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Friday 4 November 2011

RIchard Williams of Drumcondra Castle

I am not related to the following Williams family.  I researched them in order to rule out any family link but include them here for the benefit of fellow researchers.

Richard Williams  (1778 - 1868)  was the son of Thomas Williams, of the Bank of Ireland, and of his wife Mary Anne Quine.

Along with his younger brother, Charles Wye Williams, he founded the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company before becoming a stockbroker in partnership with James Gibbons - their offices were at 38 Dame Street, directly across the road from the present Bank of Ireland headquarters.  He had a younger brother named Walker Williams who died before adulthood.
Richard Williams lived at Drumcondra Castle.

His children were as follows:
Anne Williams who was christened in St. Thomas’s of Cathal Brugha Street in 1807. She married Daniel Barrington of 3 Palace Street and Limerick, in St.Andrews Church in 1829. Daniel Barrington was the brother of Sir Mathew Barrington, and the son of Sir Joseph Barrington. He was a clerk of the crown in Limerick. 


The children of Anne Williams and Daniel Barrington were:
     a) Anne Barrington who died in 1886, married Walter Carr MacKinnon, the son of Birmingham-born Charles MacKinnon and Anne Julius Carr.  In 1881, Anne MacKinnon was living in Hampshire with her mother Anne Barrington and her children, Annie, Nora, Mary, Alexander, and Edmund, all 12 years old or younger.  Most had been born in India, the MacKinnons being a military family.
     b) Mary Anne Charlotte Barrington, who died 31st August 1870, married John Bayly of Debsborough, Tipperary, the son of an older John Bayly, on 3rd September 1857 in St. Peter's, Dublin.
     c) Colonel Joseph Thomas Barrington, born 4th Sept.1834, died 24th Feb.1913.
     d) Capt. Richard William (or Williams) Barrington, born 4th Jan.1838, died 15th Oct. 1900.

Richard William Barrington of Eden Park, Dunddrum, died on 15th October 1900 in Llandudno, Wales. His widow was Henrietta Maria Jane Barrington.  His children were:
    a) Alice Henrietta who married William Keawick.
    b) Helen Lucy Johnstone Barrington.
    c) John Lawrence Barrington.
    d) Richard Irving William Barrington.

Thomas Williams was born in 1810 to Richard and Anne Williams and christened in St. Thomas’s on Cathal Brugha Street.


From 'Dublin University Alumni':  'Thomas Williams, S.C. (Mr.Feinaigle) July 4 1825, aged 15; son of Richard, Scriba Aerarii;. born Dublin;  BA Aest 1829;  MA Nov. 1832.'

 He married Marion, the daughter of Sir Matthew Barrington of Glenstal Castle in Limerick.I believe the couple were married by Rev. Henry de Laval Willis.  Marion  died on 30th April 1858 at 50 Stephen's Green, Dublin, and Thomas Williams, whose later address was 72 Stephens Green South, went on to marry the widow, Georgina Graves.
Georgina was a member of the Lees family and was therefore a relation of Thomas Orde-Lees who accompanied Ernest Shackleton on his Antartic expedition of 1914 - 1917. Georgina’s first husband was James Perceval Graves; the couple had been married in Donnybrook in 1847 and lived at 13 Fitzwilliam Square.
In September 1867, Thomas and Georgina Williams were witnesses to the marriage of Georgina’s daughter, Emily Graves, to George Archibald Graham Adamson of Westmeath.


Thomas Williams was involved in finance - he worked alongside his brothers, Richard Palmer Williams and Charles Watkin Williams, in his father’s office at 38 Dame Street. In 1856, he was noted as working for the Bank of Ireland.
He also maintained close links with the Barringtons of Dublin and Limerick. Thomas shared ownership of land in Co. Limerick with Croker Barrington and both appear as property owners on the list of petitions presented to the commissioners for the sale of encumbered estates in September 1849 - the petitioners were Thomas’s brother, Richard Palmer Williams and his father Richard; their solicitors were Barringtons & Co. of 10 Ely Place, Dublin.
(The Encumbered Estates Acts, 1848 and 1849, allowed the sale of Irish estates which had been mortgaged and whose owners, because of the Great Famine, were unable to meet their obligations. It was hoped that English investors would be attracted to buy Irish estates and thereby transform Irish agriculture. Under the 1849 Act, an Encumbered Estates Court was established with authority to sell estates on the application of the owner or encumbrancer who was one who had a claim on the estate. After the sale, the court distributed the money among the creditors and granted clear title to the new owners.)Thomas Williams died in 1890 and his obituary called him ‘the father of the stock exchange.’


