Small Sources 24. This small list shows 30 Labourers on the Devonshire Estate, Lismore, Co. Waterford in 1850. Lists of workmen are useful as they tend to be difficult to find in the records. The list below is a composite of names extracted from several related documents in a file of accounts of the Devonshire Estate in the National Library of Ireland. These show the dates worked and payments made to each worker on dates in 1850. Most are also tenants on the estate and paying their rent through labour. This was a very common practice in Ireland at the time. A full description of this practice, and other aspects of rental formats and content, including the useful family information rentals can provide is in our blog Rentals as a resource for Irish family history.

The names are listed as spelled, and with the abbreviations used, e.g. Michl. = Michael, Wm. = William etc. The originals are in National Library of Ireland Ms. 43,760/1. Most of the names are common in Waterford including Power, Walsh, Sheehan, Ryan and Lyons.
The image of the document below was created by Ancestor Network in the National Library of Ireland and reproduced here through their courtesy. If you need help in following up on anything related to this source, or any other Irish research, you can outline your requirements here and we will let you know what we might be able to do for you. Ancestor Network will offer 1 free hour of research by a professional researcher to conduct further research on these individuals, or on other tenants of this estate. We can also obtain images of the original documents. Click here and quote ‘Waterford SS24’ in the subject line.
John Power
Wm. Ahern
Jas. Nugent (Neugant in 1 list)
Michl. Roach
Ned Neil
Michl. Walsh
Thos Sheehan
James Lee
Patt Ryan
Michl. Flail
Mary Lyons
Alley Ahern
Peggy Sweeney
Mary Riley
Peggy Lyons (Peg in some lists)
Peggy Bryan (Peg in some lists)
Pat Walsh
James Mansfield
Morris Power
Dainel Brayan
Dick Broderick
Nelly Falley
Narey Falley
Mary Colman
John Landers
Darby Griffin
Pat Colliert
James Ferguson
James Conners
Mick Ryan
Further articles in our series on Irish Family History sources include:
- Petty Sessions– the records of local courts
- Catholic Church records
- Grand Jury Presentments – records of local councils on payments for public works and staff
- Rentals – management of tenants by estates and the records created
- Middle names – the use (or non-use) of second or middle names in Irish records
- How comprehensive are Irish Civil Records?
- Census returns in Gaelic or Irish language
- 70+ blogs with names extracted from manuscript sources from many counties (including Cork). A handy map index to these is available here