CENSUS RECORDS
1821.
1831.
1841.
1851.
1861 &
1871.
1901 &
1911.
Using the
1901 & 1911 Census Returns.
17th
Century.
18th & 19th Century Census Substitutes.
THE RECORDS
COUNTIES
EMIGRATION
ADDRESSES
HOW TO
LINKS
ARTICLES
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Eighteenth & Nineteenth Century Census Substitutes
1703-1838: The Convert Rolls
Eileen O Byrne, Irish Manuscripts Commission, 1981. A list of those converting from Catholicism to the Church of Ireland. The bulk of the entries date from 1760 to 1790.
1740: Protestant householders
This applies to parts of Counties Antrim, Armagh, Derry, Donegal and Tyrone. Arranged by barony and parish, it gives names only. Parts are at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, The Genealogical Office, the National Library of Ireland and the Representative Church Body Library.
1749: Elphin Diocesan Census
Arranged by townland and parish, and listing householders, their religion, the numbers, sex and religion of their children, and the numbers, sex and religion of their servants.
1766: Religious Survey
In March and April of this year, Church of Ireland rectors (on the instructions of the government) were to compile complete returns of all householders in their parishes, showing their religion, and giving an account of any Catholic clergy active in their area. The result was extraordinarily inconsistent, with some rectors producing only numerical totals of population, some drawing up partial lists, and the most conscientious detailing all householders and their addresses individually. All of the original returns were lost in 1922, but extensive transcripts survive for some areas, and are deposited with various institutions. The only full listing of all surviving transcripts and abstracts is in the National Archives Reading Room, on the open shelves. However, this does not differentiate between those returns which supply names and those which merely give numerical totals.
1795-1862: Charleton Trust Fund Marriage certificates.
[Click for larger image] | The Charlton Trust Fund offered a small marriage gratuity to members of the Protestant labouring classes. To qualify, a marriage certificate, recording occupations and fathers names and signed by the local Church of Ireland clergyman, had to be submitted, and these are now in the National Archives. They are particularly useful for the years before the start of registration of marriages other than those in Catholic Churches in 1845. The areas covered by the Fund were mainly in Counties Meath and Longford, but a few certificates exist for parts of Counties Cavan, King's (Offaly), Louth, and Westmeath, as well as Dublin city. They are indexed in National Archives Accessions Vol. 37.
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1796: Spinning Wheel Premium Entitlement Lists
As part of a government scheme to encourage the linen trade, free spinning wheels or looms were granted to individuals planting a certain area of land with flax.
The lists of those entitled to the awards, covering almost 60,000 individuals, were published in 1796, and record only the names of the individuals and the civil parish in which they lived. The majority, were in Ulster, but some names appear from every county except Dublin and Wicklow. A microfiche index to the lists is available in the National Archives, and The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.
1798: Persons who Suffered Losses in the 1798 Rebellion
A list of claims for compensation from the government for property destroyed by the rebels during the insurrection of 1798, it is particularly useful for the property-owning classes of Counties Wexford, Carlow, Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow.
1831-1921: National School Records
In 1831, a countrywide system of primary education was established, under the control of the Board of Commissioners for National Education. The most useful records produced by the system are the school registers themselves, which record the age of the pupil, religion, father's address and occupation, and general observations. Unfortunately, in the Republic of Ireland no attempt has been made to centralise these records; they remain in the custody of local schools or churches. The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland has a collection of over 1500 registers for schools in the six counties of Northern Ireland. The administrative records of the Board of Commissioners itself are now held by the National Archives in Dublin. These include teachers' salary books, which can be very useful if an ancestor was a teacher.
1876: Landowners in Ireland
Return of owners of land of one acre and upwards ... , London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1876. [Reissued by The Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, 1988].
This records 32,614 owners of land in Ireland in 1876, identifying them by province and county; the entries record the address of the owner, along with the extent and valuation of the property. Only a minority of the population actually owned the land they occupied, but the work is invaluable for those who did.
Various Dates: Freeholders
Freehold property is held either by fee simple, with absolute freedom to dispose of it, by fee tail, in which the disposition is restricted to a particular line of heirs, or simply by life tenure. From the early eighteenth century freeholders lists were drawn up regularly, usually because of the right to vote which went with freehold of property over a certain value. It follows that such lists are of genealogical interest only for a small minority of the population. Click here for a county-by-county inventory of Freemen and voters lists.
Voters Lists and Poll Books
Voters lists cover a slightly larger proportion of the population than Freeholders lists, since freehold property was not the only determinant of the franchise. In particular, freemen of the various corporation towns and cities had a right to vote in some elections at least. Since membership of a trade guild carried with it admission as a freeman, and this right was hereditary, a wider range of social classes is covered. Poll books are the records of votes actually cast in elections. Click here for a county-by-county inventory of Freemen and voters lists.
Electoral Records
No complete collection of the electoral lists used in the elections of this century exists. This is unfortunate, since they can be of great value in tracing living relatives, listing as they do all eligible voters by townland and household. The largest single collection of surviving electoral registers is to be found in the National Archives, but even here the coverage of many areas is quite skimpy. Click here for a county-by-county inventory of Freemen and voters lists.
Valuations:
Local valuations, and re-valuations, of property were carried out with increasing frequency from the end of the eighteenth century, usually for electoral reasons. The best of these record all householders.
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