Dear Sir or Ma,am,
I have been working on our family tree for about thirthy years. I know that the son of John Fitzharris came to the United States on the ship "Tonawanda" in the year 1854, April 24. He was fifty year old and was traveling with an individual named Catherine Stanley. She was probably his sister in law since his wife's name was Mary Stanley.
John's wife, Mary came to the United States with their four sons on November 13, 1855 on the ship named "Tonawanda" Their sons were name Patrick, Christopher, Michael and John. Their ages were at that time, Mary, 46, Patrick, 17, Michael, 14, Christopher, 11 and John, 8.
A biography was written about Michael Fitzharris some time after 1870. Michael was now a Pennsylvania House Representative in the Pennsylvania Government. The biography stated that Michael's father had come from Ireland, County Meath and that his Dad's father's name was John Fitzharris. To clarify all of this is to say that Michael's grandfather's name was also John Fitzharris and that he stayed in Ireland after the family moved to the United States. It also states that this John Fitzharris died and was buried in the cemetery located at Donaghmore. They said that he was 107 years old at the time of his death. I probably would take that with a grain of salt.
My thirty years have work have stopped dead with this information. I would like to find out if he was buried at Donaghmore. I probaly would come to Ireland to see this.
I have done a lot of work with Family Tree Maker, Ancestry.com, churches and cemeteries in the US. I also have contacted the Librarian at the Dublin Library about finding more information but that ran into a dead end. The Librarian said that he could sent me a list of people in Ireland that did Genelogical studies but he was not allowed to even recommed a particular person because of the law. I can understand this but I know from my own experience that you have a personal interest to dig deep to find out good information.
If you can help me I need this.
Is John Fitzharris buried at Donaghmore. I don't know when he died. I do know that John Fitzharris, his son, who came to the United States was married to Mary Stanley on November 12, 1837 in the Ratoath Diocese. One witness was James Stanley and a second was _____ Kinnary.
I don't have any other information to provide. Can you help me?
Sincerely Yours,
John Fitzharris
Monday 21st Jan 2013, 09:23PM
Message Board Replies
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Hi
Thank you for your message.
For information regarding graveyards in Co Meath please see http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/fuses/counties/index.cfm?fuseaction=…
Also The National Archives of Ireland http://www.nationalarchives.ie/genealogy1/genealogy-records/introduction/
The National Library of Ireland http://www.nli.ie/en/family-history-introduction.aspx
may be of some use to you.
Please be patient - as our programme has only begun to rollout across the island of Ireland and volunteers in some areas may not yet be organized.
You might try contacting the Meath Heritage Centre - meathhc@iol.ie - or http://meath.rootsireland.ie/ - a fee may apply.
Kind regards,
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The Fitzharris were one of the original Donaghmore families. Fitzharris members still live in Ratoath. Donaghmore church Cemetry is very old and small.My Mother says that due to its size they often buried one family members coffin on top of another. Such happened to my Grand-Father. My Grand Mother refused to be buried on top of her in-laws so she is buried at the New Ashbourne Church. The Parish registry may be in Ashbourne now with details of his buriel. Its a beautiful little country church on a hill and worth a visit.