Researching this post has been a nightmare! These people are so interconnected and bewildering that it's taken FOREVER to figure them out.
However, the Woolsey/Palmer conglomeration had stronger links to our Williams/Willis family than I had at first thought, so it had to be done.
I've tried to make this entry logical and easy to comprehend, but it really isn't. My apologies.
Rev. William Woolsey (1750 -1832) and Mary Anne Bellingham:
Rev. William Woolsey was the only son of John Woolsey and Lucy Palmer. (Lucy was said to be the daughter of Rev. Richard Palmer, but I currently believe this to be an error. I suspect she was the daughter of Rev. George Palmer of Kenmare, who was the reverend of Kilsaran parish, Castlebellingham, 1722 - 1723. She would therefore be the sister of George Palmer, an early governor of the Bank of Ireland.)
Rev. William Woolsey had a sister, Frances Woolsey who must have been born much later than him, probably to a stepmother.
William Woolsey's married his first wife, Mary Anne Bellingham, in 1777 - she was the daughter of Colonel Alan Bellingham.
The second wife of Rev.William Woolsey was Bridget O'Neill, who he married in St. Peter's, Dublin (date unknown) - this was witnessed by Richard Palmer, and Susanna Davis. (I found this on Irish Genealogy.)
Rev. William Woolsey spent some time with the 61st Regiment, before becoming the rector of Kilsaran Parish, Castlebellingham; he lived at Priorland House in Dundalk.
The children of Rev. William Woolsey and Mary Anne Bellingham:
1. Alice Woolsey who married Richard Moore of Summerhill, Tipperary.
2. Lucy Woolsey who died unmarried.
3. Frances Woolsey, who married her relative, Richard Palmer. 'Burkes Genealogical and Heraldic History, Vol. 2' states that Frances Woolsey was the daughter of John Woolsey of Castlebellingham; other records state that she was the daughter of Rev. William Woolsey which seems much more plausible mostly because John Woolsey died in 1852, and Frances would have been born circa 1778 - her husband, Richard Palmer, had been born in this year. All the genealogies maintain that the bride and groom were cousins, but I've been so far unable to ascertain how this could be. Her grandmother, Lucy Palmer, was, however, the paternal aunt of Richard Palmer, being the sister of his father, George Palmer of the Bank of Ireland.
4. Mary Anne Woolsey (died 24 Sep 1865) who married William Elliot Cairnes. They were cousins.
5. Elizabeth Sophia Woolsey married, on 28th September 1815, James Jameson, son of the Scot, John Jameson, who founded the famous distillery in Dublin.
6. Captain John Woolsey (b. 6 Jan 1772, d. 1 Aug 1835) married, on 30th March 1812, Janet Jameson, sister of James and daughter of John.
Notes on the Jameson Family: John Jameson was the founder of the famous Dublin Distillery. He had been born in Alloa, Scotland, and married Margaret Haig in 1768. They had the following children:
a) Robert Jameson (1771 - 1847). He was the Sub-Sheriff of Clackmannanshire and died unmarried.
b) John Jameson, (born 1771), of Prussia St, Dublin. He married Isabella Stein. One of his sons, James, married Lucy Cairnes of Stameen, Co. Meath. The Cairnes family intermarried with the Bellingham and Woolsey families, and entered into the brewery business with the Woolseys. Another son, William, married Elizabeth Guinness, the daughter of Arthur Guinness of Beaumont.
c) William Jameson (1777 - 1822) of Merrion Square, Dublin.
d) James Jameson who married Elizabeth Sophia Woolsey on 17th July 1816. He succeeded his older brother, William, as the director of the Marrowbone Lane Distillery in Dublin. He bought the estates of Windfield, Co. Galway, and Mont Rose, Co. Dublin. James was a Director of the Bank of Ireland. Upon his death in 1847, he was succeeded at his Windfield estate by his eldest son, Rev. John Jameson.
e) Andrew Jameson, born 1783.
f) Margaret Jameson married, in 1801, William Robert Prendergast.
g) Helen Jameson died unmarried.
h) Anne Jameson married Major Francis Stupart of the Scots Greys.
i) Janet Jameson, the youngest daughter, married the brewer, Captain John Woolsey, of Milestone.
