The Adamson and Lynam Ancestors, Dublin and England.

     Margaret Adamson, my maternal grandmother and wife of William Atkinson, was born in Dublin in January 1890 and was the daughter of Joseph Adamson and Mary Anne Lynam. They lived in six different inner city addresses from 1888, when they were married, until 1911. Joseph Adamson, and some of his brothers were in the luggage business, as was his father, and they had a shop in South Anne’s Street. One of their addresses, around 1904, was in South Anne’s Lane off this street. This is all I knew for many years. They were still, however, lower class tenement dwellers just earning enough to survive on. I was very successful in locating information on the Adamsons in the Heritage Database available in Dublin City Library and Archive, Pearse Street, followed by the birth, marriage and death certificates in the G.R.O. On the 1911 Census Returns they lived in two rooms in 17 Upper Exchange Street and in 1901 lived in just one room in 37 Clarendon Street.  

     Joseph’s father, my great, great grandfather, was also Joseph Adamson and he was born in England about the year 1823. He came to Ireland and married Anne Murphy in September 1854 in St. John’s Church (C of I), just behind Christ Church Cathedral, on Fishamble Street. This church was demolished in 188414. On the marriage certificate she is described as a Travelling Bag Maker and living in 55 Fishamble Street, which was the address of Roger Farrell and Sons, Trunk, Portmanteau and Carpet Bag Manufacturers15, and he is a Portmanteau Maker and living on Wood Quay. It is probable that Joseph Adamson worked for Roger Farrell. He was the first of the Adamsons with this occupation as his father was a ‘smith’, as stated on the marriage certificate. As they were married in a Church of Ireland church, I was surprised to find that all of the thirteen children were baptised in St.s Michael and John (RC) church. There was much confusion, as on six of the Baptismal certificates the mother’s name is ‘Anne Smith’ whom I thought was a mistress/partner but she is not to be found anywhere else and on the Civil Birth certificates of two of these, born after 1864, the mother is Anne Murphy. This makes me believe it is the same person. Also, there is more than nine months between all of the thirteen birth dates. I discovered the grave of my great grandparents, Joseph Adamson, who died in 1925, and Mary Anne Lynam, who died in 1944, and the unmarked grave of my great, great grandfather, also Joseph Adamson who died in 1900, in Glasnevin cemetery16. The Adamson luggage business continues today on Johnson Place opposite the old Mercer’s Hospital.

Above Left, Mary Anne Lynam - my great grandmother.

Centre and Right, Margaret Adamson - my grandmother.

14   Peter Pearson, The Heart of Dublin, First Edition 2000, The O’Brien Press, Dublin page 243.

15   Pettigrew and Oulton’s Dublin Almanac and Gen. Register of Ire., 1841 – 1876, Dublin City Library and Archive, Pearse St., Dublin.

16   Record Search for Glasnevin Cemetery available online at http://www.glasnevintrust.ie , 18 Dec. 2009.

Fishamble Street -

The name originates from ‘Fish Shambles’ or Stalls, being the place where fish was sold. (1467). Up to 1886, it extended as far as Castle Street. During the 17th and 18th century, after it ceased being the fish market place,  it became a residental street for such personages as Henry Grattan and James Clarence Mangan and it also contained the famous ‘Music Hall’, where Handle first performed his Messiah in 1742.

The location of number 55, (Roger Farrell and Sons) was backing onto Christ Church Cathedral and facing towards Lord Edward Street, which was just opened in 1886.

The thirteen children of Joseph Adamson and Anne Murphy were -

Joseph   b. 8 Apr. 1857    9 Essex Quay

Rosanna    b. 8 Jan. 1859   9 Essex Quay

Mary    b. 20 Sep. 1860    16 Essex Quay

James    b. 2 Sep. 1864    49 Fishamble Street

Sarah    b. 1865    49 Fishamble Street

Andrew    b. 19 Apr. 1866    49 Fishamble Street

Henry    b. 17 Aug. 1867    49 Fishamble Street

Rosanna    b. 18 Apr. 1869    5 Essex Street

Andrew    b. 4 Jan. 1871     19 Essex Street

John    b. 22 Apr. 1872     Dublin

William    b. 20 May 1874     17 Crampton Court

Roger    b. 28 May 1876     17 Crampton Court

William    b. 6 Nov. 1880     17 Crampton Court