What interesting numbers, Larry. Many thanks. The population of Clare in 2002 was 103,333. In 1996 it was 94,006 persons so the population appears to be rising again (presumably immigrants from Eastern Europe). It is interesting that 35.5% were still illiterate in 1881 despite the fact that Ireland had one of the most advanced school systems in Europe at that time. Pádraig (the Paddy that was) -----Original Message----- From: irl-clare-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:irl-clare-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Larry Brennan Sent: 02 January 2007 18:17 To: IRL-CLARE-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [IRL-CLARE] Fw: 1841-1881 Popupation Figures for County Clare: The number of people in County Clare according to the Census: 1841: 286,394 1851: 212,440 1881: 166,305 1871: 147,864 1881: 141,457 (71,058 Males, 70,399 Females) 1881 Returns: The number of distinct families in the County was 25,509. The number of inhabited houses was: 24,459 The average number of persons in a family being 5.44. Read & Write: 76,173 53.9% Read Only: 15,012 10.6% Illerate: 50,272 35.5% The number of Children attending School in County Clare week ending 17th. June 1871 was 18,521 or 35.6% of persons aged 5 years and under 20 County Clare covers an area of: 827,904 statute acres or 4.0% of the total area of the Country. Regards: Larry. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to IRL-CLARE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi Padraig, The relatively high rate of illiteracy is probably linked to the age distribution. i.e if the number of young people who would/could have gone through the education system was low and the number of folder olk who didn't have that advantage was high, this may account for the figures. As young people were more likely to emigrate than the elderly, this might also contribute to the figures. Any chance of an age distribution Larry? Jenny ________________________________________________________________________ Check out the new AOL. Most comprehensive set of free safety and security tools, free access to millions of high-quality videos from across the web, free AOL Mail and more.