IRISH GENEALOGY

BY BOB SPEARING

EBAY VENDOR FCBOUTIQUE

Tracing your Irish Roots can be difficult because all of the Irish Censuses from 1841 when they began to 1891 have been lost to fire, stupidity and political turmoil.

What records do exist are often hard to find-BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND.

1. GRIFFITH'S VALUATION 1848-1864

Between 1848 and 1864, Sir Richard Griffith undertook a tax survey of Ireland. The Valuation is arranged by county, barony, poor law union, civil parish, townland and lists every landholder and every householder in Ireland over a 17 year period. Only Griffith's Valuation remains as a census of the Irish population in the mid-1800s.

By using these censuses you can find the first and last name of an ancestor, find out the amount of land they possessed and see who their neighbors were within acres.

The census does not list family members unless they were occupying their own land or leasing it to or renting from another family member.

It does not list wives or children or ages of individuals. Widows are often listed.

2. THE TITHE APPLOTMENT OF 1828-1837

Between 1828 and 1837, a tax survey of Ireland was taken that predates by a generation the Griffith's Valuation Tax Census which began in 1848.  The Tithe Applotment is arranged by county, barony and civil parish and lists every landholder in Ireland over a 9 year period.

By using these censuses you can find the first and last name of an ancestor, find out the amount of land they possessed and see who their neighbors were within acres.

The census does not list family members unless they were occupying their own land or leasing it to or renting from another family member.

It does not list wives or children or ages of individuals. Widows are often listed.

3. THE HOUSEHOLDER INDEX FOR GRIFFITHS VALUATION AND THE TITHE APPLOTMENT

THEN..............

SOMEONE HAD THE GOOD SENSE TO MAKE A LIST FIRST BY COUNTY, THEN BARONY THEN CIVIL PARISH AND ALPHABETICALLY LIST THE LAST NAME (SURNAME) ONLY (NO FIRST NAMES) OF EVERY MALE TENANT IN THOSE PARISHES, BARONIES & UNIONS IN THE GRIFFITHS & THE TITHE AND THEN BETTER YET, AFTER THOSE SURNAMES, PUT THE LETTER T OR G OR BOTH SOMETIMES TO SHOW THAT IN A CERTAIN YEAR OR YEARS THOSE SURNAMES WOULD BE FOUND IN THE ACTUAL TITHE APPLOTMENT OR GRIFFITH'S VALUATION IF YOU HAD SOMEONE LIKE ME TO SEARCH FOR YOU.

4. COMING SOON

 PASSENGER SHIP LISTS

 THE BOSTON PILOT

 U.S. , CANADIAN & BRITISH CENSUSES

 BIRTH CERTIFICATES

 MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES

 THE MORMON DATABASES

 IRISH LAND DEEDS

 GERTRUDE THRIFT'S EXTRACTS

 THE 1901 & 1911 IRISH CENSUSES