Irish Pensions Index http://clanboyd.info "The Old Age Pension Act was introduced in Ireland in 1908. This meant that people over a certain age were guaranteed a pension from the state. However, because the compulsory registration of births had only begun in 1864, claimants of the pension were unable to provide a birth certificate to prove their age. The government therefore found it necessary to establish a person's age by allowing a search to be made of the 1841 and 1851 census returns." "The claimant of the pension would give the name of the Townland and Parish where he/she was born or resided in at the time of the 1841/51 census, a search would be made of that townland's census returns and the result recorded. In some cases the family would not be found and so only the result "No trace" was entered. However, on many occasions the search was successful. In these cases the additional information could state only the age of applicant at the time of the census, but, in many records the names and ages of every person living there is supplied...." "You will see a list of all available records that contain the surname you searched. You will see the record number, the name of the applicant and the county in which they lived. Each record has the applicant's name, their parents names or the name of the person/s with which they resided, and in some cases anyone else living in the household. Note: This means that the applicant may not have the surname you are looking for, but the full record will contain someone with that surname." Thanks to Karen from Ohio for this data.