Showing 1289 results

Lewis Goodbody was a son of Lewis Frederick, one of the five sons of Robert of Mountmellick, and was born at Clara in 1866 and died there at Drayton Villa on 8 January 1933, aged 66. He was educated at Birkdale, Lancashire and at Trinity College, Dublin from where he graduated in 1887. He joined the firm of Tisdall & Goodbody, later Goodbody and Tisdall, then of 15 Dame Street and Tullamore on qualifying as a solicitor in 1891. In 1893 he was active in the campaign to save the union and defeat the Gladstone home rule bill and was hon. secretary to an anti-home rule demonstration in Tullamore. Tisdall was pushed out in 1901 and the new firm of A & L Goodbody commenced in 1902. Lewis Goodbody was a keen sportsman with a strong interest in cricket and motoring. He was an original member of the Irish Automobile Club and his firm were the solicitors to the Irish Dunlop Company’s stock exchange prospectus in 1899. Goodbody lived in Kilcoursey, Clara throughout his life and what with inherited wealth and business acumen his establishment was able to support a governess, a cook and a parlour maid. Lewis Goodbody died at Clara at the age of 66 and was buried at the Friends Burial Ground, Clara. He was survived by his wife, Edith Lisetta Pim and two daughters and one son. The latter spent much of his time in India and died there in 1974.

John Townsend Trench was born on 17 February 1834. He was the second son of William Steuart Trench (1808-1872). His mother, Elizabeth Susanna, was a daughter of John Sealy Townsend, of Myross Wood, Co. Cork. Like his father, John Trench was a land-agent. He became assistant agent to the Lansdowne estates in Co. Kerry at the age of 19. He replaced his father as chairman of the Kenmare Board of Guardians in 1862 and on the death of his father in August 1872 he became sole agent on the Lansdowne estate. He was also agent to the Stradbally estate in Queen's County. While not directly involved in the running of the Digby estate in Geashill he was called upon regularly by his father for advice and is responsible for the many detailed sketches and illustrations sent on an annual basis from the estate to Lord Digby. His talents as an artist are also evident in the first edition of his father’s work 'Realities of Irish Life'.

Not only was Trench a talented artist but he displayed skills in agricultural improvement, accounting, administration, architecture, town planning, while also acting as a judge and amateur physician during his agency on the Lansdowne estate. Known locally as ‘Master Towney’, his time in Kenmare was marked by the transformation of the town, including the regeneration of the Market Square, with the erection of a public clock on the market house. He was also responsible for the establishment of a successful fisheries industry. He was talented as athlete, oarsman and cyclist. He was involved in the invention of a tubeless tyre which resulted in a litigation, and in him borrowing large sums of money to cover his debts.

During the Land war and the agricultural crash of 1879 Trench denied that any problems existed on either the Lansdowne or Luggacurren estates (Queen's County). This led the Marquess of Lansdowne to turn to Townsend’s successor, William Rochfort for advice. He eventually resigned eight years later. He was married twice, firstly to Agnes Merivale (1870), daughter of Herman Merivale, Under Secretary for India, and secondly to Leonora, daughter of George Cecil Gore Wray, of Ardnamona, Co. Donegal (1874). He had five children. He died on 9 August 1909

Dr William Moran, parish priest of Tullamore (1949-1965), is remembered by the people of Tullamore with affection and respect. To many parishioners he was seen as a character and there are few of the older parishioners who have not some humorous story to relate concerning him. Dr Moran came to Tullamore from Trim in October 1949 where he had been parish priest. He was a native of Castletowngeoghegan near Tullamore and was educated at St. Finian’s (Navan) and Maynooth College where he was ordained in 1910. He received a doctorate in divinity in 1913 and after four years as a curate in Mullingar and Collinstown he was appointed professor of dogmatic theology in Maynooth in 1917. In 1932 he became prefect of the Dunboyne establishment and librarian in 1932. From there he moved to Trim and in 1949 to Tullamore.

Although a competent parish administrator who gave his full support to the local schools building programme of the 1950s, Dr Moran was happiest among his books and produced a number of books and pamphlets on religious topics including his well known catechism. He also published a number of historical articles including this booklet on the history of Tullamore in 1962. But if Dr Moran was interested in the past he was also a forward thinking practical man. He seemed to take a special delight in running the annual Corpus Christi procession from the organ gallery of the church with the ‘Tannoy’ system he purchased in 1951. With this system Dr Moran could broadcast a Maynooth choir for the procession together with a taped recording of his own sermon while he walked around the church and listened, presumably, admiringly, to the whole event. With his background in theology and his wide reading, Dr Moran had no shortage of material for his sermons and was a fascinating preacher who held the congregation spellbound for the duration of his homily.

Dr Moran celebrated the golden jubilee of his ordination in June 1962 and sung a high mass in the presence of Dr Kyne of Meath and Dr Cronin of the Philippines. The sermon was preached by Dr Philbin of Clonfert. After a short illness Dr Moran died at the age of 79 in October 1965. Although he had been responsible for many improvements at Clonminch cemetery he desired to be buried in the church grounds in a plot chosen by himself. His funeral was attended by thousands of parishioners and about 150 priests, many of them old students of their former professor. His tombstone is now incorporated in the wall of the entrance to the east transept of the new Church of the Assumption, Tullamore (rebuilt in 1986 after the fire of 1983).

