Tuesday 31 August 2010

John Joseph FitzHenry of County Wicklow and Winnipeg Canada


The previous post featured the family of Charles James Fitzhenry (1853-1891) and his wife Charlotte Elizabeth Fitzhenry (1855-1897) who had twins who died at the age of abut 2 weeks old in 1885.

John Joseph Fitz Henry (his own spelling of his name) attested for the Canadian Expeditionary Force in March 1915. At the time he was living at 829 Home Street Winnipeg, but gave his date and place of birth as 5 October 1887 at Mine View House, Avoca, County Wicklow.
I believe that he is another child of Charles and Charlotte.

John Joseph was four years old when his father died and eleven when he became an orphan in 1897.

In the 1900 census of Ireland he was living with his uncle Dr Cooper and family in Wygram Place, Wexford town, Co Wexford. He was 14 years old and his birthplace was given as County Wicklow.
Dr. Cooper's full name was William Heath Cooper (a dentist born County Wexford), his wife was Frances Susan Cooper (born Co. Wicklow in 1851) and there were seven children living at home including Mary Fitzhenry Cooper and Violet Heath Cooper. I think we can safely assume that not only was this the same John Joseph Fitzhenry as the man who ended up in Winnipeg, but that his aunt Frances Susan was probably born a Fitzhenry in the same Arklow Fitzhenry family. And yes, there's that Heath connection again.

In the 1911 census, the Cooper family were still living in the same house, but Frances Susan was a widow who stated that she had been married for 30 years and had 9 children all living. One of these was the 28 year old Robert Fitzhenry Cooper who had now moved back into the family home having also qualified as a dentist.
However, John Joseph was no longer with them, as in June 1910, he had emigrated to Canada. He sailed on board the "Southwark" from Glasgow, Scotland to Quebec on his own as a 22 year old chemist, a protestant by religion.
On 13 December 1913, he married Gertrude Ella Waters (Canadian marriage registration index). They had at least one son, Charles J. Fitzhenry born in 1914 (US Social security death index) which again links him with the Charles James who died at Mine View Avoca in 1891.

In 1915 John Joseph joined the Canadian Army, and a rather fine picture of him in his military uniform may be found here.

He died in December 1957 aged 71, and his obituary in the Winnipeg Free Press (December 30th 1957) said of him
"Mr Fitzhenry served as a Captain with the Queen's Own Lancers in India and most of his life had been with the British Army. He had lived in Manitoba for the past four years. Survivors are two sisters Mary and Mrs. Lottie Wicklow, both in Ireland, and a son Jim in Van Nuys California.... Burial will be in the military plot, Brookside Cemetery."
This obituary gives us another two children of Charles and Charlotte Elizabeth - Mary Fitzhenry and Lottie (Charlotte) Fitzhenry who became Mrs Wicklow.

If anyone recognises any of these names and wants to contribute more to the story, please drop us a line at the blog or leave a comment below this posting.


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Monday 30 August 2010

St Brigid's Churchyard, Kilbride near Arkow

.... or "not everything was transcribed by Cantwell."

Brian Cantwell's transcription work is a real boon to all of us trying to find Irish ancestors
in Wexford and Wicklow, but he would have been the first to admit that he had not transcribed everything in these counties. In fact he had transcribed about half of all of the graveyards in Wexford and about a third of those in Wicklow - a magnificent effort.

So for this next entry, and the additional parish register information, we are very grateful to Mrs Peggy Leonard who shared this information with us. St. Brigids churchyard, Kilbride was one of those not transcribed by Cantwell. St Brigids is a Church of Ireland church about 4km north of Arklow on the other side of the N11 main road.

Erected by his sorrowing wife
In Loving Memory of
Charles Jas. Fitzhenry
Mineview, Avoca
Died 15 May 1891 aged 38 yrs.
Also his twin children
Who died young
Also
Charlotte Elizabeth, his widow
Died 8 July 1898 aged 43 yrs.

Transcriber's note: Charles' death record:
Charles Fitzhenry - Ferrybank - Gentleman - Prot - 38 - Married - 15 May 1891.
Charlottes death record differs from stone:
Charlotte Fitzhenry - Mine View, Avoca - Lady - Prot - Widow - 31 August 1898.
Twins death records:
Hariet Fitzhenry - Ballycoolean - Child of Charles - Prot - Infant - 2wks. - 20 September 1885
William Fitzhenry - Ballycoolean - Child of Charles - Prot - Infant -12 days - 18 September 1885.

