Hello from the far flung shores of the Pacific!!
Yes, even though they were only a very small family grouping, FitzHenry family members were certainly a well travelled bunch...they even got as far as Fiji and Australia!!
Having been introduced to the mysterious - and disappearing!- Winchester Fitzhenrys through Jo's very entertaining posts, I was intrigued to see if there was any trace of the missing Norman FitzHenry in Australia. Short answer - apparently not. However, in this search, I did stumble across another Norman.
Norman S FitzHenry was born in Sydney in 1904, and was listed in the NSW Electoral rolls in 1930 and 1936. A relatively unusual name. Could this be a possible link to the missing Winchester Norman??
A quick check showed that Aussie Norman was the son of FrederickFitzHenry and Ada M Coleston, who had married in Sydney in 1891. Norman was one of a small tribe of Australian born FitzHenrys :
1891 Harry S
1893 Roy C
1894 Elsie
1897 Alma H
1898 Doris E
1900 Alfred W
1901 Vera F
1904 Norman S
1905 George M
My curiosity aroused, I wondered where Frederick, Norman's dad was born. I was a bit surprised to learn that Frederick was in fact another Australian born FitzHenry!! A Sydneysider, born 1867.
His parents were Patrick FitzHenry and Sarah Phillips, married in Sydney in 1858. Typical of the period, Patrick and Sarah went on to have a large family of 8 children:
1859 Harry
1862 William
1864 Annie
1865 John
1867 Frederick
1869 Harriet
1871 Helen
1874 Alfred Ernest
Well, thought I. Mystery solved. Clearly another Irish connection! (How more Irish can you get than Patrick??!) WRONG!! Patrick died in Sydney in 1888, and his parents were listed as Michael and Anastasia FitzHenry. Wait a minute...haven't I heard those names before?? Yes indeed! Michael FitzHenry, a carpenter, and his wife Anastasia were listed in the 1841 Census in London along with 16 year old Patrick, with brothers and sisters.
So it appears young Patrick was lured away from London to the far-flung Antipodean shores, (possibly for gold, if not, the weather!!) where he established himself, married and created a large family, whose descendants may even be reading this !!
I love it when connections are made, and isolated individuals link up with a previously known family!! Hopefully, the elusive Winchester Norman and his half brothers Rowland and "Willy" will similarly emerge from obscurity in the not to distant future!
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