Richard Smyth

||RESEARCH NOTE 26 Oct 2026 - PARENTAGE NOT WIRED, graded|| Death: 'At Castle Downeen, Richard Smyth in his 89th year. For many years a magistrate in the County of Cork' (Jan 1852/3; Limerick Chronicle notice) - so b. c.1764, confirming the c.1763 here (WikiTree's '1775' is wrong). Magistrate, Castle Downeen, 1832 (CSORP cholera papers); 'R. Smith, Esq. of Castle Downeen' in Lewis 1837 and Slater 1846. PROPOSED LINE (WikiTree Smyth-3996/4000, J. O'Hagan, from the Ross Cathedral registers, the Registry of Deeds and the Hingston Freke site): (1) ~ father JOHN FREKE SMYTH, bap. Ross Cathedral 27 Aug 1730 'son of Mr. Richard Smyth', d. c. Jan 1787, m. Martha Travers - WikiTree itself says only 'probably', and warns that TWO Richard Smyths of Downeen existed in this generation (one with the single son and heir Rev. John Richard, ours; another with sons Richard, John Freke, Hibernicus Scott and Robert Travers - or possibly the same man by his 2nd marriage, 12 Nov 1808 at Ross, to Barbara Morris of Castletownshend, d. 1844, our Dorothea having d. 1802). (2) ✓ RICHARD SMYTH of Castle Downeen (b. c.1690-1700), son of (3) ✓ JOHN SMITH senior, late of Carrick [Carrig, Kilmaloda], gent, deceased by 1742, and ANN his wife: Registry of Deeds memorial 74438, vol. 108 p. 25, sworn at Cork 13 Apr 1742, registered Jul 1742 - the children Elizabeth Connor (widow), Freke Smith gent, Sarah Harris (wife of Bulkely Harris of Cork), Richard Smith and John Smith junior; '3 plowlands & 1 gneeve of Downeen, Parish East Carbery', held by John senior in lease from the Bishop of Cork and renewed to Richard and John, the others releasing for £50 (READ IN THE ORIGINAL 26 Oct 2026 from the Memorial Book images vol. 108 pp.25-26 supplied by Aynsley; full transcription in Research files/'Registry of Deeds memorial 74438 (1742) - Smith of Carrick, Downeen - transcription 26 Oct 2026.md'; the two irishdeedsindex.net abstracts are accurate). NB the memorial calls the mother only 'Ann'; her surname FREKE is inferred from the son named Freke Smith. (4) ~ ANN FREKE, da. of John Freke and Mary Bernard of Bandon (that couple is documented - da. Elizabeth b. 1659 m. Joseph Jervois), John said to be a son of William Freke (I81019) x Anne Swaine - which would RING into the Frekes already in this tree; rests on the Hingston Freke site only, and Stirnet's Freke pedigree does not list a John among William's Irish children. UNVERIFIED LEAD. UPDATE 26 Oct 2026 (later): Cork & Ross marriage licence bonds index shows JOHN FREKE SMYTH & MARTHA TRAVERS 1763 - one year before Richard's birth - and Richard's daughter Martha (m. Jonas Charles Morris 1818) carries her name; rung (1) therefore a firm ~, but the rival Richard of Barley Hill also named a son Robert Travers Smyth, so not ✓. Memorial 532832 (1823) shows a third John Freke Smyth 'of Ross View or Downeen', m. Jane Bailey 1816, of the other branch. FROZEN at these grades by agreement with Aynsley 26 Oct 2026; rung (1) is the gate and must be settled (the 1787 will or administration of John Freke Smyth, or Richard's own marriage licence bond of 1788 naming his father) before anything above it can be wired. ||26 Oct 2026 - PARENTAGE WIRED on Aynsley's decision|| ✓ BY ELIMINATION: son of JOHN FREKE SMYTH of Downeen (bap. 1730, bur. 3 Jan 1787) and (~) Martha Travers (m. 1763). The case: (1) Reg. of Deeds 268226 (vol. 409 p. 230), his marriage settlement of 5 Aug 1788 with Dorothea Lucas - 'Richard Smith of Downeen Gent' held 'one divided moiety' of the three ploughlands and one gneeve of Downeen under a lease from Isaac [Mann], Bishop of Cork & Ross, dated 17 Apr 1787, fourteen weeks after John Freke Smyth's burial; (2) Reg. of Deeds 268227 (settlement 3 Apr 1788, Woods-Smith) shows the holder of the OTHER moiety, John Smith of Dooneen gent, alive with his own 'eldest son Richard Smith' and daughter Elizabeth and with Hibernia Smith of Dooneen - that Richard being a separate, documented man (of Barley Hill 1801, of Easton, witness to Robert Smyth's marriage 1808, d. by 1840); so the Richard who took a moiety of Downeen in his own right in April 1787 can only be the heir of the moiety that fell vacant that January, John Freke Smyth's; (3) the 1763 bond and Richard's daughter Martha; (4) Richard b. c.1764 ('in his 89th year' Jan 1852/3), styled 'of Downeen' at 24. No document stating 'son of' has yet been found; the Bishop's lease of 17 Apr 1787, if registered, would. The 1742 memorial (John of Carrick x Ann; sons Richard and John) and the 1730 baptism carry the line two generations further. Also now certain from the registers: m. 2ndly by licence 12 Nov 1808 at Ross BARBARA MORRIS of Castletownsend (witness Wm Morris; Richard was himself witness five days later to Robert Smyth's marriage to her sister Elizabeth); she d. at Castle Downeen 10 Jan 1844 aged 78. Earlier children by Dorothea, John (bur. 11 Oct 1790) and Richard (bur. 10 Mar 1795), died in infancy - hence Rev. John Richard (1796) 'only son'. Buried Ross 22 Jan 1852 'Richard Smyth, Downeen, 89'.