Fitzpatricks in Australia
Timothy Mullin Fitzpatrick was the son of George Fitzpatrick (1814-1902) and Honora Quain - also known as Norah Quaine - (1815-1884). He was born in Galbally, Limerick and migrated to Australia with other members of the Fitzpatrick family, Patrick and Katherine and Honora. It is unknown what their relationship to Timothy was.
Timothy married Catherine Brown in Crystal Brook, South Australia and settled in Port Germain. Catherine Brown, born in Kapunda, SA was the daughter of Alfred Brown and Mary Sherlock. Mary Sherlock arrived in Adelaide in 1848. It is unknown where Alfred was born or if indeed that was his original name. He could well have been German.
Timothy and Catherine had many children, including Vivian's father Ernest Alfred Fitzpatrick (1884-1967), born in Port Germain, SA. His siblings were:
- Francis William Fitzpatrick, 1877-1877 (b Crystal Brook, SA)
- George Joseph Fitzpatrick, 1878-1966 (b Crystal Brook, SA, died Fielding, NZ)
- John Quaine Fitzpatrick, 1880-1960 (b SA, died Gosford, NSW)
- Frederick William Fitzpatrick, 1882-? (b Port Germain, died NSW)
- Gordon Adams Fitzpatrick, 1886-1962 (b Port Germain, died Sydney, NSW
- Lilian Mae Fitzpatrick, 1888-1980 (b Port Germain, SA, d Blacktown, NSW
- Timothy Patrick Fitzpatrick, 1892-? (b Mudgee, NSW)
- Phyllis Fitzpatrick, 1894-?, b Cootamundra, NSW
By 1894, the Fitzpatricks were settled in Cootamundra in south west NSW and this is where they grew up. Ernest Alfred Fitzpatrick met Ellen Sarah Bruce of Temora when he was tranferred there as a postal worker about 1903. They married at St James, Temora in 1905. There was an item in the local paper.
Ernest and Ellen had five children, including my mother Vivien Fitzpatrick. Her siblings were Bruce, Gladys (Pip), Richard (Dick) and William (Bill).
Fitzpatricks in Ireland
Corofin, County Clare
My Uncle Bruce (FITZPATRICK), in his memoires, tells of the Priest who married him (Bruce) and Beryl (ROSS), enquiring as to where in Ireland his ancestors came from. Uncle Bruce recalled Timothy Mullin talking of “Cawrafin” (actually spelt either Corofin or Corrofin) and the Priest recalled leaving his boots at a George FITZPATRICK’s house on his way to Mass in that town. This may well be “our” George FITZPATRICK as he did indeed live in Corofin, County Clare.
The FITZPATRICKS seemed to have lived for some time in the Corofin area. The local Church of Ireland, St Catherines, (now the History Museum) has a burial plot in which several FITZPATRICKS (William d1904, Rachel – William’s widow d1934, George – William and Rachel’s son, George d1962 and his wife, Maud d1982 as well as their daughter Ethel d1997 – known as Ciss) are interred in the plot.
Church records note memorials to a FITZPATRICK family (or two families – it would be strange if they were unrelated as they are Church of Ireland and only 5% of the population was protestant at that time) living in the area since the early 1800s.
From his death certificate and his Constabulary Service Record we know our George was born in 1814 (give or take a year), so was he a son of the Patrick and Catherine, or Tim or Thady?
For George to be Patrick and Cathrine’s son, would mean Catherine was 50 or so when George was born – not very likely.
Tim FITZPATRICK, Thady’s father, would have been 68 when our George was born – not impossible, but unlikely.
Thady FITZPATRICK could be George’s father – having a son aged 20 in 1863 would mean Thady was born somewhere between 1793 and 1823 (assuming becoming a father between the ages of 20 and 50) and so in 1814, when George was born, the oldest he could have been is 21 years old.
The William FITZPATRICK on the headstone above is almost certainly a son of our George and therefore Timothy Mullin FITZPATRICK’s brother (see below).
A Frank FITZPATRICK still lives in Corofin (July 2008)and he is a son of George d1962 and his wife Maude, and therefore a grandson of the above William d1904). Frank’s brother William (Willy) died some time ago but his widow still lives on a farm out of Corofin.
According to Timothy Mullin FITZPATRICK’s death certificate his father, George, had been a Police Superintendent in the Royal Irish Constabulary, which was probably not true, as we shall see.
A search of the Officers’ records (in the Archives Office at Kew, London) revealed no George Fitzpatrick – but a search of the non-officers’ records revealed the following.
The Royal Irish Constabulary records have George FITZPATRICK joining that organisation at the age of 22 on 26 December 1836. Their records state that his “native county” was Clare, that his religion was Church of Ireland, that he was 5’ 8½” tall, and that his trade was “laborer”. George was “allocated” to work in County Limerick. He was married on 26 May 1847 and his wife came from County Limerick. The records also tell us that George was promoted or demoted to Constable on 1 October 1847, and finally that he was “dismissed” in 1849 for some unstated misdemeanour.
