Casey (No. 3.) family genealogy

Of England, late of Munster[1]

See pp. 78-80, Vol. I.

Arms: Az. on a chev. ar. betw. three eagles’ heads erased or, a talbot pass. gu. Crest: Out of a ducal coronet or, a demi-eagle displayed ppr. charged on the breast with a bugle-horn stringed or. Motto: O’Cathasaigh cloidhimhdeirge.

(These Arms have been confirmed to Arthur Edwin Comerford Casey, of H. M. Bengal Civil Service, and to the descendants of his grandfather, Edwards Casey, by Sir Bernard Burke, Ulster King of Arms).

This family claims descent from the O’Caseys, Chiefs of Coillte Maibineacha[2]—a territory near Mitchelstown, county Cork—who were a branch of the O’Caseys, Lords of Saithne and Fingal. The Sept derives its descent and sirname from Cathasach (“cathasach;” Irish, brave, stout, valiant; or, “cathfeasach;”[3] Irish, skilful in battle; and a quo O’Cathasaigh, anglicised O’Casey, O’Casie, Casey, Casie, Casy, Cahasie), twelfth in descent from Glasradh, grandson of Cormac Galeng, son of Tadhg, son of Cian, son of Olioll Olum (of the Royal House of Heber), King of both Munsters in the third century. (See No. 84, p. 67, Vol. I.)

This family name frequently occurs, as far as 300 years back, among the gentry in the county Cork; but the internecine wars and devastations of the 17th century, and the deliberately-planned destruction by the English of Irish Genealogies, Manuscripts, and Documents in general, swept away so many Irish Records, that a continuous account of the family can only be given from the close of that turbulent period. For 150 years, dating from A.D. 1675, many members of the family were “Middlemen,” and holders of a number of townlands in the baronies of Garrycloyne, East Muskerry, Cork, and Barrymore, in the county of Cork, within thirty miles of their ancient territory.

1. Thomas and John Casey, brothers (born circa 1650), were in 1680 married and settled at Aghane Boy (four miles from Cork), in the parish of St. Mary, Shandon. Thomas had:

1. Michael (b. 1685), of Coolernouny, Ballincunrig, and Ballinahina, who mar. and had issue.
2. Thomas (b. 168–), of Ballinahina, mar. Elizabeth Beads, widow of Thomas Beads, and had an only child, Elizabeth, who mar. Richard Spring, of Rathcormack, and Cousane.
3. John (b. 1687), of Ballyhesty, Ballinvarrig, and Ballinahina, mar. and had:
   1. Richard.
   2. Henry; and other children.
4. Richard, mar. and had issue.

John had:

1. Thomas (b. 1687), who mar. and had:
   1. John.
   2. Martha.
   3. Eleanor; and other children.
2. Daniel, who mar. Anne Odey, and had:
   1. Daniel.
   2. Thomas.
   3. Hannah.
   4. Another Daniel.
   5. Margaret.
   6. Jonas.
   7. Catherine: four of whom d. in infancy.

Richard Casey, living in the same parish, was (arguing from the internal evidence contained in certain existing papers) seemingly a brother of the above Thomas and John; and father of James, Edward, William, Elizabeth, and other children.

3. Thomas (d. 1769, and buried in the family vault, in St. Mary, Shandon), of Bolabeg, Ballinvriskig, and Whitechurch (adjoining Ballinahina), in same parish, was in the second generation from the first line here mentioned. He mar. Hester —, and had:

1. James, first of Bolabeg, and next of Roughrane, Coolnacaha, Tibbotstown, and Glintown House, Riverstown, mar. Elizabeth Phair, and had:
   1. Mary, who mar. her cousin, Francis Phair, and had issue.
2. Alice, mar. Thomas Martin, of Ballyphilip and Ballyligin (of the family of the present Martins, of Castle Jane, county Cork), and had issue.
3. Michael, of Flower Hill, mar. Mariam Eason, and had:
   1. Hester.
   2. Martha.
   3. Anne.
   4. Mariam: all of whom died unmar.
4. William, of Blossomgrove, alias Rahanetig, Ballinvinna, and Ballyvisteal, mar. and had three sons, and five daus.:
   1. James, of Blossomgrove, m. Martha, dau. of Thomas Chatterton, brother of Sir James Chatterton, Bart.
   2. Thomas.
   3. John.
5. The five daughters were:
   1. Jane.
   2. Alicia.
   3. Martha.
   4. Mary.
   5. Esther: three of whom became, respectively—Mrs. Martin, Mrs. Moreton, and Mrs. Martin.
5. Thomas, of Cahirgal, of whom presently.

4. Thomas (d. 1799); of Cahirgal, mar. Miss Nunn,[4] and had:

1. John, of Elmgrove, and of part of Ballinahina, who m., and d. s. p. within a year of his father’s death.
2. Edwards, of whom presently.

5. Edwards (d. 1827), of Cahirgal and Elmgrove, married Jane, daughter of Peter Comerford,[5] by his wife Mary Casey, and had:

1. Thomas, of whom presently.
2. William-Comerford (d. 1852).
3. George (d. 1879).
4. Edwards (d. 1875).
5. John.
6. Comerford.
1. Mary, m. Frederick Hawkins, M.D., of Hitchin, Herts, fourth son of Major Henry Hawkins, and had issue.
2. Hannah.
3. Jane: some of these, the children of Edwards, No. 5, d. young, and all are now dead.

6. Thomas, eldest son of No. 5 (d. 1871); M.D. of St. Albans, England, m. Ann, dau. of Major Henry Hawkins,[6] of Lawrence End, Herts, and had:

1. Henry-Ernest, M.A., Camb., Clerk in Holy Orders; Vicar of Berrow, Ledbury, Worcestershire.
2. Edward, M.D., Windsor.
1. Anne-Louisa, d. young.
2. Mary (d. 1872), who m. Rev. J. H. .Bennett, and had issue.

6. William-Comerford (d. 1852), second son of No. 5, of Wavertree, Liverpool, mar. Susanna, dau. of John Hawkins, of Hitchin, Herts (eldest son of Major Henry Hawkins), and had:

1. William-Henry, M.A Cantab., Clerk in Holy Orders, married Mary Matilda, dau. of R. P. Austin, Liverpool, and has:
   1. Mabel-Healy.
   2. Norah-Florence.
2. Edward; a Solicitor in Hitchin.
3. Frederick, died 1887 at the Grande Saline, Hayti, West Indies.
4. Horace-Comerford.
1. Emily-Rebecca, mar. Charles Cholmeley Hale, Kings Walden, Herts, and has issue.
2. Mary, who married her cousin Harry W. Maclear, Major, 3rd Buffs, and has issue.
3. Susanna Baretta, m. Thomas Moore, of Liverpool.
4. Miriam-Amelia, mar. C. J. G. Duranty, Livingston Drive, Sefton Park, Liverpool, and has issue.

6. George (d. 1879), the third son of No. 5; of Winterbourne, St. Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex; m. Mercy-Bourcicault (d. 1880), dau. of George Glenny,[7] of Newry, by his wife and cousin Martha, daughter of Joseph Glenny, and (besides Charles-Ash-Wyndham, Comerford-Glenny, Mercy-Jane, and Mercy-Bourcicault, all of whom d. in infancy) had:

1. George-Edwards-Comerford, of whom presently.
2. Charles-Leslie, Major, Royal Artillery, Naval and Military Club, Piccadilly, London.
3. Arthur-Edwin-Comerford, Bengal Civil Service, 16 St. James’s Square, London, mar. Edith A. (d. 1886, at Suez, Egypt), dau. of the late General Sir Thos. Willshire, Bart, G.C.B.
1. Isabel (d. in England, in 1887), mar. Francis Ross Bromilow, Lieut. R.N. (d. 1879), and had issue.
2. Helena-Mary, d. in 1882, at Ranibagh, N.W.P., India.
3. Emma-Elizabeth, m. Sainthill Eardley-Wilmot, Conservator of Forests, India, and has issue.