Moran’s history of Tullamore was assisted by the notes of Fr John Johnson of Harbour Street who did a lot of work but did not publish it. Moran’s history was the first to be published based on a research process with footnotes and a good spread of sources. A recording of his lecture on Tullamore given at St Mary’s Hall in 1962. This was published as Early history of Tullamore (Athlone, 1962, reprinted by Offaly History, Tullamore, 1989)

Laurence Parsons, 2nd Earl of Rosse, Baron of Oxmantown, 5th Baronet, was born on 21 May 1758 to Sir William Parsons, 4th Baronet, and Lady Mary Clere. From 1782-1790. Laurence Parsons represented Dublin University in the Irish House of Commons. In the following years of 1791-1801, he sat as a Member of Parliament for King's County. In May 1797
Laurence Parsons married Lady Alice Lloyd, and they had five children. After the Act of Union in 1801, he sat for King's County in the British House of Commons until 1807, when he succeeded his uncle as the 2nd Earl of Rosse. He soon after became one of the Postmasters General of Ireland, in 1809. From 1809-1841 he sat in the House of Lords as an Irish Representative Peer, and served as Custos Rotulorum of King's County from 1828 until his death on the 24th of February 1841. The 2nd Earl of Rosse was succeeded by his son, William Parsons.

Sir William Parsons, 1st Baronet of Bellamont, was born around the year 1570 to James Parsons and Catherine Fenton. In 1602 he succeeded Sir Geoffrey Fenton as Surveyor General of Ireland. He was later knighted for his work as Surveyor General and was created a baronet on 10 November 1611. In 1639 he represented the county of Wicklow in Parliament and was constituted Lord-Deputy, first with Lord Dillon in 1640, and again with Sir John Borlace, Master of the Ordnance. Sir William Parsons was married to Elizabeth Lany of Dublin, who was notably the niece of Sir Geoffrey Fenton. In 1643 he was removed from government, and imprisoned on charges of treason. Sir William Parsons died at Westminster in February of 1650. His grandson, Sir William Parsons, succeeded him as 2nd Baronet of Bellamont.

Ann Gee was the daughter of John Gee of Gurteen Castle. She married Abraham Fuller of Kinnegad and had seven children: Joseph (b 1698), Abraham, John, Joshua, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Mary.

There is a Fuller family legend about Ann Gee. It claims that she had married a man called Unthank, that she had drawn up a lease changing the life interest she had in the Gurteen lands into a permanent lease: she hurried with the document to Gurteen Castle, where her father lay dying, but he was dead when she arrived. She took up his dead hand and made it go through the motions of signing the lease. This woman’s ghost is supposed to appear to members of the Fuller family before their death.

Ann Gee was the daughter of John Gee of Gurteen Castle. She married Abraham Fuller of Kinnegad and had seven children: Joseph (b 1698), Abraham, John, Joshua, Elizabeth, Sarah, and Mary.

There is a Fuller family legend about Ann Gee. It claims that she had married a man called Unthank, that she had drawn up a lease changing the life interest she had in the Gurteen lands into a permanent lease: she hurried with the document to Gurteen Castle, where her father lay dying, but he was dead when she arrived. She took up his dead hand and made it go through the motions of signing the lease. This woman’s ghost is supposed to appear to members of the Fuller family before their death.

Adam Fuller of Woodfield, was born 28 February 1782, the second son of Abraham and Catharine Fuller. During his life he became Justice of the Peace and married twice. His first wife was Miss Stokes of Kerry, and they had one daughter Ann, who later married a solicitor in Tullamore. Adam Fuller's married his second wife, Maria Blanch Stritch, daughter of Dr Matthew Stritch of Dublin, at St. Peter’s Church Dublin on 4 December 1817. They had three sons: Joseph Thomas Fuller (b 7 Sep 1818), Captain Adam Henry Fuller (b 24 Oct 1822), and Reverend Abraham Stritch Fuller (b 20 Nov 1826).

Their eldest son Joseph, who was very wild and heavily contributed to the financial troubles of the family, was sent to live in America. In order to generate income, Woodfield House was let out in 1851, and Adam and Maria Blanch Fuller moved to a house in Sandymount, County Dublin. Adam Fuller, Justice of the Peace died on 15 June 1858 at the age of 76.

Joseph Thomas Fuller, eldest son of Adam and Maria Blanch Fuller, was born 7 Sep 1818. In his youth he was so wild that he was forbidden to hunt with the county pack, and insisted on keeping his own hounds at Woodfield. His father, Adam Fuller, told him he would have to sell the dogs because they were too expensive to keep. Joseph left the room, and after a short time called his father to the yard, where he had strangled all of the dogs on the railing. It was after this that Adam and Maria Blanch Fuller sent him to live in America.