May the road rise up to meet you...
Happy St. Patrick's Day
My Irish GG Grandparents:
Bridget (O'Connor) and Patrick Fitzmaurice
Formerly of Dromartin, Ballyduff, Co. Kerry
Patrick Fitzmaurice left Ballyduff, County Kerry, Ireland with his sister, Bessie (and a few other unidentified Fitzmaurice's.) They took the sailing ship Hemisphere from Liverpool, England to America. It arrived in New York 11 Nov 1853 - An newspaper article announcing the ship's arrival states, "From Oct. 10 to 23, experienced heavy gales." Patrick settled in West Florence, Preble County, Ohio with his sister. He went into the Shoemaking business with his brother John who had come to Ohio a few years previous.
Bridget and her brother, William Bartholomew III, left Queenstown on the steamship Glascoe. It arrived in New York 26 May 1860. They joined their father, Bartholomew, in Preble County, Ohio. Bridget married Patrick Fitzmaurice in 1861, and William married Patrick's sister, Bessie, in 1863.
The Fitzmaurice's trace their ancestry back to Maurice the Invader (spearhead of the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1171) through the Duagh line of Kerry Fitzmaurice's, descendants of the 5th Lord of Kerry.
My photo album of my 2002 trip to Ireland (including Ballyduff and the *incredible* Ratoo Tower) is here.