Cancelled Books for the district of Dunmanway at the Valuation Office, Dublin –

Today visited the Valuation Office, at the Irish Life Centre, Dublin to photograph the Cancelled Books for the district (town) of Dunmanway (North and South), Co. Cork, as part of my continuing research into property holdings of the McCarthy family with the Civil Parish of Fanlobbus.

While the Cork County books have been scanned in full, the complete collection is gradually being digitized, county by county. Currently, these scanned copies can either be viewed on computer terminals, or printed at €1 a page!… I went through the process of shooting the books for 1859–1880, so to have digital copies and be able to view offsite in my own time. There are three different year-sets bound in this single first volume, so it not only took me about four hours to capture the pages… I got a crick in my neck for my efforts. I also made a start on a second volume dated 1880–1907.

Index page from the 1859 Cancelled book, with the recorder’s copperplate hand adding a sense of personality and period to the fragile page.

I had been to the Valuation Office twice before in 2015 and 2016 to photograph sections on Kilbarry and the town with particular focus on the properties linked to Owen Charles McCarthy. But this time the visit was also prompted by my interest in other people of the town, particularly the merchant, Timothy McCarthy (circa 1812 – 1893). I am in the process of investigating this Timothy, as the name appears several times in relation to my family. Firstly, the name as Witness for my paternal great-great grandfather Eugene McCarthy’s wedding in February 1870 to Hanna Mc Sweeny. The same name shows up then again connected to lands that were once in the possession of Owen Charles, post the latter’s passing. Notably those are on Castle street, and a three-story store house located behind Owen Charles’s residence in the Market Square.

Since the visit to the Valuation Office, I have sorted the images in order. The next stage I aim to compile a list of Owen Charles McCarthy’s holdings, and those he left in inheritance to his immediate family, as well as those linked to the merchant Timothy McCarthy. This will give an idea of the exact amount of lots held, and their overall value. I also hope that it will help me towards finding if there is a family connection between these two men, or were they just business partners, or was it purely coincidental that both men were named McCarthy.