Hearth Money Rolls, Muster Rolls,Books of Survey and Distribution, Civil Survey, Pender’s Census and Subsidy Rolls are all lesser known resources for Irish genealogical research. They are listed and described below.
The Hearth Money Rolls was a tax levied on the basis of the number of hearths in each house. Yep – fireplaces! These rolls listed the householders’ names, as well as the number of hearths.The Money Rolls are quite extensive, but only remnants are still in existence.Tracing Your Irish Family Tree using the Hearth Money Rolls is available for the following Counties:
Antrim
Armagh
Donegal
Fermanagh
Londonderry
Monaghan
Tyrone.
The Hearth Money Rolls list the barony, surname, forename and townland of the individulals liable for paying the tax.
1630 Muster Rolls:
The 160 Muster Rolls are lists of the large landlords in Ulster and the names of all the able-bodied men that they could assemble to fight if the need arose. They are arranged by county and by district within the county.
The 1641 Biiks of Survey and Distribution:
After the wars of the mid seventeeth century, the English Government needed solid information on land ownership throughout Ireland to carry out it’s policy of land redistribution. The Books of Survey and Distribution record ownership of property Before the Cromwellian and Williamite confiscations.
Civil Survey 1654-1656:
Another record of land ownership in 1640. It contains a great deal of descriptive information as well as details of wills and deeds relating to land title. It has survived for lonely 12 counties:
Cork
Kerry
Donegal
Dublin
Kildare
Kelkenny
Limerick
Meath
Tipperary
Tyrone
Waterford
Wexford
Penders Census – 1659:
Records the names of persons with title to land, the total numbers of English and Irish living in each Townland, and the principal Irish names in each Barony. Five counties survive and they are:
Cavan
Galway
Mayo
Tyrone
Wicklow
1662 Subsidy Rolls:
The 1662 Subsidy Rolls list the nobility, clergy and laity who paid a grant in aid to the king. They include name and parish and sometimes the amount paid and occupation of those who paid. Mainly countie in Ulster have survived.
1612 Undertakers:
The Undertakers lists those English and Scottish large landlords granted land in the northern counties of Cavan, Donegal and Fermanagh.
Census Remains:
There are a few census records available for 1821, 1831, 1841 and 1851, but they are all just remnants. 1821 has only County Cavan, 1831 has nearly all the parishes in County Londonderry, virtually none that I could find for 1841 and the 1851 census survives for a few Parishes in County Antrim.
There is a census return for 1766 that was carried out by the Church of Ireland that still survives. It is divided up by Church of Ireland Parish – which virtually match the boundaries of the civil parishes of that time.
