Mary Anne Creighton was born circa 1822 in Portarlington to Eliza Willis and Rev. David Hill Creighton who were our maternal great-great-great grandparents. We descend directly from Mary Anne's sister, Geraldine O'Moore Creighton, who married Richard Williams of 17 Eden Quay.
Mary Anne Creighton married Alexander Farquharson, a merchant of Scotland about whom I've discovered very little so far, and had the following children:
- Eliza Creighton Farquharson, who was born in Edinburgh on 1st April 1844. Her birth was announced in the Freeman's Journal - 'Thursday April 4, 1844: April 1st, at Edinburgh, the lady of Mr. Alexander Farquharson, and daughter of Rev. D.H. Creighton, of a daughter.'
- David Hill Creighton Farquharson was born to the couple in Edinburgh on 18th December 1846. This child died young in January 1856.
- Donald Cameron Farquharson who was born in St.Cuthbert’s, Edinburgh on 3rd November 1847 and who died aged 9. From the Freeman's Journal of Monday, November 8th 1847: 'On the 3rd instant, at 1 John's-place, Edinburgh, the lady of Alexander Farquharson, and daughter of the Rev. D.H. Creighton, of a son.'
- Helen Seaton Farquharson was born Scotland on October 31st 1849. The Freeman's Journal of Wednesday, November 7th 1849 announced her birth: 'October 31 at his residence, 1, John's-place, Edinburgh, the lady of Alexander Farquharson, Esq., of a daughter.'
Alexander Farquharson died young in Dublin on 26th September 1851.
Eliza Creighton Farquharson, daughter of Alexander Farquharson and Mary Anne Creighton:
Eliza Creighton Farquharson married a bookseller, Robert Stewart, in North Dublin in 1865. Robert Stewart had been born in St. Faith, London, in about 1840, to a printer, Charles Stewart and his wife Ellen O' Brien, who had married on St. Botolph's on 7th August 1836. Ellen was the daughter of a John O' Brien..
In 1851, the Stewart family were living in Holborn; a son, Charles Stewart, aged 13, was a publisher's assistant, as was the 11-yr-old Robert. Other children were John aged 10, Ellen and Anne.
Robert Stewart moved at some unknown stage to Dublin where he lived for a time at 2 Nassau Street before buying the premises of the Dublin Bible Tract Repository at 10 d'Olier Street, which is where he and his wife were living in 1901. The Bible Tract Repository had previously been owned by Henry Bewley, a prominent member of the Bewley Quaker family who had helped to build Merrion Hall, the meeting place of the Plymouth Brethren Baptists in Dublin. Both Robert Stewart and his wife were noted as Plymouth Brethren, the same religion as Mary Anne's sister, Geraldine O'Moore Williams. By 1911 the elderly couple had moved from the city centre out to the southern Dublin suburbs and were living at 105 Strand Road, Sandymount.
Robert Stewart, printer and bookseller, died in late July 1919 at 105 Strand Road - the informant was his grandson, Donald F. Stewart of Oaklands Park. Eliza Creighton Stewart, née Farquharson, died of pleurisy on 1st September 1927 at her son's house in Oaklands Park.
Her only child, Charles Edward Stewart, had been born on 22nd December 1865 at 14 Chelmsford Road, Ranelagh. He married Mary Florence Douglas, who had been born on 26th July 1864 to the draper, Jacob Douglas, and to Harriet Eliza Trotter, both of whom were Antrim-born Quakers who had settled in Dublin. (Other children of this couple were Eva Douglas, born 1852, and Francis Ernest Douglas, born 1866.) The marriage took place in the Dublin Methodist Church in St. Thomas's Parish on 1st July 1891. Charles Edward Stewart was living in the family home at 10 D'Olier Street, while Mary Florence's home address was 56 South Richmond Street. The witnesses were Mary's brother, Francis Ernest Douglas, and Charles' father, Robert Stewart.
In 1901, Charles Edward Stewart and Mary Florence Douglas were living at 129 Haddington Road with their Dublin-born children:
- Douglas Creighton Stewart, born 20th April 1892.
