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Matthew
Devenish Meares
When
John Meares died on October 9th, 1790, he died without issue and his
sisters inherited Meares Court, County Westmeath, Ireland. Meares
Court had been acquired by John's great grandfather in 1617.
One
of Johns sisters married a John Devenish of Portlik, County Westmeath and
it was her son William who, in 1811, eventually inherited Meares
Court and assumed the
name of Meares and added it to his Devenish surname.
On
July 10, 1825, Matthew Devenish-Meares, second son of William, arrived in
Sydney aboard the 'Mariner'. He was accompanied by his wife
and two children. Matthew, who had graduated in Arts at Trinity
College, Dublin, and later qualifying for Holy orders, had been
commissioned as assistant chaplain in New South Wales.
He
lived at Windsor, NSW for about two years before moving to Pitt Town,
where he performed weekly services at Wilberforce. On alternate
Sundays he gave services at Pitt Town and Sackville and every three months
a service at Wisemans.
In
1837 the family moved to Wollongong where they remained until 1858, when
Matthew resigned his position and moved to Sydney where he became Rector
of St Thomas's, Enfield. Matthew retired sometime around 1860 and
died in 1878.
From
'The Sydney Gazette', July 14, 1825
GEORGE
R.
George the fourth, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, and so forth;
To our trusty and well-loved Sir Thomas Brisbane, Knight Commander of Our
Civil and Military Order of the Bath, Governor and Commander in Chief in
and over Our Colony of New South Wales,
GREETING: ---
KNOW
YE, that We have nominated and appointed, and do hereby nominate and appoint,
Our trusty and well-loved Matthew Devenish Meares, Clerk, to be one of our
Chaplains within Our said Colony; he, the said Matthew Devenish Meares,
being a Priest in Holy Orders of the established Church of England and
Ireland. And it is Our Will, that the said Matthew Devenish Meares shall
hold such his Office during our pleasure, and no longer. And We do further
direct and command, that the said Matthew Devenish Meares, so long as he
shall retain his office, shall officiate as a Minister of the Established
Church aforesaid, at such Places, or Place, within Our said Colony, as the
Venerable the Archdeacon, for the Time-being, of the said Colony, from
Time to Time, appoint; it being Our Will and Pleasure, that the said
Archdeacon shall commit to the said Matthew Devenish Meares such spiritual
Charge, within Our said Colony, as are said Matthew Devenish Meares shall
appear to him best qualified to execute; and as may most effectively send
to the Advancement of Religion and Virtue within our said Colony.
More
Devenish Meares'
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Sir
Thomas Mears |
The
records at the Office of Ulster, King in Arms, at Dublin Castle, read as
follows - Lewis Mears, youngest son, b. at Corsley 1625, an officer in the
Army sent to quell the Irish in Ireland in 1641. He had a grant of the
lands of Rowlandstrem, now called "Mears Court", County
Westmeath and Cornamacklough, County Longford. He rebuilt and endowed the
Church of Almoritia in Ballymorin, adjoining Meares Court.
It is said the name Mears was Monmorency . It is from the French, De la
Mere, meaning "of the sea." |
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