Martin Fitzgerald 1870 -1954
Ancestry Prende tree
Labourer/gardener . Known to his granson Nick as Pa
Is this him or his brother, Nicholas 1880? Taken in N.Y?
I’ve looked at my copy of that portrait using a lupe and I cannot see any signature. There is a little scuff on the mounting-board border just below the two table legs. It’s indecipherable but could possibly be a set of initials – but I really doubt it. That doesn’t look to me like a photographer’s original mounting board either. But the photo itself may be the original print or at any rate a print made from the original negative. You can see (if you have a lupe) a “dog’s ear” in the bottom right corner.
When I was a little boy visiting the Lodge in summertime, I used to admire that portrait of a “handsome young man”, which hung, framed and glazed, on the wall above the chair where Alfie used to sit in front of the “range”. I was told it was of Pa, their name for Martin. I was told it was taken when he was in New York. He was said to have gone there with his brothers but had caught malaria and returned home; the brothers remaining there.
All of this I accepted, as you would. About 20 years ago, long after Kitty had died- Year?- and the Lodge cleared, I set about tracing the whereabouts of the portrait because photography had been my hobby. I was on good terms with my cousin Freddie (John Joe’s son) who, among other things was the local undertaker for Tramore. So knew all about the place. I went to see him with Marcela, enquiring about the picture. He denied knowledge of it but said he’d look it up and let me know in a few days. We returned later and he showed us two painted portraits of Martin and Kate – brutish things, they were – but he knew nothing of the portrait photograph; he’d never seen it. He said, in fact, that he’d never been inside the Lodge! It turned out afterwards that Freddie’s father, John Joe, and Martin had a falling out and in the result none of that family ever entered the Lodge again. Although Freddie had all the Lodge funerals, he never went inside to bring out the bodies! The story of the portrait rested there for a number of years.
A couple of years ago, some of our Tramore clan started a Facebook group linking with FitzGerald descendants in NY and elsewhere. In one of those chats, the portrait that we’re concerned with surfaced. I think it was one of Alice’s grandsons who first put it forward but the NY kids claimed it was one of Martin’s brothers – can’t remember which of them, just now. Betty (a member of the group) got in on the act, claiming the original was of Martin. Anyway, since Martin was married in Tramore when he was 20, it seems much more likely that the photo is of one of his brothers [yes, either Nicholas or James], taken about the turn of the century in NY. Still, I’d like to have traced the original picture, which was classic photographic art.
1870. Martin Fitzgerald was born to Nicholas Fitzgerald, labourer, & Judy Foley on 15/8/1870 at Peter Street, Tramore
Siblings were:
Mary 1873; Alice 1874; Nicholas 1880; Molly ~1882; James 1884,; Katie ~1885; Anne 1888 & many more 1867-1888
1890. Martin Fitzgerald, labourer, married Kate Hutchinson on 29/11/1890 in Tramore R C church
1894. A Martin Fitzgerald, 24, labourer, arrived back in Queenstown from NY- Ancestry shipping records
1901C. Martin Fitzgerald, 30, gardener, was living Waterford Road, Tramore . with his wife, Katie, and 5 children
| Fitzgerald | Martin | 30 | Male | Head of Family | R Catholic |
| Fitzgerald | Katie | 28 | Female | Wife | R Catholic |
| Fitzgerald | Bridget | 9 | Female | Daughter | R Catholic |
| Fitzgerald | John | 7 | Male | Son | R Catholic |
| Fitzgerald | Martin | 4 | Male | Son | R Catholic |
| Fitzgerald | Marcy | 2 | Female | Daughter | R Catholic |
| Fitzgerald | Nicholas | Male | Son | R Catholic |
1911C. Martin Fitzgerald, 40, general labourer, was living Convent Hill, Tramore with his wife, Kate, and 8 children . They had been married 20 years, had had 10 children, 1 had died . All, except the 2 youngest, could read & write The 10 people lived in 6 rooms . Bridget died 1901-1911
