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"The dispossessed party did not, however, lose his interest with the Butler family; on the contrary, he rented from his patrons more than one townland in the neighbourhood of Carrick-on-Suir, where he resided. On the relaxation of the penal laws, the estate of Westcourt, near Callan, was purchased, in fee, by Valentine Smyth, of Carrick-on-Suir. 'He was, I believe, the grandson of the person who was deprived of Damagh, and instituted a suit in Chancery for the recovery of that property, without avail. He died at the Lodge, in Callan, which stands on part of the property.'

"Edmund Smyth, who died so late as 1822, in France, had been agent for the Ormond estates for some years. The estate of Westcourt descended to his eldest son Edmund, and passed through the Incumbered Estates Court in 1855.

"The Vall Smyth' of the register was, most probably, the person ejected from Damagh by his younger brother, and son to John Smyth, who died in 1708.

"Of the family of Huish,' to which the writer of the register belonged, we can find no record as having existed in Kilkenny.' It probably belonged to either Wexford or Carlow, of either of which counties she may have been a native. We are led to form this opinion by the fact of the relationship which existed between Mrs. Shee and the Chevers family, and by a note in the Annuary' of this Society for 1855 (p. 66), where it is stated that 'Chievers is the name of a Flemish family which settled at an early time in the county [Wexford]. William Chevre is one of the witnesses to the charter of Tintern Abbey (Charta, &c., Hib.). Patrick Chievers held a knight's fee of the Earl of Pembroke, and witnessed this nobleman's charter to Wexford in 1317. Edward Chievers was created Viscount Mount-Leinster by James II." The following extract from the 'Journal of the Irish House of Commons,' A. D. 1662, Car. II., is an evidence of the residence of a branch of the family in Carlow:

"5 Die Martii, 1662.-Upon consideration had of the petition of Peter Bath, Merchant, alledging that Thomas Burdett, Esq., late Sheriff of the county of Catherlagh, a member of this House, suffered one John Cheivers, under an execution of three hundred pounds at the petitioner's suit, to make an escape, and praying, that the privillege of the said Burdett be waved, to the end he may bring his action against him.'

"There did exist a branch of the Chevers family in Kilkenny, however, for, by an inquisition held at the Black Abbey, in that city, on the 6th of September, 1637, John Chevers was found in possession of

The name of Huish is an extremely rare one in this country, though Mrs. Shee was evidently, from her family connexion, an Irish woman. I never recollect meeting the name but once, and then it was subscribed to an advertisement of the "London and North-Western Railway Company,' concerning trips to Killarney. Perhaps it may turn out that the "Mark Huish" of the railway line in question may also be of the line of Shees.

2 There is a letter in the first volume of the

new series of the "Transactions" of the Society, p. 102, from Patrick Furlong to his nephew, Christopher Chievers. The letter is dated the 29th of June, 1593, and is concerning the presence of certain Spanish pirates then on the coast of Wexford. The writer was Mayor of Wexford, and uncle to Christopher Chievers. The latter resided at Killiane Castle, of which he was owner. Edward Chievers, Lord Mount-Leinster, of King James the Second's creation, was of this family.

Maylardstown, which he held in soccage; but from the fact of Huish not being a Kilkenny name, it is probable that 'Cos" Cheevers,' a near and dear relative, was brought from her native country to stand sponsor for the first-born son of Mrs. Shee.

"In the two instances where the burial-place of the Sheepstown family is alluded to, the name of the place in the original MS. is partly illegible. In the first, only Derry' remains, and in the second, recording the death and burial of Captain John Hennesy of Boulkleys,'' Derryne.' There can be little doubt that this means Derrynehinch, a very ancient grave-yard, within half a mile of Sheepstown.

"There are not now, however, any remains of monuments erected to any of the Shee family in Derrynahinch, for an obliging correspondent informs me that he 'examined all the tombstones in Derrynahinch old church-yard, and could not find one with the names of either Shee or Hennesy, although there are some with dates so far back as 1717.'

"This Captain Hennesy is likely to have been a relative to M. Hennesy, Lieutenant-Colonel of Lee's Regiment of the Irish Brigade in the French service. O'Conor, in the appendix to the 'Military Memoirs of the Irish Nation,' quotes two letters written by M. Dangervilliers to Colonel Hennesy; one of the 16th November, 1731, the other of the 27th September, 1732. The letters relate to an Irish soldier of Lee's, who, having killed a comrade, took sanctuary in the Church of the Capuchins at St. Omers, and communicate the King's determination not to permit religious houses to shelter foreign soldiers under such circumstances. This resolution of the French King was properly forced on him by the combative propensities of the Brigade men, whose ardour for fighting, while in peaceful quarters, may have inclined them to recall some feuds of their old country to keep their hands in practice. When accidents did occur, can we blame the Irish members of French religious houses, if they threw the mantle of charity over their brave countrymen, and sought to save them from the consequences, both by their prayers and the protection of their houses ?2

"Captain John Hennesy, who lies in Derrynahinch, without a stone to mark where he rests, was one of those who composed Bulkley's regiment at Fontenoy, where it took the colours and two field-pieces from the second regiment of English foot guards. At the battle of Lawfeld, which took place on the 2nd of July, 1747, the Irish Brigade distinguished itself very much, and amongst the officers rewarded for their conduct on the occasion was M. Hennesy, Captain of the Grenadiers of Bulkley's

There was another residence of the Chevers family in the county of Kilkenny, as the following extract from the "Postchaise Companion," Dublin, 1803, asserts: "On the left of the road to Durrow, near Ballycondra, are seen the ruins of the Castle of Ballyseskin, formerly belonging to the family of Chevers." The ruins, we believe, still exist, and are in the parish of Aharney.

