In the interest of helping listers with their Irish research, I am going to start off with the INFORMATION POST subjects. I have identified it in the subject line, so you can delete if not interested. I am also encouraging all, to also share any information they may have and also use the subject line to identify your message information like I have done. What makes these two resource important is that in the Irish civil war (1920s) most of the censuses and some church records got destroyed. However, the GV and TA survived and they help us at least narrow down our surnames to what counties they were found in, when we don't know. If we know the county, they help us identify their townland and who else in the area had the same surname. From there, if there are church records available, we can order research to get our source documents/proof. The Griffith's Valuation was conducted between 1848 and 1864. It was a survey done to establish a local tax and it lists each head of household (no one else in the family is mentioned) of the country giving the townland and description of property they occupied and/or leased. The GV has been indexed so searching it for our surnames is fairly easy. There are two online subscription programs: Otherdays.com and OriginsNetwork.com where the GV is indexed and you can actually print and/or copy the page(s). Each have their plus and minuses. I belong to both. There is also a GV Index on CD which I feel the need to caution your use. There are many names missing from it, especially if you are searching County Tipperary where most civil parishes are missing surnames starting with A to L...you can buy the cd, plus there are websites with much of it's info on line. Also, the LDS Family History Library has filmed all of the GV. The Tithe Applotments were conducted between 1823 and 1837 and it was a survey to establish a tax for the Church of Ireland. Since the tithes were only payable on certain types of land, the TA if far from comprehensive. It does not include any urban dwellers, for example. While the surnames have been indexed they are not widely available and are not on CD or on either of the above subscription programs. There is also a list of defaulters from 1831 (those who didn't pay the tithes) and that is on CD but it is far from inclusive since much did not survive, but some did mainly from Counties Tipperary and Kilkenny. The TA have also been filmed by the LDS Family History Library, where they are arranged in alpha order by Civil Parish. The National Library of Ireland have indexed both the GV and the TA and have produced, by county, the 'Index of surnames' also known as the 'Householders Index'. By civil parish, they give the number of times a surname is found in the GV and whether it was found in the TA. They are in books in the NLI and they have been filmed by the LDS Family History Library. You can check what they look like by the one I have transcribed at: http://www.connorsgenealogy.com/LIM/SurnameIndex.htm A free website that can tell you what counties your surname was found in the GV is the Irish Times website at: http://scripts.ireland.com/ancestor/surname/index.cfm However, it doesn't give the townland but it is a helpful start. John Hayes has the GV index on line at: http://members.cox.net/hayes1966/griffiths.htm This would be a good time for those on the list to give the URLs for websites that have the GV and/or TA transcribed. Here is a good start: The Leitrim-Roscommon website has a GV transcription project ongoing for counties: Mayo, Galway, Limerick, Roscommon, and Leitrim: http://www.leitrim-roscommon.com/GRIFFITH/ -- Pat Connors, Sacramento CA http://www.connorsgenealogy.com All outgoing mail virus free, scanned by Norton