Tracy Keenan Lloyd saw our postings about the marriages of Charles Dunfoy and Eliza Fitzhenry and Samuel Plummer and (another) Eliza Fitzhenry in Arklow. Both these marriages were notable for having a William Heath as a witness.
She wrote:
Greetings from Portland, Oregon in the US,
I am so happy to find your site, as just this morning in my research I learned of my connection to Sibella FitzHenry, who, in 1834, married William Heath, a doctor in Arklow. I am descended from William’s younger sister, Eliza Heath. Our line emigrated to the U.S. in 1886. I know you’re not charting the Heath name, but I am trying to find any descendants of this Heath family who may hold letters, journals, photos or documents to help me put “meat on the bones” of this interesting family. I have plenty of circumstantial information to share on the Heaths, if anyone is interested, and even some copies of photographs of some of William’s siblings.
I would be very interested if anyone in your family may have any surviving information. I am working to tell the story of this family and its descendants to be compiled into a book for future generations.
So if anyone wants to contact Tracy, leave a comment to this posting or send an email to the Blog.
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And here's the first Eliza Fitzhenry's father getting remarried in 1845 to her stepmother:
Registrar's District of Rathdrum
Marriage solemnised at Rathdrum Church in the Parish of Rathdrum, in the District of Glendalough
Fifteenth day of May 1845
Wm. Fitzhenry widower of full age, a shopkeeper
Residence Arklow
Father "not alive"
Mary Jenkinson spinster of full age, a shopkeeper
Residence Rathdrum
Father "not alive"
Married in the Parish Church according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the United Church of England and Ireland by license
Both parties signed
Witnesses: John Jenkinson and Wm. Manning
Once again, thanks to Bev Kronk for searching out these marriages and sharing them with us.
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When I saw this one, for a moment I thought we had another bigamous marriage, until I saw that this Eliza Fitzhenry had a different father... although the two marriages have the same witness in William Heath
Registrar's District of Rathdrum
Marriage solemnised at the Parish Church in the Parish of Arklow, in the County of Wicklow
May 3rd 1859
Charles Dunfoy bachelor aged 26, a school master
Residence Bray
Father William Dunfoy a farmer
Eliza Fitzhenry spinster aged 18,
Residence Arklow
Father Robert Fitzhenry a farmer
Married in the Parish Church according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the United Church of England and Ireland by license
Both parties signed
Witnesses: Wm. Heath and W. J Dillon
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The second of Bev's Irish marriages, also from Waterford.
1867
Registrar's District of Waterford
Marriage solemnised at Cathedral, in the Parish of Trinity, in the City of Waterford
July 27th 1867
William Henry Taylor, bachelor of full age, a seaman
Residence Queen Street
Father George Taylor, an Inspector of Works
Mary Fitzhenry, spinster of full age
Residence Stephen Street
Father Thomas Fitzhenry, a slater
Married in the Cathedral according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the United Church of England and Ireland by license
Both parties signed
Witnesses: Ellen Fitzhenry and George Hamilton.
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We've moved up the East coast for this one:
Marriage solemnised at the Parish Church in the Parish of Arklow, in the County of Wicklow
February 29th 1860
Samuel Plummer bachelor of full age, a shopkeeper
Residence (Looks like Limerick)
Father Wm. W. Plummer a farmer
Eliza Fitzhenry spinster of full age
Residence Arklow
Father Wm. Fitzhenry a shopkeeper
Married in the Parish Church according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the United Church of England and Ireland by license
Both parties signed
Witnesses: Wm. Heath and John Plummer
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Wendy Rutter sent us a newspaper cutting from the "The Mercury" (Hobart, Tasmania) from Tuesday 8th April 1913. We're not sure whether it was a slow news day to have to fill the paper with a story about a man encountering a snake.... in South Africa ... you can come to your own conclusions!
The Sidney Fitzhenry mentioned in the story is very likely to be Sidney Cawood Fitzhenry, son of John Arthur and Kate Fitzhenry and brother of Daisy Aletta Fitzhenry, the WW1 nurse.
Anyway, here is the whole article on the anniversary of its publication.
SOUTH AFRICAN NOTES
(From Our Exchanges)
Mr. Sidney Fitzhenry had rather a strange experience with a snake one day lately, records the Jansenville paper. He was driving with a cart and a pair of horses to the graals, when he saw a big cobra crossing the road. He pulled up the horses, jumped out and attacked it with stones, whereat the snake turned on him. He got quickly out of the way, and the snake quietly went and coiled up under the horses, with its head up “ready to strike”. He was afraid to move the horses, fearing that the snake might attack them, when, to his surprise and consternation, the snake quietly climbed up into the cart and started to make itself comfortable on the seat. Now, whether the snake picked up the reins to drive, or just what did happen, is not quite clear, but it is a fact that the horses started off with only the cobra as driver. Mr. Fitzhenry ran to their heads, and, after bringing them to a standstill, spanned out, keeping one eye on his passenger all the time. After the horses had been secured, he attacked the snake again, and managed to kill it. – This story is vouched for as being absolutely true.
Perhaps someone who speaks Afrikaans can translate "graals" for us. The best meaning I have come across so far is corral or animal enclosure.
