The King Family
Rebecca King
Patrick
Smyth in 1775
Rebecca was "of the Lorton family".
She outlived her husband, and as a defendant in a Chancery Bill dated 30
August 1798, is referred to as "Rebecca Smyth, widow" (The Swanzy Manuscripts p68 held in the IGRS
library extracted by Peter Manning published in the Irish Genealogical
Research Society Newsletter vol 5 no. 9 September 2014 p167).
The Groome family tree written by W.F. Montague Groome in 1922, with later
annotations, includes the following note:
*REBECCA
KING, sister of the wife of Charles Stewart
Stuart of Bailyborough Castle; and sister-in-law of JOHN
SOBIESKI STUART (whose crest is pelican feeding its young with
its own blood, and motto "Virtue flourished in the womb"
Charles Steuart
in his will left practically everything to Patrick Smyth whose daughter
Sarah became Mrs Sarah Groome (and died 1846) grandmother of Edwina
Groome, who inherited the steel engraving of John Sobieski Steuart
which she later gave to the Kilroys of Moat View Oldcastle
(W.F.M. Groome, Nov. 20th 1934)
I do have trouble corroborating much of W.F.M Groome's statements here.
1) John Sobieski
Stuart was an eccentric pretender to Scottish royalty who was actually
born John Carter Allen, in Wales, the son of Thomas Hay Allen, before
changing his name as part of his claim of descent from the Stuart kings. He
had a brother named Charles Manning Allen who also changed his name to
Charles Edward Stuart, but I have found no link between him and the Charles
Steaurt of Bailieborough.
2) Charles Steaurt of Bailieborough married Jane Madden on 20 February 1772,
in St Peter, Dublin (Dublin
St Peter parish records, The
Stewarts in Ireland, Madden
of Hilton Park). Jane did not have a sister named Rebecca (The History of the County of Monaghan p191).
Jane survived Charles and is named in his will (PRONI
D3465/C/24). I guess it is possible that Charles married a sister of
Rebecca King's before his marriage to Jane Madden but I have not found any
evidence of this.
It is true that Charles Steuart left substantial estates to Patrick Smyth
(who was also an executor of Charles's will). These lands were extensive
enough that even he one-fifth part of it inherited by one of Patrick's
daughters, Jane, was enough to cause twenty years of litigation between
Jane's heirs (Reports of cases argued and determined in the courts
of Queen's Bench vol 1 pp611-621). Charles was M.P. for Co
Cavan 1783-1790 and 1790-1793 (The
Stewarts in Ireland). He died on 23 February 1793 (The Swanzy Manuscripts p68 held in the IGRS
library extracted by Peter Manning published in the Irish Genealogical
Research Society Newsletter vol 5 no. 9 September 2014 p167)
- Groome family tree written by W.F. Montague Groome in 1922, with
later annotations
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