I have recently received - via Interlibrary loan - the 3-volume set of William Shaw Mason's "Statistical account, or Parochial survey of Ireland", published between 1814 and 1819 by different publishers in Dublin. The OCLC number is 316363313. I have now copied the books (over 2200 pages !!!) and returned the originals......and am now in the process of re-binding the copies. The author was Secretary to the Board of Public Records. Although the author and most of his sources were Church of Ireland (perhaps still C of E at that time ???), the content doesn't seem show any bias in favor of the Established Church - in fact, what I have read so far seems quite sympathetic to the general RC population. The volumes contain information on 79 Parishes/Unions of the Established Church, 18 of which are in the Northern six-counties. They do not represent anything like totality of coverage of Ireland, and what parishes/unions are described don't seem to follow any pattern. For example, there are 10 Co. Cork parishes, but not a single entry for Kerry. Some parishes receive only 6 or 7 pages while most of them are 15 or so pages. Some parishes have townland maps, most from the Down Survey, and nearly all have individual townland information, such as acreages, proprietors, translations of townland name, etc. I would guess that the townland information could be helpful, as this data is from a period prior to the start of the Ordnance Survey.....and a decade before Griffith's Boundary Department started "operating" on the townlands and parishes and redefining (in some cases) the boundaries, etc. Here is the "Table of the Sections" for the books: "TABLE OF THE SECTIONS, According to which the account of every parish is arranged in this volume. I - The name of the parish, ancient and modern; its situation, extent, and division, climate and topographical description. II - Mines, minerals, and all other natural productions. III - Modern buildings both public and private, including towns, villages, gentlemen's seats, inns, &c. - the roads, scenery, and superficial appearance of the parish. IV - Ancient buildings, monastic and castellated ruins, monuments and inscriptions, or other remains of antiquity. V - Present and former state of population; the food, fuel, and general appearance; mode of living and wealth of the inhabitants; diseases and instances of longevity. VI - The genius and dispositions of the poorer classes; their language, manners and customs, &c. VII - The education and employment of their children, schools, state of learning, public libraries, &c. collection of Irish MSS, or historical documents relating to Ireland. VIII - State of the religious establishment, mode of tythes, parochial funds and records, &c. IX - Modes of agriculture, crops, stocks of cattle, rural implements, chief proprietors' names, and average value of land, prices of labour, fairs and markets, &c. X - Trade and manufactures, commerce, navigation and shipping, freight, &c. XI - Natural curiosities, remarkable occurrences, and eminent men. XII - Suggestions for improvement; and means for ameliorating the situation of the people. APPENDIX - Consisting of statistical tables, containing the value of the stock, annual produce of the parish, &c.&c." As it would be impractical for me to enter much of the information into e-mails, I tried to see if these volumes are available on-line. Google Books seems to have only volume 2, which seems odd. But perhaps it's because of my slow dial-up connection and have difficulty accessing sites meant for broadband access. However, for those interested - and on a suitable connection - it might be worthwhile to check it out. For me, I'll choose a printed book any day.........especially the old ones. The two-hundred-year-old smell is fabulous. Too bad I wasn't able to also copy the aroma [gr]. I plan on sending this general information to most of the Republic's county mailing lists over the next week or so, with added specific comments on the parts of that particular county described in the books. Although I no longer have much in the way of "free time", I'd be willing to answer questions that don't require a lot of typing (reading is OK, lotsa typing isn't). Volume 1 contains a 38-page section on Kilmanaheen parish, written by the Rev. James Kenny in 1775. This parish was "episcopally united to the vicarages of Kilasbuglenane [Killaspuglonane], Kilmacreehy [Kilmacrehy], Kileilagh [Killilagh] and Kilmoon". There are "Townlands, Derivations and Population" tables for the individual civil parishes (quite detailed) and the remainder of the section has a lot of information and history included. In Volume 2, there is an even-more extensive 85-page section on the Kilrush Union of the parishes of "Kilrush, Killard, Kilfieragh [Kilfearagh], Moyferta [Moyarta], and Killballyhone [Kilballyowen]". A quite complete dissertation of the status and history of this area in 1816 - even a map of proposed improvements to Kilrush harbor. Pete - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Pete Schermerhorn, in the glorious Berkshire hills of western Massachusetts </HTML>

Peter and all, I was able to find and download all 3 volumes on google books - thanks for bringing them to our attention: vol 1: http://tinyurl.com/5vy6atq vol. 2: http://tinyurl.com/693j6v2 vol 3: http://books.google.ca/books?id=cBgHAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false AR At 06:59 PM 19/03/2011, you wrote: >William Shaw Mason's "Statistical account, or Parochial survey of Ireland",

