The 1901 census is indexed by civil land divisions
beginning with the area that was known as the Poor Law Union and then taking
each Registrars District which is further sub-divided into Electoral Divisions,
Baronies, Parishes and townlands. There is no index to show us who lived
where in any part of the 1901 or 1911 census (with the exception of those parts
of the 1911 census which are being brought on line).
Most but not all of the 1901 and 1911 censuses have
been filmed and are obtainable through Family History Liraries the world over as
well as here in Ireland in the National Archives or accessible through county
libraries or county council offices. So, if you want to see if anyone of
the surname you are interested in was still living in the townland that your
family came from in 1901, you have to find out the film reference number for the
District Electoral Division that the townland was in and then call up that film
from whatever resource, go to the index for the townland which was written up by
the enumerator, find the number of the property and then go to the form filled
out by the head of household for the family on the night of the
census.
I have indexed the names of the Heads of Household
for the 1901 census returns for county Laois or Queen's County - there are some
parts of the census which are not on film and these have not been indexed
yet. My index (minus the unfilmed sections) contains the names of 12,118
Heads of Household for County Laois in 1901. The population of the county
in 1901 was 57,417 people - 29,694 male; 27,723 female.
In the past, I have brought some of this index
on-line by parish, but as I created the various parish lists, I found
differences between the parishes that townlands were listed as being in back in
1851 (per Townlands directory of Ireland) and the parishes they were listed as
being part of in 1901 and all in all it was very confusing and I never had time
to go back checking the films and re-assignment of townlands to different
areas. I also found different spellings for the parishes per the
enumerator sheets, and the parish of Clonenagh & Clonagheen was listed as
that in some parts and separately in others.
It took me at least one year to index what I have,
the spellings of names are as per the enumerator sheets. Quite often, I've
found that the enumerator spelled a surname one way whilst the Head of Household
spelled it another way. I have not checked all the forms filled out by the
Heads of Household. So all spellings in my index are as per the enumerator
sheets.
I currently have surnames A-E on line and will be
bringing the rest as the week goes by.
Regards,
Jane
the 1901 Census Heads of Household by parish index
can be found at: