Person Page 417

Thomas Bennin

Biography

• Birth: About 1805

• Marriage: 2 March 1829; Jane Meredith; Mountrath, Clonenagh Parish, Queen's County

• Note: MLB Index (Ossory, Ferns & Leighlin) gives spelling as "Bannan."
• Note: Jane Meredith; Thomas's surname could be Bennin (Register, p. 4, #15).

• Last Edited: 11 September 2004 01:00:00

Harriet Meredith

Parents

Biography

• Birth: About 1812; Ireland

• Marriage: 20 June 1837; Charles Moore; Clonenagh Parish, Queen's County, Ireland

• Death: Iry, Queen's County, Ireland

• Burial: 11 December 1860; Clonenagh Parish, Queen's County

• Note: Parents unknown--could be Thomas of The Oak. Harriet was 48 when she died.
• Note: Charles Moore; Witnesses: James Banting, Thomas Meredith and Thomas Bates. Mountrath Parish Register, p. 12, # 47.

• Chart(s): Meredith of Clonenagh

• Last Edited: 13 January 2013 00:00:00

Charles Moore

Parents

Biography

• Birth: About 1810; Ireland

• Marriage: 20 June 1837; Harriet Meredith; Clonenagh Parish, Queen's County, Ireland
• Marriage: 15 December 1868; Anne Thompson; Clonenagh Parish, Queen's County, Ireland

• Death: About 1880

• Note: Charles was a farmer in Irey when his daughter Susanna married. In the Griffiths he is listed as holding less than one acre of land. I suspect he may have been the son of John Moore and Hannah Banting?
  Mountmellick death registrations show two possibles: death reg'd 1880, age 76 and died 1889, age 76--in both cases the registration was the first quarter--I wonder if there is a transcription error in one of these and they are both the same death?
• Note: Harriet Meredith; Witnesses: James Banting, Thomas Meredith and Thomas Bates. Mountrath Parish Register, p. 12, # 47.
• Note: Anne Thompson; Charles, widower of Irey, son of late John Moore, farmer. Witnesses Basil Broomfield and Isabella Sophia Thompson.

• Chart(s): Meredith of Clonenagh

• Last Edited: 4 April 2013 16:55:54

John Hennessy

Biography

• Birth: About 1880; Ireland

• Marriage: 20 January 1905; Jane Rachel Meredith; Harrington St. RC Church, Dublin

• Death: Ontario, Canada

• Burial: Mount Peace Cem, Mississauga, Ontario

• Note: John lived in Carrickmines, County Dublin at the time of his marriage. His parents were James Hennessy and Catherine Kennedy.
• Note: Jane Rachel Meredith; Register image online at:
  Witnesses were Herbert Kenny and Mary O'Conor.

• Chart(s): Meredith of Clonenagh

• Last Edited: 20 January 2014 02:51:56

Anne Milbourne

Biography

• Birth: Before 1820; Ireland

• Marriage: 1 June 1840; Richard (of Cappagh) Meredith; Offerlane Parish, Queens County, Ireland

• Note: Age estimated based on marriage record
• Note: Richard (of Cappagh) Meredith; Register p. 3, # 10.

• Chart(s): Meredith of Clonenagh

• Last Edited: 20 February 2005 00:00:00

Mathew Meredith

Parents

Biography

• Birth: 1742; Rearymore, Queen's county, Ireland

• Marriage: 1767; Lewisa (Lois) Calcutt; Diocese of Ossory, Ferns & Leighlin, Ireland

• Death: 1 September 1793; Rearymore, Queen's county

• Note: Probably the Mathew Meredith listed in the Queen’s County Poll Books of 1760 and 1779 and the 1775 List of Electors for Queens County.
  Excerpts from Memorial "No. 207141 Sharp to Meredith Reg[istere]d 12th Feb[rua]ry 1776":
  ". . . Demise and Set to the said Mathew Meredith all that and those that [form] part of the Town and Lands of Clarahill then in the poss[essio]n of the s[ai]d Mathew Meredith and formerly in the poss[ession] of Thomas Meredith and his and their undertenants cont[ainin]g one hundred and fifty four acres . . . for and during the Term of Ten years from the Twenty fifth day of March then last past and from and immediately after the Determination of the s[ai]d Term then the s[ai]d Mathew Meredith to have and to hold the s[ai]d Demised prem[is]es for the life of Lois Meredith other[wi]se Calcutt his wife at the yearly rent of eighty pounds for the Term of Ten years"
  Baptism record for daughter Elizabeth in 1768 indicated that Matthew and Lois lived at "Rarymore." Mathew's will was dated 16 July 1793, Rerymore, and named the following children: sons Joseph, Mathew and John; daughters Primrose, Lois, Anne, Elizabeth Bell and Catherine Collins.

