Thomas bernard kinnity

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Introduction to the Bernard Family of  Carlow, Laois and Offaly, Ireland

Charles Bernard of Carlow  born circa 1638 - died 1668 (Children: Thomas John and Philip)

Thomas Bernard and Deborah Franks (Children: Charles, Franks, Elizabeth, Joseph and Anne)

Philip Bernard (1668-1721)

Charles Bernard of Laois (Queen’s Co). (Eldest son of Thomas and Deborah)

Franks Bernard of Carlow (Second son of Thomas and Deborah)

Joseph Bernard of Carlow (youngest son of Thomas and Deborah)

Thomas Bernard of Castletown, Offaly (Son of Joseph and Mary)

 John Bernard of Carlow (Son of Joseph and Mary)

William Bernard of Carlow (Son of Joseph and Mary)

Thomas Bernard of Carlow (Son of William and Mary)

Arthur O’Brien Bernard of Carlow and the Isle of Man (son of Thomas and Anne)

Bernards of Tullow, Aghade, Newstowne and Rathrush, Co Carlow









Thomas Bernard is described as the heir to Joseph Bernard by Burke in "Landed Gentry of England and Ireland".  He was born >1717 in Carlow. Died <1789, in Castletown, Co. Offaly (King’s Co.).

Thomas Bernard married Jane (Mitchell) Palmer  in 1740 (1) (she was the daughter of Adam Mitchell of Rathgibbon and  the widow of Joseph Palmer).  Thomas purchased a castle near Birr called Castletown, later named Kinnity Castle, then later changed to Castle Bernard, Co. Offaly.

The date of Jane's death is unknown, however, in 1768 Thomas married Mary Bernard, widow of Thomas Bernard of Cloghristik, Co. Carlow who died in 1757. At the time of Thomas' death their four daughters, all minors were made wards of Franks Bernard. The children were: Frances, Susanna, Catherine and Mary. (2)

Children of Thomas and Jane, one son and six daughters:
  • Thomas Bernard (Jun) b. 1747 of Castle Bernard. He married firstly in 1768 to Mary Willington (daughter of Jonathan Willington of Castle Willington). 

    Married, secondly in (16 April 1780) to Margaret (Biddulph) Cornwall  (who died 31.03.1811), dau/coheir of Nicholas Biddulph of Rathrobin & Portal, widow of Alexander Cornwall (No children)

        Thomas Bernard (Jun ) died in 1813, leaving a will      
       
        Children of Thomas and Mary Bernard:
    • Thomas Bernard III. b. 1769. Married firstly in 1800 to Elizabeth Prittee, daughter of Henry, 1st Lord Dunalley. She died without children in 1802.   He married 2nd, 1814, Catherine Henrietta Hely-Hutchinson (b. 1792). Children of Thomas Bernard (III) and Catherine Bernard:
      • Frances Margaret Bernard b. 1816. m. 1846 to Samuel Hamilton Goold-Adams (b. 1805). Daughter Katherine Charlotte Marguerite Goold-Adams  1827-1842

      • Thomas Bernard (IV)  (1817-82), an army officer. Died unmarried 1882

      • Margaret Bernard, born 1818

      • Francis Bernard, 1819-1846. Admitted to TCD in 1838. Became an attorney (Kings Inn)

      • John Henry Scrope Bernard, 1820-1856. Lieut. 18th Royal Irish Reg. m. in 1849, Marie Eveline Cecilia Nathalie d'Altamura, daughter of Edward d'Altamura, a naval captain. Children: Marguerite-Adeline Bernard

      • Richard Wellsley Bernard born 25 March 1822. Admitted to TCD 1841. Became an Attorney (Kings Inn). Married 1849 to Ellen Georgina Williams. Died 1877. No children

A copy of the 1821 Census shows that Thomas Bernard III was a wealthy man with 13 servants.
Birr 1821 census

Thomas Bernard III, died intestate at 38 Upper Sackville Street, Dublin, from ‘an attack of gout in the stomach' in May 1834, before he could execute the will which he had been discussing with his agent shortly before. His estates, including his ‘splendid mansion' at Castle Bernard, which had been ‘erected under his own superintendence', passed to his eldest son Thomas Bernard IV.

    • Mary Bernard, (about 1770- 1804) m. in May 1796 to Sir Robert Waller, 2nd Bart. No children
    • Barbara Bernard, (b. about 1772) m. John Poe of Solsborough, Tipperary in 1800 against her father’s wishes (see codicil to will of Thomas Bernard Jun.). She died without issue in 1845. He died in 1857.

