Currach

Elephant

Luke Bray [abt 1765-1801]

Luke Bray was born about 1765, the son of Luke Bray [Abt 1730 – 1774] of Galberstown, Holy Cross, County Tipperary, and his wife Mary Phillips. He had four brothers, John, the eldest, Samuel, Edmond and Robert, and two sisters, Eleanor and Mary Bray.

His father, Luke Bray, bequeathed his interest in Galbertstown Co Tipperary to his Executrix his wife Mary  Phillips in trust for his son John Bray - and to herself £40 p. a. - until her son (John) is 21 yrs of age - and thence to Samuel Edmond Luke and Robert., to each of whom he leaves £200.

Luke Bray married Anstice Cormick about 1795. They had four children.

 Mary and Biddy twins for Luke Bray and Anstice Cormac, sponsors Alice [Bowe], Thomas Cormac and Biddy Cormac. [Catholic Church Records. Thurles. Baptisms. 02489/04. P. 3. 1795. www.nli.ie ]

Ellen, Luke Bray and Anstice Cormac, sponsors John Bray and Bridget Gleeson [?]. [Catholic Church Records, Thurles. Baptism 26 December1797. Mf 02489/04. P. 10. www.nli.ie]

John, son of Luke Bray and Anstice Cormac, sponsors John and Bridget Cormac. [Catholic Church Records, Thurles. Mf. 02489/04. Baptism 2 September 1800. www.nli.ie].

Luke Bray,  died  on the 4th of  June 1801 aged 34. His wife Anstice died three months later.

Their Grave Stones are at Holy Cross Abbey.

.Luke Bray and wife Anstice Cormick. d. June and Sept 1801.

The Bray graves can be found on findagrave.com.

What happened to Mary, Biddy, Ellen and John? All four were small children when their parents died.

Holy Trinity Cathedral Waterford and St. John's Waterford City Catholic Church Registers.

In July 2015 the National Library of Ireland placed the Catholic Church Registers of Ireland on line. These are the original microfilms, and baptisms and marriages are recorded in a variety of handwritings, some in copperplate as clear as the day they were written, others impossible to read, many in Latin, faded, torn, with ink spilled on them, frustrating and exciting at the same time. They shed a clear, if sometimes fragmented, light on times past, on large families and infant mortality, on abandoned children and illegitimacy, on mixed marriages, and, in the 19th century, on the steadily increasing population and the catastrophe that was the Great Famine.

In Waterford City, in the 18th Century, they show a slice of the life that existed for the Catholic population in a busy port at that time.

Unusually, the earliest registers record the profession of the groom or father of the child to be baptised, nauta - sailor, naucleri - ship's master or owner, fabri lignari - wood worker or, in this case can be assumed to be, ship builder,  indicating the importance in which these professions were held at that time., and also mercato - merchant. There is no mention of shopowners, farmers, doctors, teachers or lawyers.

William and Thomas Power were ship builders as noted in the registers for St John's in 1717 and 1718.

Also noted in the registers are the countries of origin of those men, assuredly sailors, who married into Waterford.   Madeira, the Azores, Newfoundland.

Behind all this trade and business there was finance. Bartholomew Rivers of Tramore was a banker, a partner in the banking firm Hayden and Rivers, and married to Mary Blake daughter of Philip Blake, penmaker,  of Dublin. Their children, Thomas 1755, Maria 1758, Bartholomew 1759, Maria 1760, Anna 1763, Mary Ann 1764, Elizabeth 1766, and Joseph 1772, were all baptised in the Cathedral.

Obelisk

Obelisk at Castletown House, County Kildare.

Andrew Jennings [abt. 1793-1869]

  

Andrew Jennings, Iron Merchant, was born in Newry, County Down, the son of Andrew Jennings and Catherine O’Toole of North Street. On the 10^th of October 1825 in Loughinisland  he married Mary Anne Clarke, the second daughter of  the late Edward Clarke. They had six children, Mary Catherine, Edward, Andrew, Charles, Ellen and Elizabeth.

In 1835 Andrew Jennings was listed as a bankrupt in Perry’s Bankrupt Gazette.

In the Belfast Street Directory of 1861 he is listed among the Town Commissioners of Newry... Andrew Jennings. Distributor of Stamps - Andrew Jennings, North St. Traders... Jennings, Andrew, iron merchant, North Street.

Stamp Distributor for Newry District and County Down - The Dundalk Examiner announces the appointment of a successor to the late Mr. Williams, in the person of "Mr. Andrew Jennings, of Newry, who" it was added, "from his fellow townsmen, is well qualified for the situation, and whose appointment would give general satisaction thoughout the town and neighbourhood." We have much pleasure in echoing the sentiments of our contemporary. New Telegraph. (The Belfast News-letter, Friday, Feb., 10, 1860. Issue 13611)

Andrew Jennings died on the 12th of April 1869 aged 76 and is buried in St  Mary's Catholic graveyard, Newry. He left a will, the executor was Mary Anne Jennings his widow.

Letters of administration of the personal estate of Andrew Jennings, late of Newry, county Down, ironmonger, who died 12 April 1869 at same place were granted at the Principal Registry 9 September 1869 to May Anne Jennings of Newry, the widow of said deceased. Effects under eight hundred pounds. (Old Families of Newry and District...edited by R. S. J. Clarke, Belfast, 1998).

There is an inscription on the slate headstone in St. Mary's graveyard, Newry :

Erected by Andrew Jennings of Newry in memory of his daughter Mary Catherine who departed this life on 19th August 1864, also Ellen McDonald who departed this life on the 16th February 1866, Andrew Jennings departed this life on the 12th April 1869 aged 76. Requiescant in pace.

His wife Mary Anne moved to Dublin and lived there with her daughter Elizabeth.

 Death. Jennings, June 7, at 35 Goldsmith-street, Dublin, Mary Anne, relict of Andrew Jennings, Newry. (Freeman's Journal, Thur., June 8, 1876).

She is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery with her son Charles Clarke Jennings who had died in 1870.

Sophia Corley [1795-1871]

 Sophia Corley was the eldest daughter of Patrick Corley of Clones, County Monaghan, and Mary Ann Connolly, and one of thirteen children. Her brother, John Corley, was a barrister in the Middle Temple, London. Her sister Anne, who was two years younger than her, married Roger Therry,  Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales from 1846 to 1859. Three of her sisters became Poor Clare Nuns.

In 1811 Sophia married Charles Jennings, Merchant, of Newry, County Down. They lived in Monaghan Street, Newry, and  had fifteen children.  Charles Jennings was declared bankrupt in 1851. He died in 1855. Sophia then moved to Dublin with one of her daughters, Kate Sophia.

She died at 8 Cabra Parade, Phibsborough, on the 16^th February 1861 and is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.