John (Le Poer) Power (abt. 1529 - 1592)

Born about 1529 in Curraghmore House, County Waterford, Ireland

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 8 Nov 1592 at about age 63 in Curraghmore House, County Waterford, Ireland

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Biography

John Le Poer was a member of the aristocracy in Ireland.

John Power, 3rd Baron le Poer and Coroghmore (Curraghmore), and nicknamed 'Mor' or 'the Great', was born ca.1529. He was the son of Richard, 1st Baron le Power, and Katherine Butler, daughter of Piers, 8th Earl of Ormond.^[1]

He succeeded as 3rd Baron on 16 October 1545.

Supported Gerald, 15th Earl of Desmond, in the 1565 Battle of Affane:^[2][3]

• "Affane was the scene of one of the last private battles fought in the British Isles, a celebrated engagement on the 1st February 1565 between the armies of Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond (with allied O’Kennedys, Gillapatricks and Burkes) and his widowed^[4] stepfather, Gerald Fitzgerald, 15th Earl of Desmond (with allied O’Connors, O’Briens, MacCarthys, O’Sullivans, and McSheehys, Lord Power of Curraghmore and Sir Piers Butler of Cahir)."

• "As with most such confrontations, the immediate causus belli (the borderlands held by Sir Maurice Fitzgerald)^[5] were less relevant than the feud that had simmered between the two families [Desmond and Ormond] for centuries."

On 28 February 1565 (just after the Battle of Affane) he and others were ordered by Queen Elizabeth I to preserve the peace of Munster.^[6]

On 11 June 1567 he was ordered to be sent as prisoner with other Irish lords to London. ^[7]

1575: Lord Deputy Sir Henry Sidney, who was Viceroy at this time, made a tour through Ireland. When he reached Waterford the historian describes how he stayed at Curraghmore with Lord Power, and how he found his country "comparable with the best ordered county in the English Pale".^[8]

From the book Dromana: The Memoirs of an Irish Family:^[9]

• On the 10th of May, 1579, Sir William Pelham, the Lord Justice [of Ireland], called a general assembly of the Munster lords at Limerick. [Thomas, 10th Earl of] Ormond duly appeared, bringing with him White, the Masters of the Rolls; Lords Dunboyne and Power, and Sir James FitzGerald of Decies. Lord Roche and his son Maurice, and Sir Thomas of Desmond came from Cork, followed later by a few others. None of the Western chiefs came, and Pelham, seeing no hopes of more coming, conferred with those who were present. They swore to forego private quarrels, and to band against [Gerald, 15th Earl of] Desmond and his rebel followers.

On 11 February 1587/88 he petitioned Queen Elizabeth I for some recognition of his services against the rebels. ^[10]

Marriages & Children

He married 1) Lady Eleanor FitzGerald, daughter of James FitzJohn FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmond.^[11] Their children included:

• Piers Power, who married Margaret, daughter of "Wild Peter" Butler
• Thomas Power
• David Power
• Maurice Power
• Gilles Power^[12]
• Margaret Power^[13]
• Catherine Power^[14]
• Richard Power, 4th Baron le Power and Coroghmore

He married 2) after 1557 Ellen MacCartie, daughter of Teige MacCormac MacCarty ^[15][16] Their children included:

• William Power
• Ellen Power^[17]
• Margaret Power^[18]

From an unspecified mother.

• Mary, who married William, son of Wild Peter Butler and Honora FitzGerald.

Research Notes

Historian Gabriel Redmond lists John's sons in the following order, and includes a few details:^[19]

1. Richard, his heir
2. Piers Power of Rathgormycke and Clondonnell
3. David
4. Thomas, who married the daughter of FitzGerald, Baron of Burnchurch, and widow of Robert Power. Baron of Donoyle, who died 1587
5. Maurice
6. William