  • Mary Bernard   b. about 1741 m.1) James Dillon in 1759 (3). James died in 1778, they had one daughter Ellen (still a minor in 1792) and a son James (4). After the death of James Dillon (Sen,) Mary married Rev. Edward Palmer.
  • Grace Bernard (b. about 1744- 1836)  m. 1767, Philip Johnstone Going of Monaquil. 1741- 1820. Children:
    • Thomas Going 1776--1814
    • Philip Going 1770-1800
    • Mary Going1772-1827 married 1794 to John Bennett of Viewmount, Co carlow
    • Charlotte Going 1775-1812, married 1798 Robert Atkins of Firville. Cork
    • Jemima Matilda Going 1777-1843 married 1804 Amyrald Dancer
  • Susannah Bernard (1745-1819) m. 1769 Bigoe Armstrong  (1744-1773). Children:
    • Thomas Armstrong 1769-1826
    • Bigoe Armstrong 1770-1824
  • Barbara Bernard  (b. about 1749) m. September 1769, Robert Lauder of Moyclare, Offaly. Children:
    • Jane Lauder 1772
    • Tasmine Lauder 1775
    • George Marsh Lauder 1778-1844
    • Maria Lauder1780
    • Robert Lauder 1782, married Susanna Jane Drought
  • Jane Bernard b about 1750, m. 1772 Rev. John Smyth (d 15.01.1813)  in Co. Offaly. John Smyth was the brother of Ralph Smyth who married Elizabeth Stoney. Their daughter, Rebecca Margaretta Smyth married Joseph Bernard. Children of Jane and John Smyth:
    • Thomas Smyth
    • John Smyth. Married Jane ?
    • Robert Smyth
    • Jane Smyth married Thomas Barnes. Children:
      • John, Anne, Samuel, Joseph, Jemima, George, William, Caleb (married cousin Anne Barnes) and Susanna,
    • Mary Smyth married Rev. Joseph Barnes (1763-1833). Children
      • Jane (married Christopher Thorpe, 1845), Arabella (married John Abbott, 1840), John, Robert, Charlotte and Anne (married cousin Caleb Barnes 1840)
    • Ann Smyth married William Abbott in 1802. Children:
      • William, Anne, John, Jemima and Susanna.
    • Jemima Smyth married John West Walsh. Children:
      • John, Susanna, William
    • Susanna Smyth (1791-1853) married Andrew Moffett and 2ndly Rev. Edward George Parker (d. 1859). Children of Susanna and Andrew Moffett:
      • Jane (married Thomas Coulton), Mary (a.k.a. Maria married 1837 John B. Foster), Robert, Susan and John
  • Jemima (Jemma) Bernard b. after 1751 (m. George Clarke of Birr)
Note: Where birth year is not known it is estimated based on the year of marriage (if known). Most women, in that era, married between 17 and 23 years of age. Daughters are listed as they appear in the will of their uncle, John Bernard

"The Bernard's were a Carlow Family, and the Castle Bernard Branch descended from a Thomas Bernard, who settled in Birr about the middle of the eighteenth century. His name first appears on the Grand Jury in 1766, and his son, Thomas Bernard, of Castletown, now Castle Bernard, High Sheriff, 1785, took a prominent part in the Volunteer movement, raising and maintaining a corps known as the "Mountain Rangers". Thomas Bernard, junior was signed by the King’s Co. Militia in 1793. He was then Colonel of the King's County Militia, and succeeded his father in 1815, was High Sheriff in the year of the Irish Rebellion, and long M.P. for the County."  

http://www.irishmidlandsancestry.com
 
Thomas Bernard (III)  was a banker who established a bank in Birr, Offaly with partners Simpson Hackett, Richard Kearney, and William Hackett. 

"This house flourished in 1801, ......It did a large business, judging from its note circulation, which, in 1803, was of. 41,500 notes under three guineas, 2,496 under ten pounds, and 1,800 under fifty pounds. It lasted till 1812, if not till 1820".

"Thomas Bernard was M.P. for King's County in seven parliaments from 1806 to 1831 ; and he was so satisfied with the occupation in which he had embarked, and the business that his position and influence brought to the Birr bank, that he subsequently established a bank in Carlow. This firm was registered on 1st April, 1803, as "John Bennett, Thomas McCartney, Thomas Bernard, and Henry McCartney." It was an offshoot of the Birr bank (q.v.), Thomas Bernard being a partner in both. "The Carlow bank plunged headlong into a roaring trade. In the first year of its existence it had managed to get into circulation 26,219 notes under three guineas, 5,000 under ten pounds, and 2,050 under fifty pounds"..... "Within a few years of the establishment of the bank, the three first-named partners had left the firm, for, in 1807, the business was carried on by Henry McCartney alone. The bank had failed before 1820."

John Bennett, of Ballyloughane, and of Viewmount, Carlow, was a cousin of Thomas Bernard, the founder of the Birr Bank.  He married Mary Bernard, daughter of Joseph Bernard.

Quotations from: The Private Bankers of Ireland

References:
Registry of Deeds: Vol #, Page #, Memorial #
(1)     Memorial 107/200/73819      Image # 413
(2)    Memorial 270/319/172009    Image # 487
(3)    Memorial 199/528/133214       Image # 283
(4)      Memorial 450/82/289421            Image #50
To find the Memorial go to Registry of Deeds Index Project Ireland. Insert Volume# and Image #

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