1850 census repension

Edward:

The Old Age pension program started in Ireland around 1908. In order to prove their age, the civil servants checked the 1841 and 1851 census records to verify the age of the applicant. ( The 1841 and 1851 census records were not destroyed until 1922). They kept the application and the information from the census records regarding the age of the applicant. Sometimes they wrote down all the information on the census record including parents, siblings etc.

My great-grandfather had emigrated to Philadelphia in 1865. I only knew of a few siblings. One of his brothers remained in Ireland and filed for the pension in 1908 and the government official copied down all the family names, ages (there were nine children), when the parents were married and the maiden name of the mother. I found this information on a Donegal web site earlier this year.

So if you had a family member who filed for the pension in 1908 or later, there may be a record of the application and the census search at the National Library in Dublin or if you are lucky like me, on the Internet.

Roger McDonnell