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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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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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Pigott (Rathkeale)
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In the mid 19th century John Pigott held townlands in the parish of Clonshire and Rathkeale, barony of Connello Lower, in the parish of Ballingarry and Kilfinny, barony of Connello Upper and Croom, barony of Coshma, all in county Limerick,. His main tenant in the barony of Connello Lower was Samuel Dickson Power. John Pigott was the great grandson of Southwell Pigott who died circa 1755. Southwell Pigott was the son of John Piggott of Kilfinny, barony of Connello Lower and Gertrude, a daughter of Sir Thomas Southwell, 1st Baronet of Castle Matrix. In 1718 he succeeded to the Capard estate of his cousin in county Laois. In the 1870s Henry Armand Pigott of Capard, Rosenallis, Queen’s County, owned 3,477 acres in county Limerick and Robert A.R. Pigott of Capard owned 4,932 acres in Queen's county [county Laois]. This family share a common ancestry with the Pigotts, baronets.
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