Searching for the family of Owen Rice b 1831

Hello Ruthanne

The name Rice is found through out the county of Louth but not very common. I see an Owen Rice on the 1796 Flax Growers list in Faughart near Dundalk in the north of the county; I give various websites below but for the exact person you will need to use the subscription sites and the Irish Roots sites offers limited searching after you register and this is free but you pay to see the full information available.

The JB Hall site gives a lot of information specific to Louth which is the smallest county. It also has a story on the Wild Goose Lodge murders of 1815 close to Dundalk with a book available on the issue as I see you have an interest in history. Also on Facebook there is a page called Wistorical which gives very interesting history stories off the beaten track and photos all Irish related but not necessarily in Ireland.

In Ireland the name Owen is often spelled Eoin in the Irish or Gaelic language and is also a surname in Louth but mainly a christian name.

The Irish Census of 1901 and 1911 are available online at http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/ and the default census is 1911.

Griffiths Valuation of property owners and tenants is available at http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/ and is only the head of household and was done between the 1847 and 1864 the year of publication is given on the information and it includes small area map.

The tithe applotments were carried out between 1823 and 1837 and are only of landholders of 1 acre and more who were registered to pay a tax to the Church of Ireland and the divisions are of their parishes, urban dwellers are not included. See http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/home.jsp

The Flax Growers List of 1796 is available at http://www.failteromhat.com/ This is just a list of farmers who agreed to grow flax at the time. This site also contains the Hearth Money Roll lists of the 1660s for some counties (not all counties available). This site also contains other information mainly for the Cork area.

For County Louth see http://www.jbhall.freeservers.com/ and for the Termonfeckin area see http://www.termonfeckinhistory.ie/

Two subscription sites are http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/ and https://www.rootsireland.ie/

Irish civil records only commenced in 1864 but Protestant marriages commenced in 1845.

Church records go back to the early 1800s for Catholics and a few decades earlier for the Church of Ireland (Protestant).

The Family Search website is free and has detailed information but I find it can be difficult to use but here it is https://familysearch.org/

Please revert if you think I can be of further assistance.

Regards

Pat