Lists of freeholders, voters and freemen can sometimes be a worthwhile genealogical resource to use. However, this can depend on the socio-economic standing of your ancestors. In Ireland, a large majority of the population was disenfranchised, primarily based on religious affiliation and land ownership.
When it comes to research on a particular name this can be negated by the monetary and economic success of particular people who had that name. The entry below comes from page 19 of a list of freeholders and freemen who voted in the 1770s in Dublin.[1]
The vote itself took place from 13-30 December 1773 with names compiled from the original poll book.[2] As usual, very few instances of the Buggy name is listed. In this case it is one, a Thomas Buggy who worked as a barber.
The reason for the election was to find a successor to the Marquis of Kildare who had become the Duke of Leinster. The candidates were Redmond Morres and Alderman Benjamin Geale.[3] Redmond Morres received 1564 votes and Benjamin Geale received 1478. As a result Morres was elected to the Irish parliament by 86 votes.[4]
[1] Unknown. 1774. An alphabetical list of the freeholders and freemen, who voted on the late election of a member to represent the city of Dublin in Parliament. Dublin: Joseph Sheppard, Stephens Green. Sourced from Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Gale, http://find.galegroup.com via New York Public Library, accessed 21 February 2011.
[2] Ibid. p.1
[3] Ibid. p.2
[4] Ibid. p.41
