I am wondering if any of the Fitzpatricks from around Hilltown have any connection to Thomas Fitzpatrick who tenanted a small holding in Ballyholland Lower in 1864. He had sons Thomas (b. 1828) and Patrick (b. 1833) baptised in Clonallon RC church, and possibly older sons James, Michael and William. His wife was Rose Garvey.
Son Thomas emigrated to Victoria, Australia in the early 1850s and Ballyolan, Co Down is listed as his birthplace on one child's birth certificate. Other certificates say Newry or Co Down as birth place.
A recent visit to Bagenal Castle archives & the graveyard at Burren St Mary's did not provide me with any other solid information about Thomas and Rose's close relatives. Can anybody assist, please.
Ric from Australia
Ric46
Sunday 24th Mar 2019, 10:59PMMessage Board Replies
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Ric,
Traditionally the principal way of tracing families prior to statutory registration is church records. You say that your Ballyholland Fitzpatrick family used Clonallon church. The records for that church start in 1826. Hilltown is in Clonduff parish. Their records start in 1850. So it’s going to be difficult to connect families in Ballyholland and Hilltown prior to those dates.
Unless someone knows of a connection or you get a DNA match, I can’t think of an easy way of finding family links. As a general comment Fitzpatrick is a very common surname in Ireland – there are over 10,000 in the 1901 census - with 749 in Co. Down. They aren’t all going to be related.
Elwyn, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘
Monday 25th Mar 2019, 04:36PM -
Thanks Elwyn. I know about those church records and have searched them. I am just hoping that a Fitzpatrick in your area has a similar interest and would contact me via your site. The same applies to any Garvey person or descendant.
Ric
Ric46
Monday 25th Mar 2019, 11:11PM