| Fitzgerald | Martin | 40 | Male | Head of Family | Roman Catholic |
| Fitzgerald | Kate | 39 | Female | Wife | Roman Catholic |
| Fitzgerald | Martin | 15 | Male | Son | Roman Catholic |
| Fitzgerald | Mary | 12 | Female | Daughter | Roman Catholic |
| Fitzgerald | Nicholas | 12 | Male | Son | Roman Catholic |
| Fitzgerald | Thomas | 9 | Male | Son | Roman Catholic |
| Fitzgerald | Kate | 7 | Female | Daughter | Roman Catholic |
| Fitzgerald | Christina | 5 | Female | Daughter | Roman Catholic |
| Fitzgerald | Bridget | 3 | Female | Daughter | Roman Catholic |
| Fitzgerald | Alice | 1 | Female | Daughter | Roman Catholic |
1918. Mary Fitzgerald - she thought she was Teresa, and was known as Teasie, was born 25/5/1918 in Tramore, her father a Gardener
her mother, Kate Hutchinson/Fitzgerald, had died in 1936
1938 wedding photo of Mom’s sister Alice. It contains many characters from that family, including Mamie Fitzgerald , plus my paternal Granddad, who was a friend of my other Gd-Martin . Unfortunately, my Dad doesn’t feature, although he and my Mom were courting at the time
PP Fitzgerald was Thomas P P F 1902
Tramore was, maybe, classy in its heyday. It was, in those days, very much like a British seaside town, with typical hotels and guesthouses, “bathing machines” on the “Ladies’ Slip” so they could have a discreet dip, far from the madding crowd. Convent Lodge itself was typical of its type: a bungalow on the drive up leading up to the convent. By today’s housing standards it would be considered large, with high ceilings - but with only two formal bedrooms. I used to wonder where they all slept!
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Detached three-bay single-storey gate lodge, c.1900, with two-bay single-storey side elevations. Extended, c.1975, comprising single-bay single-storey flat-roofed lower end bay to left (south-east). Refenestrated, c.2000. Hipped slate roof with clay ridge tiles, rendered chimney stack, and cast-iron rainwater goods on overhanging eaves. Flat roof to end bay not visible behind parapet. Painted rendered walls with rendered coping to parapet to end bay. Square-headed window openings with rendered sills (concrete sills to end bay), and replacement uPVC casement windows, c.2000. Round-headed door opening with cut-limestone step, replacement uPVC panelled door, c.2000, and overlight. Set in grounds shared with Star of the Sea Convent with front (north-east) elevation fronting on to tarmacadam avenue, and side (south-east) elevation fronting on to road. (ii) Gateway, c.1900, to north-east comprising pair of painted rendered piers with rendered capping, painted rendered outer piers having moulded stringcourses, cornices and rendered capping, sections of painted rendered flanking walls having rendered coping, and pair of painted rendered terminating piers with moulded stringcourses, cornices, and rendered capping.
1936. Kate Fitzgerald, 59, married, died at Convent Lodge, Tramore, of Ovarian cancer . Informant was her daughter Teresa . Age on the young side!- actually ~ 63
1954. Martin Fitzgerald, 83. gardener, widower, died at Convent Lodge, Tramore on 27/5/1954 of cardiac failure. Kitty Fitzgerald, his daughter, was the informant
I think Convent Lodge was still occupied by the family until Kitty's death in 1978
He was buried in Holy Cross cemetery,Tramore, in 1954, along with dozens of relatives in a triple plot. I wasn't at that funeral, of course but I was there on several later occasions, when Ena, Alfie and Kitty were shoehorned in on top of him.
Erected by Martin Fitzgerald, Tramore in memory of his mother Johanna Fitzgerald died Dec. 22nd 1899 aged 52 years. His father Nicholas died Oct. 26th 1923 age 82 yrs. His daughter Bridie Nov. 28th 1908 age 16. His son Martin C. died Apr. 31st 1913 age 17. His daughter Mary died Mar. 7th 1915 age 17 years. His wife Kate died Apr. 28th 1936 age 63 years. Her husband Martin Fitzgerald died 27 May 1954 age 84 years. Their children Ena died 16 Dec. 1962 aged 55 Alf died 15 June 1968 aged 64. Kitty died 26th June 1978 aged 74. May they rest in peace. Amen. P. Keane.
392 E 2
Cross-topped headstone on large plot with tubular surround