Farmers

The 1901 census of Ireland lists 177 male Miller farmers over the age of 20. The non farmer male population 20+ was 751, indicating 23.5% of the Ulster Miller population were farmers. Limiting the calculation to the 9 counties of Ireland, the calculation is very similar with 21.8% of the Miller population engaged directly in farming. This doesn’t take into account those marginally engaged in farming, ag labourers, family members or servants. Many of these individuals were part of the growing mass of “ghost farmers”, those who left the land as urbanization and technological change swept across the landscape. But those that remained on the land still play a role in the story of the Ulster Millers. Farmers can be a valuable indicator of geographic stability. Taken in combination with intensity indexes they can assist in identifying those regions where early Miller families settled.