In Ireland the name Canter was very rare. Combining all of the records I can find in Ireland, the Canters were almost certainly a single family living in and near Limerick City from ca 1700. While some events listed in the IGI are in Dublin, it seems likely that these were also members of the Limerick family. Their most likely origin in Ireland was as Williamite settlers / soldiers / administrators, arriving in Limerick ca 1690-1700.

The neighbours of the Palmers in Laois included the Whites (subsequently the Earls of Bantry), Priors and Barringtons who we will come across again in marriages to the Canters.

A near neighbour of the Palmers at Castlewood, on the banks of the Nore was Henry French Barrington, a brother of Jonah Barrington. Jonah's autobiography (in 3 volumes) of 1845, "Personal Sketches of His Own Times", is a fascinating account of life in Ireland from the late 17th C. The book is written anecdotally and is extremely readable. It can also be downloaded from Google Books.

More circumstantial evidence that they arrived in Ireland in the late 17th C. is the Census of Ireland for 1659 which lists the "Tituladoes Names", the names of the largely English gentry. If the Canters were in Limerick at that time, given their social status in the 18th C. directories, I would have expected that they would have appeared in this Census as Tituladoes. However, apart from a possible misprint "Carter", they are not included.

In the next sections it will be seen that in the 18th & 19th centuries the family continued to live near Limerick and remained a small group. For example "The Irish Ancestors" ³ website (using the 1846-64 valuation), while underestimating the number, lists only seven Canter families in all of Ireland, all in Limerick.

Apart from Limerick, the family was closely associated with the place names Ballyvarra, Coolbreedeen and Killeengarriff. Ballyvara and Coolbreedeen are adjacent townlands in the Parish of Killeengarriff, now on the eastern boundaries of Limerick City. As usual the complex nature of Irish districts must be understood to make sense of the records, see the table opposite.

Warning - this is highly speculative

The following table shows the relevant Canter records from the IGI and early Trades Registers (also see the full list of Canters in Ireland from the IGI), which is sorted by date:

1. From "62 Royal West India Rangers (RWIR) who settled in New Brunswick (now part of Canada) in 1819":
   James Canter, joined the RWIR 11/12/1816 from the 28th foot. Age 33 (in 1816), born St. Johns Limerick.
2. Originally known as Main Street in Medieval times, this is now known as .
3. Both the Gentleman's Magazine of 1846 and Annual Register of 1846 (by Charles William Wason) in recording the death of Sir Joseph Barrington describe Jane as "daughter of John Canter of Ballyvara", almost certainly the John Canter b 1700.
4. From HMS Minotaur: John Canter, 29, Corke, Ireland, Ordinary Seaman

   Thus, the first two generations of the family were possibly like this:

   G9 ??	Canter the settler (c.1670 - )
   G8 ??	John Canter (c. 1700 - ) = c. 1720 unknown
   G7 ??	James Canter ( - ) =ca 1762, Catherine Connor		Richard Canter ( - )		Jane Canter (ca 1732-ca 1765) = ca 1753, Mathew Barrington (ca 1717-ca 1765)		Alice Canter (ca 1734- ) =ca 1765, Benjamin Barrington (ca 1732-ca 1765)		John Canter ( - ) the younger
   :

   Ballyvarra (note the IGI variously shows this as Ballyvarra, Ballyvara & Ballyvard) is significant, connecting Richard Palmer Canter's father James back to John Canter b 1700.

   Unfortunately the IGI evidence is from member supplied information rather than church records and so must be treated with care.

The Canter's association with the Barrington family confirms their social status as 'gentry'.

1. Samuel Barrington, born est c.1650, settled Limerick 1691, bur St. Mary's Cathedral, Limerick, 1693, having had issue:
2. Benjamin Barrington, had issue:
3. Alderman Benjamin Barrington (he held the office of Sheriff of County Limerick in 1729), born est c.1700, mar 1724 to Anne Waltho and had issue:
4. Crocker, Matthew, John and Benjamin. Matthew Barrington married Jane Canter and had issue:
5. Sir Joseph Barrington, 1st Baronet, born 21st Feb 1764, founded, with his sons, Barrington's Hospital, Limerick, they also built Barrington's Bridge, cr 1831, died 10th Jan 1846, age 81 yrs, having had issue:
6. Sir Matthew Barrington, 2nd Baronet, of Glenstal Castle, born 21st May 1788, Crown Solicitor for Munster.

