Although government censuses for 1901 and 1911 are still available, sadly the ones taken before this time are no longer in existence. For people seeking to find information about their forebears in the 19th century, there are some useful census substitutes:
Some Census Search Forms survive from 1841. People trying to claim the pension from 1908 onwards used these search forms to prove they qualified.
Tithe Applotments Books are records of a valuation of the entire country to determine how much would be payable by each landholder to the Establishment Church, the Church of Ireland. As the heaviest burden on paying the tithes fell on the poorest of rural dwellers, they are particularly useful for Kilnamona.
A particularly useful census substitute for Kilnamona during the Great Irish Famine is the Public Works Lists and the Revised Public Works Lists of 1847. These are lists of people in Kilnamona at the height of the famine who were supposedly not destitute enough to be receiving government aid. A list is also available for neighbouring Inagh.
Griffith's Valuations took place throughout Ireland during the middle of the 19th Century. The survey was used to determine the amount of tax each person should pay towards the support of the poor within their poor law union. The value of all privately held lands and buildings was recorded to ascertain the rate at which each unit of property could be rented year after year. Griffith's Valuation can be used as an excellent census substitute for the years after the Great Famine.
A list of some Inagh and Kilnamona parishioners from 1859 can be used as another census substitute. Names of members of the Diocese of Killaloe appeared to express sympathy with Pope Pius IX and are another list we can use in place of a formal census.
Further lists of people involved in political movements in Kilnamona in the early 20th century are available on the United Irish League and the Land and Labour Association pages. A list of immigrants to America from Kilnamona that were registered at Ellis Island can also be found on this site.
This section now has a page on parish registers.