La route est longue jusqu'à Tipperary!

[muckefuck]

I'm sure there are better places to look for information on the Huguenots in Ireland (such as, just maybe, Caldicott, Goough, and Pittion's The Huguenots in Ireland or its like), but I did promise a few days back to look up this bit in Matheson, so I might as well reproduce it here as well:

Representatives of other races have from time to time settled in this country; prominent amongst these may be mentioned the French and Flemish Huguenots. The Irish Parliament in 1674 passed an act granting letters of naturalization to the refugees. The Duke of Ormonde, then Viceroy, patronized them, and through his instrumentality, colonies of them were founded at Dublin, Kilkenny, Portarlington, Waterford, Cork, and Lisburn. The started manufactures of silk, gloves, lace, cloth, and linen. The manufacture of "Irish Poplin" in the Liberties of Dublin had its origins with these industrious foreigners, and in the north of Ireland they established manufacture of linen and cambric.

I always wondered how a bunch of sheep-shearers got into the linen business in the first place. Now I know--it wasn't them after all!

monshu's Huguenot ancestor was a "Mercere", a spelling which doesn't seem to be in use any longer. The majority (20 out of 22 births in the 1890 birth index) of Irish "Mercers" ended up in the North, primarily Antrim and Down, but there were historically a few in Leinster as well. If this represents a family in Kilkenny rather than Portarlington or Dublin, then it's easy to see how the industrious foreigner could've come in contact with Smeltzers (Kilcooly Abbey sitting practically on the Kilkenny border), but otherwise we have another family mystery on our hands.

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[monshu.livejournal.com]

Ann's spelling of her maiden name is verified by this tombstone:


Mount Zion/Whaley's Corners Cemetery, Winston Churchill Blvd, Brampton, Concession 6, Lot 1, Chinguacousy Township, Peel County, Canada.