Kennedys in the 1851 census of Scotland
Authored by Iain Kennedy 16th March 2006
Copyright © 2007 Iain Kennedy
Recently the official Scottish records web site ScotlandsPeople has made available the entire 1851 census, the earliest full online census (there is an 1841 census which is available on microfilm or, in some cases, index booklets). Below is some meta-data similar to that I show elsewhere for the 1851 England census.
Kennedys by county (showing all entries with 100+ Kennedys)
| Lanark | 1296 |
| Glasgow City | 1031 |
| Inverness | 877 |
| Ayr | 735 |
| Perth | 610 |
| Argyll | 523 |
| Midlothian | 393 |
| Angus | 371 |
| Edinburgh City | 360 |
| Renfrew | 360 |
| Dumfries | 349 |
| Aberdeen | 295 |
| Ross and Cromarty | 228 |
| Dundee City | 188 |
| Wigtown | 180 |
| Stirling | 160 |
| Fife | 122 |
| Roxburgh | 109 |
Note that the web site somewhat confusingly lists a separate 'county' for the big cities, so for example the Lanark count includes Glasgow City etc. If we ignore the industrialised urban centre of Glasgow then the top 3 counties are what we would expect - the ancestral county of Ayrshire along with the Highland branch started by Ulrich and its descendants in Perthshire. On the east coast the name is much rarer.
Continuing to focus especially on Perthshire and the Perthshire-Lochaber/Ulrich connection, I list the top Perthshire counties. More analysis will follow when I have tracked all these parishes on the Perthshire parish map of the time. Generally, again as predicted, we are looking at concentration in the NW corner of the county closest to Lochaber, in line with the alleged migration. Unfortunately the century between the failed uprising in 1745 and this early census saw significant depopulation of some of these parishes. In particular Fortingall had lost most of its Kennedys who either went overseas, moved south in Scotland or down to England. Once more I refer interested readers to the excellent online map section of the National Library of Scotland.
All Perthshire parishes with 10+ Kennedys in 1851
| Perth City | 77 |
| Logierait | 60 |
| Aberfeldy | 41 |
| Dull | 41 |
| Moulin | 41 |
| Blairgowrie | 38 |
| Rattray | 38 |
| Auchtergaven | 25 |
| Fortingall | 24 |
| Kilmadock | 24 |
| Moneydie | 23 |
| Redgorton | 23 |
| Muthill | 20 |
| Little Dunkeld | 18 |
| Comrie | 16 |
| Fowlis Wester | 15 |
| Kinnoull | 14 |
| Monzie | 14 |
| Scone | 14 |
| Kirkmichael | 12 |
| Blair Atholl | 11 |
| Dowally | 11 |
| Blackford | 10 |
| Tibbermore | 10 |