magisterial History of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, ed. W. D. Killen (3 vols, 2nd edition, Belfast, 1867).

Others works include Thomas Witherow, Historical and literary memorials of Presbyterianism in Ireland (2 vols, Belfast 1879-80) and W. D. Killen, History of the congregations of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (Belfast, 1886). Some of these early volumes can now be read on Google Books or Archive.org.

Most of these books look at the Church from an institutional point of view, focussing on structures of government and prominent ministers. In the twentieth century academics began to research and study Presbyterianism from different viewpoints. An academic study that considers the mental worlds of Presbyterian is The shaping of Ulster Presbyterian belief and practice, 1770-1840 by Andrew Holmes (Oxford, 2006).

A recent handsomely-produced volume that provides a good overview of Irish Presbyterianism is Presbyterians in Ireland: An Illustrated History, Laurence Kirkpatrick (Holywood, 2006). This volume includes photographs of virtually every Presbyterian meeting house in Ireland. Presbyterianism in Dublin is expertly covered in Dictionary of Dublin Dissent – Dublin’s Protestant Dissenting Meeting Houses 1660-1920 by Steven C. Smyrl (Dublin, 2009)

An indispensable guide to the Presbyterian Church in Ireland is the History of Congregations published by the Presbyterian Historical Society in 1982. It provides brief sketches of each of the congregations, mainly focusing on the succession of ministers. It is particularly useful in determining when a particular congregation came into being.

A Supplement of Additions, Emendations and Corrections with an Index was published in association with the Ulster Historical Foundation in 1996. The text of both publications can now be read online on the website of the Presbyterian Historical Society (members only).

In many of the larger towns and villages in Northern Ireland there are two or more Presbyterian congregations and the History of Congregations is particularly useful in working out their chronology and how they relate to one another.

Newtownards, for example, has several Presbyterian congregations. First Newtownards is the oldest and dates back to the seventeenth century. Second Newtownards originally had Seceder connections, while Regent Street was established in 1834. The formation of the Greenwell Street congregation can be linked to the 1859 Revival. Strean Presbyterian Church outside the town came into existence following a disagreement in First Newtownards in 1865. It was named after its main instigator, Thomas Strean, who gave over £8,000 to build a meeting house.

Biographical information on Presbyterian ministers was published as Fasti of the Irish Presbyterian Church, 1613–1840 compiled by James McConnell and revised by his son Samuel G. McConnell (Belfast: Presbyterian Historical Society, 1951).

After 1840 biographical information was published as Fasti of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, 1840-1910, compiled by John M. Barkley, and issued in three parts by the Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland (1986-7).

The biographical sketches are fairly succinct, but can include the name of the father and possibly mother of the minister, his own family details, where he was educated and where he served. Publications, if any, may also be noted, and perhaps something exceptional about his career.

In his book, The shaping of Ulster Presbyterian belief and practice, the historian Dr Andrew Holmes has observed that there is a ‘seemingly unique obsession of Ulster Presbyterians with writing and reading congregational histories’. To a large extent this is a reflection of the importance of the congregation within the Presbyterian system, and the way in which its identity is intertwined with its locality and the families who, often for generations, have been associated with it.

A great many congregations have their own published histories. Many of these will include appendices providing very useful information on past members of the congregation and surrounding district. For example, the appendices to John Rutherford’s Donagheady Presbyterian Churches and Parish (1953) include the following lists of names – ratepayers in the electoral divisions of Dunalong, Ballyneaner, Dunamanagh, and Mountcastle in 1856; Donagheady wills pre-1858, the Donagheady poll book of c. 1662, and hearth money rolls for Donagheady from the 1660s, as well as various other extracts from sources.

The best collection of congregational histories is in the Presbyterian Historical Society Library. There are also good collections of these histories at the Ulster Historical Foundation in Newtownards, the Linen Hall Library and Central Library in Belfast, and in the library of North of Ireland Family History Society in Newtownabbey.