Captain John Woolsey was the High Sheriff of Louth in 1826, and was the founder of the brewery in Castlebellingham which employed about 70 people there. He was an early shareholder in the Dublin Steam Packet Company which had been co-founded by Richard Williams of Drumcondra Castle. The children of Captain John Woolsey and Janet Jameson were:
a) Mary Anne Woolsey (1813 - 1881) who married Major John Simmons Smith in 1836.
b) John Woolsey (1815 - 1819).
c) Margaret Woolsey (1816 - 1877), married to Rev. Charles Thornhill.
d) William Woolsey (1818 - 1887) married twice, first to Frances Rose Vesey, then to Mary Elizabeth Heath Jary. He ran the brewery with his younger brother John.
e) Helen Jameson Woolsey (1819 - 1908).
f) Robert Jameson Woolsey (1821 - 1838).
g) Frances Hester Bellingham Woolsey (1823 - 1838).
h) Major General O'Brien Bellingham Woolsey (1827 - 1910).
i) John Woolsey (1830 - 1887). He ran the family brewing business along with his older brother, William, and married his cousin, Elizabeth Lucy Willis. They lived at Castle Cosey, Castlebellingham.
'In memory of William Woolsey of Milestone, died 11th May 1887, aged 68 years, and his brother, John Woolsey, of Castle Cosey, Castlebellingham, who died 23rd May 1887 aged 56 years. This tablet has been erected in loving remembrance by their employees.'
7. Thomas Woolsey (b. 1784, d. Sep 1834) married Elizabeth Gibson. The children of Thomas Woolsey and Elizabeth Gibson were all born in London, where Thomas was working in the Admiralty, and baptised in the Old Church, St. Pancras -
William Woolsey, baptised 16th November 1814.
Mary Anne Woolsey, later wife of Henry de Laval Willis, born 4th August 1817.
Elizabeth Lucy Woolsey, born 26 August 1821. (In July 1856, Elizabeth Lucy married, in St. Pancras, London, Thepphilus Moon of HM's Customs. From Limerick Chronicle.)
Thomas Frederic Woolsey, born 2nd Dec 1823.
Sophia Woolsey, born 21st Feb.1828.)
Rev. Henry de Laval Willis married Thomas' daughter, Mary Anne, in Kilsaran, Co. Louth, on October 16th 1841. Henry de Laval Willis was the cousin of Geraldine O'Moore Creighton who married Richard Williams of Eden Quay - Richard Williams was closely related to Richard Williams of Drumcondra Castle who married Anne Palmer.
The children of Rev. Henry de Laval Willis and Mary Anne Woolsey were:
Frances Hester Bellingham Willis, born Limerick, 17th December 1842. (She would later marry, in 1861, John Walker of Bolling Hall, Yorkshire.)
Elizabeth Lucy Willis, born 1844.
Henry Thomas Gilbert Willis, born St. Mary's, Lancaster, in 1849.
Francis William Willis, born in Bradford, York, England, on 23rd February 1851.
The daughter of Rev. Henry de Laval Willis and Mary Anne Woolsey, Elizabeth Lucy Willis (1844 - 1870), married yet another member of the Woolsey brewing family, John Woolsey, who was the son of Capt. John Woolsey and Janet Jameson.
8. Commander William Woolsey (b. 1785, d. Sep 1805) who died at sea onboard HMS Papillon of which he was the captain.
9. O'Bryen Bellingham Woolsey (b. c 1792, d. 16 Jan 1874) who married Emily Holt of London - they had no children; he was the Accountant-General of the Admiralty.