2 Very many Irishmen were at the head of various religious communities down to the period of the first revolution in France. Not

to multiply instances, an "ingenious" English gentleman found an Irishman Prior of the Benedictine Priory of Chalons, where Abelard died and was interred, previous to the removal of his remains to the Paraclete. The Englishman indulges in the following choice specimen of the mode of speech called a "bull," concerning the Irish prior alluded to:-"The prior was an Englishman, though a native of Ireland-none of those idle distinctions reigning abroad, which so often bred discontent at home."-" Annual Register," 1768, p. 170.

regiment, who had the commission of Lieutenant-Colonel conferred on him. This appears to have been only brevet rank, and if the Captain Hennesy, distinguished for his conduct at Lawfeld, was the same man who died at Sheepstown, the circumstances of the times sufficiently account for his Colonelcy not being obtruded on public notice in Ireland. He, when declining health prevented his pursuing a military career, returned to die amongst his kindred, and the pious prayer, ' Pray God have mercy on his soul,' shows how kindly the old soldier was regarded by them.

"The fact of 'Cos John Hennesy' being an officer in the Irish Brigade sufficiently indicates why 'My Sonne Jame' sail'd from Dublin bound for Rotterdam.' It would not have been prudent, two years after Fontenoy, for a young recruit to sail direct for a French port. Some years later, Frank, the second son, sailed direct for Havre-de -;' the vigilance of the Government being then relaxed in some measure, though in 1750 a sergeant of the Irish Brigade was hanged at Tyburn for enlisting men in London for the French service.1

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"The simple prayers of this Irish mother for the protection of her children from visible and invisible dangers' are very affecting, and were not unheard, for their careers in the land of their adoption were prosperous ones, and their descendants now exist in honourable positions in France.

"A correspondent of the Kilkenny Journal,' who some time ago gave a notice of Baron de Shee's elevation to a Chevaliership of the Legion of Honour, and also of his distinguished services as a cavalry officer in the French army, alluded to the Baron's descent from William Shee, of Sheepstown, who died in 1758, and who was husband to the lady who kept this family registry. The gentleman who communicated the sketch to the Kilkenny Journal' states that Henry Shee, son of the above William, married a Miss Nichols, whose mother was daughter to Richard Shee, of Roseneamy, from whom in the fourth degree is descended James Shee, Esq., of Abbeyview, Clonmel; her sister, Sarah Nichols, was married to James Butler, of Fethard, Esq., and their issue was Richard Butler, the first Earl of Glengall. Redmond Shee, the son of Henry Shee, and the father of the present Baron, by his wife, the daughter of Michael Murphy, the founder of the Presentation Convent in Kilkenny, left his native country in 1782, and went to France to his relative, the FieldMarshal Clarke, Duke de Feltre, who was also from the county of Kilkenny. In 1791, at the age of 16, he entered Berwick's regiment, and in 1809 was made a Colonel in the 13th Regiment of Chasseurs, and in 1817 was General of Brigade, and for his services was created Baron by the first Napoleon. During the Peninsular war he took the Marquis of Anglesey prisoner.' The sketch goes on to say that subsequently, during a debate on the Catholic question, the Marquis alleged the Baron's gallantry as a reason for throwing open the highest posts in the British army to Catholic Irishmen.

His name was Reynolds, and while his irons were being knocked off in the pressyard of Newgate, he declared that he went to be hanged with as much satisfaction as if he were going to be married, and that he

was innocent. Probably many others, similarly engaged, escaped. A man was hanged the same month on Pennendon Heath, near Maidstone, for the same offence against the law.

"The Baron Redmond de Shee, Anglesey's friend, died about the year 1837 at St. Germain-en-Laye. His only surviving issue, the present Baron, who was recently created Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, spent some of his childhood in Kilkenny, at the late Mrs. Leech's school. He is married to Valentina, the daughter of the Marquis d'Anach, of the Chateau de la Cour Senlisse, Department Seine et L'Oire.