Undoubtably these are related to the other Fitzhenrys of Arklow.

Tomorrow - John Joseph FitzHenry of Mine View Avoca signs up for the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the Great War.

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Friday 27 August 2010

More on Enoch - Exclusive!


This entry by Peter Wilson need a bit of a pre-amble!
Peter is the son-in-law of Austin Paul Fitz-Henry (Australia).
Our Ann Fitzhenry is the wife of Troy Fitzhenry (USA) who is a direct descendant of Enoch Fitzhenry.
They were the two men who turned up the almost perfect DNA match in the test last year without previously having guessed of any relationship at all.
Now read on...

Peter writes:
Troy FitzHenry is a direct descendant from our Enoch. He found that he had a Y-DNA match with Paul Fitz-Henry in Australia which means almost certainly that Troy, Paul and Enoch are all related.
Paul is the last known male of the Fitz-Henry line that migrated to Australia and New Zealand and he has three daughters. His youngest daughter Paula, married Rick Young and they have produced three daughters also. The middle daughter is Codie Young.

You may well ask where this is all leading?

Well Troy now has a relative who as of this Wednesday will be the fashion model on the Vogue Magazine Cover in Australia (October Edition). Click on http://www.vogue.com.au and then click on Vogue Magazine after next Wednesday.

That means that Troy and Enoch have relatives from Australia and New Zealand that have spent time in Leavenworth Prison, owned mines in Chile, been advertising experts, newspaper editors, farmers and fashion models. Never know what you are about to dig up in the family!!!


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Thursday 26 August 2010

Cantwell memorials: Old Kilbride cemetery, Arklow, County Wicklow (3)


The last memorial from the Old Kilbride cememtery. This one is raised to the family of Dr William Heath and his wife Sibella Fitzhenry, daughter of William and Sibbella Fitzhenry of Arklow.
As usual the text is per Cantwell's transcription - he himself added the queries

Erected in memory of the children of
William and Sibella Heath of Arklow
Robert Heath aged 2 (4?) years
Catherine Heath aged 5 months
Also sacred to the memory of
William Heath of Arklow
who fell asleep in Jesus
13th February 1867 aged 67
Also Sibella Heath wife of
(remainder of inscription underground)

... which disappointingly leaves us with no definite death date for Sibella as we can't find her on the Irish GRO indexes on FamilySearch either.

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Tuesday 24 August 2010

Cantwell memorials: Old Kilbride cemetery, Arklow, County Wicklow (2)


Two more gravestones from the Old Kilbride cemetery. Both of these honour a mother named Elizabeth Fitzhenry, but the dates are different, so this is not the same Elizabeth.

Erected by
George Wilson
Arklow County Wicklow
in memory of his beloved wife
Susanna
who died March 28th 1876
aged 36 years
Also of her mother Elizabeth Fitzhenry
Died June 23rd 1862 aged 58 years
and of her sister
Wilhelmina Josephina
Fitzhenry died Sep 18 1860
in her 16 year


We have met Susanna Fitzhenry and George Wilson before - they were married in Arklow in 1864
Susan's father was Robert Ed. Fitzhenry, a shopkeeper - it is not stated whether he was deceased in 1864, but if he was the Robert Edward Fitzhenry, son of William and Sibbella Fitzhenry (see previous post), then he had died in 1847.

Could William have had Robert Edward buried in his family plot, and was there then another plot for Robert Edward's wife and their two daughters? Or were there two Robert Edwards in this town who lived to adulthood?

George had at least 3 sons with Susannah (George, Robert Edward and William Hawkins). He then married Jane Price and they had at least another 4 children. In the 1911 census George was still living in Arklow in comfortable retirement as a widower with his spinster sister-in-law Sarah Anne Price, a dentist.

The next pair are a bit of a mystery. Elizabeth's dates (1787 - 1848) are in the same time frame as William's (1788 - 1859), so she may be the wife of an unknown brother, and hence Robert is William's nephew. However, Robert's dates (1799-1857) means that Elizabeth was only 12 years old when she gave birth to him - I think there is some mistranscription here!

