The first concrete reference we have for this Thomas though is the baptism of his daughter Esther at St. Catharine's Church in 1683.  From that record we know his wife's name was Dorcas.  We know more about his other children through several Deed Memorials on file at the Dublin Land Office.  From these we know that his sons, Thomas and John, and his daughter, Dorcas, shared ownership of a quite extensive area of Dublin around St. Bride's and St. Patrick's Churches.  The most likely explanation for this shared ownership is that they had inherited the property from their father.  The memorials also tell us that Thomas Jr. married Jane Rainsford, the daughter of Mark Rainsford, a city Alderman who was later knighted and a Mayor of Dublin.  Through this marriage Thomas Jr. acquired more land in Dublin, this new land was around St. James church in the St. James Gate region.  This is the area which Rainsford had bought in 1695 on which to develop a brewery business which would later be sold to their brewmaster, Arthur Guinness, and this Bowles land is now part of the Guinness Brewery in Dublin.

Dublin in the 1600's

Areas of Dublin mentioned in Deed Memorials as Owned by the Thomas Bowles Family

Deed Memorial 6121 (signed Dec. 8, 1714 and registered March 23, 1714/15): documents that John Bowles and his sister Dorcas were the sole surviving administrators of their brother Thomas Jr.'s estate which includes a house lying on St. Bride's Street (65 on the map) against St. Bride's Church (64) on a lot 18 feet wide and extending westwards 133 feet towards New Street (60).  John and Dorcas did not inherit ownership of his property as Thomas' daughter, Isabella, was still alive at this point (see memorial 27066 below) but they are managing his estate (with Dorcas' husband, Thomas Fleeson).  memorial summary

Deed Memorial 5754 (Dec. 14, 1714) documents that John Bowles is assigning his half share in the property and all the rights and rental incomes coming from the property in Dublin described as an orchard and two gardens with several houses on the east side of St. Bride's Street (65 on the map) and extending west as far as New Street (60) to Thomas Acton and Robert Drury which rights John held under a previous lease from March 5, 1700 for a series of payments totaling several hundred pounds. It doesn't mention who owns the other half share.  memorial summary

Deed Memorial 8837 (Mar. 17, 1716) documents that as the sole surviving administrators of their brother Thomas Jr.'s estate as mentioned in memorial 6121, John Bowles, his sister Dorcas (with her husband, Thomas Fleeson) are also managing property with exactly the same description as in memorial 5754 in which John had a half interest in his own right. The obvious explanation for this is that John and Thomas each had a half interest in that property from their father but then Thomas Jr. died leaving his half to his siblings John and Dorcas.  memorial summary

Deed Memorial 8495 (Jan. 17, 1716): as above, they are managing a house and back houses on a lot on the west side of St. Bride's Street (65) 12 1/2 feet wide and extending back 115 feet.  memorial summary

Deed Memorial 14171 (Nov. 2, 1719): as above, they are managing the house known as The Sign of The Ram (probably an inn or public house) lying in the Poddle (the area where New Street (60) and St. Frances Street (62) meet, marked Y on the map; an area developed over the old course of the Poddle River).  This memorial also mentions that the land surrounding this house is owned by John, Dorcas and her husband.   memorial summary

Deed Memorial 15506 (May 3, 1720): in this case, John, Dorcas and her husband are the administrators of the estate of a Dublin alderman, Christian Bennett, including a parcel of land containing several tenements bounded on the west by St. Frances Street (62) and lying on the Poddle (see note above). Perhaps Bennett was married to another Bowles sister?  memorial summary

Deed Memorial 27066 (Nov. 4, 1723): This memorial documents that not only were John and Dorcas the administrators of their brother's estate, John was also the guardian of Thomas' only child, Isabella who has also now died.  Isabella was not mentioned in the previous deeds as she was a minor and no rights to the property they dealt with.  She is mentioned now to document that Thomas has no further or future heirs that could make a claim to his estate.  This deed involves a house on the north side of St. James Street (55) with a lot 18 feet wide and extending 17 feet back to the churchyard of St. James Church (X on the map) which we will learn later had come to Thomas from his father-in-law, Mark Rainsford. memorial summary

Deed Memorial 29317 (July 5, 1725): In this memorial we learn that Dorcas has now also died leaving John the sole administrator to Thomas' estate. It also documents that Thomas' wife was Jane Rainsford, daughter of Mark Rainsford and that the land in question had been granted to Thomas by Rainsford upon his marriage to Jane Rainsford on Feb. 8, 1702.  The land is two plots adjoining the churchyard of St. James church, one to the east of the gate to the churchyard and one to the west of the gate and containing 9 houses.   memorial summary

Deed Memorial 43758, (June 1, 1730): This memorial refers to the same parcel of land as #'s 5754 and 8837 above. We also learn that John's wife's name is Mary and that they have a daughter Jane. Also, an Anne Fleeson, probably Dorcas Fleeson's daughter, and an Anne Grogan, possibly a married daughter of John's , now share John's interest in the property.    memorial summary

The City of Dublin Archives supply us with one more clue about Thomas Sr.  The city records show that Thomas' daughter, Dorcas Bowles, spinster, was admitted as a 'free woman of Dublin by fine and special grace' in 1695.  This was an unusual occurrence as it means that someone paid a fee for her to be awarded that status and that there were special circumstances.  The Dublin City Archives comment on this type of event is that it "is presumed to have been a kind of dowry given by a guardian to improve a girl's marriage prospects".  If her father was still alive and we know was a substantial landholder, this would not have been necessary.  However, it would be a logical step if her father had recently died.

Thomas Bowles of Dublin's Family tree

1. Thomas Bowles Jr. b. before 1682 (of legal age to own land in 1702)

2. John Bowles b. ~ 1682

3. Dorcas b. ~ 1682

4. Esther bp. Apr. 10, 1683 St. Catharine’s church, Dublin