Thanks greatly for the census fragments link. It's quite possible that the 'Easter McLaughlin', servant, or the household of Margaret Russel and her son, may be related to my people. It is such a great pity - as so many people have said before me! - that so little remains of the censuses, and even what we have is fragmentary. And of course 'my' ones could have been in Craigs, Dreen, Cullybackey...
What I suspect is that they were scattered across the three areas but that they were split between Presbyterian and (just maybe) Catholic families. Cullybackey had the Presbyterian church (still does!) and Craigs the official CoI one, hence the name of the parish which extends more broadly. I was visiting there in the pouring rain last month, on my way from Derry to the Larne ferry, and got a few photos.
Even the wee bit of census gives a sense of the area - farming and linen weaving. Cullybackey was a centre for the making of linen shirts... And from my lot, Andrew Russell, the father of Elizabeth who married Robert McLaughlin around 1835, was a bleachfield labourer.
Thanks again. I'll hope that somebody has access to the GV and can let me know the details from that, of rateable values etc, which may help to give an idea further to this.
Jenny
