Earl family genealogy
Of Carbery, County Kildare
Arms: Gu. on a chev. betw. three escallops in chief and a dolphin in base ar. as many trefoils sa. all within a double tressure engr. of the second, the outer bordure or. Crest: A nag's head erased sa. maned or.
The Errill family, whose name has been anglicised Earl, was, it is believed, originally located at Errill, a village near Rathdowney, in the Queen's County, containing many ancient ruins of which Ledwich has written.
According to the MS. Vol., F. 1. 21, in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, the Errills were in the fifteenth century located in the County Westmeath, where they remained up to the time of the Cromwellian Settlement; after which the family was dispersed through the adjacent counties: one branch settling in Carbery, county Kildare, where circa A.D. 1770, we meet the name of Thomas Errill as their surviving representative, and with whom this pedigree commences:
1. Thomas Errill, of Carbury, co. Kildare, left three sons and three daughters:
I. Edward (b. 1774), who was Parish Priest of Carbury for 25 years, and died in 1846; he was the first of the family who wrote his name Earl. This good priest was possessed of considerable ability, sterling piety, and great humour; it was principally through his exertions that a stone bridge was erected over a river in Carbury. Father Earl is buried in Carbury chapel, inside of which there is a tablet to his memory, containing the following inscription: [but see note in Addenda here]
"Sex pedes terrae me tegit,
Sex pedes solis me videt,
Sic maneo in oevum."
Respecting that epitaph Mr. W. J. Fitzpatrick, J.P., M. R. I. A. (author of the Sham Squire, etc.) has kindly informed us, that Father Earl left directions that the foregoing laconic inscription should be put on any monument that might be erected to commemorate him. But his bereaved parishioners hesitated to obey those directions; at the same time not wishing to disobey the dying injunctions of their Soggarth Aroon, they caused the modest epitaph of Father Earl's composition to be inscribed on the back of the monumental tablet, and had a well-merited eulogium of their own composition put on the front.
II. John, of whom presently.
III. Laurence, born in 1786, m. Catherine Maguire, and emigrated to America in 1833, accompanied by his three sisters, Mary, Alice, and Elizabeth.
2. John Errill: second son of Thomas; born 1777, d. 1837; m. another Catherine Maguire, and settled in Dublin, where he died, leaving three daughters, who died unm., and three sons:
I. George, who died unm.
II. Patrick William, of whom presently.
III. Thomas, who was educated at Erasmus Smith's School Dublin, and m. Alicia Ingram He d. in 1861, leaving issue one son and five daughters, all of whom emigrated to America about 1870.
3. Patrick William Earl: second son of John Errill; was born in 1823, and educated at Erasmus Smith's School, Dublin. He was the second member of his family to adopt the anglicised form of their surname; he became an eminent Analytical Chemist,[1] and died on the 4th of August, 1885. He was married to Jane, the only daughter of John Kearney, a Dublin Poplin Manufacturer. This lady was descended on her mother's side from Peter La Touche, of Belfield, county Dublin, who was erroneously described in her obituary announcement as of Bellvue, co. Wicklow; the La Touches of Belfield being a much older branch of the family. (See BURKE'S Landed Gentry.)
Mrs. Jane Earl, according to the certificate of her death issued by Doctor More Madden (an eminent physician, elsewhere referred to in this volume), died of mental trouble and decline, produced by her husband's death, which event she survived only nine months; dying on the 14th of May, 1886, deeply regretted by all her friends, to whom she had endeared herself by her exceedingly gentle and amiable disposition. We were informed that the Rev. A. S. Fuller, D.D., Vicar of St. Mark's, Dublin, in preaching Mrs. Earl's funeral sermon, touchingly alluded to "the rare instance of inconsolable conjugal affection, evinced in the decease of this amiable lady, who, from a long personal acquaintance, he could testify, was truly described as—a good wife and a pious and loving mother."
The issue of Patrick William Earl and his wife, were five sons and three daughters:
I. John-Samuel, who d. young.
II. William-Samuel, who died young.
III. Frederick George Earl, born in 1852, educated at Erasmus Smith's School, Dublin, and living unmarried in 1887.
IV. John Charles Earl, born in 1855, educated at Erasmus Smith's School, Dublin, and living unm. in 1887.
V. Edward H. Earl, born in 1863, and living unmarried in 1887. He was educated at Erasmus Smith's School, Dublin, and was subsequently a pupil in Chemistry, of Sir Charles Cameron, M.D., the distinguished Irish Analyst above mentioned. Edward H. Earl was for some time the proprietor and Editor[2] of a Dublin Church Magazine, which received the support and patronage of the Most Rev. Lord Plunket, D.D., and other eminent Church dignitaries. He was also the author of an interesting archaeological sketch of St. Dolough's Church, co. Dublin, to which church he received the honorary appointment of lay-reader from the late Archbishop Trench, in 1884, the then Rector of St. Dolough's being the talented Doctor Tisdall, Chancellor of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.
VI. Georgina Elizabeth Earl, living unm. in 1887.
VII. Emily Jane Earl, living unm. in 1887.
VIII. Henrietta Earl, who died young.
Notes
[1] Chemist: The following is a summary of the various biograghical notices of Patrick William Earl, which were published at the time of his decease in The Irish Times, Daily Express, The Analyst, The Medical Press, The Farmers' Gazette, The Mail, and other Irish Journals:—Mr. P. W. Earl, who died on the 4th of August last, was a member of an old Irish family named "Errill," anglicised "Earl," of Carbury, county Kildare. Mr. Earl at an early age became the pupil of the late eminent Dr Aldridge, Professor of Chemistry in the Cecilia Street School of Medicine; succeeding Professor Aldridge in the management of a large manufacturing laboratory in Dublin, in which position he spent forty years of his life, till the firm was merged into a Limited Liability Company.
Mr. Earl was well known as a talented member of his profession; though a natural diffidence which he possessed prevented his name from coming much under public notice. He took, however, an active part at one time, in an undertaking promoted by Lord George Hill, Sir James Dombrain, Professor Aldridge, and others, for the purpose of extracting and utilizing the various valuable salts found in seaweed. Amongst the chemists who graduated under Mr. Earl, and who now occupy high positions throughout the United Kingdom and the Colonies, we may mention the name of Sir Charles Cameron, M.D., Analyst to the City of Dublin, and President of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
[2] Editor: The Dublin Morning and Evening Mail, of October 11th, 1882, in a very favourable review, thus alluded to Mr. E. H. Earl's first literary effort—the St. Mark's Parish Magazine . . . . "It would be unfair to close this notice without making some reference to the young gentleman, through whose energy the Magazine has struggled into existence. He is but a boy in years, and yet we believe he canvassed for the Magazine's Advertisements (of which there is a good display), supplied the news for its columns ,and wrote its introductory address—in fact, did everything for it. If but half the parishioners of St. Mark's are possessed of such devotion towards their church as this youthful editor is, a bright prospect lies before it."