John Peter Fitzgerald snr 1889-1976
PHOTO??- in Kaye's 1967 wedding album
Tailor
Known as Daddy Jack to his grandchildren
Born Johnstown;; Johnstown 1889-1894; Ballytruckle 1895-1899 Old Tramore Road 1901: Grange Terrace 1902: 11 St Alphonsus Road 1909-1915; 27 Mount Sion Avenue 1916=~1923; ShortCourse 1924-~1932 at least ; 11 St Alphonsus Road 19xx??; Mount Sion Avenue 1945??; Monastery Street 1950s? -
His son Jihn got married from Mount Sion Avenue in 1945, so I assume he was living there then - Agree Nick??
Seemingly no Ancestry tree
Nick thought John was born on 5 or 6 June 1890 (aprox) and died in June 1976.
My Granddad died on or about 5 June 1976 and it was said then that he died just short of his 87th birthday. His daughter, my aunt, Catherine (Kitty) was born on 6th June, I think and I understood they shared birthdays.
A pen-portrait of Daddy Jack written by his grandson
1889. John Peter Fitzgerald was born to Nicholas Fitzgerald & Ellen Grant on 16/7/1889 in Johnstown, Waterford
Johnstown is a Waterford street name; John Street is a continuation of Johnstown.
Not withstanding the details on his B.C., JP used to celebrate his birthday on either 5th or 6th June (the alternative was Kitty’s birthday- she was baptised 5/6/1921). Nick suspects the B.C. may not be accurate but that’s odd to be so far out
2 siblings were born: but one died at birth, the other aged 3.
1901C . John Fitzgerald , 11, was living Tramore Old Road , Waterford, with his father, Nicholas, a tailor, and mother Ellen. All born Waterford
| Fitzgerald | Nicholas | 36 | Male | Head of Family | Roman Catholic |
| Fitzgerald | Ellen | 40 | Female | Wife | Roman Catholic |
| Fitzgerald | John | 11 | Male | Son | Roman Catholic |
1902. His mother, Ellen, 38, died in childbirth at Grange Terrace on 17/5/1902 - he almost 13.
1904. His father, Nicholas Fitzgerald , marries again - to a Margaret Doonican. Address still Grange Terrace, Waterford City.
1905-1913. 3 step siblings are born: Mary Christina / alias Maureen 14/12/1904; Catherine/ alias Kathleen 23/7/1906 & Nicholas Joseph 1913 . All in 11 St Alphonsus Road.
1911C. John Fitzgerald , 21, tailor, was living St Alphonsus Road with his father, Nicholas was also a tailor
| Fitzgerald | Nicholas | 46 | Male | Head of Family | Roman Catholic |
| Fitzgerald | Margaret | 37 | Female | Wife | Roman Catholic |
| Fitzgerald | John | 21 | Male | Son | Roman Catholic |
| Fitzgerald | Maureen | 6 | Female | Daughter | Roman Catholic |
| Fitzgerald | Kathleen | 4 | Female | Daughter | Roman Catholic |
1915. John Fitzgerald, tailor, married Catherine Delandre on 4/10/1915 in the church of the Trinity Without, Waterford. His father Nicholas Fitzgerald, no occupation shown; hers John Delandre, carrier . His address St Alphonsus Road; hers Shortcourse . A witness/best man was Michael Doonican : he surely his step uncle, born 1883, brother of his step mother, Margaret Doonican
Shortcourse is the street where my grandmother, Catherine D/F, died. She and my grandfather had a grocery shop there- but he still continued as a tailor
NICK. Find a map with these streets on please
1916 Ellen Fitzgerald was born to John & Catherine at the Lying in hospital on 17/10/1916 , Family address Mt Sion Avenue . Baptised as Helen, 19/10/1916 Trinity Without. No children. "Nellie was wonderful, wise, clever, talented and interested in everything we did or wanted to do. She married in her 40s to a widower, Bob Curham, around 1959/60, a very fine man with two grown up sons, one of whom would become Mayor of Waterford on several occasions" No children of her own . .Died 15/1/1985 in a tragic domestic gas accident, which also killed both her and her niece, Mary Duggan, daughter of her sister Margaret 1924
1919. John Fitzgerald was born to John, tailor, & Catherine on 24/1/1919 at 27 Mount Sion Avenue, Waterford . Baptised 26/1/1919. He the second child, wedged in between three sisters: Ellen, Catherine and Margaret. All are now dead, Dad being the last on 24 July 2012
1921. Catherine Paula Fitzgerald baptised to John & Catherine, 27 Mount Sion Avenue, on 5/6/1921 Trinity Without . Never married. Aunt Kitty died 16/12/2003
1921-1924. The family moved from Mount Sion Avenue to Shortcourse, where Catty was running this grocery shop.
