Robert JACKSON and Joyce SHAW Presbyterians
A Georgian House, at No. 25 Eustace St has seven bedrooms for rent, and they have included on their web site some interesting history about Eustace Street:
Eustace Street has a rich and varied history, famous as much for its religious nature as for its bawdy houses and bars since the 17th century. Both Quakers and Presbyterians have a presence in Eustace Street. The Society of Friends Meeting House, almost directly opposite No.25, has served the Quaker population that settled in the Sycamore Street locality 200 years ago. The old Presbyterian School (now the children's centre, 'The Ark') was established in 1715, and the church served one of the richest Presbyterian parishes in the city from 1685. … On the façade of the Friends Meeting House is a plaque commemorating the first meeting at this house, which is presumed to be the site of the Eagle Tavern, of the United Irishmen, prior to the 1798 Rebellion.
NOTE: The site of The Ark was the site of St. Eustace Presbyterian Church. More history at Dublin Unitarians.
The Family Search file on St. Eustace includes other names that are mentioned in the deeds:
· Ralph CARD, wife Angel. NOTE: A Ralph CARD is mentioned as a life along with John SHAW and Henry SHAW in relation to leases for properties on S side of Upper Comb, Liberties Thomas Court & Donore in 1718, and also in regard to the wedding of William JACKSON and Anne HUNT.
· Samuel CARD was married to a Mary. On this page of Family Search, it seems that he had three daughters and no sons are recorded.
· A GREEN family had a number of baptisms at St. Eustace, but I could not find one for Dorcas.
· John SHAW & Henry SHAW appear as lives in a 1718 lease. A John SHAW was christened Mar 31, 1781 and a Henry SHAW was christened June 7, 1783 – both children of a Thomas SHAW & wife Ann.
· Other JACKSON births recorded at St. Eustace – possibly later relations (and worth exploring):
|
Name |
Events |
Date |
Father |
|
birth |
19 July 1768 |
Thomas Jackson |
|
|
birth |
10 November 1770 |
Thomas Jackson |
|
|
birth |
9 May 1790 |
Thomas Jackson |
|
|
birth |
5 February 1793 |
Thomas Jackson |
It is clear that before the opening of St. Eustace, formerly known as “New Row”, that Presbyterians had long been active in St. Nicholas Church, a church which also includes a number of JACKSONs in their parish registers. The first ministers of St. Eustace had preached at St. Nicholas every Sunday at least as early as 1665. SOURCE: A history of Presbyterianism in Dublin and the south and west of Ireland Clarke H. Irwin, M.A., Minister at Bray. London. p325: Mr. Mather was a Senior Fellow of Trinity, and before 1665 had preached every Lord's Day morning in the parish church of St. Nicholas, where he had been ordained on December 5th, 1656, according to the Presbyterian form, by Dr. Winter, Rev. Mr. Taylor of Carrickfergus, and Rev. Mr. Jenner of Drogheda. … In 1728 the congregation of New Row removed to the new church which they had erected in Eustace Street. " It must have been at that time considered an imposing structure ; for a Quaker, looking up at the stately front, is reported to have said, ' Where there is so much vanity without, there cannot be much religion within.
Their connection of the parish of St. Nicholas to the congregations of Carrickfergus and Drogheda is worth keeping in mind with respect to looking for clues to connections with other JACKSONs. Also bear in mind that although St Nicholas is the church where the clothier Michael JACKSON of Pimlico was buried in 1717, that most of his children were baptized at St. Catherine’s Church (where Robert JACKSON & Joyce SHAW were married). The two parishes are adjacent to each other, and the churches would have been merely a short walk from one to the other.
Given the attendance of Robert JACKSON, tanner of Crooked Staff at St. Eustace, another clue to his ancestry can be found in An Explanation and Defence of the Principles of Protestant Dissent. William Hamilton Drummond. London, 1842, p.8.: The congregations of Eustace-street and Strand-street are the only genuine Protestant Dissenting Presbyterians in the city of Dublin; the descendants, as has been affirmed, not of Scotch Calvinists, but English nonconformists— dissenters from the Church of England.
St Eustace became a Unitarian Church. William JACKSON (1690-1772) was also involved with this church in that form, as was his brother-in-law William VICARS (1707-aft1769): SOURCE: Dublin Unitarian Church Collection RIA/DUC/2/COO/7 4 March 1769
Copy of deed of assignment of Cook Street premises from William Vickers to Thomas Litton, Alexander Kirkpatrick and others
Parties: William Vickers of Dublin, chandler, of the first part; Thomas Litton and Michael Cromie and Alexander Kirkpatrick and _Brindley Hone_, merchants and Robert Burton, cooper and _William Jackson_, tanner, all of Dublin, of the second part. Property: Premises at Cook Street, Dublin Terms: Transfer of property to new Trustees with regulations concerning the appointment of subsequent Trustees. Includes: Refers to earlier leases commencing with the deeds of bargain and sale and release from Daniel Wybrants to Ralph Norris. Witnessed by James Armstrong and Thomas Vickers.