Galbally, County Limerick
It would seem that George met his wife Norah in Galbally, County Limerick.
Church records reveal a marriage between a George FITZPATRICK and a Honora QUANE on 31 July 1840 in the parish/district of Galbally/Aherlow of County Limerick. Both bride and groom are said to be Roman Catholic. Unfortunately no first names are given for either the bride’s or groom’s parents. The witnesses were John Quane and Margaret Quane.
Note the discrepancy between the dates of marriage. Either we have the wrong George the copper, or the wrong George marrying Honora. However, the age of the copper George is right, as is his home County. And no other George FITZPATRICK in the Constabulary fits.
Three sons were born to George and Honora in Galbally: William (baptism/birth 1 April 1841), John (baptism/birth 27 March 1844), and Timothy (baptism/birth 20 October 1850).
And a birth/baptism for John QUANE on 20 June 1789 gives his parents as Martin QUANE and Bridget RYAN.
All the QUANEs and QUAINs are Roman Catholic.
So, are the two George FITZPATRICKs the one and the same? They both seem to fit (except for the date of marriage). The name MULLINS in Honora’s ancestry points directly to our Timothy Mullin FITZPATRICK.
There is a sole surviving Quane living there still (as at July 2008). Unfortunately, that person was not able to assist with any information as she has severe dementia and is cared for by the local priest.
The Quane farm, now abandoned, is derelict – see photo.
If the two George FITZPATRICKs are one and the same, he lived in both County Limerick and County Clare and had several children, including Timothy Mullin FITZPATRICK, my great- grandfather.
This is Galbally town square. The square features a large monument to those who fought the English with a view to self rule.
The square was used as a market in years past.
The owner of this coffee shop in Galbally told of being contracted to provide the remaining Miss Quane with her meals. She told us how she would get a call from Miss Quane demanding to know where her dinner was – and when she arrived with it a few minutes later, would be challenged with “Who are you? Who told you to bring me food? All very sad.
The Quane farm now looks like this. No one lives there and apparently no one has for some time.
The old Catholic church in Galbally is now derelict.
This is where George and Honora were married.
There is a headstone in the old church yard for some Quanes, but the names (David, Robert Landers, David Landers, Elle) do not tally with any in our family.
George and Honora
At some stage after being dismissed from the police, George and Norah moved to Corofin, County Clare.
Honora, George's wife, died in Corofin in 1884 aged 67 of abdominal malignant disease and is shown as “Wife of Sexton Clerk of Protestant Church”. Here is her death certificate.
According to the census of 1901, (when he was 87) George was living in Corofin, County Clare, could read and write, was Church of Ireland, and was a widower.
George Fitzpatrick died in Corofin on 6th October 1902 aged 89.
What we now know is that he died in the Workhouse (bits of it still survive) and that, at the time of his death, he was the Sexton of St Catherines Church (of Ireland). Sextons were sort of handymen responsible for maintenance and sometimes grave digging.
Here is his death certificate.
Here is what's left of the Workhouse Administration Building where George would have been inducted into the Workhouse.
We could find no trace of a grave for George or his wife Honora, either in the St Catherine's graveyard or in the Workhouse graveyard.
St Catherines is now the Corofin History Museum.
The headstone seen by Robert (Fitzpatrick) (right) on an earlier visit is that of a William Fitzpatrick who was almost certainly a brother of Timothy, our great grandfather.
This is Corofin’s main street – Bridge Steet.
A descendant of William, Frank FITZPATRICK, still lives in Corofin. He is in his 80s. But unfortunately, when we were there, Frank was “in Ennis seeing his lady friend”. I wrote to Frank but got no reply.
And on the right is Margaret at Frank FITZPATRICK’s front door (on Bridge St).
And this is the bridge (which gives the street its name) over the River Fergus which runs through Corofin then Ennis and eventually into the Shannon.
As an aside, there were other George FITZPATRICKs.
In Killaloe, in 1846 a George FITZPATRICK was "Governor" of the "Gaol and Court House". The Griffiths Evaluation of 1855 has a George FITZPATRICK living in Killaloe (Limerick), and in 1893 a George FITZPATRICK is listed in a residents' directory as a "Clerk of Petty Sessions" and as an "Insurance Agent" in the same year.
But it is most unlikely that this (or any of these) is our George, who was back in Corofin by 1884, when Honora died. As always, though, further research may reveal the truth on this topic.
The famine hit the west coast of Ireland particularly severely as this extract explains:
“During the famine years the town of Killaloe lost 191 people. Between 1841 and 1851 the number of inhabited houses in the parish dropped from 1,253 to 920. In Killaloe 50 houses were listed as unoccupied in 1851, the number of mud cabins fell from 38 in 1841 to 4. By 1861 the parish had lost a total of 441 families.”
Information from http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/places/killaloe_history.htm