FITZGIBBON (Crusheen/Sranagalloon) to LOBURN, New Zealand

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shanndiego
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FITZGIBBON (Crusheen/Sranagalloon) to LOBURN, New Zealand

Post by shanndiego » Thu Jan 18, 2018 4:43 pm

Hello Everyone,

Thanks for letting me join this forum and use the wonderful Clare Library resources.

My name is Shannon, and I am a New Zealand MATERNAL ancestor of the FITZGIBBON family from the Crusheen/Sranagallon area of Co Clare. This I am fairly certain of. My mother had a paternal FITZGIBBON line and her maternal was CLINTON from WESTMEATH. My DNA report lit up the 80 miles around Galway City in each direction.
I have looked at the census, GV data and most everything I can and now I feel I require first-hand information from Clare.

My oldest ancestor who was born in Clare and died in New Zealand was MARTIN FITZGIBBON Snr 1815-1890
and he was married to CATHERINE O'BRIEN 1821-1909. Both were born in Crusheen/Sranagalloon/Tubber, and died in Loburn, NZ on their farm.

These two are my 3x great-grandparents. I am trying to map Martin Snr's family, parents, siblings and the wider FITZGIBBON group. I see a THOMAS and a JOHN who could be his father,and some people who may have been siblings but cannot be sure. I am also unsure of his siblings and the relatives who stayed behind in Clare. Any information on the O'BRIEN link would help also

Their children, were MICHAEL 1841-1915, MARTIN JNR 1844-1927 (my ancestor and 2 x great grandad), JOHN 1846-1919 (went on NYC, with Sarah Kehoe, but she died, so he joined the NZ family with US born son) & BRIDGET 1857-1929

All were born in the Crusheen area, and died in Loburn, NZ.

-MICHAEL (eldest son)traveled to NZ in 1863. His obit: http://bit.ly/2qpVn8L
-Martin JNR (my relative) in 1865. His obit: http://bit.ly/2loUV5I (with an unknown CATHERINE FITZGIBBON, aged 20 with him)
-With the elder MARTIN snr, CATHERINE & BRIDGET coming in 1878 when they were older (15 years later, I guess after their passage could be paid for by the 2 brothers)

MARTIN Jnr married a JOHANNAH SLATTERY from Mitchelstown, Co Cork in NZ. obit here: http://bit.ly/2kWGQfS
They had 9 children.

They were active in the community, developing roads and school boards and improved the community greatly. At Michael's funeral, there were 100 cars in procession in the rural area. He was much loved and an accomplished individual, known to be both physically strong and intelligent (the local police wanted him to work for them, but was known to be gentle and caring and more interested in charity and community work). He died after falling from his horse in his 70's. Their families spread to Taranaki (good farmland in North Island) and to Christchurch (city with now, over 350, 000 people), just south of Loburn.

I am reading and looking, but until I get to Clare later this year I have hit a wall. An old post online mentioned that they were from Tubber, near the border and have occupied the Tubber Road for 150 years and were baptized in Crusheen Catholic Church. So, the road from Crusheen, through Sranagalloon to Tubber is my focus and I have become quite familiar with it.

Any local knowledge would be savoured! Thanks to you all. Hope to meet you all later this year. Please reply here and we can exchange emails.

My Ancestry.com profile is shannona17
LINK here: http://ancstry.me/2mVFUt1

Public family tree: ASTON Family Tree (my Mother was a FITZGIBBON, so it goes down the maternal line)

From MARTIN Snr into Ireland, my results are not accurate or proven to be true, so any notes would be appreciated.


Best

Shannon
Last edited by shanndiego on Sat Jan 20, 2018 8:43 pm, edited 5 times in total.

Paddy Casey
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Re: FITZGIBBON (Crusheen/Sranagalloon) to LOBURN, New Zealan

Post by Paddy Casey » Fri Jan 19, 2018 12:38 pm

My paternal family is from the Tubber/Crusheen/Ruan triangle area so I've done quite a bit of research on the families around there. I have not researched the Fitzgibbons directly but in the course of transcribing church records and gravestones I have come across numerous Fitzgibbons (see www.clarelibrary.ie for the transcriptions).

Numerous members of the Fitzgibbon family of Shranagalloon have died in recent years (fire up Google and enter "site:.clare.fm/obituaries fitzgibbon"as the search argument) but Fitzgibbons still live in that townland.

Fitzgibbons were buried in the Temple na deirca graveyard (also known locally as the Blakemount graveyard) but at least two more have been buried there since I transcribed the gravestones.

I live several hundred miles away from Clare so cannot help with local enquiries BUT - this will have you sitting on the edge of your seat (drum roll, blast of trumpets) - I learned today that a relative of mine who lives very near Shranagalloon and who is a member of this forum and an active member of the Clare Roots Society printed out a copy of your forum posting and, yesterday on the way to work, dropped it into the letter box of one of the Fitzgibbon families there. So watch this space, so to speak. You may well be on a roll.