Erected by Robert Fitzhenry
in memory of
his beloved and affectionate mother
Elizabeth Fitzhenry
who departed this life
August 12th 1848
aged 61 years
Also the remains of the above named
Robert Fitzhenry
Who died the 20th of Sept 1857
aged 58 years

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Monday 23 August 2010

Cantwell memorials: Old Kilbride cemetery, Arklow, County Wicklow


Back in April I did a few postings from the Wicklow marriage register entries sent in by Wendy Rutter. Tracy Keenan Lloyd recognised a family link between these Fitzhenrys and a Dr. William Heath who not only was a witness at these marriages, but had married one Sibella Fitzhenry in 1834. Tracy is a descendant of a branch of this Heath family who emigrated to the US in 1886.

So I was really chuffed to find that Mr Cantwell had recorded the graveyard where this Fitzhenry - Heath family were buried.
There's a fair few memorials, and these will go over several postings. Here's the updated map to indicate this graveyard and here's a link showing the outstanding memorial in the cemetery - the Howard Mausoleum.

This first William and Sibbella Fitzhenry pairing are who I believe are the parents of the Sibella who married William Heath.
We know that a widowed William Fitzhenry of Arklow then married a Mary Jenkinson, spinster, at Rathdrum parish church on 15 May 1845. I believe this is the couple on the second gravestone. Same William, two wives.

As usual, the text and line breaks are per Cantwell's transcription:

Two headstones next to each other a) left and b) right.
a)
Erected by William Fitzhenry
in memory of his beloved wife Sibbella
Who departed this life July 21st 1832
aged 52 years
(there's a prayer here which Cantwell has not transcribed)
Also his daughter Elizabeth Fitzhenry
died December the 19th 1826 aged 5 years
Also in memory of their son
William Fitzhenry
Who departed this life the 7th of January 1843
aged 23 years
Also in memory of their son
Robert Edward Fitzhenry
who departed this life the 31st December 1847 aged 35 years
Also the above William Fitzhenry who died
Musing in his Saviour 22nd October 1859
Aged 71 years

b)
Erected in memory
of the children of William and Mary Fitzhenry
of Arklow
Mary Jane who departed this life the
11th December 1849
aged 2 years and 7 months
Robert Edward
who departed this life the
6th April 1854 aged 4 years and 7 months
also of the above named Mary Fitzhenry
who departed this life the 16th January
1890 aged 79 years

So from these gravestones and our previous knowledge of this family we have:
William Fitzhenry (shopkeeper of Arklow) 1788 - 22 Oct 1858
Married first
Sibbella (maiden name unknown) 1780 -21 July 1832
Their children who we know of:
Sibella (birth date unknown but before 1813 to have her married in 1834 to Dr William Heath)
Robert Edward (1812 - 31 December 1847)
William (1820 - 7 Jan 1843)
Elizabeth (1821 - 19 Dec 1826) on this gravestone
Elizabeth (born bet 1827 and 1832) who married Samuel Plummer in 1860, after the death of her father.

William then married
Mary Jenkinson (1811 - 16 January 1890). He was about 56 when they married in 1845, and she was 33.
Their children that we know of:
Mary Jane (May 1847 - 11 December 1849)
Robert Edward (Oct 1849 - 6 April 1854). William's son Robert Edward by his first wife had died 2 years previously.
And also at least one other child, William Henry who has the following marriage entry at St Brides C of I Church in Dublin.

Marriage of WM HENRY FITZHENRY of ARKLOW and PATIENCE WARREN of GEORGES STREET on 28 April 1885
WM HENRY FITZHENRY of Arklow, bachelor of full age
father William Fitzhenry, shopkeeper
PATIENCE WARREN of Georges Street, spinster of full age
Father John Warren, farmer
Witnesses: William Hall and Frances S Cooper

The first son named William (born to Sibbella) died in 1843, so this William (born to Mary) would not have been born before this date.
His father William died in 1859, so this William would have been born no later than 1860.
Patience died in 1894 aged 48. This gives her age at marriage as 38 or 39 and her year of birth 1846.
It's likely she would have been the same age or younger than William Henry, so I'm guessing that he would have been born in the mid 1840s.


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Sunday 22 August 2010

Updates from the Enoch Fitzhenry line


Before I continue with the Cantwell memorials, here's some "Enoch updates" from two people who made contact with us after reading Mrs Hodge's information about Enoch Fitzhenry.