• Chart(s): Meredith of Reary

• Last Edited: 29 September 2011 01:00:00

Lewisa (Lois) Calcutt

Parents

Biography

• Birth: Before 1750

• Marriage: 1767; Mathew Meredith; Diocese of Ossory, Ferns & Leighlin, Ireland

• Note: Baptism records for Elizabeth and Thomas give name as "Lois." Marriage record for Thomas has wife's name "Lewisa." I think it likely that Lois was a sister of Joseph Calcutt of Mountrath--not proven however.

• Chart(s): Meredith of Reary

• Last Edited: 20 November 2004 00:00:00

Elizabeth Meredith

Parents

Biography

• Christening: 26 May 1768; Mountrath Parish, Queen's County

• Note: Residents of Rearymore at time of baptism.

• Chart(s): Meredith of Reary

• Last Edited: 25 January 2004 00:00:00

Thomas (of The Oak) Meredith

Parents

Biography

• Birth: About 1762; possibly Queens County, Ireland

• Death: 11 February 1844; Ballyfin, Queen's County, Ireland

• Burial: 13 February 1844; Maryborough, Queen's county, Ireland

• Note: There were several Thomas Merediths with children born in the early 1800s in Clonenagh parish, and their parents are uncertain. This record is for Thomas of "The Oak" who has been said to have had three wives, names unknown. The third wife may have been named Susanna. One story is that he had 21 children, but if so, many have not been identified. There is a substantial gap between about 1812 and about 1824, during which we have no children identified. This suggests a new wife may have come on the scene about 1822.
  A recently discovered death notice was posted in the Leinster Express, 17 Feb. 1844, p. 3:
  "Awfully Sudden Death. -- On Sunday last a respectable farmer named Thomas Meredith, residing at the Oak, near Mountmelick [sic] attended divine service in the Church of Ballyfinn. During the service he was seized with apoplexy, and in a few minutes expired. He was a fine, hale old man, aged about 82 years, and up to the hour of his death was in the enjoyment of excellent health." The Maryborough parish register burial records show a William Meredith of Cloneygown age 82, buried February 13th, 1844. However, we already have another William of roughly the same age buried, and I feel quite certain that the register is incorrect, and the newspaper item was right. This must really have been for Thomas and the clerk recorded the wrong name. This find also suggests that he was must have been the Thomas Meredith of Cloneygowan, farmer, who was registered as a voter in Maryborough West, 5 January 1841.
  The only parish records that unequivocally refer to this Thomas are marriage records for some of his children (i.e., those which identify their father's name as Thomas and indicate they lived at The Oak). It is likely that his children were baptised at Ballyfin, which register only begins in 1825. Verrry mysterious, this man.
  Thomas' parents are unknown--his father could have been the John Meredith who is listed as a Freeholder in Cappagh in 1761. As far as we know, Thomas's eldest son was named John, but there may have been other children born before him. Some of the other contemporary Clonenagh Merediths (Samuel m to Sarah Ince, John m to Esther Hill, and Rice m to Anne Neill) may have been brothers of this Thomas, and/or may have been sons of John 1761. All three of those couples had children baptised between 1800 (earliest Clonenagh baptisms in surviving registers) and 1810.
  In the 1820s there were four Meredith families living in Cappagh, Clonenagh Parish, Queen's County. In all four families the eldest known son was named Thomas. John Meredith, married to Jane Wilkinson, was definitely a son of Thomas of The Oak. We had speculated that at least some of the others were John's brothers, especially Samuel and William. Recently obtained DNA evidence supports this conclusion and we are now listing them as sons of Thomas. The fourth possible son was Thomas of Iry (married to Frances Thompson). As there was another Thomas known to have been a son of Thomas Oak, it seems unlikely that the elder Thomas was also a son (although they probably had different mothers, and thus it could have been possible). All in all, it is thoroughly confusing.