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The wonderful Bev Kronk has sent me details of four more Irish marriages.
(That's one a night for the next four nights, you lucky people. Except for tomorrow night, when we bring you a South African news story on the anniversary of its publication in 1913.)
1867
Registrar's District of Waterford
Marriage solemnised at the Wesleyan Chapel in the Parish of Trinity Within, in the City of Waterford
September 18th 1867
Samuel Foster bachelor of full age, a farmer
Residence Tonduff, Parish of Abbeyleix, Queens County
Father William Foster (deceased) a farmer
Elizabeth Fitzhenry spinster of full age
Residence The Mall, Parish of Trinity Cathedral, Waterford
Father Samuel Fitzhenry (deceased) a "valuator"
Married in the above Registered Building according to the Usages of the Wesleyan Methodist Church by license
Both parties signed
Witnesses: Richard Boate and Frances Jane Fitzhenry
(Abbeyleix is about 65 miles north of the city of Waterford and can be found on Googlemaps.)
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This tale comes with permission from Mr Richard van Pelt who runs the Van Pelt Heritage website. This traces the Van Pelt name worldwide, and the Fitzhenry and Van Pelt names coincide in Arkansas.
Joseph Miles Fitzhenry was born in Kentucky in 1825. His father, Edward Fitzhenry, was born in Ireland and his mother was Julia Ann Jarboe whose family from France were some of the first settlers of the Maryland Colony.
In 1848 he married a cousin Rose Ann Jarboe and they had a total of 10 children. Their daughter Minnie Corinth Fitzhenry was born in April of 1862 when Capt. Fitzhenry was at the Battle of Shiloh near Corinth, Mississippi. A family story says that during the battle his horse was shot out from under him and his saber slashed his leg.
As Kentucky was already occupied by Union troops and his house and property were confiscated, Capt. Fitzhenry resigned his commission and returned to Kentucky to rescue his wife and child. He was captured and taken to Fort Delaware. After a prisoner exchange in April of 1863, he was able to return to Kentucky and later moved his family to Arkansas
In Morrilton, Arkansas, he built the Catholic Convent, some business houses, and many of the finest residences. He was the owner and proprietor of the Fitzhenry House Hotel. His daughter Minnie Corinth was 19 years old when she married James Alexander Van Pelt, a hardware store owner, tin smith, and inventor. A year later (1882), Herbert Newton Van Pelt was born. Sadly, Minnie Corinth died at only 23, leaving 3 year old Herbert to be raised by the Fitzhenrys.
The picture of the Fitzhenry House hotel is reproduced with Mr Van Pelt's permission, and a larger version of the picture is on his website.
The picture of the Fitzhenry House Hotel & Boarding House was taken about 1886. In the center of the porch is young Herbert Newton Van Pelt standing between his grandparents, Capt. Joseph Miles Fitzhenry and Rose Ann (Jarboe) Fitzhenry. The building was torn down sometime after Capt. Fitzhenry died in 1907. Herbert moved to the fine home of his uncle, Dan Fones, in Little Rock, Arkansas.
If you have any further information about the Van Pelts anywhere in the world, please email Mr Richard Van Pelt
If you have any more information about Captain Fitzhenry or the Jarboe family, please contact us!
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When Dave Paddington from Australia asked us about his forebears William Fitzhenry and Mary Cronin, I thought that we had found a link between the Australian and Welsh branches of this family.
No such luck. It looks like we have two William Fitzhenry - Mary Cronin couples!
Not only has Dave added some colour to this family history, but he's also sent some wonderful old photos.
This is the one of William in his Sunday best, but there are also photos of Mary Cronin, and their daughters Alice and Emily. I'm putting these on the new website.
Dave writes
William Fitzhenry came out to Australia on his own and headed for the goldfields in Victoria. His first known address was Woods Point where Princess Alexandra Mining Company were mining. He had shares in the company and from his photo attached you can see he didn't look like the type to get his hands dirty. He then moved to Melbourne where he met Mary Cronin. They owned several hotels in the South Yarra / St Kilda area of Melbourne.
They had 5 Children:
Ellen Mary Fitzhenry ( My Great Grandmother )
William Edward Fitzhenry
Alice Maud Fitzhenry
John Thomas Fitzhenry
Catherine Fitzhenry
I have a whole lot of other information and newspaper articles featuring William if you want to add extra to your blog. Stuff like him being charged with assault over a card game; fined for selling liquor on a Sunday etc....
and we said "yes please!" so hopefully we will hear more about William's exploits.
Dave would like to hear from anybody related to William and Mary and can be contacted be sending a message to the Blog which we will forward.
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Dear All
We're back on line again.
Over 3300 individuals for you to peruse - but no-one born after 1910. I thought it better to keep the privacy levels high until I'd got the hang of this.
Do you think that we should have a cut-off date of 1930, a bit like the publicly available US census returns, with the "living" flag enabled for anyone without a definitive death date?
Leave a comment below and let me know what you think.
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Yes, the fourth result is in, and he's not a match to any of the previous three testees.
So with two of the previously tested men being genetically from the same family and two having different patterns, it's starting to look like there are distinct "fingerprints" for the different branches.
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