See also http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/history/masons_1814/masons_index.ht m PAC -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Aggi-Rose Reddin Sent: 19 March 2011 23:34 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [IRL-CLARE] An interesting set of books Peter and all, I was able to find and download all 3 volumes on google books - thanks for bringing them to our attention: vol 1: http://tinyurl.com/5vy6atq vol. 2: http://tinyurl.com/693j6v2 vol 3: http://books.google.ca/books?id=cBgHAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q &f=false AR At 06:59 PM 19/03/2011, you wrote: >William Shaw Mason's "Statistical account, or Parochial survey of Ireland", ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Pete Some of the areas you listed are of possible interest to me. Though the information they contain may not help. My family has been working on the O'Rourkes from Liscasey- Cross Beg. I think a few were in the Kilkee area. We can not get past the 1817 birth year of the of the father Thomas location unknown. I have to ask if you came across any information that might have included this family. There are other O'Rourkes in the north and west of Clare it might be nice to tie them into the family. O'Rourke - Rourke- Rourk - somtimes put into Bourke Connected to Meehan- - Dillon -Green- Pindar - Scanlon- Connors- and others in the area. Thanks for any help you can give. I understand the documents you are working with do not probably give general family information, but just wondered if there was any mention of the families in the areas. thanks Teri > Here is the "Table of the Sections" for the books: > > "TABLE OF THE SECTIONS, > > According to which the account of every parish is arranged in this volume. > > > I - The name of the parish, ancient and modern; its situation, extent, and > division, climate and topographical description. > > II - Mines, minerals, and all other natural productions. > > III - Modern buildings both public and private, including towns, villages, > gentlemen's seats, inns, &c. - the roads, scenery, and superficial > appearance of the parish. > > IV - Ancient buildings, monastic and castellated ruins, monuments and > inscriptions, or other remains of antiquity. > > V - Present and former state of population; the food, fuel, and general > appearance; mode of living and wealth of the inhabitants; diseases and > instances of longevity. > > VI - The genius and dispositions of the poorer classes; their language, > manners and customs, &c. > > VII - The education and employment of their children, schools, state of > learning, public libraries, &c. collection of Irish MSS, or historical > documents relating to Ireland. > > VIII - State of the religious establishment, mode of tythes, parochial > funds and records, &c. > > IX - Modes of agriculture, crops, stocks of cattle, rural implements, chief > proprietors' names, and average value of land, prices of labour, fairs and > markets, &c. > > X - Trade and manufactures, commerce, navigation and shipping, freight, &c. > > XI - Natural curiosities, remarkable occurrences, and eminent men. > > XII - Suggestions for improvement; and means for ameliorating the situation > of the people. > > APPENDIX - Consisting of statistical tables, containing the value of the > stock, annual produce of the parish, &c.&c." > > > As it would be impractical for me to enter much of the information into > e-mails, I tried to see if these volumes are available on-line. Google Books > seems to have only volume 2, which seems odd. But perhaps it's because of my > slow dial-up connection and have difficulty accessing sites meant for > broadband access. However, for those interested - and on a suitable connection - > it might be worthwhile to check it out. For me, I'll choose a printed book > any day.........especially the old ones. The two-hundred-year-old smell is > fabulous. Too bad I wasn't able to also copy the aroma [gr]. > > I plan on sending this general information to most of the Republic's county > mailing lists over the next week or so, with added specific comments on the > parts of that particular county described in the books. Although I no > longer have much in the way of "free time", I'd be willing to answer questions > that don't require a lot of typing (reading is OK, lotsa typing isn't). > > Volume 1 contains a 38-page section on Kilmanaheen parish, written by the > Rev. James Kenny in 1775. This parish was "episcopally united to the > vicarages of Kilasbuglenane [Killaspuglonane], Kilmacreehy [Kilmacrehy], Kileilagh > [Killilagh] and Kilmoon". There are "Townlands, Derivations and Population" > tables for the individual civil parishes (quite detailed) and the remainder > of the section has a lot of information and history included. In Volume 2, > there is an even-more extensive 85-page section on the Kilrush Union of the > parishes of "Kilrush, Killard, Kilfieragh [Kilfearagh], Moyferta [Moyarta], > and Killballyhone [Kilballyowen]". A quite complete dissertation of the > status and history of this area in 1816 - even a map of proposed improvements > to Kilrush harbor. > > > Pete > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > Pete Schermerhorn, in the glorious Berkshire hills of western Massachusetts > </HTML> > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message