By the way, note the variant spelling of the townland name. It may be listed in databases etc as sranagalloon or shranagalloon or sranagaloon so do try these variants when searching.

That's all for the moment.

Paddy

deirdre carroll
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Re: FITZGIBBON (Crusheen/Sranagalloon) to LOBURN, New Zealan

Post by deirdre carroll » Fri Jan 19, 2018 1:31 pm

Hello Shannon,

My grandmother Bridget O'Connor lived in Crusheen as a young woman. She spoke to me often about her youth and her boyfriend "Mugser" Fitzgibbon. She was born in 1884, dying in Dublin in 1969. Mugser's real name was likely Patrick but I will check some notes later. At any rate he emigrated to Holyoke , USA, and sent her back the tickets but her family would not let her go. Her consolation, according to herself, is that he married her first cousin also a Bridget O'Connor and they had a family. There are Fitzgibbons there to this day. His brother also lived there as did my great Uncle Michael Manning (Manion/Mangan) also from Crusheen. There were a large number of Fitzgibbons in Crusheen, some related as half siblings as maternal deaths were common. For the moment, it is perhaps best to write to the family there at present and see how things evolve. I am happy to help further as time goes on. Small world!

Deirdre Carroll

shanndiego
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Re: FITZGIBBON (Crusheen/Sranagalloon) to LOBURN, New Zealan

Post by shanndiego » Fri Jan 19, 2018 3:52 pm

Wow,

Thanks, Paddy, what a wonderful surprise to wake up to on a Friday morning.

I did think that was the graveyard and could see by the local geography that perhaps many would have left for the bright lights of the city over time. I did see a few inscriptions from Blakemount on the Clare Library site the other day also.

Dropping the letter in the mailbox is so surreal. Who knows what we may find. My undergraduate and graduate studies were in history and sociology, so when I came up against a dead end in the records, I knew some 'real life history' was needed! So my call to the 'Bards' was made. I am so grateful to you both of for doing this.

The google obit link is very useful, I didn't know about that.

Thank you so much for taking the time to write your reply.

Talk soon

Shannon
Last edited by shanndiego on Fri Jan 19, 2018 4:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

shanndiego
Posts: 14
Joined: Thu Jan 18, 2018 12:29 am
Location: NZ born, live in San Diego, CA

Re: FITZGIBBON (Crusheen/Sranagalloon) to LOBURN, New Zealan

Post by shanndiego » Fri Jan 19, 2018 4:00 pm

Hi Deidre,

Thanks for your reply. Poor Bridget, what might have been with 'Mugser' in the USA! Her sliding doors moment. Which state in the USA is Holyoke? Is it MA? as I know my other mother's Irish side, the Clinton's from Westmeath went there as well as well as NZ.

The wheels are in motion and Paddy has got a letter in a mailbox.

I did notice the half-sibling thing here too, death in childbirth/influenza and the like also with mothers passing on.

If you use Ancestry.com, my tree is there with a pretty good history of the Fitzgibbon's in NZ which I am building up. PM me if it interests you.

Best and speak soon.

Shannon
Last edited by shanndiego on Fri Jan 19, 2018 9:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Paddy Casey
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Re: FITZGIBBON (Crusheen/Sranagalloon) to LOBURN, New Zealan

Post by Paddy Casey » Fri Jan 19, 2018 4:37 pm

shanndiego wrote:Dropping the letter in the mailbox is so surreal.
Hi Shannon,

I was wrong about that printout being dropped in the mailbox. I should have washed my ears out. The truth is even better. It was handed personally to one of the Shranagalloon Fitzgibbons so the chain of communication is complete, i.e. the Fitzgibbons know who delivered the printout so if they are not sure how to reply to your forum contact they can contact her for guidance.

Paddy

shanndiego
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Re: FITZGIBBON (Crusheen/Sranagalloon) to LOBURN, New Zealan

Post by shanndiego » Fri Jan 19, 2018 4:46 pm

Paddy,

Amazing. I just PM'ed you my email and my Ancestry.com account name for my public tree if anybody wants to get on and have a look at what I have. What a day!

Best

Shannon

Paddy Casey
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Re: FITZGIBBON (Crusheen/Sranagalloon) to LOBURN, New Zealan

Post by Paddy Casey » Fri Jan 19, 2018 5:36 pm

shanndiego wrote:...my email and my Ancestry.com account name for my public tree if anybody wants to get on and have a look at what I have
Shannon,

Can you post that Ancestry.com account name here so that the forum members can take a look at it ?

Paddy

shanndiego
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Re: FITZGIBBON (Crusheen/Sranagalloon) to LOBURN, New Zealan

Post by shanndiego » Fri Jan 19, 2018 5:40 pm

Sure,

My Ancestry.com profile is shannona17
LINK here: http://ancstry.me/2mVFUt1

Public family tree: ASTON Family Tree (my Mother was a FITZGIBBON, so it goes down the maternal line)

From MARTIN Snr into Ireland, my results are not accurate or proven to be true, so any notes would be appreciated.

