Finding John's great great grandfather George Fitzpatrick

Well, it's been another one of those weeks. Worn out (me with driving and leap-frogging the wheelchair and John with bouncing up and down over all the bumps with poor suspension and predicting my every move), and yet lots of pleasurable moments as well. The scenery is magnificent. Reminds me of the south coast of NSW, but with lots of ruins thrown in.

After leaving Dublin on Saturday, we drove to Hodson Bay near Athlone (a lakeside town) in the very middle of the island. We stayed two nights simply because we were so tired. The caravan park was run by a very old man with severe scoleosis and parkinson's disease and his wife who seemed to be in the first stages of short term memory loss. Like other farmers they turned part of their acreage into a caravan park, and seem to be doing very well. Lots of turnover of vans. But it was very hard for the old man to get around, even though he insisted on showing us everything.

I couldn't help wondering what life on a dairy farm was like 40-50 years ago when he probably started. It was probably tough. Ireland is now very prosperous, and appears much more so that England, where the prosperity is blatant at one end, but people are really struggling at the other end of the scale.

The roads are better than in England as well. Lots of double lane roads, and even the minor roads are better, although still very narrow compared to Australia. But today (Thursday) we've been plagued with tractors ahead of us. Like flies...

John found a large eucalyptus tree growing on the side of the road when he decided to wheel half a mile ahead of me at Hodson Bay. Most surprised. Maybe people slipped a seedling in their pocket when they returned. I just read that a trial conducted in Ireland 30 years ago suggested that 37 species out of 102 eucalypts would be suitable for growing in Ireland. So how about that!

And then to Corrofin where we thought that John's Fitzpatrick side came from. Corrofin is a very small place of the main routes but has a good range of services and a nice caravan park in the centre of the village. We discovered that St Katherine's church (Church of Ireland) is now a Museum and we couldn't get into it because of steps. We found some Fitzpatrick gravestones, and we think they are related but can't be sure. All circumstantial at this stage, with similar family names. Only about 5% of the population was Church of Ireland and many other Fitzpatricks in other places were Catholic of course.

We went to the Corrifin Genealogical Society which is well know, but were extremely disappointed with their services. It would be hard to find a more aggressive woman, who launched straight in to an inquisition without so much as a hello and how are you. Very different from our experience at home with the Heritage Centre and the Mormon's Family History Centre. She was simply hoping to sell us a full research service, and there was no opportunity to do any of our own research there. No computers, no public microfiche - nothing. Just lots of jealously guarded records and paid researchers. She did say however, that the records were available elsewhere.

So the next day we went into Ennis, the County town just 13 kilometres away and our experiences there over two days could not have been more different. The library staff were very pleasant and helpful, and the local history librarian, who occupies an old Manse next door was extremely helpful and full of initiative. He then sent us to the Births, Deaths and Marriages and again, we found an extremely helpful public servant.

We found more Fitzpatrick grave records (but not our George), and then miracle of miracles, we found three death certificates. One was for the William we found in grave yard (we THINK he could have been George's oldest son), one for George himself in 1902 and one for his wife (Ho)Norah Fitzpatrick (1884).

The latter two were most enlightening. George had been a policeman (and we have yet to establish his service record) but it appears he was the Church of Ireland sexton in Corrofin. We knew that he was living aged 87 as a retired widower in the village itself in 1901 (census), but the sad thing is that he died in the workhouse. And that is why we couldn't find him buried in the churchyard where he worked for so many of his later years. Because workhouse residents were buried in the graveyard of the workhouse. That is so sad.

We can imagine - an 87 year old widower living alone - no relatives in the village (the other Fitzpatricks were farmers) - and getting too old to look after himself in his last year of life. No such thing as community services. The only services available were at the workhouse. And in the workhouse, there was no dignity.

Ennis, the County town was a most impressive town. We loved it. Friendly people, a nice pub for lunch, nice old ruins. And one day with great weather, which helps too.

And then to this morning. John said: "I think we have a problem". And sure enough, we were out of gas. We don't think it was filled properly the other day, because it was a different company's gas, and they did say they had trouble.

Apart from Dublin, the only other place to get a refill of Calor gas was in Cork, three hours south. And we had a deadline to get there. Fortunately we rang ahead and found out closing times and exactly where they were. Now filled up, but what a stressful day. We were both so tired.

But after a good three hours sleep, I turned on the computer, and low and behold, we have wireless broadband connection! Hence this blog.

We only have six more nights in Ireland and we're running out of time. We've missed the west coast - we had wanted to go to Dingle Peninsular.

And in spite of Peter's urging, we won't be having a Murphy's or a Guinness. John doesn't drink and I can't stand beer or stout! We've passed plenty of their trucks and pubs though. The only time we go to a pub is for lunch or the occasional tea. They do good lunches.

Till next time. Thanks for the comments on the last blog. There were six!