ARTICLE - TECH TALK, March 6, 1998 Vol. 2, Number 5

By: Rick Roberts

Griffith's Valuation - CD ROM Review

It was pretty exciting around here this morning when Federal Express arrived at our door with brand new review copy of Index To Griffith's Valuation of Ireland, 1848 - 1864, a CD ROM made available to the public today March 6, 1998.

Griffith's Valuation is a particularly important source for anyone undertaking research in Ireland during the mid ninteeth century because the 1851 census of Ireland does not survive.

Richard Griffith, a geologist from Dublin was appointed to the position of Commissioner of Valuation and charged with the responsibility to produce a valuation of the productive capacity of the land and potential rents from buildings so that local taxes could be assessed. His work The Valuation of Ireland was published between 1848 and 1864. It was never intended as a replacement or substitute for a census but fate increased the importance of this document with the loss of the 1851 census.

The records in the original valuation are recorded by county, barony, poor law union, civil parish and townland. Of critical importance to genealogists is that the valuation recorded every land owner and every householder in Ireland. Information in each entry includes:

With the thumb-nail sketch of how the Griffith's valuation came about complete, I'll tear the cellophane off of this CD so we can find out what it does....

The CD works in the same fashion as any of the Broderbund CDs, meaning that you must open Family Tree Maker or the (free) Family Tree Viewer program before you can view your CD. As usual you click on the "Family Find" icon and the CD navigation screen is displayed on your computer screen.

At this point you see a graphic which looks like a book with three tabs. the tabs are clearly marked "Contents", "Introduction", "Records". I usually just jump straight to the "Records" on any CD but there are too many of you watching so I'm going to look at the "Contents" and "Introduction" first.

That was pretty painless. The "Contents" & "Introduction: turned out to be the same thing. The "Contents" is an itemized list of the "Iintroduction". Asking a man to read an introduction is as bad as asking him to stop and ask for direction when out driving.

The "Introduction" does good job of describing what the original Griffith's Valuation contained and why it is important. It also describes the million name index of householders and landowners that is contained in this CD ROM index and how to coordinate your index search of the CD with using microfilm at your archive or Family History Center. Two pieces of information that I thought valuable are:

1) detailed advice on how names are stored (ie Mc, Mac, O', abbreviations, etc )

2) a complete description of what you will find in the Index (ie name, County, Parish, "may find additional information". The additional info seems to cover a wide spectrum: occupation, family trade, name of house, religious affiliation, physical characteristics but the "MAY" sticks in my mind)

One thing I don't like about the "Introduction" is that it is not printable. I think that would be helpful though not critical.

We let's check out the "Records"! When you click on the tab named "Records" an index comes onto the screen. In the bottom portion of the screen is a box where you can type in a name or you can scroll down to a name. With a million names on this CD scrolling is only for checking through a surname when you find it by typing it into the search tool.

The first name I'm going to search is POUNDER. My ggggrandfather emigrated from wexford County Ireland in the early eighteenth century but left two brothers and three sisters behind. I typed POUNDER into the search tool and the index scrolled (or more accurately "snapped") to a list of 16 POUNDERs. The brothers that George POUNDER left behind were Richard and John. The first one I looked up was Richard POUNDER and I was lucky.... there is only one.
The information I got was:

"Name: Richard Pounder
County: Wexford
Parish: St May's Enniscorthy
Location: Slaney Street"

I then printed the record. You can check off a whole series of records that you want to print and then just click the print icon and you have a portable list. You can easily install the record into you family file with the click of your mouse, if you are using Family Tree Maker as your genealogy software.

I checked John POUNDER next and found two of them, both in the same neighborhood. Possibly father & son?

My conclusion on this search is that the index will help me nail down the parish so I can undertake further research. Also gives me a time savings in looking up the original documents on microfilm because I now know exactly where to look rather than searching parish after parish.

The next search I will attempt is for the DEVLIN name. My ggggrandfather is reported to have been born in County Mayo Ireland and so was his father. Wow.... probably 200 DEVLINs and dozens with the same first names that were used in our family line.

One interesting thing though.....hardly any DEVLINs in County Mayo, only five.

I Found a James DEVLIN in County Mayo, Aglish Parish, Castlebar. My ggggrandfather's gravestone says that he was born in "Castlegar". MMMmmm...... Think I'll check these people out on my next trip to the Family History Center.

Summary:
The CD like all of the Broderbund CDs that I have viewed, is easy to use, fast and precise. If you are looking for a single tool where you can solve all of your family research questions in Ireland this isn't it.

However if you are looking for a way to refine your search to a parish or two instead of having to go through all of the Griffith's Valuation microfiche, this will be a highly valuable tool for you.

I particularly like the fact that Broderbund included the street name or townland as the "Location" in their index. By doing that, the search is reduced to a very small area. Streets are usually small area and Irish townlands are very small too. There were about 60,000 townlands at the time so there are few of great size.

Once you have nailed down a location that is as small as a street or townland, you can easily search the original record on fiche ( at a family History Center or Archive) to get the references that will allow you to go to a detailed map and identify the exact piece of land where your ancestor lived or examine surviving parish records.

This CD could save you weeks of time by providing you with access to records which may not be otherwise indexed or dificult to locate.

If I were Siskel & Ebert I'd give this CD Index a two thumbs up!

Click here for ordering information

or call 1 800 361 5168

More New CDs From Broderbund!

Broderbund will announce next week that the long awaited World Family Tree Super Bundle II is going to be available for shipping during the week of March 9, 1998. It is the last item in this list of new and upcoming CD ROM reference media from Broderbund, the producer of Family Tree Maker:

Family History: Colonial Genealogies #1, 1607-1920 (CD# 189)
This Family Archive CD contains images of the pages from all seven volumes of Colonial Families of the United States of America. Originally published by the Genealogical Publishing Company, these volumes contain information about approximately 142,000 individuals.
Click here for more information
or call 1 800 361-5168

Marriage Index: Kentucky, 1851-1900 (CD# 233)
This Family Archive CD contains information on approximately 318,000 individuals who were married in sixty-two Kentucky counties between 1851 and 1900.
Click here for more information
or call 1 800 361-5168

Family Pedigrees: Everton's Computerized Family File, Volume 1 (CD# 12)
This Family Archive CD contains images of family group sheets, which provide information on approximately 389,000 individuals from all fifty United States and around the world (including Canada, England, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Prussia, Scotland, Sweden, and Switzerland
Click here for more information
or call 1 800 361-5168

Birth Index: Eastern Pennsylvania, 1680-1800 (CD# 196)
This Family Archive CD contains alphabetical listings of approximately 465,000 individuals who were born or were parents of children born in Eastern Pennsylvania between 1680 and 1800.
Click here for more information
or call 1 800 361-5168

Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1600s-1800s (CD# 354)
This Family Archive CD contains alphabetical listings of approximately 2,750,000 individuals who arrived in United States ports from the 1600s through the 1800s. It is important for Canadians to check this data because hundreds of thousands of Canadian immigrants arrived via US ports.
Click here for more information
or call 1 800 361-5168

World Family Tree Volume 18, pre-1600 to present (CD# 718)
This CD contains actual family trees contributed by Family Tree Maker customers and other family history enthusiasts. Individuals are named, complete with event dates and family links where known. Some records contain additional source notes and biographical information.
Click here for more information
or call 1 800 361-5168

World Family Tree Super Bundle II
Perhaps the most anticipated bundle yet, this 5-CD set includes World Family Tree Volumes 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12. Buy five CDs for the price of two!
Click here for more information
or call 1 800 361-5168

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