- Eva Stewart Stewart, born 1893. (This isn't a typo - her middle name was, indeed, Stewart.)
- Robert Crawford Stewart, born 1895.
Charles Edward Stewart was a bookseller like his father, Robert, but the younger family were Methodist rather than Plymouth Brethren or Quaker. By 1911, they had moved to 3 Oaklands Park, Sandymount. Two of their children had died young, including the above-mentioned Robert Crawford Stewart, but there were now two 6-yr-olds, the twins:
- Donald Farquharson Stewart, born 1904.
- Florence Marguerite Stewart, born 1904.
Mary Florence Stewart, née Douglas, died at 3 Oaklands Park on 5th June 1931 - her husband, Charles E. Stewart, was noted now as a missionary. He married a second time on 15th August 1934, this time to Edith Maud Phillips of 32 Leeson Park Avenue, the Appian Way, Dublin, the daughter of the late merchant tailor, George Phillips. Charles gave his profession as missionary to seamen. The witnesses were Robert Nolan and Kathleen Phillips.
Charles Edward Stewart died, aged 84, in a Dublin nursing home in 1950. His son, Douglas Creighton Stewart, born 1892, emigrated to San Francisco, California, having spent a number of years working aboard transatlantic ships as a steward or waiter. In 1927, when he arrived at New York, he was temporarily held by immigration because of some sort of physical deformity. In 1933, he was working in San Francisco as a janitor, with an address at 286 Second Street; by 1940, he was living at Mission Street. He died in San Francisco on 12th May 1964.
Eva Stewart Stewart married Herbert Greenwood Bagster in North Dublin in 1934. He was the son of a solicitor, Basil Birch Bagster, whose father was the publisher Jonathan Bagster of London. The Bagsters decended from Samuel Bagster who had published Bagster's Polyglot Bible. Herbert's father, the solicitor, Basil Birch Bagster, had died young in 1885 in Kidderminster, where he had had his practice, and his widow, Mary Bagster, née Mower, had moved her family to Dublin where she taught music. When Herbert Greenwood Bagster died on 4th April 1960, he and Eva Stewart Bagster were living at 85 Upper Rathmines Road.
Helen Seaton Farquharson, daughter of Alexander Farquharson and Mary Anne Creighton:
Helen Seaton Farquharson/Farquarson, the daughter of Mary Anne Creighton and Alexander Farquharson, married Edward Parker Bolton, the son of Edward Bolton, in St.Thomas’s, North Dublin on 11th August 1868. Their children were:
- Albert Edward Bolton, born 10th May 1869 - the family were living at 12 Bloomfield Avenue, Portobello, and Edward Parker Bolton was working as a commercial traveller.
- Alexandrina Mary Elizabeth Bolton, born 10th April 1871 in South Dublin, at 12 Bloomfield Avenue.
- Reginald Arthur Bolton, born 25th November 1872.
Edward Parker Bolton disappeared without a trace - there is no registration record for his death, and I wonder did the couple simply separate at some stage?
On the 1901 Census, the widowed Helen Seaton Bolton and two of her unmarried, adult children were living with Helen’s aunt, Louisa Creighton, at Louisa’s school at 41 North Great George’s Street. Helen Seaton Bolton, née Farquharson, was Plymouth Brethren, while her children, Alexandrina and Reginald were Presbyterian, as was Louisa Creighton. Helen's sister, Eliza Creighton Stewart, née Farquharson, was also Plymouth Brethren, so I wonder was their Scottish-born father, Alexander Farquharson, a member of the Dublin Plymouth Brethren community, and did he influence our great-great grandparents, Richard Williams and Geraldine O'Moore Creighton, to join the congregation? The daughters of Rev. David Hill Creighton would have been reared as Presbyterian by their father.
Helen Seaton/Seyton Bolton, of 41 North Great Georges Street, sailed aboard the 'Macedonia' from London to Marseilles on 6th July 1928, along with her son, the secretary, Reginald Arthur Bolton, and her daughter, Alexandrina Mary Bolton, a school principle. Alexandrina Mary was the principle of the school at 41 North Great Georges Street, and must have taken over from her great-aunt, Louisa Creighton, following the elderly woman's death. Reginald Arthur Bolton was a clerk in a shipping office.
