The Griffith Valuation was a survey done in the years from 1848-1864 of everyone who owned and/or rented land in Ireland. Since no census records of Ireland exist for this time period, the Griffith Valuation is of great value in Irish genealogy in that it is the only way of learning who lived where in Ireland at that time.
The map above shows the distribution of the
Garvey surname in Ireland in the mid-1800s as
it appears in the Griffith Valuation of Ireland.
The color of a county indicates how many
Garveys were listed as residing there in the
mid-1800s. Bright green indicates the counties
that had the largest number of Garveys. Lighter
shades of green indicate counties containing fewer
Garveys, while dark gray and light gray indicate
counties with even fewer Garveys. Counties that
contained less than 15 Garveys are not colored -
therefore the map only shows where 85% of the
Garveys were living at that time.
Some of the events described in the historical account refer to the areas over which the Garveys held sway in times before the Norman Invasion of Ireland (late 1100's). Historically speaking, the Griffith Valuation was completed "yesterday" while the Norman Invasion of Ireland was "a long time ago"... But surprisingly, for most of the counties named as being a homeland of a branch of the Garvey family, there is one location in that county in the Griffith Valuation that has an usually large concentration of Garveys. If one is willing to accept the premise that a clustering of Garveys in the mid-1800s may be a reflection of where Garveys were living many centuries before, then it is possible to make some interesting speculations as to where in Ireland some of the oldest Garvey history may be found.
The Valuation shows that the southern part of County Armagh contained a large group of Garveys - most of them near the town of Newtown-Hamilton. These Garveys are likely the descendants of the O'Gairbhith branch of the Garvey name. The Garveys on the Dingle Penninsula in County Kerry are probably the descendants of the O'Garbhain branch of Garveys. The clustering of Garveys around the city of Drogheda may indicate that the Irish name O'Gairbhin had its origins in that area, and in nearby areas straddling the border of Counties Meath and Louth. Likewise the McGarvey (Mac Gairbhith) name seems to originate from a short stretch of coastline in northern County Donegal. These families may have lived in these locations for more than 1000 years.
Unfortunately the historical account gives little detail as to the origins of the greatest bulk of the Garveys found in the Griffith Valuation. A considerable percentage of the Garveys in Ireland in the mid-1800s were found in groups along a large swath across southern County Mayo, northern County Galway, and into northern County Roscommon. County Mayo by itself contained one quarter of the 500 Garveys listed in the Griffith Valuation. Groups of Garveys were also present west of the city of Limerick, and in the western and central sections of County Clare. The origins of these Garveys in relation to the various branches of the Garvey name is not well understood. Early records indicate that these Co Mayo Garveys may be the descendants of the O'Gairbhin branch of Garveys from Co Meath/Louth. What is known is that by the early 1600s Garveys had established "mini-empires" in various areas in southern and central County Mayo (and probably northern Galway). Where they all had come from and how long they'd been there is open to debate. A related line of Garveys settled near Newry in Co Down at about the same time.
For anyone with an interest in Garvey history, Rosemary Garvey's book, Kilkenny to Murrisk is a "must-read".
There was not a single occurrence of "O'Garvey" in the 500+ Garvey listings in the Griffith Valuation. The "O" seems to have been dropped from the Garvey name in the late 1500's to early 1600's.
Only one out of every 2000 Irishmen was a Garvey.
By sometime in the 1860's there were more Garveys in the US than there were in Ireland.
Garvan and Garvin are said to be earlier Anglicizations of the Irish names of the Kerry and Mayo branches of Garveys. It's interesting to look at the distribution of the Garvan/Garvin name in the Griffith Valuation. It may indicate where those branches of Garveys had first settled after leaving their homelands.
The maps below show by county the locations of the civil parishes in which the Griffith Valuation reported a Garvey to be holding land.
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