(Notes on Dr. James Ryan’s lecture on Irish genealogy
together with an overview of Irish sources at the Clayton Library)
by John Dorroh, August 1997
On June 8, 1997, Dr. James Ryan spoke to Clayton Library Friends at a special seminar on research in Ireland. Ryan is director of BioResearch Ireland, a biochemical research company, and was in Houston for a special international convention. He is also publisher of Flyleaf Press and an international speaker on the subject of Irish genealogy.
Ryan began with a brief history of Ireland and the different races that have invaded it: the Celts, the Normans, the Scots, and finally, the English. Ireland’s history is interwoven with its relations with and struggles against powerful neighbors to the east. Ryan pointed out that each group had left its particular mark on the surnames of Ireland. The well-known Irish surname Fitzgerald contains the Norman fitz meaning “son of” and is derived from the Norman-French fils which, in turn, comes from the Latin filius, meaning “son.”
A popular misconception about Irish research is that all records were burned in the Public Records Office fire in Dublin in 1922. It is true that all the registered wills and many church parish records were destroyed in the fire, but abstracts had been made of these wills, so that the important genealogical information has been preserved. Deeds were recorded centrally in Dublin since 1708; these are all extent. Many court records and church records are also still in existence in Dublin and Belfast, and many local records are available at the county and parish level.
Several major sources for researchers exist for Ireland. Probably the best known is Griffith’s Valuation. Other nation-wide sources are the Tithe Applotment Books, the Hearth Money Rolls, and the national censuses, two of which remain in their entirety: 1901 and 1911. Dr. Ryan discussed each of these and how to use them. He also discussed the guides to Irish genealogy and the periodicals available, particularly Tony McCarthy’s Irish Roots.
On Thursday after his talk, Dr. Ryan visited Clayton Library and was given a tour by manager Marje Harris. Looking over the Irish section of Clayton’s foreign collection, he declared that it was one of the best he had seen outside of Ireland. He found one book that is very rare and hardly to be found in Ireland.
A national system of taxation of real estate was established in Ireland by the Tenement Act of 1842. The tax was to be assessed on estimated value of the real property of each landholder and leaseholder. Surveys were done beginning in the 1840s recording these individuals by name and appraising their property. Richard Griffith was the national supervisor of this undertaking, which was officially known as the “Primary Valuation of Tenements” and is now generally referred to as Griffith’s Valuation.
The valuation was done by subdivision of county, barony, civil parish, and townland. For example, George Doragh is found in County Antrim, the barony of Lower Antrim, the civil parish of Connor, and the village of Connor. The report is arranged in a chart with the point of reference on the Ordinance Survey map, the name of the land or leaseholder, the immediate lessor, total acreage, and valuation. Sometimes other details were provided such as the name of the male tenant’s father. This was done to distinguish between people of the same name, such as William Doragh, son of James, and William Doragh, son of George. Functions of specific plots of land are noted, such as house, garden, store, school, or graveyard.
A map of baronies and parishes is found at the beginning of each county’s records. Then there is an alphabetical index to each county surname showing the page of each landholder or leaseholder for both Griffith’s Valuation and for the Tithe Applotment Books. And good news for all researchers using Griffith’s—the records are in typewritten form!
To further ascertain the location of your ancestor in Griffith’s Valuation, a book is available to pinpoint each townland in the valuation: Alphabetical Index to the Townlands and Towns, Parishes, and Baronies of Ireland (GEN 941.5 G326 IRE). Griffith’s Valuation itself is on microfiche in cabinet 70, drawer 10.
The tithe, in this context, was an assessment on church members to provide money for the upkeep of the church. In many rural areas, tithes were paid in kind until the early nineteenth century when Parliament required tithes to be paid in money. Tithe Applotment surveys were conducted from 1823 to 1837 in each civil parish to determine the amounts due from landholders. These records are on microfilm and found at Clayton Library in cabinet 66, drawers 10 and 11. From a cursory examination, it appears that different counties have different information. Columnar headings for the applotment from County Tipperary are the tithepayers’ names, the size of holdings in acres, the quality of the land rated numerically from 1 to 9, the rate per acre, the total, and “observations.” In County Clare, reports are separated into two categories of tithes: vicarial tithes and tithes of the holy rectory.
A much earlier census of Ireland can be found in the ten-volume set, The Civil Survey A.D. 1654-1656 (GEN 941.5 I68 IRE). This civil survey was ordered by the English Parliament in conjunction with the allotment of Irish land to satisfy obligations for soldiers’ pay. The survey records information obtained from inhabitants and relates to geographical, proprietorial, and economic matters. Not all of this survey has survived.
Edward MacLysaght has written several accounts of Irish surnames, all of which are found at Clayton Library (GEN 941.5 M166 IRE). Titles include Irish Families, More Irish Families, Supplement to Irish Families, and A Guide to Irish Surnames.
For the more advanced researcher, there are two other works of interest. The first is the three-volumes of Irish court records published in James Mills’ Calendar of the Justiciary Rolls... (GEN 941.5 I65 IRE). These are reprints of court proceedings in Ireland from 1295 to 1314, during the reign of Edward I of England. The second is Michael A. O’Brien’s Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae (GEN 941.5 O13 IRE), which contains pedigrees and other genealogical material from the earliest literary period up to 1500. This latter work is drawn from manuscript sources and, in particular, the twelfth-century Oxford manuscript designated Rawlinson B.502. The majority of reports in this book are in Gaelic.
A listing of all of Clayton’s material on Irish research is indeed beyond the scope and intention of this report, but the following are some that are noteworthy and should be consulted by the researcher: