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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
SITE MAP
IN THE BEGINNING - THE 1600s and before
In volume I of Irish Pedigrees; or the Origin and Stem of
the Irish Nation,
the name Bernard is stated to be the anglicized version of O'Briain of
Thomond (along with O'Brien, Brien, Bryan and Bryant). In volume II of
the same publication it suggests that the Bernards, were Huguenots
arriving from France prior to the reign of Louis XIV
i.e. before 1638. I cannot confirm which hypothesis fits my Bernard
family however, I have found Bernard's in Ireland in the 1300's so the
name deriving from O'Briain is probably more likley.
The Bernards appear to have been
settled in the county of Carlow, Ireland since at least the beginning
of the 1600s, although, it is
possible that they were in another Irish county before that time. In
the
"History
and Antiquities of the County of Carlow" by John Ryan
I found a reference
to John Bernard of Tinriland Catherlough
[now Carlow] in 1619. I assume that John was an adult and would
therefore have been born in the late 1500s and probably married
with children before 1619.
“…
By another grant, dated 1st July, 1619,
demised John Bernard the
lands of Tinriland, for
the term of thirty-one years, annual
rent, fourteen
pounds".
The Tinriland lease must have stayed in the
family as, several generations later, in
the will of another John Bernard (son of Joseph) of Carlow dated 1791,
John
Bernard mentions leaving the land leases of Tinriland to his son
Joseph.
[Modern spelling is Tinryland].
I have found references to other male Bernards in Carlow in the early to mid-1600s:
John Bernard. A John Bernard was mentioned in the Common Pleas in 1663 and 1666. He would have been an adult at this time. It is possible that he was son of John and I have estimated his birth to be about 1610. I have no other records of another John Bernard until 1666 (when a John was born to Charles Bernard). It is also unlikely that the John mentioned in the Common Pleas was the first John born in the late 1500s.
In the Court of Chancery Records (1) there are bills for John Bernard in 1668, 1669 (mentions wife Anne) and in 1670. There are no other Bernards mentioned in these Irish Court records during this period except for Anne Bernard, a plaintiff in 1671 and Anne again (a widow) in 1673. It is plausible that she was the wife of John Bernard. If she was then John died prior to 1673.
Other references to a John Bernard, who was a Sheriff in Co Catherlough in 1680 were found in a book "Great Cry of Oppression (3) It appears that he deliberately allowed a prisoner to escape his custody.
"Daniel
White of Clonah in the Parish of Killabban, for Tithe claimed by Arthur
Bambrick Tithmonger ...in the years 1675, 1676. to the value of four
pounds ten fhillings, was fued at the Bifhops Court at Loghlin, and a
definitive Sentence iffued to two Juftices of the Peace in the County
of Catherlough, .....he was committed to Maryburrough Goal the 13th of
the 7th month, 1678 where he remained ten days; and the Sheriff finding
he was committed by a wrong Mittemus caufed the Juftices that gave out
the faid Warrant to releases him. And about the third month, 1680, by a new Warrant on the faid Sentence from two Juftices of the Peace in the County of Catherlough; he was taken, ....and was cited to the faid Bifhops Court, where he appeared, and was fued for eleven pounds claimed 1681 by the faid Arthur Bambrick for other three years Tithe, to wit 1677, 1678, 1679. and the fame day a definitive Sentence was given .....and carried to a Constable, and fo to the Goal at Catherloughing. And the Sheriff, John Bernard, giving him fome liberty with a Keeper, which was called an Escape, the Sheriff was fued at the Affizes by the faid Bambrick, and Judge Booth gave no Decree against the Sheriff, ....Arthur Bambrick fued the faid John Bernard for giving him fome more liberty, which was proved but one nights lodging out of the Goal, termed an Escape in the faid John Bernards Sherivalry, and obtained a Decree from Judge Becket against the faid John Bernard for both the aforesaid Sums, together with nine pounds eighteen shillings ten pence Costs" . |
Joseph Bernard. The next record
of a Bernard in Carlow with a reliable date is that of Joseph Bernard.
