Notes on the Ancestry of Richard Harris

Great Grandparents
James Harris. Flour merchant, miller, baker. Founder of Mount Kennett Steam Mills in Limerick. Traded as James Harris and Sons. Born Limerick?  in about 1825. Lived at Hartstonge House.Married Ann O’Meehan at Limerick on 8/1/1849. Secretary of the Limerick Harbour Board. Died Glentworth Street, Limerick in 1895. Younger brother of Samuel Hayman Harris, ship and commission agent of Sexton Street Limerick (1840s-50s).

Ann (O)Meehan. Born near Ennis, Clare ? ~1828. Lived at William Street Limerick at time of marriage. Newspaper reports indicate she was strongly involved in the Limerick milling and bakery business along with her husband, James Harris. Younger sister of Father Michael Meehan of the “Little Ark of Kilbaha" fame in the 1850s.  

James Harty. Pig Buyer. Athlunkard (Sráid Átha Longfoirt) Street Limerick. Married to Mary Coleman.

Mary Coleman.  Born Limerick ? Died Limerick before 1901.

William Anderson. Ship owner and captain. Born Urquhart, Moray, Scotland in 1831. Lived at Lossiemouth House, Elgin. William Anderson achieved his ships master certificate in 1856 . According to Lloyd’s Register, ships associated with William Anderson included: Vine, Rose, Laurel as master, and the schooner Orient as mate. Operated out of Bannff. Also sailed Northern Chief and Chieftain. In the 1880s he owned ships Leader and Mabel and J.T. Fraser. (Renamed Craig Alvah. ) The last sailed further afield to Port Adelaide and Natal. Married Danish native Harriet Lund at Edinburgh in 1865. Died at 3 Westminster Gardens West Glasgow, 6/2/1902. Buried at Elgin.

Harriet Lund/e. Born Elsinore Denmark in 1845. Married William Anderson in Edinburgh 8/8/1865. Harriet’s brother was Julius Theodor Lund/e, a sea captain based in Scotland and then Liverpool. Harriet Lund died in Copenhagen on 28/9/1906. It’s said it was Richard Harris’s lifetime ambition to play Hamlet and with an Elsinore-born great grandmother on his father’s side it is not difficult to understand why. Richard’s son, Jared, fulfilled this role in 2001.  

George Lyddy. Born Limerick ~1846. Started life as a fisherman and lived at Sheep Street, Limerick. Married at St. Munchin’s Cathedral on the 20/2/1868. Later a caretaker of the markets. Died Limerick 18/5/1918.

Mary Sheehan. Born Limerick city ~ 1844. Lived at Mary Street in early part of marriage. Then at Cathedral Place. Several of her sons became stone masons and or stone porters like their maternal grandfather, Patrick Sheehan. Died 3/7/1927 at Cathedral place,Limerick.