Griffith Valuations - accuracy of the dates given.

[dtcoulson]

Hi people.

According to Wikipedia, the Griffith Valuation for Leitrim was completed on 6 July 1857. It would be very easy to assume that the details contained in that part of the survey were accurate for the year stated (1857), but in fact some of the data may have been collected a few years earlier and may even have been out of date by the time the survey was published.

I ask this because I have an ancestor who was in England by 1851 (census year) but his name is listed at a property in Leitrim in 1856-57. It may be my ancestor or it may be someone else with his name.

My questions:

() Does anyone know how long it would have taken to survey a county such as Leitrim?

() Is it too much of a stretch to ponder that data assigned to 1856-57 may have come from field work predating 1851?

Am also thinking of other complicating factors. As a tenant, he might have been obliged to honour a contract of (say) five years even if he abandoned the place early in that contract period. His name thus could be linked to that property long after he left. Wishful thinking, perhaps, but is there evidence to support this?


-DC

[Elwyn Soutter]

My understanding from various lectures I have attended is that the information was gathered in the 6 to 9 months prior to publication.

However I have come across people whose names are still shown long after they had died or emigrated. So not every change was recorded promptly or at all.  If he was a farmer then he might have sub-let (perhaps informally) and his name might still appear. If he was a labourer then most labourers were on at-will leases and easy enough to give them up. So a labourer is less likely to still be listed 6 or 7 years after he left.

The Valuation Revision records (also known as the Cancelled Books) should show how long his name remained against that property. They are in the Valuation office in Dublin. (Not on-line yet as far as I know). You could contact them to obtain that information.

https://www.tailte.ie/valuation/archive-research/

[Jon_ni]

Results were published by Union rather than County so the exact date of publication may vary slightly within one. Findmypast show the date of publication, or access the title page via this method https://www.johngrenham.com/blog/2017/02/06/how-to-date-griffiths-valuation-precisely/

You could try some of the Pre-publication data on NAI
https://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/valuation-books.html
http://census.nationalarchives.ie/search/vob/home.jsp

[Wexflyer]

Hi people.

According to Wikipedia, the Griffith Valuation for Leitrim was completed on 6 July 1857. It would be very easy to assume that the details contained in that part of the survey were accurate for the year stated (1857), but in fact some of the data may have been collected a few years earlier and may even have been out of date by the time the survey was published.

I ask this because I have an ancestor who was in England by 1851 (census year) but his name is listed at a property in Leitrim in 1856-57. It may be my ancestor or it may be someone else with his name.

My questions:

() Does anyone know how long it would have taken to survey a county such as Leitrim?

() Is it too much of a stretch to ponder that data assigned to 1856-57 may have come from field work predating 1851?

Am also thinking of other complicating factors. As a tenant, he might have been obliged to honour a contract of (say) five years even if he abandoned the place early in that contract period. His name thus could be linked to that property long after he left. Wishful thinking, perhaps, but is there evidence to support this?


-DC

The VO materials preceding the published Griffith's are available online at the NAI. Have you examined that collection? [Edit - I see Jon_ni has already suggested that].

Speaking of my knowledge of the printed versions for Co. Wexford:
- The original data might have been collected a few years earlier, but the published version was based on a revision that was clearly less than a year old.
- That said, the published version and all subsequent revisions would have relied upon someone speaking up and volunteering something like "old Johnny has gone to his reward.."  If they simply paid up and said nothing, then I can imagine a name remaining on the books for many years. I think I have one example in my family where a fellow's name remained on the books for 20+ years after his death. But that is unusual.

[Wexflyer]

The Valuation Revision records (also known as the Cancelled Books) should show how long his name remained against that property. They are in the Valuation office in Dublin. (Not on-line yet as far as I know). You could contact them to obtain that information.

https://www.tailte.ie/valuation/archive-research/

The cancelled books were all available on microfilm from the LDS over 20 years ago.

[Jon_ni]

Havn't read anything from Claire Santry or elsehere about the Cancelled/Revision books this year. On her 'Toolkit' site she says:

The Cancelled Books and the Current Land Books for the Republic of Ireland are available to personal callers at the Valuation Office. They are not online. The collection is gradually being scanned, county by county. As each county is finished, the manuscript books are being moved to storage and visitors are offered only the scanned copies to view on computer terminals.
At October 2022, nineteen counties and three cities had been scanned, so the project is at least three-quarters completed.
The Valuation Office plans to complete the digitisation and upload the searchable copies to an online database by the end of 2023. This database, will be free to access.

Obviously it is close to end 2023 now but the Valuation Office site gives no news and Leitrim is not one of the Counties they state as available to browse digitally yet in their office. The project has been on the go since 2014.
https://www.tailte.ie/valuation/archive-research/genealogy/
https://www.irishgenealogynews.com/2020/03/final-push-to-scan-rois-valuation.html
https://www.irishgenealogynews.com/2021/06/irelands-vo-revision-books-one-year-to.html
https://www.irishgenealogynews.com/2022/02/valuation-offices-revision-books.html