• Chart(s): Meredith of Clonenagh

• Last Edited: 18 June 2015 09:33:18

John Meredith

Parents

Biography

• Birth: Before 1785; Ireland

• Marriage: 20 November 1804; Hannah Greene; St Werburgh's, Dublin, Ireland

• Death: 9 December 1836; Prescott, Upper Canada (Ontario)

• Note: Age estimated on basis of baptism of daughter Sarah in 1805. Place of residence is not indicated in the parish register. According to the marriage notice for his daughter Henrietta, this is the John who lived in a "place of note" in Clara Hill, 1814. Leer's 1814 Directory confirms that John Meredith was at Clara-Hill. John of Clara Hill was deceased when Henrietta married in September 1848. The February 1, 1837 "Limerick Chronicle" reported the death of John Meredith, son of the late Mathew Meredith of Queen's county, in Prescott, [Ontario] Canada.
  As well, from the Kingston Chronicle and Gazette, 21 December 1836, p. 3, col. 1—image is available if you search for Meredith at:
  “At Prescott, on the 9th instant, John, youngest son of the late Matthew Meredith of Rary More, Queen’s County, Ireland.”

• Chart(s): Meredith of Reary

• Last Edited: 9 January 2015 16:23:32

Hannah Greene

Biography

• Birth: Before 1790

• Marriage: 20 November 1804; John Meredith; St Werburgh's, Dublin, Ireland

• Chart(s): Meredith of Reary

• Last Edited: 8 December 2013 06:59:25

Sarah Harris Meredith

Parents

Biography

• Christening: 20 October 1805; Clonenagh Parish, Queen's County

• Chart(s): Meredith of Reary

• Last Edited: 23 November 2011 00:00:00

Lois Meredith

Parents

Biography

• Christening: 17 May 1807; Clonenagh Parish, Queen's County

• Marriage: April 1836; James Gregg; Rosenallis, Queen's county

• Note: Name Lois suggests this child could be a grandchild of Matthew and Lois Meredith of Rearymore? There is also a Rosenallis marriage by license between James Gregg and Lois Meredith of Reary, April 1836. It seems likely these are the same Lois, but parent's names were not in the register.
• Note: James Gregg; Rosenallis parish register

• Chart(s): Meredith of Reary

• Last Edited: 22 August 2003 01:00:00

Susanna?

Biography

• Note: The only documents that indicate Thomas was married to a Susanna are two baptism records: Jane, daughter of Thomas and Susanna Meredith of Clonegown, baptised in Offerlane parish in 1807; and Edward, son of Thomas and Susanna Meredith, baptised at Ballyfin in 1825. This family was said to live in Clonegown, but I still believe this family is Thomas of The Oak (R. Meredith of County Laois has advised me that a family living at The Oak could very well have considered themselves residents of Clonegown, as the farm is near the boundary between the two townlands). An undocumented family source suggests that a Susanna was the third wife of Thomas. She could be the Susannah Wilkinson of Cappokeel, dau of William Wilkinson, who married a Thomas Meredith of Clonenagh parish in Coolbanagher in 1805.

• Chart(s): Meredith of Clonenagh

• Last Edited: 21 March 2010 01:00:00

Catherine Anne Meredith

Parents

Biography

• Birth: Iry, Queens County, Ireland

• Christening: 2 September 1827; Ballyfin, Clonenagh Parish, Queens County

• Marriage: 9 July 1846; Rice Meredith; Clonenagh Parish, Queen's County

• Death: 21 May 1910; Queens County, Ireland

• Note: Also known as Kitty Anne and Kate Anne. Catherine was a resident of Iry, Clonenagh parish at the time of her marriage. 1901 census shows Kate Anne 74, living with 5 of her children: Rice 44, Susan 40, Henrietta 34, William C. 32 and Thomas F. 29. Death date is recorded on tombstone in Church of Ireland cemetery in Portlaoise (formerly known as Maryborough, Queen's County). Death registration gives age as 83.
  22 Apr: Administration of the Estate of Kate Anne Meredith late of Derrykearn Abbeyleix Queen’s County Widow who died 21 March 1910 granted at Kilkenny to William Christopher Meredith Farmer. Effects £90-15s-0d
• Note: Rice Meredith; Witnesses were Thomas Meredith and William Meredith; Thomas' signature was very delicate and wavery, as if written by an elderly or almost illiterate individual.

