This was posted to another list and I thought it might be of interest. ---------------Original Message--------------- Taken from PRONI : Your Family Tree 6 1708 In 1708 James McGuire made a survey of the town of Downpatrick, Co Down. He desribed each premise by name, giving its size, its principal tenant and the half yearly rent due. A manuscript copy of this survey, made by the Rev. David Stewart in 1927, is available PRONI Ref. D.1759/2A/8. 1740 In 1740 a list of Protestant householders was compiled in parts of Cos Antrim, Armagh, Down, Donegal, Londonderry and Tyrone. It is arranged by county, barony and parish and gives the name only. A typescript copy of the 1740 return of Protestant householders is available on the Search Room shelves. 1766 In March and April 1766, Church of Ireland Rectors were instructed by the government to compile complete returns of all householders in their resepctive parishes, showing their religion, as between Church of Ireland (Episcopalian), Roman Catholic (termed `Papists` in the returns) and Presbyterians (or Dissenters), and giving an account of any Roman Catholic clergy active in their area. Some of the more diligent rectors listed every townland and every household, but many drew up only numerical totals of the population. All of the original returns were destroyed in the Four Courts in 1922, but extensive transcripts survive and are available on the Search Room shelves. Copies are also available PRONI Ref. T.808/15264-15267 1770 In 1770 a census was carried out for the town of Armagh giving individual names and occupations, size of family and religion and is arranged street by street. PRONI Ref. T.808/14398 & T.808/14977 1796 As part of the governments initiative 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. A typescript copy is available on the Search Room shelves. A microfilm is also available PRONI Ref. T.3419 1824 - 1838 The Composition Act of 1823 specified the tithes due to the Established Church, which had been payable in kind, should now be paid in money. As a result it was necessary to carry out a valuation of the entire county, parish by parish, in order to determine how much would be payable by each landowner. The Tithe Applotment Books list the occupier of titheable land and are not a list of householders as is the case in a census. Therefore, labourers, weavers etc were all omitted, in addition to all purely urban dwellers. The Householders Index, available on the shelves of the Public Search Room, can be used as a guide to the surnames listed in the Tithe Applotment Books. PRONI Ref. FIN 5A 1831 - National school registers, which record the age of the pupil, religion, father`s address and occupation, are a valuable source of information for anyone interested in tracing their family tree. PRONI has in its custody over 1,500 registers for schools in the Northern Ireland area and the Guide to Educational Records, available on the Search Room shelves, includes an alphabetical index to these records. 1848 - 1864 Popularly known as Griffith`s Valuation, the Primary Valuation of Ireland lists every householder and occupier of land in Ireland. It is arranged by barony, poor law union, civil parish and townland. A printed addition of the Griffith`s Valuation is available on the Search Room shelves. See also Your Family Tree 4 : Valuation Records 1876 The `Landowners in Ireland; Return of Owners of land of one acre and upwards...` records more than 32,000 owners of land in Ireland in 1876, identifying them by province and county. A copy of this publication is available on the shelves of the Public Search Room. Alex Hughes >from Ayrshire, Scotland Searching for Duncan,Bruce,Kilpatrick,Campbell,Fairley,Milne,McKechan, Jamphray,Strathern,Kelso,Smith & Auld in Scotland Searching for Hughes, Graham, McCutcheon, Donaghy, Irvine, Dorian, Kelley & Black in Ireland ----------End of Original Message----------