22 June 2009

Will it blend? Irish 1871 census fragment

Given that early Irish census data is as scarce as a digitized newspaper from LAC I was interested to find a posting of the Drumconra & Loughbracken, Co, Meath, Ireland : Census 1871. It's in the form of a Google spreadsheet.

I don't know how legitimate it is and whether it would blend with other information. Caveat emptor. The comments column includes occasional remarks not usually found in an offical census including on religion, Quack Doctor, Fond of a drop, Beats his Wife, Fond of a Glass, an Idle Boy, and Keeps a Card-table.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hi - what's posted on the spreadsheet is NOT a fragment of the official national census of 1871 (if indeed there was one !). I have no idea who ordered the census to be taken, or for what purpose, but it is transcribed (with a modicum of accuracy !) from a microfilm held in the National Library of Ireland, which also contains B/D/M information for the parish of Drumconra. Because it's a "stand-alone" listing it is not constrained by normal protocols - hence the unusual comments.