Woolsey/Palmer Leases:
Milestone House and Estate, 1871 - 'Lease dated 2nd June 1824, made between Anne Palmer, widow of George Palmer of the first part; the Rev. Daniel Palmer and George Fortescue Palmer of the 2nd part; and John Woolsey of Castlebellingham of the 3rd part; for the lives of William Woolsey, eldest son of John Woolsey, the lessee, then aged about 6 years; Robert Jameson Woolsey,second son of said John Woolsey, then aged about 3 years; and John Jameson, eldest son of James Jameson of Harcourt-street in the City of Dublin, then aged about 8 years, and the survivor or survivors of them, for the term of 61 years, from the 1st May 1824 at the yearly rent of £526 9s. 6d....'
Comments on the above, dated 1871: 'There are but two of the three lives in this lease now in being, namely, Wm.Woolsey, Esquire, the present tenant, who is now about 53 years of age, according to the statement in the lease, and the Reverend John Jameson, who is now about 55 years of age, according to the statement in the lease, and of the term of years there are about 14 years left to run.'
Let me try and explain the above 1824 lease - Anne Palmer was the widow of George Palmer of the Bank of Ireland; she died in 1830 at home in French St, Dublin. Her father was Daniel Bickerton of Milestone, Castlebellingham and it was through her that Milestone entered the Woolsey family. Her son was Rev. Daniel Palmer, whose son was named George Fortescue Palmer, both of whom were named in the lease.
Anne Palmer was the widow of George Palmer (of the Bank etc.) whose aunt, Lucy Palmer, was the mother of Rev. William Woolsey.
The John Woolsey mentioned above was Captain John Woolsey (his parents were Rev. William Woolsey and Mary Ann Bellingham) who was married to Janet Jameson, hence the name of his son, Robert Jameson Woolsey.
Also: 'Fee farm grant, dated 24th February 1826, made between Anne Palmer, widow, of the 1st part; the Right Honorable and Most Reverend Lord John George Archbishop of the Diocese of Armagh, of the 2nd part; and the Rev. William Woolsey, minister of the parish of Kilsaran, of the 3rd part, of a plot of ground part of the lands of Milestone, containing one rood, Irish plantation measure, or thereabouts, to be hold to the said minister and his successors forever, in trust for the use of a resident schoolmaster. The grant provides for the appointment of a schoolmaster and the conduct of a school, and contains a covenant that the sum of £203 would be expended on the erection of a house of residence on said lands for such schoolmaster, and with suitable accommodation for the convenient instruction of scholars to be taught at such a school.'
(The tenant in 1871 was the Rev. Robert Le P. M'Clintock.)
A deed concerning the property named Woottenstown or Wottonstown, Louth: 'Lease dated 25th January 1848 made between George Fortescue Palmer, of the 1st part; Richard Palmer of the 2nd part; George Palmer of the 3rd part; Bickarton Palmer of the 4th part; and John Woolsey of Milestown, Esquire, in the County of Louth, of the 5th part, for the lives of William Woolsey, eldest son of said John Woolsey, the lessee, and the Reverend John Jameson of Lancaster, clerk, eldest son of James Jameson, then late of Montrose in the County of Dublin, esquire, deceased, and the survivor of them, or for the term of 37 years and 6 months from the 1st of November 1847, at the yearly rent of £269 11s...'
(In 1871, as before, only William Woolsey and John Jameson were still alive.)
And a quick explanation - George Fortescue Palmer was the son of Rev. Daniel Palmer, who was the son of the governor of the Bank of Ireland, George Palmer, and of Anne Bickerton.
Richard Palmer was also the son of George of the Bank etc., and brother of Anne Palmer who married Richard Williams of Drumcondra Castle; he was also the brother of Rev.Daniel Palmer.
Bickerton Palmer was Bickerton William Palmer, born 24th May 1822, to Richard Palmer and his wife, Frances Woolsey.
George Palmer was another brother of Richard Palmer, both of them being merchants of French St in Dublin.