Finding Your Ancestor’s Home Site

Step 1 – Finding the ancestor in Griffth’s Primary Valuation (in this case Lot #6)[/caption]One aspect of Irish research I find very attractive is the fact it is possible in many cases to locate the exact home site in Ireland where your ancestors lived. To me this is more personal than being able to trace your ancestors back to the Middle Ages.

As a genealogist, I’ve had the honor of tracing many ancestral home sites for clients. It’s as personal for me as the researcher taking pictures for my clients, as it has been for the client. Now how is locating the exact plot of ground accomplished?

The first step is to realize you need a townland where your ancestors lived.  Tax lists such as Griffith’s Primary Valuation (1847-64) not only provide the lot number within the townland where the house was located, but there are maps showing you where that particular lot was located within the townland. Even if your ancestors immigrated a hundred years before Griffith’s Valuation, it is often still possible to trace a plot of ground into the Griffith’s tax lists.

For me, this is the personal aspect of identifying and then setting foot on the site. Even if it’s only a cow or sheep pasture today, it doesn’t matter to me. I am seeing what the ancestors saw and walking where they walked.

My graphics for this blog feature the sequence of research steps on a case I did in Ballygambon Lower, Whitechurch Parish, County Waterford. It includes finding the family in Griffith’s, working with the Griffith’s Map and then going onsite taking a picture.