Hi gang,
Several people have asked me about Griffith's Valuation. Here is an FAQ I
made up a while back for use on a website. You can also read about it here:
<A
HREF="http://scripts.ireland.com/ancestor/browse/records/land/index....
nd Records / Land / The Records / Browse / IrÉ</A>
http://scripts.ireland.com/ancestor/browse/records/land/index.htm
FAQs about Griffith's Valuation
Q. I keep hearing people talk about Griffith's Valuation. What is it?
A. Griffith's Valuation was a survey or valuation done for the purpose of
taxation of property. The Primary (first) Valuation was published from 1848
to 1864, depending on the county. It lists the occupiers of land and is
arranged by county, barony, poor law union, civil parish, and townland.
Q. When was it done?
A. Here are the dates Griffith's Valuation was published for each county.
Antrim 1861-62 Armagh 1864 Carlow 1852-53
Cavan 1856-57 Clare 1855 Cork 1851-53
Derry 1858-59 Donegal 1857 Down 1863-64
Dublin 1848-51 Fermanagh 1862 Galway 1855
Kerry 1852 Kildare 1851 Kilkenny 1849-50
Laois 1851-52 Leitrim 1856 Limerick 1851-52
Longford 1854 Louth 1854 Mayo 1856-57
Meath 1855 Monaghan 1858-60
Offaly 1854 Roscommon 1857-58
Sligo 1858 Tipperary 1851 Tyrone 1851
Waterford 1848-51 Westmeath 1854
Wexford 1853
Q. My great-great grandfather lived in Cork in 1850. Will he be listed?
A. As you can see from the list above, Cork was done in 1851-53, so he might
be listed---but only if he was the head of a household and leasing land. If
he was a child or a single man living with his father or married brother,
he would not.
Q. What information does the Valuation give?
A. For each townland, it lists the name of the head of the household, the
name of the person the land is leased from ("immediate lessor"), a
description of the property (whether land, houses and land, etc.) references
for the Ordnance Survey map, acerage and the assessed value.
Q. Will it tell me ages and birthplace, like a census?
A. No. This Valuation was never meant to be used as a census, and if the
censuses had survived, it would be of little genealogical worth. But it does
list the names of the head of the family occupying each farm in a townland.
In some parts of Ireland, where a surname was common, the valuator attempted
to differentiate between two men of the same name by including the father's
name in parentheses. An example of this is : Michael Sullivan (John), Michael
Sullivan (Patrick). Sometimes the word Senior or Junior is in parentheses,
but this does not necessarily mean the men are father and son, as it was
sometimes used to designate the older and the younger of two men.
Q. Where can I get it?
A. Copies of the valuation have been printed in bound volumns and are widely
available in large libraries. The printed version has been microfilmed and is
available for rental from the LDS through their Family History Centers.
Q. Is it indexed?
A. There are indexes. The Householders Index, available on microfilm from
the LDS, gives the occurrences of a surname in a particular parish of a
county. It is of most use with uncommon names.
There is also a CD-ROM index published by Broderbund. It lists every
householder listed in the Valuation, giving parish and townland. (However,
there are errors and omissions, and names are not always spelled the way one
would expect.)
Q. I found a man with the same name as my ancestor in Griffith's Valuation.
How can I be sure it is really my ancestor?
A. You can't-- unless you find other evidence. Once you have the parish and
townland, your next step might be to find out whether there are church
records available. Then search those church records for corroborating
evidence, such as a marriage or a baptism.
Q. What else can it tell me?
A. Once you have narrowed your search to a particular townland and a
particular farm, it is often possible to trace living descendants of those
occupiers. The Primary Valuation was revised regularly, and the books
containing those revaluations are available at the National Archives or at
PRONI. They often show the date land transferred (by death, or because
someone emigrated). These books have also been filmed and are available
though the LDS.
Q. Any other advice on using it?
A. Pay attention to the names of the neighbors who lived in the same
townland or in neighboring townlands. Families tended to marry very close to
home; therefore, other clues that you have found the right area is the
existence of a wife's maiden name or the name of a baptismal sponsor on a
nearby farm.
Janet C-S