In 1880, Thomas Williams had addresses at 20 Merrion Square, South, and at 'Kalafat', Sorrento Road, Dalkey.

Thomas's funeral was reported in the Irish Times of 24th February 1890:  'The remains of the esteemed gentleman, the Father of the Dublin Stock Exchange, were removed on Saturday morning from his late residence, 68 Merrion Square, for interment in Mount Jerome Cemetery...There was a large concourse of members, embracing nearly all the licensed stockbrokers of Dublin...The remains were enclosed in a suite of coffins, the outercase being of oak, with brass mountings. The breastplate bore the following inscription: -
     "Thomas Williams, 
     Born 29th March 1810,
     Died 19th February 1890." '

Amongst the mourners were his nephew, Richard William Barrington, his son-in-law G.A.G. Adamson,  his brother-in-law J. Vanderkiste,  W. Barrington,  H. Percival Adamson and Charles G. Adamson.

'Williams, Thomas, Personal Estate in England £3,698 10s., 9th May - Probate of the Will of Thomas Williams, late of 68 Merrion Square and of 38 Dame-street, both in the City of Dublin, Stockbroker who died on or about 19th February 1890 at 38 Dame Street granted 26th March 1890 at Dublin to Richard Palmer Williams of 38 Dame Street, Stockbroker, one of the Executors.'


George Gibbons Williams was born to Richard and Anne Williams in about 1811, although the exact date is unclear. (The later US census gives a date of 1815.) His middle name was probably in honour of his father’s business partner, James Gibbons.

From 'Dublin University Alumni':   'George Williams S.C. ( Sch) Oct 16 1826 aged 15; son of Richard, Notarius Publicus; born Dublin, BA Aest 1831.'

George married, in 1837, Emma Highfield, the daughter of John Highfield and his wife Catherine of Liverpool. John Highfield was the business partner of John Bibby, and together, in 1807, they founded the highly successful shipping company which operated a service from Liverpool to Dublin. John Highfield left the company in 1821, but a wooden brig, the ’Margaret Highfield’ was launched in 1828 and named after one of John Highfield’s daughters.
George Gibbons Williams, along with his father and Joseph Barrington, was involved with the development of Pery Square in Limerick in the 1840.
He was the owner, in 1841, of a ship ‘The Amanda’ which, on September 26th 1841, during a voyage from Limerick to Quebec, sank off Little Metis Point, killing 29 passengers and 12 crew.


Catherine Williams was born to George G.Williams and Emma Highfield in Limerick in 1842; she was baptised in St.Michael's Church.
Ann Williams was born to George Gibbons Williams and Emma Highfield in Aigburth, Liverpool, on 29th September 1843, and was baptised in St. Anne's Church.
Thomas Williams was born to the couple in Aigburth on 7th March 1845; he must have died young because another child named Thomas Harris Williams was born to them the following year, 1846, on 10th July.  This son also died, aged 7 months, of whooping cough.
Charles John Williams was born in 1847 and baptised on 2nd December in St. Peter's, Liverpool - his father, George Gibbons Williams, was noted in the register as a corn merchant of Hope Street, Liverpool.

George and Emma emigrated at some stage to New York - the passengers list for the 'Albert Gallatin', which arrived on the 10th May 1850 in NYC, show up the merchant George Gibbons Williams, his wife Emma and their 2-year-old son Charles John amongst the passengers. The other children must have travelled separately.

George G. Williams and his family were recorded on the US census for 1870, living in Essex, East Orange, New Jersey.  He was working as a clerk in a store.  The children were listed as Richard H.born 1838 in Ireland, Catherine born Ireland 1842, Ann/Annie born 1843 England, Charles born 1847 in Ireland, Abraham born 1853 in New York and Frederick B. born 1858 in New York.  There was also a boarder, rev. John G. Mulholland, who was an Irish Episcopal clergyman.  
Their son, George Perry Williams, was absent from the household in 1870. He appeared on the 1900 census living at 514 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, along with his second wife, Ella C., who he'd married three years previously. He didn't give a year of birth, but stated he'd been born in Ireland in September in the 1850s.  His wife, Ella C. had been born in New York in January 1864 to an Irish father and an English mother. Her daughter (George's stepdaughter) was Clara B. Mackay who had been born in New York in 1884 - her own late father had been born 'at sea'.   George's natural daughter, Emma H. Williams, had been born in August 1886 in New York.  Both girls were students.