"So far, in substance, is the account tracing back the present Baron's pedigree to Henry Shee, third son of William Shee and the lady who was married to him "ye 1st of October 1732, by ye Bishop of Ossery.' The writer appears to have overlooked the fact, or not to have been aware of it, that there were two elder brothers of Henry Shee's, who had, apparently, settled in France, and from either of whom the distinguished legitimist, Count Dalton Shee, is most probably descended, as well as other Shees, besides the Baron, who hold high posts in the French army. This, however, may be, and probably is, a mere supposition, and, therefore, it is much to be wished, for the sake of our local biographical history, that the writer of the sketch of the Baron, which appeared in the Kilkenny Journal,' who appears to have peculiar facilities for the task, would apply himself to giving a detailed account of the connexion between the Irish and the French Shees, and that of their famous relative Clarke (Napoleon's Minister-of-War) with them. This would also include some notice of De Montmorency Morris (Hervé),' Adjutant-Commandant, whose name also is a Kilkenny one. The position which he held in the Imperial War Office under Clarke, would appear to show a connexion between them either of kindred or country, while the interest that they both displayed in providing O'Conor with materials for the history of the Irish Brigade from the archives of their department, evince their sympathy with his undertaking.'

"One thing is certain, that the military connexion between the Shees, of Sheepstown, and France did not commence with Redmond's departure in 1782, to join his relative, Marshal Clarke.2 Either James or Francis, his uncles, will most probably be found on the muster-roll of the Irish Brigade as fellow-soldiers of Captain John Hennesy, 'of Boulklye's,' who was their mother's cousin.

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"The allusion to the Carmilit Fryer, s" Prendergast,' baptizing the child in the neighbourhood of Knocktopher during the penal days, corroborates the statement that the Order has never been absent from that immediate locality since the suppression of the Abbey.

The following attestation is appended to O'Connor's "Military Memoirs of the Irish Nation :"

"His Excellency the Duke de Feltre, Minister of War, was so kind as to communicate to me the original memoir above cited, of which this is a perfect copy, which I attest.

"DE MONTMORENCY MORRIS (HERVÉ) "Colonel

"Adjutant Commandant.

"Paris, 1st September, 1813."

2 One of the ancestors of the Duc de Feltre was J. Clarke, Esq., who occupied a

somewhat similar position of trust under the Ormond family, to that held by the founder of the Smyth family in Ireland. The Rev. Dr. Brown, Master of Kilkenny College, in a highly interesting account of that famous establishment, contained in the "Transactions," vol. i., first series, p. 125, quotes a letter from Thomas Otway, Bishop of Ossory, to J. Clarke, Esq., dated on the 18th August, 1686. The letter indicates the approaching struggle between the partisans of James and William, and makes allusion to its effects on the interests of the endowed school of Kilkenny.

"The document under consideration was left at her death by Miss Anne Elliott, who recently died in Kilkenny, and who was a second cousin of the Duke de Feltre, with whom she had spent some time in France in her younger days. She also left two beautifully executed medallion portraits, in embossed bronze, of the Duke and his wife, besides a miniature on ivory of a young man in a hussar uniform, apparently of the early French revolutionary period, probably that of Redmond Shee.

"The original of the document, and also the likenesses, are now in the possession of Mrs. Croseby, late of Johnstown, county of Kilkenny, sister to Miss Elliot.

"It may be added, that the old Castle of Sheepstown was only recently pulled down, to form a quarry to build an ugly dwelling-house, by a Mr. Kelly, who purchased the property in the Incumbered Estates Court. It had previously, however, passed out of the hands of the Shees into the possession of a family named Breathwicke."

The following Paper was then submitted to the Meeting.

THE FAMILY OF GALL BURKE, OF GALLSTOWN, IN THE COUNTY OF KILKENNY.

BY JOHN O'DONOVAN, ESQ., LL.D., M. R. I. A., CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, BERLIN.

BRUODIN, in his account of the families of the county of Kilkenny, given in his "Propugnaculum," published at Prague, 1668, states, p. 1001, that this illustrious family deduces its descent from Walter de Burgo, commonly called the Red Earl. Somewhat of a similar assertion is found in an epitaph on a broken tomb in the old chapel of Gallskill, to Walter de Burgo, who died in the year 1642, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. It is stated that he was

"DESCENDED OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE CALLED THE READ ERLE

AND SIR WILLIAM

OF THE CASTLE AND MANOR OF BALLINDOWLIN AND OF OTHER MANNORS, TOWNES AND LANDES IN CONNAGHT, ALL WHICH ARE CALLED THE FRY KILDROMENERICKE WHICH LYES ABOVE

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AND FROM THE TOWNE OF GALWAY IN THE SAID PROVINCE OF CONNAGHT-AND WAS ALSO LORD OF CASTLES, MANNORS, TOWNES, LANDS, AND TENEMENTS IN THE COUNTY of KilkennY AND WATERFORD."

"THIS SIR WILLIAM WAS VICE-CHAMBERLAINE TO KING EDWARD THE THIRD, JOHN FITZ WALTER TO EDWARD THE FIRST, IN THE COUNTY OF KILKENNY IN GAWLESTOWN."

On a stone, at Gallskill, measuring 4 ft. 9 in. in length, and 2 ft. 4 in. in breadth.

2 On a stone slab, at Gallskill, 6 ft. long by 2 ft. 7 in. broad.

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