McEntire Occupiers 1858 and 1863

Richard Griffith undertook the Primary Valuation of Ireland in the mid-1800s.  This valuation, which is commonly referred to as Griffith's Valuation, is a unified, country-wide valuation of land and property taken as a result of the Tenement Valuation Act of 1846.  For each county, a "snapshot" was published at a specific point in time between 1848 and 1864, with the date for each county dependent upon the year in which that county was surveyed. (1)

The County Sligo survey was completed on July 7, 1858. (2)  The following is a reproduction of the page which shows the Townland of Lislea, Barony of Leyny, Civil Parish of Kilmacteige, Poor Law Union (Registrar's District (RD)) of Tobercurry, Electoral Division (ED) of Aclare.  Note the occupiers of parcels 7 & 8 are Michael and Patrick McEntire, respectively.

Griffith's Valuation, 1858 -- Click on image to enlarge

Once a tenement's valuation was set, provision was made for an annual revision of the assessment according to Section XXX of the 1846 Act. To carry out the annual revision of a tenement: "... that within Ten Days after the First day of February in each Year after any such Valuation shall be completed and in operation every Collector of Poor Rates within each Poor Law Union ... shall make out and lay before the Board of Guardians ... a list of all the Tenements or Hereditaments* situate within every Townland in the said Union which shall require Revision... ." (3)

The tax collector was expected to include on the list the change of an occupier's name, for example, because of death, migration, emigration, or a change of rate-payer, for example, from father to son or widow to son.  The lessor from whom a holding was rented required a name change when the holding was sold or leased to a new landlord.  When part of a farm was consolidated with another farm, the collector was expected to inform the Board of Guardians; similarly, when a farm was divided, he recorded a need for change on the list. (4)

Below, the Valuation Revision List (5) for Lislea for the years 1859-1863 shows the name Michael McEntire (father of Lawrence McIntyre) with reference #7 and Patrick McEntire with reference #8.  These Revision Lists were later called Cancellation Books, as they were "cancelled" once the next valuation book was started.

The references 7 & 8 as listed in the Valuation Revision list are the same two pieces of property listed in the above original 1858 printed Griffith's Valuation.

Note on the following Valuation Revision sheet Patrick McEntire's entry has a red line through it.  At the end of the line it reads "Fee down, 63."  The 63 refers to 1863 the year the line was drawn through the entry, i.e., Patrick was no longer the occupier.  "Fee down" appears to mean the parcel of land in question does not have an individual who is entitled to inherit the lease. The leases at this time were often written to include "three lives" and were therefore good until the youngest of the three named men gave up the lease and/or died.  

Click on image to enlarge

The fact that Patrick's name is struck on this Valuation Sheet, further supports additional information we have that Patrick and his family emigrated from Ireland to the US in 1863.

The immediate lessor at this time was William Ormsby Gore. In the next Revision list it shows that Arthur O'Hara, Michael O'Hara, Denis O'Hara and John Farrell were the occupiers of parcel #8 and were leasing from William Orsmby Gore.  Note that these four individuals are also noted in parcels 5 & 6 in the above Valuation Revision List as well as Griffith's Valuation of 1858.

The question that remains, were Michael McEntire and Patrick McEntire brothers or cousins?

*Any property that can be inherited.

Sources:
(1) Elizabeth Kelley Kerstens, "Tracking Irish generations in land valuation records," NGS News Magazine, July/August/September, 2005, pg. 55.
(2) James R. Reilly, Richard Griffith and His Valuation of Ireland, Baltimore: Clearfield, 2000, Appendix No. 8, page 78.
(3) Ibid., pg. 43.
(4) Ibid., pg. 43.
(5) Valuation List no. 3, County Sligo, ED Aclare, RD Tobercurry, page 37, 1859-1863, Valuation Office, Dublin, Ireland, viewed and copied July 18, 2011.