When Emily’s great grandmother Ruth McCormack married Daniel Graisberry II in 1797 neither had reached the age of twenty one. It was not uncommon for people of families in trades, such as printing to marry their sons and daughters to others in the business. This trend can be seen in the Graisberry family for many generations. Daniel, the eldest son of Mary and the late Daniel Graisberry was probably fast tracked into the family business and marriage to Ruth McCormack, whose family were in the book trade too. As eldest son he was earmarked to take over the family business and allow his mother to retire.

The Long Hall Library in Trinity College, Dublin, where the Graisberrys were the official printers

When Daniel was first qualified as a printer he operated from Capel Street. Early enough in his career he became the appointed printer to the Dublin Society and then progressed on to become the official printer of Trinity College, a position he held till his death in 1822. The exclusive printer to the college was an extremely lucrative position to hold, so after his death his widow Ruth hastily stepped into the vacant position. Rather than loose the family business and possibly her only income she like her mother in law Mary Graisberry she took charge of the situation she found herself in.

Back Lane where the Graisberry’s had their printing business

Sources

Dictionary of Irish Biography 9 Volume Set: From the Earliest Times to the Year 2002. Cambridge University Press 2009,James McGuire and James Quinn. Turlough O’Riordan. Vol 3 P 192

A Dictionary of Members of the Dublin Book Trade 1550-1800 By Mary Pollard, Bibliographical Society (Great Britain, p 248-50

Irish Booklore: A Galley of Pie: Women in the Irish Book Trades Author(s): Vincent Kinane
Source: The Linen Hall Review, Vol. 8, No. 4 (Winter, 1991), pp. 10-13 Published by: Linen Hall Library. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20534214 Accessed: 07-05-2015 14:24 UTC

Inscription in the cover of a book dedicated to Mary by James Templeton. Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland

Mary Kennedy married Daniel Graisberry in 1765. The couple were married for twenty years until his death in 1785. She was mother to thirteen children all of whom she outlived, she survived her son Daniel by just one week.

As a young widow still in her thirties and possibly with some of her family dependant on her she took over her husband’s business. With the help of her son in law, Richard Campbell, taken into the business when he married her daughter Elizabeth, she took her late husband’s place in the business. With that she made an announcement to the printing world that she, Mary Graisberry, widow would carry on with business as usual, a tough decision for a woman at the time. Mary Graisberry was by no means the first woman in the Irish book trade, in fact she was one of many, usually widows who took over the business when their husbands died. Years later her daughter in Law Ruth would follow suit, when she was widowed too.

It did not take too long for tragedy to strike in the Graisberry family again, when Mary’s daughter Elizabeth. She was quite young and married only a short time, so it is possible that she died in childbirth. A touching gesture James Templeton, a poet and possibly a family friend dedicated a book to Mary. The book was entitled A Poetical Epistle to Mrs. Graisberry: On the Sudden Death of Her Daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Campbell.

To the memory of Mrs Elizabeth Campbell. Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland

Mary continued as administrator of the company until her son Daniel, Emily’s great grandfather took over when he came of age (twenty-one) in 1797. She lived on till her mid seventies dying on 8th June 1822, at Clare St. Dublin.

 Sources

A Dictionary of Members of the Dublin Book Trade 1550-1800 By Mary Pollard, Bibliographical Society (Great Britain, p 248-50

Irish Booklore: A Galley of Pie: Women in the Irish Book Trades Author(s): Vincent Kinane
Source: The Linen Hall Review, Vol. 8, No. 4 (Winter, 1991), pp. 10-13 Published by: Linen Hall Library. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20534214 Accessed: 07-05-2015 14:24 UTC

Templeton, James. A Poetical Epistle to Mrs. Graisberry: On the Sudden Death of Her Daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Campbell. By James Templeton. Dublin: Printed in the year, 1795.

Dublin Evening Packet and Correspondent 11 June 1842. P 3

Map of Dublin in the time of Mary Graisberry*

Mary Kennedy came from a privileged background, when she married Daniel Graisberry in 1765, she brought with her a fortune. Little can be told about her life before she was married, however there is a Baptismal record for St. Paul’s Parish of a Mary Kennedy in 1748:

Parish/Church/Congregation – ST. PAUL

Baptism of MARY KENNEDY on 21 July 1748

Father JOHN KENNEDY

Mother ARABELLA KENNEDY

If the above is the correct Mary Kennedy it would have made her seventeen years old when she married Daniel Graisberry, a marriageable age in the 1765. Another give away, is Mary’s mother’s name Arabella, which could easily be a coincidence, but if not was given to her great great great granddaughter, Emily Maynard Arabella Burke a four generations later.

 Sources

 http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/reels/d-273-1-2-175.pdf Retrieved 18/05/2015

Freeman’s Journal (Dublin) July 19 to July 23 1765, Sat., 13 July 1765 – Tues., 16 July 1765

*http://dublincitypubliclibraries.com/image-galleries/treasures-collections/historical-maps-dublin. Retrieved18/05/2015

Thanks to:

Map of Dublin 1756 Courtesy of Dublin City Public Libraries and Archive