The first was Mrs Martha Urban, from Houston, Texas, who writes:

"My mother was a Fitzhenry - the great, great, granddaughter of Enoch, the great, granddaughter of James Calder Fitzhenry, the granddaughter of Almond Fitzhenry, and the daughter of William Decatur Fitzhenry. That makes me the great, great, great granddaughter of Enoch."
She was delighted to see Enoch's poem "Exile of Erin", as she has both another typed version and a photocopy of the original which was passed from her aunt Lula Mae Fitzhenry Collins.
"I have read and re-read the poem from Mrs. Hodge. The only variation in my copy is at the end of the 4th verse, where it says
"Tears like the rain drop, fall without measure"
my copy continues with the last line,
"But rapture and beauty, they cannot recall!"
I also have a copy of the poem in Enoch's own handwriting. It is not very legible, but I can see this line written in the 4th verse. On the side of the poem is written, "full copy in Enoch's own handwriting!" and it is signed either SW or DW (I think) Fitzhenry. I don't know how my aunt acquired it."
Having looked through the Enoch tree, I can't see any strong candidates (male or female) for an SW or DW Fitzhenry. George Washington Fitzhenry (son of Enoch) died as a baby. It could be
Watts Davis Fitzhenry (grandson of Enoch 1853-1936) or William Decatur Fitzhenry (great-grandson of Enoch, 1878-1960) with the initials transposed, but for now this remains another mystery!

The second person who wrote to us is Sharon Ambrose. She is descended from Enoch via his eldest daughter Mary who married David Morrison.
Her line goes like this:

David Morrison b 14 Jan 1774 d 4 Apr 1850
married Mary Fitz Henry b 27 Nov 1788 Vermont d 26 Dec 1879
Their 15 children were:
  • Abigel Morrison b 12 May 1806
  • Enoch Morrison b 17 Aug 1807 d 1840
  • Susan Morrison b 10 Feb 1809 New York d 4 Oct 1907 Luzerne, PA
  • Henery Morrison b 28 May 1810
  • Mary Morrison b 20 Feb 1812 d Mar 1847
  • Noah Morrison 28 Apr 1813
  • Olive M Morrison 3 Jul 1815 New York d 12 Dec 1913 Village of Worthington, Franklin Co. Ohio married Mr Ortman
  • Betsy Morrison b 21 Aug 1816
  • Jane Morrison b 23 May 1817
  • David Morrison b 16 Apr 1821
  • Robert Thompson Morrison b 14 Feb 1823
  • Diantha Morrison b 2 Jul 1825
  • Louisa Morrison b 8 Oct 1827
  • Hiram Morrison b 24 Jan 1830 New York, NY d12 Feb 1911 Sullivan Township, Ashland County, Ohio married Emily Benner 1858 ; occupation: shoemaker
  • Roxena Morrison b 8 Feb 1833 d 1833
The children of Hiram and Emily (Benner) Morrison were
  • Thomas Jefferson Morrison b 7 Nov 1858 PA;
    occupation 1880 census: farm laborer;
    occupation 1900 census: bicycle tube cutter
    married Jennie Clarke b 10 Sep 1860 d 15 Jan 1914 Akron, Ohio
  • Seth Benner Morrison b 24 Mar 1861 Parker City, PA d 18 Apr 1952 Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio married Margaret Jane Gruissey 24 Oct 1880
  • Phoebe Ellen Morrison b 4 Aug 1864 River Styx, Ohio d 9 Sep 1942 Barberton, Ohio
  • Eldridge Morrison b 4 Oct 1865 occupation 1900 census poultry raising
  • Emily Catherine Morrison b 15 Jan 1866
  • Lillian Morrison b 25 Nov 1870
The children of Seth Benner & Margaret Jane (Gruissey) Morrison are
  • Desda Mona Morrison b 8 Aug 1881 d 8 Oct 1968
  • Lena Belle Morrison b 24 Mar 1883 Lafayette, Medina County, Ohio d abt 1962
  • Albert Rowlen Morrison b 14 Apr 1884 Guilford, Medina County, Ohio d abt 1977 m Dora Morrison
  • Emily Agusta Morrison b 12 Sep 1888 Westfield, Medina County, Ohio
  • Florence Vera Morrison b 29 Nov 1896 Creston, Medina County, Ohio
  • Paul Morrison b 6 Dec 1899 Sullivan, Ashland County, Ohio
  • Pauline Morrison b 6 Dec 1899 Sullivan, Ashland County, Ohio d 12 Jun 1979 Norwalk, Huron Co. Ohio married Elmer Maurer 25 Dec 1918 Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio (b 24 Oct 1898 d 26 Mar 1958)
Pauline and Elmer Maurer are her grandparents. If any one recognises any of these names and would like to contact Sharon, please leave a comment at the end of this posting, or send a message to the Blog.

