Thomas Fitzgerald : Short Biography

The ancestral home of JFK is generally accepted to be Dunganstown, Co. Wexford as this is the homeplace of his paternal ancestors. He even visited there on his 1963 tour of Ireland.  But what of JFK's maternal connections to Ireland?

Thomas Fitzgerald was born in Bruff, Co. Limerick in 1823. He married Rose Anna Cox (1836-1879), a Cavan woman with whom he emigrated to Boston MA. While in Boston the couple had 12 children, 9 of whom lived to adulthood. 

• Michael (1858-1860)

• James (1860-1950)

• Thomas J. (1861-1893)

• John Francis (1863-1950)

• Michael J. (1864-1925)

• William S. (1865-1899)

• Edward C. (1867-1940)

• Joseph A. (1868-1920)

• Ellen Rosanna (1870-1870)

• George F. (1871-1914)

• Henry S. (1875-1955)

• Mary Ellen (1879-1879)

The couple's fourth child, John Francis Fitzgerald (1863-1950) would go on to marry Mary Josephine Hannon, who would give birth to Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald on the 22nd of July 1890. Rose Elizabeth would become JFK's mother. 

Thomas Fitzgerald died on the 19th of May 1885 in Boston Massachusetts, USA.