Thanks

Shannon

Polycarp
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Re: FITZGIBBON (Crusheen/Sranagalloon) to LOBURN, New Zealan

Post by Polycarp » Fri Jan 19, 2018 7:23 pm

Hi Shannon

There is an estate rental in the county library in Ennis covering the years 1819 - 1822, as part of the O'Loghlen Papers. This rental includes Shranagalloon.

Thomas Fitzgibbon is entered for the period 4 April 1820 up to 4th February 1822.

It seems during this period he paid a grand total of £36 14s 11d for his Gale Day rents.

Polycarp

shanndiego
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Re: FITZGIBBON (Crusheen/Sranagalloon) to LOBURN, New Zealan

Post by shanndiego » Fri Jan 19, 2018 7:39 pm

Thanks Polycarp,

Yeah, I had a Thomas Fitzgibbon on my radar too, who was married to a Mary Mooney, he turns up a lot on records around that 1820's period, but then I found a Crusheen historians tree by James Kennedy, and he had a John Fitzgibbon (unauthenticated) listed as Martin Snr's father, but I do see Thomas in the records here and there, so thanks a lot.

I suspect Thomas could be the father, or John, as the local historian indicated. There were 10 families up there in 1855, so the actual connections might take time to unravel.

Best

Shannon

deirdre carroll
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Re: FITZGIBBON (Crusheen/Sranagalloon) to LOBURN, New Zealan

Post by deirdre carroll » Fri Jan 19, 2018 9:40 pm

Hi Shannon again,

Yes Holyoke is in MA. You will find the Fitzgibbons there in the various Census records available on Ancestry. No doubt you have looked at the Irish records available on the Clare Library site - Griffith' Valuation and the tithes. Also you will find a lot in the BDM records for Crusheen recently transcribed on this site. My O'Connors and Mangans from Drumumna townland are there too along with O'Briens in the general area. I think that the O'Connors were sponsors for some O'Briens. By the way my grandmother was called Delia during her lifetime. There is much to learn on this family history journey!

Deirdre C.

Paddy Casey
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Re: FITZGIBBON (Crusheen/Sranagalloon) to LOBURN, New Zealan

Post by Paddy Casey » Sat Jan 20, 2018 9:01 am

To muddy the waters a little, in Thomas Coffey's book The Parish of Inchicronan (chapter 20, p. 104) it says "The Fitzgibbons and Ashes were close neighbours, and this union produced one son whom they named Maurice Fitzgerald, dropping the name Fitzgibbon there and thereafter. Maurice married...". See attached PDF.

Paddy
Attachments
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shanndiego
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Re: FITZGIBBON (Crusheen/Sranagalloon) to LOBURN, New Zealan

Post by shanndiego » Sat Jan 20, 2018 3:54 pm

Paddy Casey wrote:To muddy the waters a little, in Thomas Coffey's book The Parish of Inchicronan (chapter 20, p. 104) it says "The Fitzgibbons and Ashes were close neighbours, and this union produced one son whom they named Maurice Fitzgerald, dropping the name Fitzgibbon there and thereafter. Maurice married...". See attached PDF.

Paddy
Yes, in John Kennedy's Crusheen family tree I saw this (attached) and not long before the time of Martin Snrs father (John or Thomas?). I also saw in other land records a Fitzgerald becoming a Fitzgibbon, as perhaps his first name was Gibbon and he was moving to another area or landed estate. The Fitzmaurice shows up too Fitzgibbons are rarer in Co Clare, as opposed to Co Limerick. So, it's fair to say there is a branch of Inchicronan Fitzgeralds which are directly related to the Fitzgibbons of the area?

Thanks Paddy

Shannon
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FITZGIBBON-GERALD.jpg
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shanndiego
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Re: FITZGIBBON (Crusheen/Sranagalloon) to LOBURN, New Zealan

Post by shanndiego » Fri Feb 09, 2018 4:34 pm

Paddy Casey wrote:To muddy the waters a little, in Thomas Coffey's book The Parish of Inchicronan (chapter 20, p. 104) it says "The Fitzgibbons and Ashes were close neighbours, and this union produced one son whom they named Maurice Fitzgerald, dropping the name Fitzgibbon there and thereafter. Maurice married...". See attached PDF.

Paddy
Paddy,

I just got a copy of this book last week and it was so interesting. Is Thomas Coffey still around? It was written '93 by memory. I notice there were no Fitzgibbon's in the Sranagalloon Tithe Applotment books, yet there were 10 families in the GV (the highest number in Clare) so I wonder where the family was before this time. Somewhere else in Clare most likely.

My reading on the Fitzgibbon/Clanngibbon/White Knight group has shed some light on how they got over to Clare from Cork originally in many varied ways. But, as you said the changing from Fitzgibbon to Fitzgerald makes it so tricky to figure which branch they come from and it happened in another case in Kerry, where a Coolcam Fitzgibbon became a Fitzgerald.

Interesting stuff. Also, still no word from the Fitzgibbons in Tubber.

Shannon
Last edited by shanndiego on Sat Feb 10, 2018 12:36 am, edited 1 time in total.

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