Sources

1. ↑ The Peerage : John Power, 3rd Baron le Power and Coroghmore
2. ↑ http://irelandbyways.co.uk/top-irish-peninsulas/irelands-south/the-lower-blackwater-region/
3. ↑ See also "The Battle of Affane" (1565):
   • https://www.yourirish.com/history/16th-century/battle-of-affane
4. ↑ Just one month earlier, Gerald's wife Countess Joan FitzGerald had died. Not only was Joan the mother of Thomas, 10th Earl of Ormond, but she had served as peacemaker between the two Earls up until her death.
5. ↑ Sir Maurice FitzGerald, Viscount Decies, was a staunch ally to his 1st cousin the 10th Earl of Ormond.
6. ↑ The Peerage : John Power, 3rd Baron le Power and Coroghmore #116551 quoting Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh. Burke's Irish Family Records. London, U.K.: Burkes Peerage Ltd, 1976.
7. ↑ The Peerage : John Power, 3rd Baron le Power and Coroghmore #116551 quoting Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh. Burke's Irish Family Records. London, U.K.: Burkes Peerage Ltd, 1976.
8. ↑ From the book Dromana: The Memoirs of an Irish Family, by Therese Muir MacKenzie (Therese Villiers Stuart), published 1907 (Dublin: Sealy, Bryers & Walker), p.64:
   • https://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/thrse-mackenzie/dromana--the-memoirs-of-an-irish-family-ala.shtml
9. ↑ Dromana: The Memoirs of an Irish Family, by Therese Muir MacKenzie (Therese Villiers Stuart), published 1907 (Dublin: Sealy, Bryers & Walker), p.66:
   • https://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/thrse-mackenzie/dromana--the-memoirs-of-an-irish-family-ala.shtml
10. ↑ The Peerage : John Power, 3rd Baron le Power and Coroghmore #116551 quoting Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh. Burke's Irish Family Records. London, U.K.: Burkes Peerage Ltd, 1976.
11. ↑ The Peerage : John Power, 3rd Baron le Power and Coroghmore #116551 quoting Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003.
12. ↑ Giles' profile on The Peerage, referencing Burke's Peerage (2003), indicates she married twice: 1) Donal MacCarthy and 2) Piers Butler of Nodstown (presumably as his 2nd wife, ca.1600)
13. ↑ Margaret was (apparently briefly, as he had 4 wives) married to James FitzThomas FitzGerald (1560-1608), the ill-fated Sugan Earl of Desmond.
14. ↑ Catherine married Piers Butler of Grantstown, youngest brother of Thomas, 10th Earl of Ormond, according to the Piers' profile in the Dictionary of Irish Biography:
    • https://www.dib.ie/biography/butler-piers-a1278
15. ↑ The Peerage : John Power, 3rd Baron le Power and Coroghmore #116551 quoting Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003.
16. ↑ This marriage occurred after 1557, as Ellen was the widow of James Barry, 3rd Viscount Buttevant. See the bottom row of the "Barry Pedigree":
    • Cokayne, George Edward ed. Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Vol. I: Ab Adam - Basing, 2nd edition. (London,1910), see pedigree chart following p.450:
      • https://archive.org/details/completepeerageo01coka/page/452/mode/2up?view=theater
17. ↑ Possible marriage to Gerald FitzGerald of Dromana as his 2nd wife. See Gerald's profile for the Burke's Peerage reference.
18. ↑ Margaret Power married James Butler, son of Theobald Butler of Derryloskan & Katherine MacCarthy
19. ↑ Gabriel O'C. Redmond, Historical memoir of the family of Poher, Poer, or Power; with an account of the barony of Le Power and Coroghmore, County Waterford (Dublin 1891). p.24:
    • https://archive.org/details/historicalmemoir00redm/page/n49/mode/2up?q=coolfin

• The Complete Peerage (Edition 1, Volume 6) p. 286
• Irish historian Turtle Bunbury's look at the Norman origins of the Le Poer family, as well as key players in Ireland throughout the centuries:
  • https://www.turtlebunbury.com/history/history_family/hist_family_delapoer.html

• Poer, Nigel K., de la. The Powers of Curraghmore, Co. Waterford: Their Origins and History. The Irish Genealogist, Vol. 10, No. 4 (June 2001) pp. 388-396. irishancestors.ie