6. Edwards (d. 1875), the fourth son of No. 5; of Blackrock; mar. Eliza, dau. of Robert King Cummins, of Cork, and had:

1. Mary-Jane, who d. in England, in 1884.

7. George-Edwards-Comerford, eldest son of George, No. 6 (third son of No. 5), M.A., Linc. Col., Oxf., Clerk in Holy Orders, F.L.S., living at Nice, mar. E. G. Alvina, dau. of the late Robt. Bertram, Taylorian German Professor in the University of Oxford, and has issue:

1. Edward-Comerford, of whom presently.
1. Olive-Bourcicault-Comerford.
2. Alvina-Bertram-Comerford.

8. Edward-Comerford Casey: son of George-Edwards-Comerford; living in 1888.

Notes

[1] Casey: For O’Caseys, Lords of Saithne (now “Sonagh,” in Westmeath) and Ffinegal or Fingal, see MacFirbis’s Genealogies; O’Flaherty’s Ogygia; the Hibernia Expugnata of Giraldus Cambrensis; and early Irish History and Poetry, passim. They were dispossessed of their territory (called by early Historians the Terra Okadesi or Ocathesi, i.e. the “Land of O’Cathasaigh”) by De Lacy, at the Anglo-Norman Invasion. For the O’Caseys, Chiefs of Coillte Maibineacha, see O’Brien’s Irish Dictionary, and Connellan’s Four Masters. In the Civil Wars of the 17th century, members of the Sept took opposite sides: Robert, Charles, and John were Royalist officers in the Army of King Charles, in Ireland, and beyond the seas; Charles was paid out of property confiscated in the county Cork; Michael joined the Catholic Confederation, and came under forfeiture; none of them were Parliamentarians. Besides the townlands mentioned below, members of the family held in the same baronies fifteen other townlands, in whole or in part, for varying periods.

A later note contributed on the origin of this family, states … there may be a controversy whether the O’Caseys of Coillte Maibineacha were descended from Cian, third son of Oilioll Olum, or (through Brian Boroihme’s family), from Cormac Cas, the second son of Oilioll Olum. If from the former they were a Cianacht family, and a branch of the O’Caseys of Saithne; if from the latter they were a Dalcassian family, of the same stock as the O’Caseys of Poble-Brien and Rathconan, co. Limerick. The Dalcassian O’Caseys deduce their descent from Cathasach, son or grandson of Mahon, King of Munster, son of Kennedy, and brother of Brian Boroihme, or Boru, Ard-Righ or Monarch of all Ireland, who crushed the Danish power, and died on the field of battle, at Clontarf, in 1013, A.D. They owned an estate in the district of Poble-Brien, which gives name to a barony, in co. Limerick; also a cantred in the district lying around Rathconan, in the barony of Coshma, where they erected a strong castle in the 16th century. The former view, that they (the O’Caseys of Coillte Maibineacha) came from Cian, appears to be the correct one. They were, in early days, a numerous tribe in the county Cork, whereas the Dalcassian O’Caseys were according to Professor O’Curry in his Researches and Lectures, entirely confined to the county of Limerick. Again, the arms they have borne for generations are the arms ascribed to a branch of the O’Caseys of Saithne, located in Munster. It is true that family legend and tradition derives the family from Brian Boroihme’s nephew; but tradition is not always a faithful guide, and in this case the tradition can be easily accounted for. The Rathconan Caseys kept their high estate as chiefs and lords of the manor, till a later date than did their namesakes of Coillte Maibineacha in co. Cork—they were at Rathconan till late in the 17th century—they would therefore come to be looked upon as the leading family of the name, and the less fortunate namesakes in the adjoining county would gradually claim kinship, elevate them into heads of a clan of Munster Caseys, and accept their traditions.

