If only it had been taken in Scotland!

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Thrall
Posts: 388
Joined: Fri Aug 26, 2005 4:34 pm
Location: Reykjavík

If only it had been taken in Scotland!

Post by Thrall » Thu Apr 09, 2009 4:15 pm

Just wishful thinking, but would it not have been useful to have in Scotland the resource available in Iceland - a census from 1703, which was the first national census ever taken in any country, with name, age, and occupation.

I intended to post yesterday as it was on taken on the 8th. April 1703 but had a senior moment.

On the other hand, it was not commissioned for good reasons, but to assess the extent of poverty and starvation after years of plague and volcanic eruptions.

All known Icelanders who live or lived in the past eleven hundred years or so, and been recorded are now available online, together with the relation to the inquirer. If I do a search however for myself, only two names appear, those of my bairns, my only blood relatives here, being myself an immigrant from Scotland.

Anyway, "if only".... :wink:

Guid hunting,

Thrall
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LesleyB
Posts: 8184
Joined: Fri Mar 18, 2005 12:18 am
Location: Scotland

Post by LesleyB » Sat Apr 11, 2009 11:44 pm

Hi Thrall
would it not have been useful to have in Scotland the resource available in Iceland - a census from 1703, which was the first national census ever taken in any country, with name, age, and occupation.
If only.... :roll:
how very thoughtful of Iceland! :lol:

Best wishes
Lesley
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Thrall
Posts: 388
Joined: Fri Aug 26, 2005 4:34 pm
Location: Reykjavík

Post by Thrall » Sun Apr 12, 2009 2:27 am

Hi Lesley, it was actually the Danish king Frederick IV who commissioned it to salve his conscience, with all the starving, death, and lack of profits in Iceland!

Guid hunting,

Thrall
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