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Tuesday 17 August 2010

Cantwell memorials: Rossdroit, County Wexford


We are slowly moving eastwards. Rossdroit is closer to Enniscorthy than New Ross, about 4 miles west-south-west on what is now the N30 (here's the map again).
Here's what they had to say about it in 1837 (From "A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland" (1837) by Samuel Lewis).
Here's a picture of St Peter's church at Rossdroit.

This gravestone is a bit of an oddity. The first line claims that the stone was erected by a "Mrs Oconnor" but there are no other O'Connors named on it. Dranagh is close to Courtnacuddy.

We have another two emigrants to the US although the details are sketchy.

As usual, the text is per the Cantwell
transcription, and America is noted to be spelt with a lower case a.

Headstone flat on the ground

Erected by Mrs Oconnor of Dranagh
This monument was erectd by James Fitzhenery of Courtnacuddy in mmry
of his wife Elizabeth Fitzhenery
alias Cloney who depd July the 18
1814 aged 53 yrs
Bridget Fitzhenry died June the
21st 1868 aged 38 yrs also Margret Fitzhenry died in america aged
48 yrs also Michael Fitzhenry
died in america aged 50 yrs

If we presume that this is a family group, then there must have been a mistake with the date transcription for either Elizabeth's death or Bridget's birth, as Bridget is born in 1830, 16 years after Elizabeth died.

Elizabeth's death date may have been 1844 (we've seen problems with the slanted line of the 4 being obliterated before), giving Elizabeth a birth date 1791, and making her aged 38 when she gave birth to Bridget.

I haven't found definite matches for Margret and Michael in the US yet

There are two Fitzhenrys mentioned living in Courtnacuddy in Griffiths' Valuations:

John G. Fitzhenry who rented 31 acres of land from Lord Carew.
William Fitzhenry who rented 42 acres of land (including house, offices and a corn mill) from Lawrence W. Corcoran.

William Fitzhenry is named as the father of another Bridget Fitzhenry who married a Patrick Condon (son of Dennis Condon) at Cortnacuddy on 21 January 1864.

It is probable that James, John G. and William were all of the same generation.


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Monday 16 August 2010

Cantwell memorials: Clongeen, County Wexford (2)


These are the other memorials at Clongeen. They are all very much older than the McGrath family gravestone. At present I do no have any extra information about these people, so if you can add anything, please leave a comment attached to this posting.

Rospile should be spelt Rosspile and is also on the map. All text is as per the Cantwell transcriptions.

Stone 1

Erected in the memory of William Fitzhenry
of Rospile who died 5th Jan 1818 aged 55
years also his wife Mary Fitzhenry
who died 19th Jany 1848 aged 70 yrs also his
daughter Johana Whitty alias Fitzhenry
who died 2nd November 1845 aged 34 yrs also
his son Moses Fitzhenry who died 12th Jan
1847 aged 37 yrs also his son John Fitz
henry
who died 8th March 1848 aged 34 years

As the dates are out of order again, I wonder if Mary died in 1843 rather than 1848 (similar shape with the carving), and then the children would have died in sequence in 1845, 1847 and 1848.

Stone 2

Here lies ye body of Moses Fitzhenry
Departed this life Nov 10th 1766
aged 34 years also ye body of his (wife*) Powl alias Fitzhenry
who depd April 7th 1773 aged 48 years

Cantwell's annotation: * word ommitted here by the mason, possibly "wife".

Stone 3

Here lieth the body of
Matthew Fitzhenry who
deceased August the 14th
1783 aged 70 years

Stones 4 and 5 together

Here lieth the body of John Fitzhenry
depd this life Dec 7th 1782
aged 60 years

Here lieth the body of
Elenor Fitzhenry alias
Furlong dep March 21st
1788 aged 63 years.

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Sunday 15 August 2010

Cantwell memorials: Clongeen, County Wexford (1)


Clongeen
is a bit of a way away from the previous graveyards. It's more south-east, just above Wellingtonbridge.