Helen Seaton Bolton died 14th October 1932 in Greystones, Co. Wicklow. Her son, Reginald Arthur Bolton of Glenhesk, Greystones, died 21st August 1932 in Merrion Nursing Home.
Albert Edward Bolton, the son of Edward Parker Bolton and Helen Seaton Farquharson, married Winifred Mary/Margaret Rainsbury in the Presbyterian Church, St. Thomas's, Dublin on 25th July 1894. Albert was an assistant merchant, living at 41 North Great Georges Street. His father, Edward Bolton, was noted as what seems to be (this certificate has woefully faded) an accountant, but no mention is made of whether he is still alive or deceased. Winifred was living at what seems to be Kilbarron, Charleville Road. The witnesses were Albert's siblings, Reginald and Alexandrina Mary Elizabeth Bolton.
Winifred M. Rainsbury had been born in Cork to Joseph Rainsbury, a government official in 1894, who had been born in Cork in about 1849, and to Elizabeth Jane Sporle who had been born in England in about 1852. Joseph Rainsbury was a grocer and wine and spirit dealer - he married Elizabeth Jane Sporle on 27th April 1864. Elizabeth Jane Sporle was the daughter of Cornelius Sporle, 1810 - 1879, and Mary Anne Rose, 1809 - 1885. The Rose family were prominent in Ballincollig, Cork.
Cornelius Sporle was the son of Catherine Sporle, 1771 - 1832, who also had John Sporle and Jane Sporle. Cornelius was jailed in 1828, and was noted as a member of the Royal Artillery in 1834. In 1841 he was living a New Road, Woolwich, England, with his wife, Mary, and two children, Catherine and George, and his Irish-born father-in-law, the tailor William Rose. In 1851 he was working as the chief warder of Portland Prison. In 1850 he was a sergeant. In 1854, he was the Master of Farringdon Union Workhouse; his wife, Mary Ann Sporle was the Mistress. In 1871, he was living at Poplar Villa, Ipswich, Suffolk. He died in White Point, Queenstown, Cork, in June 1879.
The children of Joseph Rainsbury and Elizabeth Jane Sproule were:
- Elizabeth Mary Josephine Rainsbury, born 1865.
- William Cornelius Rainsbury, 1867 - 1951.
- Winifred Margaret/Mary Rainsbury, born 1871; she married Albert Edward Bolton.
- Lilian Catherine Rainsbury, 1873 - 1922.
- Elizabeth Rainsbury, born 1875.
- Maud Josephine Rainsbury, 1878 - 1880.
- Albert Patrick Rainsbury, 1880 - 1962.
- Margaret Florence Sporle Rainsbury, born 1881.
- George Victor Rainsbury, 1885 - 1958.
- Joseph Cyril Sporle Rainsbury, born 1890.
- Frederick Rainsbury, born 1892.
Some of the above were born at Haulbowline, Cork Harbour.
Albert Edward Bolton and Winifred Mary Rainsbury were living at 26 North Leinter Street, Dublin, in 1901. He was a tea merchant. They had moved to 101 Marlborough Road by 1911 and had three children - Helen M. Bolton, born 1896 in Cork, Reginald R. Bolton, born 1897 in Dublin, and Cecil C. Bolton, born 1902 in Dublin.
Albert Edward Bolton, a widowed company director, with an address at 5 Killiney Road, Dalkey, died in the Adelaide Hospital on 3rd December 1951. The family are commemorated on a Mount Jerome headstone:
"Redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, in loving memory of Reginald Arthur Bolton, called to higher service 25th August 1932. Also Helen Seyton Bolton who fell asleep 18th October 1932. Winifred Mary Bolton entered into rest 10th March 1940...also her husband Albert Edward who died 30th November 1951.'
The daughter of Albert Edward Bolton and Winifred Mary Rainsbury, Helen Maud/Mary Elizabeth Bolton, married Allen Taylor Jameson, the son of a journalist/printer, James Taylor Jameson, in Rathmines in August 1919.