In answer to question of exactly what years the Valuations were done in each County, here's some info from my files; INDEX of SURNAMES of HOUSEHOLDERS ================================= Richard J.Hayes, Edward Keane; National Library of Ireland. [Typescript lists of surnames of householders and occupiers of land and buildings in Ireland in the 19th Century; as recorded in the Tithe Applotment Books or TABs, and in the Griffith Valuation. They are available in the National Library and the National Archives. The Griffith fiche indexes A-IH and AJM are alphabetical full name indexes to the Griffith Valuation records only, and do not include entries in the TABs; some are available in the National Archives]. These 35 volumes are very often the first port of call when researching an Irish surname of whatever original ancestry. If the family were farmers or town house occupiers then there is a reasonable chance of the head of the family being listed in one of these two sources, as indicated by an entry or entries in the surnames indexes. The volumes are arranged in sections, the most important being the main primary index which lists all surnames by barony, with an indication of the number of households in the Griffith Valuation, and whether or not a name appears in the TABs. Then there are a series of Parish indexes for each barony. For example, if all you know is that your ancestor was a Daniel Dempsey married to a Margaret Sinnott and they came from Co.Cork about 1850, then there are three volumes to be searched. The name Dempsey is found in each volume - widely scattered throughout the county; a total of 98 occupiers of the name in the Griffith Valuation of 1850-3. There are variant spellings of the surname, e.g. Dempsay and Dempsy. However, there is one single entry for the name Sinnott, in the civil parish of Kilworth, in the Barony of Condons & Clangibbon, in the volume for Cork East. This illustrates very nicely the usefulness of this resource. The next stage of research is to concentrate on the records relating to the parish to try and find Daniel and Margaret and their forebears! Consulting the Griffith Valuation, the name Patrick Sinnott is found and it is reasonable to assume (as a working hypothesis) that he must be the father or brother of Margaret! Of course, proving this is another matter, but anyone who has done any genealogical research will immediately recognise that even this amount of information is of great value. Naturally, there are limits. For example, in the case of the Cork volumes, it would be fruitless to even try and use them to find a McCarthy/Murphy alliance. The best that could be obtained from the exercise would be to quantify the problem numerically (there are 2,758 entries for the name McCarthy and variant spellings!) - but in such a case, the basic problem is that the couple could have come from any part of the county so that other resources must be tapped to try and find them. ============================================================== --------------------- END PAGE 8 OF 10 ------------------------- ============================================================== County Published Griffith TABs Notes ------ --------- -------- ---- ----- Antrim 1970 1861-62 1824-35 (A-IH fiche) Armagh 1967 1864 1825-35 Belfast City n/a 1861-62 cf.Antrim (A-IH fiche) Carlow 1960 1852-53 1821-37 (A-IH fiche) Cavan 1965 1856-57 1824-45 Clare 1964 1855 1814-43 Cork SW 1963 1850-52 1824-35 (A-IH fiche) Cork E 1963 1851-53 1824-34 (A-IH fiche) Cork NW 1963 1851-52 1825-34 (A-IH fiche) Derry 1969 1858-59 1825-35 (aka Londonderry) Donegal 1967 1857-58 1825-41 Down 1968 1863-64 1823-41 (A-IH fiche) Dublin Co. 1967 1848-52 1821-46 Dublin City n/a 1854 cf.Co. (A-IH fiche) Fermanagh 1968 1862 1824-35 (A-IH fiche) Galway 1964 1855 1824-50 Kerry 1963 1852 1823-40 Kildare 1961 1851 1824-42 Kilkenny 1961 1849-50 1823-40 Laois 1961 1850-51 1821-43 (aka Leix,Queen's) Leitrim 1965 1856 1829-35 Limerick 1963 1850-52 1822-35 (A-IH fiche) Longford 1966 1854 1823-35 (A-IH fiche) Louth 1966 1854 1823-36 Mayo 1964 1851-57 1815-42 (AJM fiche) Meath 1966 1854 1823-37 Monaghan 1966 1858-61 1823-34 (A-IH fiche) Offaly 1961 1853-54 1823-36 (aka King's) Roscommon 1965 1852-58 1824-53 Sligo 1965 1858 1824-36 Tipperary SR 1962 1850-1 1809-46 (A-IH fiche) Tipperary NR 1962 1848-52 1815-34 (A-IH fiche) Tyrone 1968 1858-62 1815-34 Waterford 1962 1848-51 1820-34 (A-IH fiche) Westmeath 1966 1854 1803-62 Wexford 1960 1853 1823-37 Wicklow 1960 1852-4 1822-38 (AJM fiche) NOTES: ===== The NLI Indexes do not include Dublin City or Belfast City. There are alternative directories available in both cases; but these would not include the same range of occupier names as Griffith. Although the range of dates extends over the period 1848-64, most Griffith Valuations date to the 1850s; and they cover roughly 70-80 per cent of the occupiers of property in Ireland. The published valuation records are available on paper and in microfiche format. The dates of the Tithe Applotment Books or TABs depend on the parishes. The range of dates extends over the period 1803-62. However, most of them date to the 1820s and 1830s. ============================================================== --------------------- END PAGE 9 OF 10 ------------------------- ============================================================== For some parishes more than one TAB is available, or there are none available, or they are undated, or list large landholders only, or only give names for some townlands, or only list townland names and not the occupiers, or are torn and difficult to read, or only part of the parish was titheable, or the surviving book(s) cover only part of the parish. Nevertheless, they are overall a very important census substitute covering most of Ireland before the Great Famine. Once a particular family has been found in the Griffith records, the transfer of ownership of the property can be traced in the Valuation Office records in Dublin. This office has a set of 'cancelled books' which show how property was transferred from one owner to the next from the 1850s to the present day. However, this can be a relatively expensive exercise, and it is often more cost effective (and more enjoyable!) to simply visit the area and ask the local inhabitants!