~ THE IRISH POPULATION ~

From the 1850 Census

Marlborough Irish

Several months ago I sent you an email praising your web site and how it helped me with information about my Kirby and Ward ancestors.  I was especially intrigued by the excepts from Ella Bigelow's book on the Catholic churches in Marlborough and their Irish parishioners.  Her statement that in 1851, "The Catholic population of  Marlborough then numbered we are told not more than twenty-five people. "  Since my Kirby ancestors settled in Marlborough sometime around 1845/47, I started wondering who those other people were.

I sat down with a copy of the 1850 Federal Census for the Town of Marlborough and started creating a list of all of the Irish born citizens and their families.  To my surprise I discovered that Ella Bigelow's informant as to the estimated number of Catholics was a bit on the low side.  I found that there were 236 Irish born citizen's living in Marlborough in 1850!   And if you include their children, spouses and other members of their households the total number is 264.

I thought that your web page would be a wonderful place to put the data that I had collected and I am attaching a copy of the database I created.  I have replicated the 1850 Federal Census Sheet and entered the names in the original order of Page/Dwelling/Families.  It was created in Word97, and is in a "table" format, so that it can be manipulated and sorted by name too.

If any one else would like an original copy for their on use, I  would be more than happy to email it to them.

Best regards,
Denny Mahoney
[email protected]