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Ferguson (Smithfield)
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The Fergusons of Rathkeale, county Limerick, descend from David Ferguson and his wife Margaret O'Conner. Their eldest son John (born 1797), a solicitor, married Mary Leake and it was their son David Ferguson of Smithfield, Croagh, county Limerick, who in the 1870s owned 778 acres in the county. David Ferguson was also a solicitor. He married Susan daughter of Julius Delmege of Rathkeale and had a son and two daughters. David's uncle Robert Ferguson bought over a thousand acres (Rathkeale Abbey, Knockanavad and Garryduff) of the estate of Anna and [her daughter] Alice Leake (an infant) for sale in the Encumbered Estates Court in 1853. Robert Ferguson was the guardian of Alice. In the 1870s Robert Ferguson owned 1,435 acres in county Limerick. see http://dna.cfsna.net/GEN/Rathkeale.html and http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~colin/FergusonsOfIreland/Limerick.htm
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Smith (Smithfield & Ballylin)
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Smithfield house was leased to the Reverend Charles Smyth by Henry and Richard Aylmer in October 1794. In 1799 John Walcott of Greenwich, London, formerly of Croagh, leased the house division of Ballyline to Richard Smyth junior of Ballyline and in 1800 he was leased Smythfield by the Reverend Charles Smyth. At the time of Griffith's Valuation Richard Smith held lands in the parish of Kilbreedy Major, barony of Coshlea and Richard C. Smith held lands in the parishes of Croagh and Rathkeale, barony of Connello Lower, county Limerick some of which were in the possession of the Court of Chancery. Portions of the estate of Richard Dalton Smith in the barony of Connello were offered for sale in the Landed Estates Court in January 1865. One lot was sold to its tenant, Mr. O'Donnell, the remaining sale adjourned. Property sold at a further sale in January 1866 was purchased by Dr. Hassard, Rector of Rathkeale.
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Leake (Rathkeale)
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The gravestone inscriptions from the Church of Ireland graveyard at Rathkeale, barony of Connello Lower, county Limerick, show that the Leake family were resident there from at least the mid 18th century. Jonas Leake was buried in 1762. The Leakes were influential in the establishment of the linen industry at Rathkeale. George Leake of Rathkeale Abbey died in 1804. William Leake was a solicitor in Limerick. He was dead by 1853 when the estate of his widow Anna Maria and his infant child Alice was advertised for sale in the Encumbered Estates' Court. Robert Ferguson was Alice's guardian and bought the estate in trust. The estate was comprised of over 1,100 acres and the rental shows that Rathkeale Abbey was held by the Leakes on a lease from John Pigott dated 1779. Lithographs of Rathkeale Abbey and Garryduff Cottage are included. Griffith's Valuation records the representatives of William Lake holding two townlands in the parish of Rathkeale. By April 1858 when Geraldine House was advertised for sale Anna Maria was married again to John R. Tinsley. This surname is spelt Lake in some contemporary records.
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