George Perry Williams, the son of George Gibbons Williams and Emma Highfield, died in New York on 26th May 1908.  His obituary, which appeared in 'The Limerick Chronicle', has been published to the internet by the Limerick city website:
    'Death of a Limerick Man Abroad - To  the Editor of the Limerick Chronicle - 46 Nt. Beech-street, Richmond Hill, New York, May 16th 1908.   Sir - I have been requested to advise you of the death of George Perry Williams, son of the late George Gibbons Williams and Emma Williams, all of Limerick, Ireland.   The late Mr. Williams died at 210 (?) Parkide Avenue, (Flatbush), Brooklyn, New York and City of New York, USA, on May 5th 1908 in the 68th year of his age.  He held a high position in the New York City Controller's Office for 38 years, and for the last 15 years had been the oldest in the service in that office.  He leaves a widow and two sisters, Annie and Kate Williams, and a daughter, Emma, now of 49 Sth. Spruce-street, Richmond Hill, New York.   The family were well-known in Limerick and Dublin, and he was grandson of the late Richard Williams and Annie Williams, of Drumcondra Castle, Dublin,  Ireland.  By publishing this, it will be very much appreciated by his friends and relations in Ireland, - yours truly,  George B. Stanett.'

The marriage of the son of George Gibbons Williams and Anne Highfield, Charles John Williams, to Annie Jessica Mordecai (her parents were Benjamin Mordecai and Clara Pollock) was much later recorded on 19th August 1884.  In 1915, Charles J. and his wife were living at 521 West 112th St., New York. Charles J.Williams and his wife, Annie J. Williams, were living in Manhattan at the time of the 1930 US Census.

The 1910 Census showed three of the other children living at 3109 Chichester Avenue, Queens - Catherine Williams, 67 years old, who had emigrated in 1853, was a music teacher.  Her sister, Annie, aged 66, had emigrated in 1858, and had her own income.  Their younger brother, Abraham, was 57 and an invalid.

Another brother, Frederick B. Williams, is also recorded through the censuses. In the 1892 New York Census, he was shown living on Marcy Avenue, Brooklyn, and working as a salesman.  His wife was Louise H. Williams, aged 38. There was a 10-year-old son, Joseph H. Williams.  By 1900 this family were living at 132 Briggs Avenue, Queens.  Frederick (who had been born in 1858 to an Irish father and an English mother) was still a salesman.  Their son, Joseph H, born September 1882, was now an assistant bookkeeper, and there was now a daughter, Catherine B, who had been born in April 1885.
By 1910, they lived at 150 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn.  Frederick was a travelling salesman for a wholesale dry good company, while Joseph travelled for a starch manufacturer.  Catherine, who would be 25, is absent, possibly married with a new name.


Richard Palmer Williams was born to Richard Williams and Anne Palmer. I did a separate post about him earlier.
From 'Dublin University Alumni':  'Richard Williams, S.C. (Mr.Hawkesworth) July 5 1830, aged 16;  son of Richard, Notarius; born Dublin, BA Aest 1834.'   Note: Mr. Hawkesworth was the master of the Feinaigle Institute, Aldborough House, Dublin.

 I gleaned much of the genealogical information from a publication of 1874, in which Richard Palmer Williams had inserted a note at the foot of the page in relation to his father Richard Williams - 'He was son of Thomas, who was son of William, who was third son of Richard (of Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire) who, it is believed, was son of William, third son of Roger Williams of Fleet Street, London, mentioned in "Le Neve's Baronets" Herald's Office, London. Any information on this point gladly received by Richard Palmer Williams, 28 (sic) Dame Street, Dublin.'
Well, Thomas Williams was the son of Richard Williams of Leighton Buzzard, not the grandson - there simply wasn't enough time to squeeze an extra generation in there. The only explanation for this error, is that Thomas Williams had died almost 40 years before the publication of this book, so Richard Palmer Williams may not have paid too much attention to the origins of his family while his grandfather had been alive.


From the UK Probate Calendar:  'Williams, Richard Palmer of Glaslinn Clontarf County Dublin esquire died 12 May 1892 Probate Dublin to Richard Williams Barrington esquire and Croker Barrington solicitor Sealed London 15 August Effects £2206 in England.'