• Chart(s): Meredith of Clonenagh (#1); Meredith of Clonenagh (#2)

• Last Edited: 17 May 2013 21:16:54

Rice Meredith

Parents

Biography

• Birth: 12 April 1868; Ontario

• Death: 12 April 1897; Melita, Manitoba

• Note: The IGI has a record for Rice indicating he was born 12 April 1868 in Melita, Manitoba, and died 12 April 1897. The 1871 and 81 censuses has the family in Ontario and indicate correctly that Rice was born in Ontario. In 1891 Rice and Henry were farming in Arthur, Selkirk district in Manitoba. Manitoba death registration # 001532, died Arthur, Manitoba, age 29 years.

• Chart(s): Meredith of Clonenagh

• Last Edited: 20 August 2009 01:00:00

Florence Meredith

Parents

Biography

• Birth: 29 January 1870; Ontario

• Marriage: 3 December 1889; Rowland Arthur Hopkins; Melita, Manitoba

• Death: 15 September 1933

• Note: Birthdate from IGI, 1911 census birth month appears to be July, but not clear. No birth registration found in Ontario records.

• Chart(s): Meredith of Clonenagh

• Last Edited: 20 August 2009 01:00:00

Ellen Meredith

Parents

Biography

• Birth: 1872; Ontario

• Death: 1885; North West Territories

• Note: Ellen probably died in what is now Saskatchewan, but was then part of the North West Territories.

• Chart(s): Meredith of Clonenagh

• Last Edited: 31 May 2009 01:00:00

Horace Townsend Eddy

Parents

Biography

• Birth: 1859

• Marriage: 7 August 1888; Sarah Ann Ellis; New Brunswick

• Death: 1943

• Note: Sarah Ann Ellis; Witnesses John and Jane Bateman

• Chart(s): Bateman of Cork

• Last Edited: 27 January 2003 00:00:00

William Eedy

Parents

Biography

• Birth: 1815; County Cork, Ireland

• Death: 1885

• Note: An Emigrants Letter
  Letter dated Oct. 18, 1877 from Wm. Eedy, Snr., Clifton, Gloucester Co.
  New Brunswick to John W. Eedy.
  
  Mr John W. Eedy,
  
  Dear Sir,
  Received yours of the 9th yesterday and I freely forgive the delay and accept the excuse
  you give and hope these lines will find all the Eedy's up there well and happy as it leaves us at present, thanks to a merciful God.
  Truth, Sir, when you say I can find a relationship. When you said Rossmore Par, Killdee, I got the key. We are related, the same blood runs through our veins though it is a long distance. Now I will tell you I will have to go back to the days of the Commonwealth of England. When Oliver Cromwell marshalled the Invincibles, in his ranks were two brothers, Jonathan and Nicholas Eedy as you will find in history. He came to Ireland which held out for Charles the First when it was subdued a great many of his (Cromwell) officers got the confiscated estates. Their men settled on them as tenants both for protection to the landlords and to keep the Irish in subjection. Now, sir, those two men were our ancestors. Jonathan settled at Killdee with Sir Michael Cox. I am pretty sure that Jonathan was the father of Charles. You know the remaining, part and Nicholas Eedy settled at Killbree, near Clonakilty on the estate of a Colonel Allen who lived in England. They were Welshmen. That Nicholas Eedy was married to Hannah Knowles. His sons were Nicholas*, Jonathan, William and Robert with several daughters. This Jonathan was father of Willeam Eedy of Saroo. His mother's name was Rebecca Wolfe from west of Dunmanway. This Wm. Eedy of Saroo was my father and my mother's name was Susan Hill, daughter of David Hill of the same plowland. Now, Sir, I think I have shown you what I promised. My father was the man your father can remember coming to this country. It was in 1828. At that time I was only thirteen years old. I have no brother. I had five sisters. Four are still living and settled close by. My father was sixty three years old when he came to this country. He died in 1839 and my mother in 1857 and their bones are in Christ Churchyard, Bathurst.
  I got this history of the family from father and I can well remember to see your grandfather John Eedy at Saroo and afterwards to see him and Nicholas Eedy of Knockea (Knockey, Lyre, Clonakilty) who was the son of Robert Eedy, and my father in a tent at Balagurteen fair the year before we left home taking a farewell glass of whiskey. And I had mine and if your father and me met I think we would likewise.
  And now, I will tell you that I know your other grandfather, Richard Tanner, of Carriga Yreanan which in English is Sunny Rock, perfectly well and a fine honest farmer he was (this is no policy) and his oldest son Joseph he was married to a Miss Buttimore. She was a small sized woman. He was very tall and Edward the son that worked the farm. I can't say that I can recollect any of the daughters, but one that was married to John Parret. I saw her funeral. The old gentleman was twice married. The last was a widow Rashley. I forgot that another was married to Edward Rashley, her son and Mrs Tanner's daughter Fanny Rashley was married to John Hill my uncle. These were all descendants of Cromwell's Ironsides and I am happy to say pure and undefiled protestant blood at your side and mine so far and I hope will keep so forever.
  And again I will tell you I was married to a cousin of mine. Her maiden name was Susan Hill. We have four sons and three daughters living and we buried one son and two girls. The boys names are William, David, Horace, and Thomas. You might see some of them yet in your country. Wm. was in Wisconsin awhile and got sick there and came home. He is at present in St. Johns, N.B. at carpenter work. When West he worked with a Canadian who told him he knew several of the Eedy's in Upper Canada.
  
