“FROM SHEFFIELD” IN IRELAND

My mother told me her father's family originated from Sheffield. It was understood, that she referred to the Sinnett Smith lineage. What she told me, was officially documented and nevertheless, not true.

The Sinnett-Smith's claim to British citizenship was their Sheffield origin through Percy Sinnett Smith, her grandfather and my great-grandfather, signed and confirmed in an official certificate issued by the British Consulate. Lucky for my grandfather and his father,there was no internet at the time, or their claim may have gone up in a puff of smoke.

The Sinnett-Smiths weren't British originally, they weren't even Smiths. The family descends from Edward Sinnett, a self-proclaimed medician, who also went under the name of Senate or Jennett and, in rare instances, for "professional purposes" as Smith.

Edward was an Irishman, born in Dublin to the master silk weaver William Sinnett and his wife Jane Walsh. He was christened in St. Bride's Church, where his father was a church warden. Edward grew up in Golden Lane until about where the family lived until about 1777, before moving to Usher's Quai. Edward had two brothers and two sisters.

Edward's father William Sinnet was a weaver and textile merchant, who was highly engaged in offsetting  the plight of penniless textile workers in Dublin and in secouring the education of their children.  It is highly probable, that the Sinnetts had huguenot roots, as William Sinnet's family came to Irland around 1700 from the area of Lyon, as an obituary of  one of William's grandsons, a nephew of Edward, informs us.

While Edward's adult life was well recorded, we have only scant knowledge on his time in Dublin. We are told, that Edward was an apothecary journeyman and worked in a popular pharmacy on Dublin's High Street. One article mentions, that Edward may have been married to a lady of doubtful reputation during his Dublin years, who was the mistress of Tom Conolly the wearthiest land owner in Ireland during their marriage. It seems as Tom Conolly struck a deal with Edward, causing him to leave Ireland and his wife/companian.

Edward emigrated to England the year his father died. He met his english-born wife Anne Coates from Tower Hamlets, then Lighthouse in London. Ann is the daughter of the mariner Thomas Coats and Mary Godby, and granddaughter of Captain William Coats and Mary McCleish, who in turn, was the daughter of Thomas McCleish, one of the first governors of Hudson Bay in the late 1600's.

Edward and Ann had eight children, all of which survived childhood. The family lived in England, France, Ireland and Italy. Two of the eldest three boys eventually returned to England, one remained in Paris, France. The remaining siblings followed their parents to Naples, Italy, where they married and settled with their families. Two of the girls married British subjects, two chose Italian soul mates. William, the youngest son of Edward and Anne, married an English lady from the high-standing family Oates from Sicily, Naples and Sheffield.