The following may indicate that the Barringtons and Canters remained in contact into the 19th C.:
Two letters to Matthew Barrington, Esq. from Walker, John, civil engineer on proposed southern railroads in Ireland with an introductory letter to the Right Hon. Thomas Spring Rice, M.P., Chancellor of the Exchequer... and an explanatory map. Goldsmiths' Library, University of London Limerick, printed by R.P. Canter, 1837 Ireland.

Item 43433:

This raises a number of interesting questions and possibilities:

• What was the connection between the Canters and John Barry the stationer? Perhaps the Canters acquired the stationery business and this is how Richard Palmer Canter got into the business? This conjecture is supported by another document in the collection, the "Probate of last will and testament of John Barry, dated 1827" showing that he died only a few years after the first record of Richard being in business, 1824.
• Earl Clanbrassil was James Hamilton (1730-1798), and the owner of Tollymore park in Co Down (the name is remembered at Tollymore with the magnificent Clannbrassil Barn). He died without children and Tollymore passed to his sister Anne who was the wife of Robert Jocelyn, the first Earl of Roden. This is therefore another possible clue to the Guy / Canter link to Steward / Josselyn of East Anglia.

  item 18598:

  Mortgage, manuscript on paper. Copy of Mortgage of Coolbreedeen, 8th March 1837; John Benn 1st part, and Richard and Elizabeth Kane 2nd part.

  Mortgage, manuscript on paper. Copy of Mortgage of Coolbreedeen, dated 8th March 1837. John Benn of the city of Limerick, 1st part, Richard Kane of Whitehall of Co. Clare and Elizabeth Hayes Kane, otherwise Barry, his wife, 2nd part. Recital of previous deeds etc. relating to the property; reference to earlier indenture of 1714 between George Evans of Carass, Co. Limerick and Ralph Wilson of Boher, re lands of Coolbreedeen and Yeoghleys set to Maurice Fitzgerald and bounds traced with Edward Power; renewal of 1756, James Canter of Ballyvarra in Co. of City; 1764 set to David Fitzgerald; renewal became vested in John Benn of Raheen in Co. of City; renewal became vested in John Barry of Limerick; became actually vested in George Freke Evans; vested in John Lord Carbery; three lives of William Gabbett, Ralph Westropp Junior and Richard Deane Kane; part of lands of Coolbreedeen formerly in the hands of Mathew Dayre. Signed by the parties and witnessed by John ???? and C.? Delmege. Written in black ink on both sides of 7 pages; held together at top left by a pin and at top left of centre by a parchment strip passing through the pages and a piece of re-used parchment passing round the top edge. Folded in half twice and inserted into a separate paper wrapper, of lined paper, annotated on outside with content. Watermarks on wrapper a posthorn in a cartouche and the Prince of Wales feathers, both with "LABM?" in monogram form under

  The story continues with the Generation 5 families, in particular Richard Palmer and Joseph Palmer where we are on more solid ground.

  Groom	James CANTER
  From	Ballyvara, Limerick
  Occ.	Esq.
  Bride	Frances PALMER
  From	Cuffesborough, Queen's Co.
  Date	13 Oct 1791

  Laois Marriage Bonds from the Dioceses of Ferns, Ossory & Leighlin
  (Cuffesborough is just out of Portlaoise, on the main road from Limerick to Dublin (now the N7/M7))

  IGI records

  James Canter

  ca 1766

  Birth at Dublin

  ca 1791

  m. Fanny Palmer

1. Registry of Deeds Dublin: Abstracts of Wills, By P. Beryl Eustace, Eilish Ellis, Irish Manuscripts Commission (Google Books)
   James Canter of Wine Tavern Street, gent listed as a witness. (? date - unfortunately just a snippet)