Humphrey Haines & Emily Haines Smith

Local volunteer contacted.

Hi,.

I have a book on St. Mary's Church of Ireland graveyard in Castletownroche and there is no mention of Humphrey or Emily under Haines or Smith. According to the death records at irishgenealogy.ie Humphrey Haines Smith died at Annakissy in 1913 at the age of 83. He was pre-deceased by his wife Emily Louisa Smith who died at Annakissy in 1898 aged 59. See the following that I came across; you may or may not have seen this previously. That is all I have at the moment but will ask a few colleagues if they know anything and will get back to you.

Mr. O'Keeffe purchased this part of the Annakissa property from
Major Hamilton in 1904. He let the house and garden to the present
occupier, Mr. Humphrey Smyth, as a yearly tenant.

I live in Fermoy which is about 10km from Castletownroche and would be delighted to meet you in June to help in whatever way I can, if you like. If interested, you can get my personnal email address from the IrelandXO office and we can communicate re arrangements.

Best wishes, Kieran

Thank you very much!   I have already heard from a local resident who has offered to pick us up at the train station and drive us around.   She is also friends with the caretaker and may be able to get permission to view the property  So Humphrey did not own the house and mill.  I think everyone in the family owned it.  Again, I appreciate the information you provided.   Hopefully I can find their burial place.

Hi,,

In the meantime I came across alot of information about Humphrey and Emily, going back to 1708. Arre you aware of this? Also, as indicated previously, the death place of Emily took place at Annakissy (see attached), although they don't seem to have moved to Annakissa House until 1904; they may have lived in the area for a while? Further research!

See attached some information on Dannanstown House, where the mill was and Annakisha (Annakissa) House. It seems there were two different houses named Annakissa, but I did come across a reference that assumed there was just one Annakissa House. It seems that Humphrey did own the house and mill at Dannanstown House, but he rented Annakissa House.

Best wishes, Kieran

Hi, me again!

See attached from church records for Walter Smith, from the subscription site rootsireland.ie. It shows his baptism as an adult in 1896, before Emily died, confirming a connection with Annakissa before Emily died. The address is given as Annakissa. Also, notice that the parents second names seem to be switched. Unusually, it does seem that Humphrey took his wife's name - Smith, and the children seem to have the Smith name also.

Best wishes, Kieran

Thank you so much for all this information.   It helps a lot.

My grandfather, Walter, died when I was about five, so I do not remember much about him.  I know he and my grandmother married, emigrated to the US, and returned to Ireland for a short time.  It is at that time my oldest aunt, Anne was born.  

After returning to the states my grandfather worked on the docks until he became a police officer in Fall River, MA.  At that time Fall River was the cotton textile capital of the US and second only to Manchester, England. Ironically, I became a police officer and rose through the ranks to become a Police Chief.  I hope I made my grandfather proud. 

He and my grandmother Mary Roche Smith had eleven children, but three died very young.  Mary was a Catholic commoner who, according to my father, used to watch Walter ride in fox hunts.  When he converted, supposedly his father disowned him for a while. 

A late cousin compiled quite a bit of information on the family and traced our routes back to Cromwell.  Supposedly, one of our ancestors arrived in Ireland with Cromwell.  

With the family Bible, I located much paperwork and one was a story about life at Dananstown House.   I guess Humphrey purchased the property around the mid to late 1850s and eleven children were born there.  The story tells of how the children could not go to the local schools or leave the property because they were Protestant and were bullied by the many Catholic children who lived in the area.  They were tutored at home.

Should you find anything about the Smith Family Burial Vault, I would appreciate the information.

Thanks again,

Jim