This is the first mention that we have of Fitzhenry family members who have emigrated.
Mary McGrath nee Fitzhenry of Coolboy (on the map) stayed at home, but at least two of her children went to the USA. As before, the spellings are as per Cantwell's transcriptions.
Erected by Thomas and James McGrath
in memory of their mother
Mary McGrath nee Fitzhenry of Coolboy
who died Jan 1889
aged 52 years
The above Thomas McGrath
Died in Millwalkey USA
29th July 1916 aged 38
also their sister Teresa McGrath
died 18th Jan 1944 aged 77 years
A bit of background research on the FamilySearch website of the LDS church shows that Mary Fitzhenry was married to one Thomas McGrath.
They had at least 7 children:

Bridget McGrath born around 1865 - she emigrated to America and was married to Joseph Smith.

Johana Teresa McGrath - born 10 June 1866 in Carrigbyrne, County Wexford (Baptism record). I believe this is the same person as the Teresa McGrath commemorated on the gravestone. This indicates that she did not marry.

Mary McGrath - born 16 September 1868 Carrigbyrne, County Wexford (baptism record)

Eleanor McGrath - born 28 June 1870 in Carrigbyrne, County Wexford (baptism record)

Anastasia McGrath - born 22 November 1870 in Carrigbyrne, County Wexford (baptism record)

Then a big gap to Thomas E. McGrath born about 1878. We know this both from this gravestone and from US census data.
In the Wisconsin State census of 1905, Thomas was living in Milwaukee aged 27, with his sister Bridget (aged 40), her husband Joseph Smith (also originally from Ireland) and their 5 children (all born in the US). Thomas was a carpenter on the railroads.
In the 1910 census, he was still living in Milwaukee, but had married Sarah the year before. They had no children at the time of the census. He gave his immigration year as 1892, 3 years after his mother died. We know that Thomas himself died in July 1916.

James McGrath, the seventh child, is our mystery man. He is on the gravestone as Mary's son but as yet I have confirmed sighting of him. In the 1901 census there is a James McGrath aged 25 (born 1876 which is the right time frame), a "Navvie Foreman" living with his wife Johanna and their 3 children. They live in Ballyannan, Clongeen, Wexford. This may be him.

So where was Mary's husband Thomas buried, given that he didn't get buried with her?

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Wednesday 4 August 2010

Enoch's mother-in-law...


Mrs Hodge wrote to me again after finding some more information regarding the political affiliation of the Hartt family:
Thank you for publishing the information of Enoch FitzHenry and Abigail (Hartt) FitzHenry & their family. I caught a mistake yesterday while adding more sources to the family record - ABIGAILS' mother, SUSANNA was the Tory or Royalist and "said to have given our troops much trouble."
"Our troops" being the American revolutionaries of which Enoch was a member ... it must have been interesting times in the Fitzhenry household during the American revolution!

Addition on 6 August 2010
Of course - the American War of Independence was fought between 1775-1783. Enoch and Abigail did not marry until 1787. Susannah must have mellowed towards her daughter's suitor by then.

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Tuesday 3 August 2010

The Fitzhenry families buried in the St Abban's graveyard


Yesterday we met Laurence and Johanna Fitzhenry, whose schoolmaster son Patrick married Margaret Hayes, the principle teacher at the local girls' school.

Patrick and Margaret had four children mentioned on their tombstone.
Three died young (James, Laurence and Bridget), but Mary Anne survived a childhood when she was made an orphan at an early age.
We know she was married to a man called Robert Shortall and had at least one son John Joseph.

Finding them in the 1901 and 1911 censuses was not easy, but I did find another daughter of Patrick and Margaret.

Mary Anne and Robert lived past the 1901 census, but I can't find a reliable entry for either of them. However, John Joseph was living with his aunt and her husband back in Knockroe where Patrick originated from. Even more mysteriously, there was an older Johanna Fitzhenry, a "sister" of the head of the household John Kelly.