  Your friend and relative,
  Wm. Eedy, Sr.
  
  * The will of a Nicholas Eedy, Keelbree was admitted to probate in 1775 - Phillimor's Index to Irish Wills
  (London, 1960).

• Last Edited: 24 May 2004 01:00:00

Susan Hill

Biography

• Birth: 1820; County Cork, Ireland

• Death: 1916

• Note: It is known that Susan's father was David Hill of Saroo (letter from her husband, Wm Eedy, October 1877). Not proven that this is the same David Hill whose wife was Mary and whose daughter Jane was christened in Kilmeen parish 15 January 1815, but considered likely.

• Last Edited: 24 May 2004 01:00:00

Thomas Frederick Meredith

Parents

Biography

• Birth: 30 May 1872; Queens County, Ireland

• Marriage: 21 November 1917; Esther Ethel Elizabeth Thompson; Roskelton Parish, Queens County, Ireland

• Death: 8 April 1946; Clonenagh, Queen's County

• Burial: 18 April 1946; Church of Ireland, Portlaoise, Queens County, Ireland

• Note: Unmarried in 1911 cnesus. Resident of Derrykearn, Abbeyleix Parish, age 74, at time of death.
• Note: Esther Ethel Elizabeth Thompson; Thomas was a bachelor and resident of Derrykern, Abbeyleix at the time of his marriage (Register, p. 72, # 144).

• Chart(s): Meredith of Clonenagh (#1); Meredith of Clonenagh (#2); Meredith of Clonenagh (#3); Meredith of Clonenagh (#4)

• Last Edited: 21 October 2009 01:00:00

Edward Henry Meredith

Parents

Biography

• Birth: 13 October 1849; Queens County, Ireland

• Christening: 18 November 1849; Ballyfin, Clonenagh Parish, Queens County, Ireland

• Death: Before 1858; Queen's county, Ireland

• Note: Another Edward Henry, son of Rice and Catherine Anne of the Oak was born in 1858, indicating this child must have died before then. Edward Meredith of Rossnagad buried 2 December 1850, aged 1 year could be this child.

• Chart(s): Meredith of Clonenagh (#1); Meredith of Clonenagh (#2)

• Last Edited: 7 March 2005 00:00:00

Sarah Jane Meredith

Parents

Biography

• Birth: 18 April 1862; Oak, Clonenagh Parish, Queen's County

• Christening: 10 August 1862; Mountrath, Clonenagh Parish, Queens County, Ireland

• Chart(s): Meredith of Clonenagh (#1); Meredith of Clonenagh (#2)

• Last Edited: 27 January 2003 00:00:00

Frederick Meredith

Parents

Biography

• Birth: 15 May 1864; Oak, Clonenagh Parish, Queen's County

• Christening: 11 September 1864; Mountrath, Clonenagh Parish, Queens County

• Chart(s): Meredith of Clonenagh (#1); Meredith of Clonenagh (#2)

• Last Edited: 4 September 2004 01:00:00