Every Sunday Mike Collins' Letter from Ireland arrives in my email box. You, too, can sign up for free and join 30,000 people of Irish ancestry from around the world who subscribe.

The letters are an entertaining mix of stories, and you can see a few samples here.

Yesterday Collins shared "five surprising ways for using the 1901 Irish Census records":

1. Find people who lived in Ireland in the early 1800s -- by searching for people who are 85 years or older in the 1901 census. These would be contemporaries of ancestors who may have emigrated mid-century.
2. Find people who were born outside of Ireland -- by ticking the "show all information box" and looking at the "birthplace" column. 
3. Find visitors on the night of the 1901 census -- by ticking the "show all information box" and looking at "relation to head of household." This query will identify people who were visiting another household when the census was taken.
4. Find police constables (or any other occupation) -- by ticking the "show all information box" and looking at "occupation." More than 2100 people reported being Royal Irish Constables in the 1901 census. A further breakdown can be found by adding the county to your query. 
5. Is my surname Irish, English or Scottish" -- Collins advises you can get a "broad feeling for the names that arrived in Ireland from the time of the plantations from the 1600s onward" by searching for the predominant Protestant religions (Church of Ireland, Presbyterian, Methodist).

The 1901 census is free to research at the National Archives website.  Don't overlook the Help Menu  because, well, it's helpful!