Distribution of Waldrons
in Mid-Nineteenth Century Ireland

[From The Waldron Journal, No. 2, 1996]

by Paul Waldron

The surname Waldron is the subject of considerable research, investigation and theorising. The purpose of this article is not to evaluate the merits and failings of any of the schools of thought regarding the origins of the name and family, rather to contribute to the overall debate by presenting, for the first time, maps showing the distribution of Waldron families throughout Ireland at a particular point in time - in this case, the mid-nineteenth century.

Some surname experts tell us that the name Waldron is borne by a number of completely unrelated families, who adopted the surname under different circumstances; others say that all those bearing the surname are possibly descended from the same stock, but that their origins have been forgotten or disguised over the years. Whatever the truth, the accompanying maps show exactly where there were Waldron families in Ireland in the middle of the nineteenth century.

Source material

The General Valuation of Rateable Property in Ireland, commonly called "Griffith's Valuation", was compiled between the years 1848 and 1864 to determine the amount of rates (a property-based tax) payable by every land-holder in the country. The surname index to this invaluable record: the earliest, most complete listing of land-holders in the country, was provided the data used in the construction of these maps. There is an index for each county in Ireland, and they show the number of occurrences of a surname, barony by barony. To render these maps more accurate, once the baronies were located in which Waldrons occurred, the more precise locations of their holdings were discovered by searching through the relevant returns in the printed valuations for each barony, which enabled the parish and townland of each Waldron land-holder / family to be discovered.

The following variations were taken to be reference to Waldron: Waldren, Waldrin, Walder and Waldon. The consistent use of the variant "Walder" in County Roscommon is of particular note and probably signifies that the official charged with collecting or collating the data from County Roscommon was more sympathetic to the local spoken pronunciation of the surname, whereas his colleague in Mayo used Waldron consistently as the accepted standard form of the name.

To give the names of each Waldron landholder, and their precise address is beyond the scope of this paper, but hopefully such a list will be published in a future issue of this Journal.

Trends / Distribution

Certainly the Ballyhaunis area has by far the greatest concentration of the name, but there are other "pockets" of Waldrons throughout the country: one, scattered through County Galway, with concentrations in Tuam and the general Creggs / Athleague area on the Galway Roscommon borders. Another "pocket", in counties Kildare and Wicklow and in Dublin is of note, though, whether these Waldrons and those of Connaught are of the same ancestry has not been full established with certainty; this question will, no doubt, be discussed in greater depth in future issues of The Waldron Journal.

Completeness of the Picture

Only a small minority of people (heads of household) were omitted from the printed version of the General Valuation, so, it gives the earliest "complete" picture of the location and distribution of families and surnames in Ireland. However, at least three Waldrons known to their descendants were not listed in the printed Valuation; one of these (Patrick Waldron of Grallagh) was mentioned in the manuscript valuations, but the other two (Thomas Waldron of Coolnaha South and James Waldron of Killeen, both in the parish of Aghamore), were not.

The General Valuation was compiled immediately after the Great Famine (1845-9) and so reflects a population much more depleted than before. How much greater the number would have been before those disastrous few years will never be known, though the overall distribution of the name would probably be little different.

Conclusion

The main conclusion to be drawn from these distribution maps is that the Ballyhaunis area is definitely the Stronghold of the Waldrons in Ireland. The Waldrons in the adjoining portions of Counties Roscommon and Galway are probably of the same stock, but the Waldrons of Counties Wicklow, Dublin and the midland Counties may be of a different origin. Research by a number of individuals, including June Waldron-Barker, Liam Waldron, Dr. Paddy Waldron T.C.D. and the present writer, trying to establish whether all the Waldrons in Ireland and England are of the one stock, or whether several totally unrelated families happened to end up with the same surname, continues fervently.

Counties containing Waldrons in the General Valuation, with the year of valuation: Down 1863-4, Dublin County 1848-52, Dublin City 1854, Galway 1855, Kerry 1852, Kildare 1851, Kilkenny 1849-50, Laois 1850-1, Leitrim 1856, Limerick 1850-2, Longford 1854, Mayo 1851-7, Meath 1854, Offaly 1853-4, Roscommon 1852-8, Tipperary: North Riding 1848-52, South Riding 1850-1 and Wicklow 1852-4,

Counties where no Waldrons were recorded in the General Valuation: Antrim, Armagh, Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Derry, Donegal, Fermanagh, Louth, Monaghan, Sligo, Tyrone, Waterford, Westmeath and Wexford.