Religious Census of Raphoe Parish, County Donegal, Ireland 1766

Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Belfast (PRONI) Ref. T808/ 15266

Transcribed, Compiled and Submitted by
Len Swindley, Melbourne, Australia
len_swindley[at]hotmail.com

This file of the RELIGIOUS CENSUS OF RAPHOE PARISH, COUNTY DONEGAL 1766 forms part of the vast archive of 4,000+ pages of genealogical records relating to COUNTIES TYRONE, DONEGAL, LONDONDERRY & FERMANAGH provided without charge or subscription by CoTyroneIreland Welcome to the Premier Website & Research Tool for Cos. Tyrone, Donegal, Londonderry & Fermanagh Genealogy (cotyroneireland.com) A complete list of records pertaining to RAPHOE PARISH, COUNTY DONEGAL on this website can be found at the foot of this file.

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Religious Census, 1766

This census was authorised by a resolution of the Irish House of Lords on 5 March 1766 which stated:

Resolved, That the several archbishops and bishops of this Kingdom shall be and are hereby desired to direct the parish ministers in their respective dioceses, to return a list of the several families in their parishes to this House on the first Monday after the Recess, distinguishing which are Protestants and which are Papists, as also a list of the several reputed Popish priests and friars residing in their parishes. House of Lords Journal, iv, 370.

No set form for the provision of this information was laid down by either the House of Lords or the prelates, and consequently the details given vary enormously from one parish to the next. The following are the main forms which the returns take:

Number of families of each religion, Protestant and Papist, in the parish as a whole; the same, divided into townlands;

List of heads of families, with their religion, in the parish as a whole; the same, divided into townlands;

The same, giving also the number of persons of each religion in each household, including servants;

The same, showing a division into landholders and cotters.

Sometimes the term “Protestant” is further broken down into members of the Established Church and Protestant “Dissenters” {Presbyterians) and occasionally details are given for smaller denominations e.g. Quakers and Anabaptists.

Most of the returns were made in March and April 1766. When received, they were arranged in alphabetical order within each diocese and stamped with a running number. However, the fact that not all returns for a given diocese arrived together means that the numbers for that diocese do not run consecutively. A summary for each diocese was prepared, showing the number of Protestants and Papists in each parish in the diocese. These summaries appear to have been done locally as several are stamped with numbers in the same way as the parish returns.

 

***ORIGINAL COPY DESTROYED IN DUBLIN 1922***

Transcription was commenced prior to 1922 by the renowned record agent Tenison Groves,
but not continued, with the householders of only Raphoe Town and two townlands partially transcribed.

 

No. 1306 Bundle 81

A List of the Families inhabiting the parish of Raphoe

In 1766 there were 848 Protestant and 409 R.C. families

PROTESTANTS

Residence	Name
TOWN OF RAPHOE	The Bishop (John Oswald)*
	The Dean (Wm. Barker)*
	The Vicar General [John Lamy]*
	The Revd. Abraham Bosquet, Minister
	Wm. Jenkins, Esq.
	Hugh Dunn &c. &c.
MUNTERLINNEY [MUNTERTINNY]	Ezekiel Eaton
	Joseph Eaton
	Ephraim Eaton &c.
TULLIDONNELL	Albert Nesbit
	Art Nesbit
	Hugh Nesbit

No Mass House, 2 Dissenting Meeting houses

*Raphoe Clergy and Parishes – James B. Leslie (Enniskillen, 1940)

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Further records for RAPHOE PARISH, COUNTY DONEGAL can be found at:

Welcome to the Premier Website & Research Tool for Cos. Tyrone, Donegal, Londonderry & Fermanagh Genealogy

Raphoe Parish Records, County Donegal

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