Edward John Roberts (1879 - 1975)

Born 6 Jul 1879 in The Rower, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland

Ancestors

Husband of Mary Jane (Smyth) Roberts — married 14 Aug 1912 in Dublin, Ireland

Husband of Grace (Cronyn) Roberts — married 23 Sep 1936 in Waterford, Co. Waterford, Ireland

Descendants

Died 7 Sep 1975 at age 96 in Bridge View, Inistioge, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Edward Scott [send private message]

Biography

• Ned was born on July 6, 1879, at The Rower, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland -- the third child of Edward Roberts and Mary Brierly Roberts.
• He was baptized at The Rower on July 16, 1879.
• By about 1882 he was living with his parents in Inistioge, Co. Kilkenny (a village with a recorded history back to the 900s).
• He had little to no formal education but was subsequently mentored by Canon Richard Uniake Beresford, the Rector of St. Mary's, Inistioge (Church of Ireland) in the last few years of the 19th Century and the early years of the 20th Century.
• In the 1901 census data for Ireland he lists his occupation as "Clerk in estate office"; he was in fact working in the estate office of the Woodstock estate (then owned by the Tighe family). Did Canon Beresford help him to obtain such a position? Very possibly!
• In 1911 he is still living with his parents in Inistioge, Co. Kilkenny. He gives his occupation as "Assistant land agent" in the 1911 census data, and he is still working for the Woodstock estate.
• On August 14, 1912, he married Mary Jane ("Mollie") Smyth at St. George's Church in Dublin, Ireland; she is the National Teacher at the Protestant school in Inistioge; they were married by Canon Beresford, who probably also made it possible for them to get married at this church
• Between 1912 and about 1925 Ned and Mollie lived upstairs at The Old School House near the bridge over the River Nore. The ground floor of the school would flood on a regular basis when the river rose after heavy rains.
• When Woodstock House was burned down in 1922, during "The Troubles", it has to have had some impact on Ned's occupation, but he was probably still responsible for collecting rents on property owned by the Tighe family in and around Inistioge and ensuring the maintenance of those properties.
• Early in 1925, Canon Beresford died, and my grandfather was appointed as his executor. Canon Beresford's estate was worth > 9,000 pounds sterling, and he left 1100 pounds of that to my grandfather -- a fortune to a man like my grandfather in those days.
• In about 1925 Ned and Mollie moved to "Bridge View" -- a house up on the hill in Inistioge on the road to the Woodstock estate. Mollie had supposedly bought the house with money she saved from her teacher's salary. Ned was to live there for the next 50 years.
• Ned was well known in the village as the "Land agent" for the Woodstock estates
• After they moved to Bridge View, Ned developed the garden (where he tested new rose varietals for well-known rose breeders) and kept a host of canaries in one of the outbuildings.
• After Mollie's untimely death in 1931, Ned re-married, to Grace CRONYN, on September 23, 1936, in Waterford, Co. Waterford. They were to have two more children.
• Ned died at "Bridge View" in Inistioge on September 7, 1975.
• He was buried with his first wife in the churchyard of St. Mary's parish church, Inistioge, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland.

Sources

• Direct personal acquaintance and knowledge (Edward John ROBERTS was the maternal grandfather of the profile manager)
• Detailed information about this individual is accessible on Ancestry (see http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/19962126/person/875688041)
• "Ireland Births and Baptisms, 1620-1881" (see https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FRMZ-831)
• Birth certificate on file in Ireland (registered at New Ross, Co. Wexford in the July quarter 1879; see Vol. 4, p. 786).
• Marriage certificate (for first marriage) on file in Ireland (registered at Dublin South in the July quarter 1912; see Vol. 2, p. 444).
• He is clearly listed as living in Inistioge, Co. Kilkenny, in the Irish census data for 1901 and 1911.
• Marriage certificate (for second marriage) on file in Ireland (registered at Waterford, Co. Waterford, in the July quarter 1936; see Vol. 4, p. 303).
• Gravestone in the cemetery of St. Mary's Church of Ireland parish church, Inistioge, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland (see also https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVGJ-2LKY)