I did promise in my last post to reveal the ancestors of our William SMYTH. I have done so here. I am connecting our Smyths to the Smiths of the “The Chronicles of a puritan family in Ireland (Smith formerly of Glasshouse)” (The Chronicles).
The author of The Chronicles, G.N. NUTTALL-SMITH, had his pedigree information accepted by the College of Arms, now the Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland, to confirm the arms of Smith. We can therefore presume that a least the portion relating to the register of the coat of arms is proven genealogical research. His work was completed prior to 1923 when he published, so many of the documents he refers to may have been destroyed in the four-courts fire. Therefore, his work is invaluable to us as a secondary source.
He was mainly concerned with his own line of ancestors when tracing his family back. That is perfectly valid. We all focus on our own direct ancestors to a great extent as well. His mention of William SMYTH of Borris in Ossory in the fourth generation on page 24[i] is simply:
married a Miss MINCHIN. They left a family, but no clear record remains . . .
His record back to William SMYTH is provided in the Chronicle.
So it is up to me to make the connection from William SMYTH who married Miss MINCHIN to Maria SMYTH, my 5x great-grandmother in my own family.
I was unable to find the marriage records for William, nor any death records. However, I did find a probate records for Anne SMITH, then of Loughane in Kings County, for a will proved 25 February 1763[ii] indicate that she is likely the Miss MINCHIN.
A relative named MINCHIN is mentioned and her children were
- a son Wililam,
- a daughter Frances who married a Talbot,
- a daughter Mary who married an Evans, and
- a daughter Lydia who married a Harder.
I found mention of the son William’s marriage, but without a connection to the previous generation. I was also able to find mentions of all the daughters’ marriages. I focused on the eldest daughter Frances who married William TALBOT.
This was confirmed with the will of William TALBOT of Loughane in 1772[iii] that indicates his wife is Frances and his brother-in-law is William SMYTH. Apparently,[iv] there is an obituary notice of Frances’ death in 1793 that confirms she was a sister to William SMYTH of Borris-in-Ossory. At this point, I have been unable to track down a copy of the 04 May 1793 Dublin Chronicle to view the original.
A book on the history of Middlesex County in Ontario, Canada,[v] also indicates that William TALBOT was married to Frances “the daughter of W. Smith” of King’s County Ireland. The book mentions Kilcommon not Borris-in-Ossory. However, as other of their relatives came from Kilcommon, I believe that is an error on the exact location.
All of these documents confirm the connection to William SMYTH, both the son and the father. The son William, who inherited the lease to the castle at Borris-in-Ossory, married Anne FINN in 1753.[vi] He died at Borris-in-Ossory in April 1807.[vii] His daughter Maria married Thomas WOODS in October 1789.[viii] There are three William SMYTHs who married ladies named “Anne” in this tree, just to keep it interesting.
That, I believe, successfully connects the Smith/Smyth family in The Chronicles to my family. Maria was my 5x g.gma who married Thomas Woods.
The best part is that an ancestral relation of mine has a unicorn in his coat of arms!
There also appears to be a connection – via the unicorn on the coat of arms – to Sir William CUSACK-SMITH who married the sister of my 5x g.gpa on the BERRY side. That is research for another day.
[i] Nuttall-Smith, G.N. (1923). The chronicles of a puritan family in Ireland [Smith (formerly) of Glasshouse]. Oxford, UK : Oxford University Press. https://archive.org/details/chroniclesofpuri00nutt : accessed 03 August 2025.
[ii] Testamentary Records. 25 February 1763. Probate. SMITH, Anne. Collection: Ireland. Genealogical Office & Betham, W. (1820). Genealogical abstracts of Prerogative wills, ca. 1550-1800, compiled by Sir William Betham, New Series Volume 25: Sm-St. p 79. https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000541495 : accessed 22 June 2025.
[iii] Testamentary Records. Ireland. Probate. 11 December 1772. TALBOT, William. http://www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 08 July 2025.
[iv] Colclough, John N. Borris Castle. https://laoishouses.wordpress.com/2021/08/04/borris-castle/ : accessed 24 August 2025.
[v] Goodspeed, W.A. and C.L. publishers (1889). County of Middlesex Canada : from the earliest time to the present ; containing an authentic account of many important matters relating to the settlement, progress and general history of the county, and including a department devoted to the preservation of personal and private records, etc. p 1018. https://archive.org/details/historyofcountyo00torouoft/page/1018/mode/2up?q=Frances : accessed 24 August 2025.
[vi] Marriage Indexes (PR) Ireland. Shinrone, Kings, Ossory Marriage Licenses. 12 July 1753. SMITH, William and FINN, Anne. http://www.rootsireland.ie : accessed 12 July 2025.
[vii] Death Announcements. Limerick Gazette. 21 April 1807. SMYTH William. http://www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 06 July 2025.
[viii] Marriage Announcements. 1789. Saunders’s Newsletter. 27 October. WOODS, Thomas and SMITH, Maria. p 2 d. http://www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 15 February 2023.
