Inspired by William Petty's obsessive concern with the ratio of Irish to English in each barony and county, a most crucial component of the ‘Census’ is the listing of the principal family names at the end of each baronial entry.

The Ardee Corporation Minute Books along with the Ruxton Transcripts are now in the County Archives in Dundalk. However, I made copies of them over 20 years ago and have recently digitalised them all with a view to making them available online in the near future.

The original list was compiled in 1766 by the Vicar of Ardee, William Lill, most likely from the Parochial Tythes Book. Tythes were another form of taxation and constituted a levy raised by the Church upon the population to fund its institutions.