Charles Watkin Williams was born at Drumcondra Castle to Richard Williams and Anne Palmer in 1820. He worked in finance alongside his brothers at 38 Dame Street and lived at 8 Synnot Place. He married Anne Highfield, the sister of Emma Highfield who had earlier married his brother George. The wedding took place on October 15th 1846 in Aigburth, Liverpool. The witnesses were Charles’ brother, Richard Palmer Williams, and Anne’s father John Highfield.

In 1853, CharlesWatkin Williams lived at 'Optic Lodge' in Fairview.


Charles Watkin Williams of 8, Synnott Place,  died on 2nd March 1878 at Charlemont Street. Probate of his will was granted to his brother, Thomas Williams, of 38 Dame Street, stockbroker - Thomas was also appointed as the guardian of Charles' Watkin Williams' son, Watkin Wye Williams.
The son, Watkin Wye Williams, was born at Synnot Place on 25th September 1860. According to the historian Hazel Smyth (whose essay ‘Some Notes on Charles Wye Williams’ I used here), Watkin Wye Williams emigrated to the USA where he worked with horses in Buffalo Bill’s Circus. The LDS site records his emigration in 1909, when he sailed from Queenstown/Cork to New York city on ‘The Mauretania’. In fact, the Ellis Island site shows up the ship’s manifest with plenty of interesting information about Watkin Wye Williams - it records that he had visited the USA before in 1908 and had lived in St. Louis, and that, in Dublin, he had been living with Mrs. Reede, (his sister Eliza) at 13 Reuben Avenue. In 1909, he was heading to stay with a friend, the Rev. Brother Pious Coughlan, at 2912 Sheritan Avenue, St. Louis. The manifest records that he was 47, had blue eyes and grey hair, and that he was working as a groom which backs up the Buffalo Bill story nicely.
In 1876, in the Church of St. Thomas and St. George, Charles Watkin William’s daughter, Eliza Williams, married Samuel Thomas Reede, a doctor of Carrickmacross, Monaghan. The witnesses were A. MacNeall, Thomas Austin and E. Watkin Williams. She was widowed by the time of the 1901 Census.


Richard Williams and Anne Palmer also had two daughters - Mary Anne who married John Vanderkiste of Limerick, and Lucy Williams who married Hugh Harris of Ashford, Tynan, Co Armagh, and who had Margaret Anne, Mary Anne Madeline, Lucy Henrietta, Eugenia Porter and Eliza Louise Edith.
(From The Limerick Chronicle, 24th August 1844:  'At Drumcondra Church, by the Rev. George Blacker, Rector of Laraghbryan, county Kildare, Hugh Harris, Esq., of Ashefort, county Armagh, Barrister-at Law, to Lucy, daughter of Richard Williams, of Drumcondra Castle, county Dublin, Esq.')

Richard Williams also became a trustee of Mary Williams who married George Simpson Carleton in Dublin in April 1834.   It's unclear whose daughter she was.  Richard already had a Mary, ie: Mary Anne who married John Vanderkiste, and he wouldn't have had two Marys.  Was she a relation?  Might she be a sister, born late to his parents, Thomas Williams and Mary Anne Quin?

Other members of this Williams family: a deed exists in the Registry of Deeds which records some sort of property deal in Dublin city centre. The deed was dated 25th February 1782.
‘Thomas Williams on behalf of himself & of Henry Lyons & Clifford Boldock of the City of Dublin, merchant, of the one part & William Shannon, Public Notary. Witness: Watkin Wynne Williams.’
Thomas Williams, Henry Lyons, Clifford Boldock and William Shannon were all names associated with the Bank of Ireland. Watkin Wynne Williams was the brother of Thomas Williams and both had been born in Leighton Buzzard to Richard Williams and Mary Hutchins in the mid-eighteenth century.

The Dublin City Archive of the Ancient Freemen of Dublin shows - online - that a William Williams was admitted to the Freemen of Dublin in 1817 and that he was a nephew of Thomas Williams:
'Beseech your honours, William Williams of William Street, Merchant, to be admitted by Grace Especial the rather being nephew to Thomas Williams Esq., Secretary to the Bank of Ireland, a Respectable Citizen...'
I haven't found any other information about either Watkin Wynne or William Williams, but their existence shows that other members of this Welsh family were in Dublin in the early nineteenth century.




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