1901 Residents of a house 6 in Knockroe (Whitemoor, Wexford)
All are Roman Catholic and all are born in County Wexford.
Kelly John 46 Male Head of Family Farmer
Read write Married
Kelly Johanna 40 Female Wife House Keeper
Read write Married
Fitzhenry Johanna 70 Female Sister House Keeper
Read write Not Married
Shortall John Joe 13 Male Nephew Scholar
Read write Not Married
Sullivan Martin 24 Male Farm Servant
Read write Not Married
Malone John 30 Male Farm Servant
Cannot read Not Married
I believe that Johanna Kelly is another daughter of Patrick and Margaret Fitzhenry, and the census gives a birthdate of around 1857, 2 years before Margaret died. Who raised Margaret's children. was it the elder Johanna Fitzhenry?
John Joseph Shortall is living with his mother's sister, but why? Mary Anne didn't die for another 4 years. Where were Mary Anne and Robert in the meantime?

The older Johanna's status as a "sister" to John Kelly is made clearer in the 1911 census when she is revealed as his aunt-in-law and therefore the sister of Johanna's mother.
The Kelly family are still living in Knockroe, but at number 13 this time. Whether they had actually moved, or there were now other houses built along the road in the meantime is unclear. John Joseph Shortall died in 1905 and so is absent from this census.

1911 Residents of a house 13 in Knockroe (Whitemore, Wexford)
Again all are Roman Catholics and born in County Wexford.
Kelly John 58 Male Head of Family Farmer
Read and write Married
Kelly Johanna 54 Female Wife
Read and write Married 13 years, no children
Fitzhenery Johanna 80 Female Aunt in Law
Read and write Single
Whitty Thomas 27 Male Servant Farm Servant
Read and write Single
The Johanna Fitzhenry is the one on the tombstone who died in December 1911. She was Laurence and Johanna's daughter and Patrick's sister. Again it shows that the family did not move far from Knockroe.

I also looked for Mary Fitzhenry (1818-1891) who married a Mr Wadden. I knew that she hadn't survived to the 1901 census, but it seems that either he hadn't survived to the 1901 census too, or had emigrated from Ireland. However, there were still Wadden/ Waden/Wadin families around the Knockroe area, so I expect that she hadn't travelled that far.

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Monday 2 August 2010

Cantwell memorials: St Abban's RC church, Adamstown, Wexford.

Adamstown is a bit further east than all the places mentioned in the Cantwell memorials so far, but Knockroe is between Rathgarogue and Palace, just north of the modern N30 road (Here's the updated map). Knockroe and Adamstown are about 7 miles apart using the most direct route.
St Abban's Church
has a website here.


In the previous posting about the Ballyanne poor school (Link to the school website), a Patrick Fitzhenry was one of the masters who married a Margaret Hayes, principle of the Rathagarogue Girls School.
Their dates of service at the schools fit in with the death dates given here, although from the school service records Patrick would have been born in 1821, but would have been born in 1818 from this gravestone. Margaret started her teaching career in Adamstown.
It is likely they are the same couple who are on the first gravestone, but it's not definite.

Their surviving daughter became a Shortall, which is not a surname that I've encountered before in this one-name study, so a big welcome to them!

From the dates, and the proximity of the graves, it seems that Patrick is the son of Laurence and Johanna Fitzhenry. However, the given age at death for Johanna of 44 years doesn't fit with the ages of either her husband or her three children named on her stone. Johanna must have been born before 1800 to have children with birth years of 1819 (Mary) between 1818 and 1821 (Patrick) 1824 (Nicholas) and 1827 (Johanna) and was at least 73 years old. So while I've put the text as Brian Cantwell gave it, this needs some more research.

FITZHENRY
Two head stones side by side, a)right and b)left

a)
Erected in loving memory
of
Patrick Fitzhenry Knockroe
who died 1st Nov 1866 aged 48 years
and his wife Margaret Fitzhenry
who died 14th Sept 1859 aged
38 years also three of their
children named respectively
James, Laurence and Bridget
who died young also their
daughter Mary Anne Shortall
Who died 9th May 1905 aged
49 years also their grandson
John Joseph Shortall who died
28th Dec 1910 aged 22 years
also Robert Shortall
beloved husband of
Mary Anne Shortall who died
9th March 1931 aged 87 years.
b)
In loving memory
of
Laurence Fitzhenry
Knockroe
who died 20th June 1869 aged 88 years
and his wife Johanna Fitzhenry
who died 13 June 1873 aged 44 years
and their son Nicholas Fitzhenry
who died 2nd Nov 1889 aged 65 years
also their daughter Mary Wadden nee Fitzhenry who died
25th Dec 1891 aged 72 years
and Johanna Fitzhenry who died
23rd Sept 1911 aged 84 years.
Tomorrow - more about this family in the Irish censuses
.

