County Antrim, Ireland 1851 Census

This database contains names transcribed from surviving fragments of the 1851 Irish census.

Historical Background

Mrs. Josephine Masterson continues her assault on Famine-era Irish genealogical sources with this transcription of 1851 census records for County Antrim, and it may be her most ambitious effort to date. Most of the 1851 Irish census was destroyed in the 1922 fire at the Four Courts in Dublin. The largest collection of surviving census fragments pertains to County Antrim and to the following parishes in particular: Aghagallon, Aghalee, Ballinderry, Ballymoney, Craigs, Dunaghy, Grange, Killead, Kilwaughter, Larne, Rasharkin, and Tickmacrevan.

Working from microfilm copies of the 1851 census available from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Mrs. Masterson has transcribed data on all 28,000 persons enumerated in the surviving records for County Antrim. The records are arranged by Irish parish and thereunder by townland, and they are grouped by household in the same sequence as they were tallied in 1851.

The forms can provide the following details:

• name
• relationship to head of household
• age
• marital status
• year of marriage
• place of birth (if not from County Antrim)
• literacy
• occupation

Recently deceased members of a household, who were tallied on a separate schedule, are also transcribed here with an indication of the date and cause of death and their former occupation.

The database also includes reproductions of the census schedules, Mrs. Masterson’s Introduction and key to abbreviations, and a list of all parishes/townlands for which census fragments have survived. An every-name index at the back of the volume is keyed to family group numbers, not page numbers in this book.