John Ginty, Griffith's Valuation, 1855-1857

In an effort to value Ireland's land to secure an unbiased and equitable tax base for the wealthy and poor alike, Richard Griffith completed his monumental undertaking in the mid-1800s to collect specific valuation details to enable grand juries and Poor Law Guardians to set their tax rates. During the plotting of a tenement, the surveyor asked the occupant or the landlord, "What is the rent?" and "How is the tenement held [i.e., by lease, by the year, owned]? and entered these details in his notebook.

The Tenement Valuation in county Mayo began in 1855 and was completed in 1857. In the Civil Parish of Killasser, Townland of Carrowbeg, John Ginty, Mary Ginty's father, is listed as leasing land, a house and office/she from Edward Baxter. Edward Baxter, the owner of the land, lived in Dundee, Scotland and owned a total of 2,151 acres of land situated in County Mayo. John Ginty, for his property, paid an annual valuation of £8.