Col. Hugh Massy, III

Colonel Hugh Massy (Hugh III) Hugh Massy, eldest son of Hugh Massy (Hugh II) and Amy Benson, was born in 1685*. He married Elizabeth Evans of Caharas, Co. Limerick, and had seven sons, Hugh, George, John, Godfrey (ancestor of Massys of Kingswell, and Massys of Grantstown Hall), William (ancestor of Canadian Massys), Eyre and Charles, and four daughters, Mary, Amy, Elizabeth (ancestor of Massy-Westropps) and Catherine. He was High Sheriff for County Limerick in 1711 and by 1722 he was a colonel commanding a troop of horse militia, “being a strenuous advocate of the Reformation….. and keeping a watchful eye over the Papists who were then disposed to be very troublesome to the peace and good government of the realm.” Hugh III lived through the height of the Penal Laws in Ireland. He died on 19th November 1757 “after a tedious illness” and is quite probably buried at Duntrileague. The Massy family at this time had landholdings and residences throughout east Limerick, the nearby Glen of Aherlow in Co. Tipperary, and in Co. Cork. They gained a reputation for constant entertaining, gambling and duelling. During his lifetime Hugh III had mortgaged all of the family holdings in Duntrileague and in Co. Cork. These debts were eventually settled by the second Baron Massy who married an heiress.