1796 Flax Growers List - Census Substitute
The Flax Growers’ List
The Flax Growers Bounty List is also known as the Spinning Wheel Survey of Ireland. The list was compiled in 1796 by the Irish Linen Board. The list included about 60,000 growers who were given rewards for growing flax. Flax was so important a crop in Ireland that the Board decided on a scheme of incentives to get people to grow the product. An individual was rewarded with 4 spinning wheels for planting one acre of flax. Three quarters of an acre got the grower 3 spinning wheels. One-half acre of flax brought the grower two spinning wheels. A grower of one-half acre of flax brought the grower two spinning wheels. A flax grower that cultivated no less than five acres got a loom or spinning wheels up to the value of 5 shillings.
“To the person who should sow between the 10th day of March and the 1st day of June 1796 with a sufficient quantity of good sound flax seed, any quantity of land, well prepared and fit for the purpose not less than 1 Acre – 4 Spinning Wheels, 3 Roods – 3 ditto, 2 Roods – 2 ditto and 1 Rood – 1 ditto. And to the person who should sow in like manner and any quantity of like land, not less than 5 Acres, a loom or sheels, reels or hatchels to the value of 50 shillings, and for every 5 Acres over and above the first 5, a like premium.”
Why is this important? There are few surviving early census records for Ireland, and this list is considered an Irish census substitute. By 1827 we know most families in this part of Ireland were engaged in the flax industry. In Aghabog, for instance, it was almost everyone.
Family Tree
The following represents our Smith (Smyth) and McPhillips family trees. Look for the following surnames in the flax list shown later.
County Monaghan
"Monaghan, a
county of Ireland, province of Ulster, bounded N by Tyrone, E by Armagh, and
SE by East Meath and Louth, 30 m. long, and 19 broad, and containing 288,500
English acres, or 450 square miles, divided into 21 parishes. Although it is
much encumbered with bogs and mountains, great portions of it are highly
cultivated and improved. The linen manufacture, which flourishes extensively, is
the great staple. The Sleibh-Baught mountains, which extend into this county
from Tyrone, though they are an uninteresting waste, have, however, beds of the
richest limestone, and abundance of marl; and indications of coal have also been
observed; also lead ore of the highest quality. This county contains 184 lakes,
of which 30 are considerable sheets of water. Principal rivers, the Ballyhays,
Annalee, Lagan, Fane, Myrvale, Fin, and Blackwater. Pop. 178,183."
[From The New London Gazetteer (1826)]
County Monaghan is 450 square miles. How big is 450 square miles? Look at the following for comparison.
|
County |
State |
Country |
Square Miles
|
|
Monaghan |
|
Ireland |
450 |
|
Brule |
South Dakota |
USA |
819 |
|
McPherson |
South Dakota |
USA |
1,137 |
|
Pennington |
South Dakota |
USA |
2,776 |
We know our ancestors lived in Aghabog Civil Parish. It is very likely they had relatives living in adjacent parishes as well. Look at the map below. The area circled in red indicates parishes which may have genealogical ties to our own family.
