At the end of the list of names, below, Kathy Rhodes ([email protected]) wrote that there was additional text which she hadn't yet transcribed. Now she has transcribed it and has asked me to send it along with the names. Here it is. Along with that are comments by Tom LaPorte ([email protected]), immediately below the list of names. Linne The address from the Guild of the Broguemakers states that..... "Before the Union with England, which has proved so fatal to Ireland, they held a proud position in the estimation of their fellow citizens for their respectability, independence, and ancient standing, in those days when agriculture was forwarded by the fostering hand of the now absentee, when commerce flourished, when labourers were paid for their toil, and when due attention was paid to the forms and rights of trade. Before the Union the journeymen of our trade could earn from 25s. to 30s. per week, whilst the employers turned into themselves a considerable revenue therefrom; at present a journeyman can earn no more than from 10s. to 12s. a week. The number of broguemakers before the Union was 120, and all that are now extant in this ancient and loyal city are the few that feel highly honoured by subscribing their names to your patriotic cause. " ===================================================================== Match: Bowles Source: [email protected] From: [email protected] Subject: [IRL-LIMERICK] Limerick Guild of Broguemakers' - 1840 Members of the Limerick Guild of Broguemakers' as published in the Freeman's Journal on October 21 1840 Bowles, John Bowles, David Burke, Standish Carmody, John Carmody, Stephen Connors, James Currey, Patrick Dillon, Michael Downey, Thomas Foley, John Ford, Thomas Hogan, Patrick Kennedy, James Kennedy, Timothy Magrath, Patrick M'Namara, Patrick O'Brien, Michael O'Brien, Mortimer O'Connor, Michael O'Dowd, John O'Sullivan, Daniel O'Sullivan, Timothy O'Sullivan, James Prendergast, James Tuohy, John Ward, Timothy There was some additional text from the article which PROCEEDED the above list of names (however, I have yet to transcribe it; please email me off list if you are at all interested). NOTE: Original list of names was not in any sort of order; I have alphabetized by surname to make them easier for folks to find. klr 22 May 2008 ================================================================ Here are Tom's notes on the Bowles and the Broguemakers' Guild: Well I could probably add a thousand words to that reference if I had my Bowles in Limerick story all written up. I can give you some notes. The list given is part of a full page of the Freemen's Journal (a Dublin newspaper) listing the members of the various guilds in Limerick who took the brave step of publishing their names as joining in support of Daniel O'Connell "The Liberator of Ireland". For the times in Ireland this was a very brave step. In case you didn't know, a brogue is a cheap shoe. Broguemakers, shoemakers and cordwainers were all shoemakers but for various qualities of shoes and a different market. Brogues were worn by the peasant class, shoes by the middle class and cordwainers made the quality shoes of Italian leather for the nobility. John and David Bowles were almost certainly brothers but it's the other names in that list which help to connect up a whole bunch of Bowles references in Limerick. I've been working on sorting them out for quite a while now and that newspaper article was a major breakthrough. The third name in the list is Standish Burke (it's actually Bourke, the Burke is a typo) who was one of the witnesses at the 1825 baptism of Bridget Bowles daughter of Michael Bowles, a Broguemaker in Limerick. Michael Bowles' son's Joseph's baptism was witnessed by Patrick McNamara who is also on that list and his son Christopher's baptism was witnessed by Mort(imer) O'Brien who is also on that list. The Broguemakers John and David Bowles in the list each had Michael Dillon also from that list as a witness at a baptism of one of their children. John Bowles had married a Mary Dillon. So I think it's pretty safe to assume that John, David and Michael Bowles, all Brogue makers in Limerick at the same time and all so close to the same other families of Broguemakers that they witnessed their children's baptisms, were all brothers. Michael being the oldest. It even gets more complicated. William Bowles was a shoemaker in Limerick. His son Patrick's baptism was witnessed by a Mary Bourke and his son Michael's baptism was witnessed by a Bridget McNamara. When a Michael McNamara married an Eliza O'Brien in 1825 one of their witnesses was a Patrick Bowles who was a grocer in Limerick. With this connection to Michael McNamara and an O'Brien he would almost certainly have been connected to Michael, John, David and William. They are all of the right age to be siblings. Then we have Dominick Bolds, a shoemaker in Limerick, whose children's baptisms weren't witnessed by anybody from that list. He used Hartigan and O'Neills as witnesses. But William Bowles had one child's baptism witnessed by a Thomas O'Neill. So a slight connection and again the shoemaker thing. The Bolds versus Bowles spelling is strange. However, David Bowles, the Broguemaker who had Michael Dillon witness his son Denis' baptism also had a James Bolds witness the baptism of his son James. The other witness was a Mary Frawley and a Judith Frawley married a Henry Bowles in Limerick in the 1830's. Remember the name Henry Bowles for later. William Bowles' marriage was witnessed by James Bowles (not Bolds) and named a son James as did John Bowles. James Bowles married a Frances Kennedy and their child's baptism was witnessed by a John Kennedy. John Bowles marriage was witnessed by an Ellen Kennedy. The list of broguemakers in the paper included a James and a Timothy Kennedy. Not quite John but it turns out that their father was a John. So what did all these Bourkes, McNamaras, Dillons, O'Briens and Kennedys have to do with Bowles besides all being some kind of shoemakers and witnesses at each others church functions? Drumbanny is a little townland SE of Limerick along with the neighbouring townlands of Ballysimon and Kilbane and the major landowner of all three townlands was a Henry Bowles, an attorney of Limerick. Remember I said to remember the name Henry Bowles earlier. One of Henry's direct tenants was Michael McNamara and another was a Hartigan (who witnessed Dominick Bolds son's baptism above). Another tenant of Henry's was John Daly, whose daughter Mary married William Bowles. Bourkes also owned land at Drumbanny as did Barretts (whose daughter married another William Bowles whom I know nothing about yet). The broguemaker, Mortimer O'Brien farmed on Henry Bowles' land at Kilbane. O'Neill's also farmed at Drumbanny. So Henry Bowles, attorney and major landowner, had all those broguemakers as tenants. He wasn't the same class as the Bowles broguemakers. Maybe not but his father was. Going back 40 years earlier, Henry Bowles, dyer, of Limerick signed as a guarantor for a loan along with Daniel Bourke (those Bourkes again) and Jeremiah Blood, a cordwainer (i.e. a fancy shoemaker). To agree to stand together as loan guarantors these three were very closely associated. It was this Henry Bowles whose son went to Trinity College and became an attorney, made it wealthy somehow and acquired that land. All these other Bowles seem to be the poor cousins. That's the point where I'm working right now. More to come as I get it sorted out. Tom