The inscription in
Lorum Old Church Cemetry, Clonmulsh (2) records
the death of
Joseph in 1704 aged 70 (born in 1634). The
inscription indicates he had a son Joseph (the younger). The
inscription also names Mary as his wife however, it impossible for Mary
to be the older Joseph's wife as she was born in 1732, 28 years after Joseph died.
If
Joseph (the elder) was born in 1634 it was likely that he married
between the ages of 20 and 30 i.e. between 1654 and 1664. His son
Joseph (the younger) was most likely his first or second born son as he
was named after his father. I have concluded that the younger Joseph
would have been born about 1660. Joseph (the younger) would also
have married between the ages of 20 and 30 i.e. approximately
1680-1690. It is therefore highly unlikely that the Mary, mentioned on
the inscription was his wife. She was probably the wife of one of
Joseph (the elder’s) grandsons or great grandsons.
I have been unable to determine which of the
Bernards in Carlow are the elder Joseph's descendants.
William Bernard The next
record of another Bernard in
Carlow is found in Chancery
Court records in 1629 and in 1630. William was a plaintiff. The 1630
record was spelled as William Barnard. I have never found any Barnards
in Ireland in the 1600s so this may have been a mispelling. In
another record in 1658 William Bernard is a defendant along with
several others.
In the Census
of Ireland 1659, a William
Bernard, Gent. is living in Catherlough (Carlow). Based
on the dates in the following documents it is obvious that William was
an adult by 1659 and had children by 1667. William may have been the brother or the son of John Bernard.
- A
William Bernard is listed as a Sheriff for the County of Catherlough in
the 1659 census of Ireland
- Thomas
King in “Carlow the Manor and Town 1674-1721” comments that
“the so-called 1659
census was really a tax
return which excluded several categories of the
population like those under
fifteen years.”
- Then, in 1677
“a lease for ye lives of Thomas Bernard,
Charles Bernard, William Bernard. The towne and lands of
Mortellstowne
containing 120 acres, and ye Martlands of ye Burren containing 40
acres” (King)
- Mortlestown
Farm was one of the larger farms in the Manor of Carlow being 223
acres.
- There is
a further record that –
He refused to 'intermeddle therewith because of the depredations of the army'.
It had lain waste for a number of years until Baron Worth set it for £35 in 1695". (King)
- In a 1681 record of tenants in the old walled town of Carlow (Spaight’s Survey 1681, also in King) there is a William Bernard and his children: Thomas, Charles and William.
- In the Court of Chancery Records, 1633-1851 there is a bill in 1695 for a Charles Bernard, with defendants named as William Bernard and Thomas Bernard, among others.
- In 1699
William Bernard’s name appears in the
record of Common Pleas. This may be William (the younger) rather than his father.
- A John Bernard (circa 1700) is claiming a property (deed) "term for three lives renewable for ever after the death of Tho., C. and W. Bernard". (Ryan) The three lives are: Thomas, Charles and William Bernard sons of William Bernard mentioned in the 1659 Census. It is not known who John Bernard was but he was possibly the fourth son of William.
- In the Court of Chancery Records, 1633-1851 there are bills for William Bernard in 1674, 1680, 1690
Charles Bernard. Burke, in the Genealogical And Heraldic History Of The Landed Gentry Of Ireland (1912), claimed that my ancester Charles Bernard came to Ireland with Oliver Cromwell during the Conquest of Ireland in 1649. All the records I have found show that the name Bernard existed in Ireland long before Oliver Cromwell arrived there and that the repetition of first names found in the Bernard family of Co. Carlow led me to conclude that Burke was mistaken and that Charles Bernard descended from Bernard ancestors already resident in Ireland.
Charles was possibly the
youngest son of John, born about 1638. He married Elizabeth Sheppard about 1664/5and died in 1668. He would have been about 30 year's old at the
time of his
death. That may explain why there is no documentary evidence regarding
Charles and his family until the 1700s.