[2] Coillte Maibineacha: This, and not coiltemabhreenagh, is, according to Doctor O’Brien’s Irish Dictionary, the proper orthography.—See Note, at foot of p. 78, Vol. I.

[3] Cathfeasach: In Cormac’s Glossary this epithet is Cath-fhessach, which means “battle-abiding.”

[4] Nunn: Miss Nunn was of a Wexford family, descended from Captain Richard Nunn, an officer of the Commonwealth, who was granted lands in Wexford. Her sister, Patience Nunn, married Ralph Bull, of Cork, and was ancestress of the present, Dr. J. E. Bull, M.D., of Citadella, Blackrock-road, and of Dr. G. H. Bull, M.D., of the Indian Med. Dept., Bombay Army. The Battle of Bull’s Run, during the late American War, was so named from having been fought on a Run or Tract of land belonging to a member of this Bull family.

[5] Comerford: Peter Comerford was of the family of the Comerfords, of the county Wexford.—(See p. 128, ante.) The Comerfords came into Ireland with Strongbow, and were of note, from the time of King John, and in the French and Spanish services. Roger de Comerford was Grand Master of the Game to King John in Ireland. Sir John de Comerford was a Major-General and Colonel commanding a Royal Regiment of Irish Infantry in the service of Philip V., of Spain. A French MS. names seven Comerfords (six Captains and one Lieutenant) as officers of the Irish Brigade in France; of these seven, four were Chevaliers of St. Louis. In Danganmore, county Kilkenny, the family were long of Baronial eminence. Five of the family were officers in the Irish Army of King James II.

[6] Hawkins: This family, with whom the Caseys intermarried three times, descend from John Hawkins (b. 1536), of Castor, Northamptonshire, Esq. The heads of the family, since his time, have always been in the Church; the scions, in the Army (especially the Indian Army), Law (among them the present Hon. Sir Henry Hawkins, Justice of the Queen’s Bench, brother to Mrs. William Casey), Physic, and occasionally, Squiredom. Frederick Hawkins, M.D., and his wife, Mary (née Casey), had: I. Hannah (d. s. p.), mar. the Rev. S. Cheetham, Archdeacon of Rochester. II. Mary, married her cousin, the Rev. Henry Hawkins, and has issue. III. Rev. Edwards Comerford Hawkins, Vicar of St. Bride’s, Fleet Street, London, married Jane Graham; and has: 1. Geoffrey, Parliamentary Solicitor; 2. Anthony, Barrister-at-Law, late Scholar of Balliol Coll., Oxford; 3. Joan, married Ernest Feiling, and has issue: IV. Ernest Hawkins, mar. Mary Cator, and has five sons and three daus. V. Albert Hawkins (d. s. p.), surgeon in the army, served in the Crimean and Chinese wars. VI. Ann.

[7] Glenny: Mercy Bourcicault Glenny (see the “Glenny” pedigree, infra), was sixth in descent from Sir David Glenny, Knt., who came to Ireland from Ayrshire, at the Plantation of Ulster, and founded the family of Glenny, or Glennie, of Glenville, Ardarragh, county Down, now represented by James Swanzy Glenny, of Glenville, J.P. She was daughter of a Glenny on either side, and granddaughter of (1) Isaac George Glenny, Seneschal and Chief Magistrate of Newry, by his wife, Anna Ogle, of an old Newry family which sent many members to the Irish Parliaments; and of (2) Joseph Glenny, of Newry, by his wife, Mercy Bourcicault (of the Huguenot Refugee family of Bourcicault), a lineal descendant of Jean le Maingre, Sire de Bourcicault (1365–1425), Marshal of Franoe, taken prisoner at Agincourt, A.D. 1415—See the “Bourcicault” pedigree, ante.