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Petition for the early release of the 1926 census of Ireland


This came to me today via the LostCousins newsletter:

Early release for 1926 Ireland census?

The Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations (CIGO) is organising a petition to secure the early release of the 1926 Census, the first taken after the Irish state was founded.

If you would like to support this petition - and I hope you will - please follow this link.


Get supporting!

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Sunday 1 August 2010

More about the Ballyanne and Templeudigan Fitzhenrys


Before I go onto the next Cantwell memorial for the Fitzhenry families in this area of County Wexford, here's a couple of follow-up pieces of information about the Ballyanne and Templeudigan Fitzhenrys.

Templeudigan
Wendy Rutter constructed the family trees from these gravestones and like me, had a random Catherine Fitzhenry that didn't really fit in.
She was the first Catherine Fitzhenry in the lower section of the gravestone text, and I have reprinted the text here:
Nicholas Fitzhenry who died
Nov 21st 1904 aged 31 years
also Nicholas Fitzhenry who died
Jan 24th 1909 aged 62 years
also Eliza Fitzhenry died Feb 19th 1935
aged 56 years also
Catherine Fitzhenry died
May 17th 1956 aged 89 years also Bernard
Fitzhenry died Dec 10th 1935 aged 66 yrs
also Catherine Fitzhenry who died 14th April 1944 aged 72 years.
What was wrong with it?
Firstly, if this was Catherine Doyle, the wife of Nicholas Fitzhenry Sr, (who was born somewhere between 1841 and 1847, died 24 Jan 1909, "aged 62") then this gravestone gives a birth year for her of 1867, and we know this was the year when the couple married.

The second thing is that the dates are out of order.
Eliza Fitzhenry died in February 1935
Bernard Fitzhenry died in December 1935
So why have Catherine's death (allegedly 21 years later) between the two?

So we have come to the conclusion that this is must be a transcription error, and
Catherine died in May 1935 aged 89, making her birth year 1846
and her age 21 years when she married Nicholas.
If anyone can checkout the stone in Templeudigan graveyard to prove this theory, then Wendy and I would be very grateful!

Constructing this tree showed that all of these people were in Family Group 10 and hence related to Jeremiah Fitzhenry, one of the leaders of the Irish Uprising of 1798.

Nicholas Fitzhenry (husband of Catherine Doyle) was the son of
Bryan Fitzhenry
, "Gentleman farmer of Gobbinstown" (1800-1862) who was the son of
Bryan Fitzhenry, (1766-1832) whose grave is in Ballybrennan churchyard and who is the son of
Nicholas Fitzhenry (1732-1793) of Gobbinstown and also buried at Ballybrennan
Nicholas was the brother of William "Billy" Fitzhenry (1728-1811), the father of Jeremiah.

And with a Templeudigan - Ballyanne link, Wendy found this website
http://www.teachnet.ie/jstacey/website/poorschool.htm
about the Ballyanne Poor School.

The main Fitzhenry mentions in this history are:
Bryan Fitzhenry (1800-1862, Nicholas' father) who leased parts of the land of Gobbinstown known as the Chapel-yard for the replacement school building to accommodate the increasing numbers of pupils.
From Griffiths' Valuations, the Parish of Ballyanne included the villages of Gobbinstown and Rathagarogue.
Bryan Fitzhenry owned a sizable proportion of the properties in Gobbinstown.
The link leads to a search page. Contemporary valuation maps of the area can be viewed by searching for Wexford County, Ballyanne parish.

One of the masters was Patrick Fitzhenry who lived in the master's house next to the church (rented from Father Rickyard) in Griffiths' valuations in 1853. He married Margaret Hayes of the Rathgarogue female school. He was master from 1843-56. He also taught in Newbawn, Carrigbyrn and Rathgarogue and retired in 1865.

The most famous teacher at this school was Michael Fitzhenry who took over from Patrick Fitzhenry (no relation) in January 1857. He came from Monamolin, County Wexford and married Mary Roche, the principle of the Girls' School, in 1858.
In May 1863, Michael was murdered by Joseph Kelly, a cousin of Mary's, and there is the story of the murder here.
Joseph Kelly was the last man to be publicly executed in Ireland for his crime.

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