The information in the following pages is based on both historical records and intuitive inferences. The Bernard family of Co. Carlow, and later of Co. Laois (Queens) and Co. Offaly (Kings), repeatedly used the same names throughout the generations. Male names were John, William, Thomas and Charles. Female names were Elizabeth, Mary, Anne and Deborah.
As there are very few records to confirm the relationships of these Bernards in Carlow most of my assumptions are speculative until they can be proven.
The chart below is based on my personal concept of the early Bernard's in Co. Carlow. It is not based on birth marriage or burial records as there are none. Most dates have been estimated, based on events or documents where names have been found. There are no records to substantiate most of these dates.
Earlier references to Bernards in Ireland
There are two references to a John Bernard in the Calendar of Ormond Deeds 1350-1413.
Vol
II p.
46, Jan. 1359 - from the Assizes in Clonmel, Tipperary
“ John Bernard of Balykrydan accused that when Edmund son of Geoffrey Hacket Nicholas Potyn Robert fitzGeoffrey
and Walter son of Adam Purcell on Monday next after St. Nicholas’ Day in the 30th year at Coulmayn robbed
Matthew de Loundres of twenty cows, each worth a half mark, said Edmund etc. after the felony was done were
received by said John, he knowing of the felony. He comes and asks for a jury. The jury finds he is not guilty and
so he may go quit”
Vol II p263. Dec 20th 1404 Estreats, fines and amercements before the same Barons of the Exchequer for Trinity Term in the 5th year at the King’s Pleas:
“From Peter Loundrys because
when summoned he did not
come… So with John Barnard, David
Bretenagh, John Hamond, John Becket, Philip Dowy, Maurice Hacket each
….”
A William Bernard, attorney, is also mentioned in the Calendar of Ormond Deeds, 1413-1509, Vol III. P. 353.
“ Being asked the damages they said they amounted to two hundred pounds; and because the court was not ready to give
judgement a day was appointed one month from Easter for the parties to appear before the Justicar. On which day the said
William [le Botiller] by William Bernard his attorney came before the Justicar at Cloneyn……”
NOTE: In
searching early
records it must be noted that the spelling of names was inconsistent.
The
spelling may be Bernard, Bernarde, Barnard, Barnarde or even Banard. Most documents were transcribed from old
English script or Latin, and the transcriber may have transcribed the
name
incorrectly or it may have been written as seen. As the predominant
spelling is
Bernard, that is what I have used throughout
unless it is a direct
quotation from a document. In the sample of an
Ormond Deed (below) one can see the difficulty transcribers had in
reading names.
“Presentation of James Tobyn to the Rectory of Olde Rosse in the diocese of Ferns, vacation by the resignation of Thomas Bernarde ..... Nov 10th 1545; December 7th 1545 Presentation of Thomas Barnarde to the Vicarage of Kinsale ‘upon the backe of Yoghull’ in the Diocese of Limerick, in the presentation of the Crown ‘pleno jure’ ” ;“Presentation of Thomas Barnard to the vicarageof Ballynestellock, in the diocese of Kildare. — Aug. 1st 1558” and “Presentation of Thomas Barnard to the vicarage of Saint Nicholas, of Clonyne, in the diocese of Ferns. — Sept. 5, 1562”.
Also, an interesting court
case in 1308 in Dublin, found in the Medieval
Plea Rolls
Co. Carlow, or "Catherlough" is in the province of Leinster. There are seven historic baronies in the county: Carlow, Forth, Idrone East, Idrone west, Rathvilly, St Mullin's Lower and St Mullin's Upper. Co. Carlow is the second smallest county in Ireland.
Carlow
the town is the County Town it is 85 km from Dublin. The River Barrow flows
through the town, and forms the historic
boundary between countiesLaois (Queens) and Carlow.
References:
(1) Ireland, Court of Chancery Records, 1633-1851
(2) https://sites.rootsweb.com/~irlcar2/Lorum_Cemetery_4.htm
(3) Great Cry of Oppression. By William Stockdale (Quaker.)