Gerald had a special livery of his estate in 1539; Walter the second son became Bishop of Kildare in 1531, and died its diocesan in 1539 (see Ware's Bishops); and the daughter Alison intermarried with John Cusack of Cushington, co. Meath. (Burke's Landed Gentry, Supp. p. 88.)
Gerald, according to all the peerage books, married Margaret, eldest daughter of Sir Thomas Fitzgerald, who was Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1483, and had issue William, his eldest son, Lord of Dangan, who married Elizabeth Cusack, of Portrane, co. Dublin, and died previous to 1551 (as I believe is proveable by inquisitions of that year in the office of the Chief Remembrancer, Dublin), leaving Gerald, his eldest son and heir. An inquiry taken in 1579 as to the extent of the manor of Dangan, finds him then seised thereof (Inquis. in C. H. 23 Eliz.). Previous to this he appears a party in conveyances of record, as in 1564, &c. He had a son Edward (not mentioned in the peerage books), who joined in a family conveyance of 1599, and soon after died, leaving a son, Valerian Wellesley. Gerald himself died in 1603, leaving said Valerian, his grandson and heir, then aged ten (Inquis. 5 Jac. I. in Rolls Office), and married, adds the Inquisition; and Lynch, in his Feudal Dignities, gives interesting particulars of the betrothal of this boy, and his public repudiation of the intended match on his coming to age. This Valerian is traced through Irish records to the time of the Restoration; he married first, Maria Cusack (by whom he had William Wellesley, his eldest son), and, second, Anne Forth, otherwise Cusack, widow of Sir Ambrose Forth, as shown by an Inquisition of 1637, in the Rolls Office, Dublin.
William Wellesley, son and heir of Valerian, married Margaret Kempe (Peerage Books), and by her had Gerald Wellesley, who on the Restoration petitioned to be restored to his estates, and a Decree of Innocence issued, which states the rights of himself, his father, and his grandfather in "Dingen." This Gerald married Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Sir Dudley Colley, and their first daughter was baptized in 1663 by the name of Margaret, some evidence, in the courtesy of christenings, of Gerald's mother being Margaret. (Registry of St. Werburgh's.) Gerald was a suitor in the Court of Claims in 1703: he left two sons; William the eldest died s. p., and was succeeded by Garrett, his next brother, who died also without issue in 1728, having bequeathed all the family estates to Richard Colley, second son of the aforesaid Sir Dudley Colley, and testator's uncle, enjoining upon said Richard and his heirs male to bear thenceforth, as they succeeded to the estates, the name and arms of Wellesley.
This Richard Colley Wellesley married Elizabeth, daughter of John Sale, LL.D. and M.P., by whom he had issue Garrett Wellesley, born, as the Dublin and London Magazine for 1735 announces, "19th July," when "the Lady of Richard Colley Westley was delivered of a son and heir, to the great joy of that family." This son was father of the Marquis Wellesley and of the Duke of Wellington!
John D'Alton.
48. Summer Hill, Dublin.
CONSECRATED RINGS FOR EPILEPSY.
(Vol. vi., p. 603.)
Sir W. C. T. has opened a very interesting field for inquiry regarding these blest rings.