Genealogical Records


Coll Censuses

Two children in the same family with the same given name. In some census records you may find that two children in the same family have the same given name. Usually this is not a recording or transcription error but due to the widely used traditional Scots naming system in which the first two daughters and first two sons in a family were named after the four grandparents. It sometimes happened that the maternal and paternal grandparent had the same given name, which caused two children, alive at the same time, to be given the same name. In practice, the younger child was usually known in the family by a pet or nickname (e.g. Peggy for Margaret and Sandy for Alexander), but real names were entered in official records.

In the 1700s occasional local censuses were commissioned by landlords or church authorities, such as the 1776 List of Inhabitants of the Island of Coll. The first official nation-wide census in Britain was in 1801 and there has been a census every 10 years since then, except for 1941. The early official censuses, 1801-1831, recorded numbers of people only. The census of 1841 was the first to record names, ages, occupations and other information of value to genealogists. The dates of the censuses from 1841 to 1901 were:
1841
1851
1861
1871
1881
1891
1901 		6th June
30th March
7th April
2nd April
3rd April
5th April
31st March 		Sunday
Sunday
Sunday
Sunday
Sunday
Sunday
Sunday

To download and search the census databases you need Microsoft Excel or Excel Viewer installed on your computer. You can get a free download of Excel Viewer at www.microsoft.com/downloads .


1776 List of Inhabitants of the Island of Coll
The earliest known 'census' of the Isle of Coll is a list of inhabitants at 2nd December 1776 that was entered in the Coll Kirk Session Records. A transcript by Flora MacDonald and Linda Temple, and corrected by Linda against scans of the original document held in the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh, is reproduced here in Excel format with their permission. Notations on the list suggest that the minister of the day used it to record the results of his catechizing of his parishioners, i.e. their ability to answer the questions in the Catechism.
To download the 1776 List of Inhabitants, click here .

1841 Census
The data for Coll were extracted from the official (General Register Office) census records for the Parish of Tyree & Coll and entered into Excel format by Keith Dash. [Note that in the 1841 census, ages up to 15 were recorded correctly but ages above 15 were rounded down to the nearest 5 year multiple, e.g. ages 15-19 were recorded as 15, ages 20-24 as 20, and so on. Most enumerators followed this rule, but a few recorded actual adult ages.] Included in the official census records was a report by Mr Alexander Stewart, the local schoolteacher appointed to manage the 1841 census in Coll. He noted that at the time of the census about 50 people were absent from the island seeking work on the mainland, but their number was balanced to some extent by visitors from Tiree who had come to Coll to cart peat back to their own island. Unfortunately, the visitors were not identified as such in the census returns.
To download the 1841 census data, click here .
To download Mr Stewart's report on the census, click here .

1851 Census
In the 10 year period from 1841 to 1851 the population of Coll fell by 22% from 1,414 to 1,106. This marked the beginning of the evictions of island families as their small land holdings were amalgamated into farms, often leased to 'incomer' tenants. The evictions continued during the 1850s, with evicted families having to emigrate to mainland Britain or further afield to British colonies in Canada, Australia, New Zealand or South Africa. The 1841 and 1851 censuses have special significance for the descendants of these Collach emigrants because they are often the last homeland record of their ancestors. The 1851 census data were transcribed from microfilm of the original hand-written records and put into Excel format by Ian Scott, a descendant of Collach emigrants of the 1850s, and are published here with his permission.
To download the 1851 census data, click here .

1861 Census
Evictions continued after 1851, and in the 10 years from 1851 to 1861 the population of Coll fell from 1,106 to 777. The number of people recorded as being born in Coll fell from 939 in 1851 to 561 in 1861, which represented a loss of 40% of the island-born population in the 10 year period. The number of 'incomers' born elsewhere increased from 167 to 216, and in 1861 accounted for 28% of the island's population. The 1861 census data were transcribed and put into Excel format by Ian Scott, and are published here with his permission.
To download the 1861 census data, click here .

1881 Census
The population of Coll continued to decline, but at a slower rate, after 1861, and in the 20 years from 1861 to 1881 the number of inhabitants fell from 777 to 634. The proportion of 'incomers' remained unchanged at 28%. The data for Coll were extracted from the LDS Family History Resource File discs of the 1881 British census, surnames and place-names standardized, and the edited data put into Excel format by Keith Dash.
To download the 1881 census data, click here .

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