1924. Margaret Mary Fitzgerald--Peggy - baptised 30/11/1924 Trinity Without to John & Catherine, Shortcourse. Sponsors Martin Delandre 1866 brother of Catherine- he was living in Tenby in 1911! & Helen Grant, maybe 1863 mother of John . In 1962(?), Peggy married Mick Duggan, a small farmer from Hugginstown, Co. Kilkenny - . too recent to be on irishgen Their children were: William, Mary, Anne and Paula. Mary died, 4 years after the 1985 tragic domestic gas accident, which also killed her aunt Ellen(Nellie) with whom she was staying: Mary in a coma during all those 4 years. Mick had a stroke and gradually died. Peggy dies age ~71, so cerca 1995 .
So, 4 children, born 1916-1924 to John & Catherine , then a miscarriage in 1928, leading to his wife's death
The cousins we eventually acquired on Dad’s side were more like nieces to us and we never developed personal relationships. They also lived ‘in the country’, in Co. Kilkenny, these 'cousins' were the children of Margaret 1924
1928.His wife, Catherine Fitzgerald, 43, of 10 ShortCourse, wife of tailor, Jn Fitzgerald, died on 15/6/1928 in City Infirmary, of Bronchial pneumonia following an Abortion_ this the medical word for a miscarriage!
Her husband, John, was left with 4 children, aged 3-11.
Kitty's story
John sold the shop, likely in 1929/30, to clear debts after his wife allowed too much "credit". He moved to Mount Sion Avenue
House in Mount Sion Avenue
1932. A Miss Fitzgerald was a shop assistant in Shortcourse-account in Waterford Standard 17/9/1932 of a man passing a dud 5s piece , FMP Newspapers = This could be Nellie, by then almost 16 . But not necessarily still in the family owned shop- although she was described as the shopkeeper
Around 1945-7?? he moved to 13 Monastery Street ( this road dissected Mount Sion Avenue at right angles- so not far away) with his 2 unmarried sisters, Kitty & Peggy . Peggy likely married 1962/3
13 Monastery Street , the one with the red paaint
John had a stroke in the 1960s - or even late 1950s?- and had to retire - he would have been in his 70s by then. He was looked after all these years by his daughter Kitty
I’m sure John P never had premises but he did work with “sewing partners” as he called them, working in one or other of their houses. In my time, he lived in Monastery St and used to “sew” in an upstairs room. I think his partner used to come in as and when. But tailors work in specialities, as they do even today in Saville Row. Some are good cutters, some are good with coats, others with trousers and some with fine finishing stitches. So the part-made garments would be passed back and forth between them – exactly as in Saville Row, if you have a bespoke suit made. I don’t actually remember him having the stroke but it was often referred to afterwards. He used to make clothes for many of the De La Salle Brothers (where I went to school) and these were constantly coming and going to his house and he would often comment on their respective characters. All of that would have been after the stroke but gradually he had to give it up and did very little after 1960. But he did some, because he would discuss several Brothers that I knew in the College, where I went from 1962.
1945. His son, John Fitzgerald, of Mount Sion Avenue, married.
~1947. So said John , his wife and small baby moved back into his house, and stayed there with him , Ellen, Kitty & Peggy up to his death I think: Ellen moving out ~1959 and Paeggy~ 1952, each to get married
1976. John Fitzgerald, almost 87?, died June 1976 . No death record yet on RI
He is buried in the Ballybricken Churchyard cemetery. His daughters, Nellie (Nick thinks), 1916-1985, and, certainly, Kitty, 1921-2003, were also interred there in due course.
No Obituary in FMP Newspapers