from, Discovering Your Irish Ancestors, by Dwight Radford & Kyle Betit Census searches for old age pension applications: There is a lot of potential in this set of records. Old age pensions were introduced in Ireland in 1908. To prove how old they were, people seventy and over could request a search of the then-surviving 1841 and 1851 censuses. Applicants could send their requests directly to the PRO in Dublin where the staff extracted the information from the censuses. Abstracts of the census entries showing the applicants were noted on census search forms between 1910 and 1922. The "Census Search Forms" are now arranged at the National Archives of Ireland by county, barony, civil parish and townland. In Northern Ireland, they also make a request to the PRO by a local pension office for a search of the 1841 and 1851 censuses. The resulting "Form 37s" survive for large areas of Ulster and are held at the PRONI, with microfilm copies at the LDS Family History Library. Josephine Materson produced two books, "Ireland: 1841/1851 Census Abstracts (Northern Ireland)" and "Ireland: 1841/1851 Census Abstracts (Republic of Ireland), which indexed the forms. Census Search Forms and Form 37s might include extracts of the entire household in 1841 and 1851 census. So, even if an applicant was not your ancestor, you might get information not only on the person who applied for the search, but also on brothers, sisters and parents who might include your ancestor. LDS films for Northern Ireland numbers start with 258526. Index to Old Age Pension claims from 1841/1851 census abstracts and miscellaneous sources. Fiche no. 1 of the set is an introduction to the claims and a guide to the names index. # 6344865 I couldn't find the LDS film numbers for the Republic, if anyone can find them, please post to the list. -- Pat Connors, Sacramento CA http://www.connorsgenealogy.com All outgoing mail virus free, scanned by ZoneAlarm AntiVirus