After visiting a forum at GENEALOGY.com I found a post from the year 2001 by Hilary, who has thoroughly researched the family tree for many years. I got in touch (the email address was still active even 7-8 years later!) and Hilary has since then generously agreed that I can publish some of it here. You'll see that for the Ranson family branch she has been able to find links back to the time of the Spanish Armada.
Hopefully, Hilary will also find something of interest from what we already have here on TrunkCalls, but also perhaps from some of the future feedback to this post? You can use the COMMENTS button at the bottom of this message.
SO: Hilary's father is Michael (Mick) Murray, son of Mary Hannah (Nance) Fitzpatrick and Michael Murray. Mick Murray was a cousin of my Gran, Mary Sennett.
Hilary was brought up here in the UK, but now lives in New Zealand; nice to have some International Readers. She began researching her family history in the nineteen eighties, spending time in Ireland to delve further into it all before emigrating from the UK.
My message to her was apparently not expected: "Hell's teeth, what a surprise!!!!!!!"
Information on Frances Ranson & Thomas Fitzpatrick
Common ancestors for Hilary & me are Frances Ranson & Thomas Fitzpatrick. Hilary has added or confirmed lots of interesting things about many of our ancestors.
Thomas Fitzpatrick came from County Tipperary in Ireland (not Mayo, as was previously remembered/guessed at) and his family knew the Murray family (from Roscommon) very well even before Thomas' daughter Nance married Michael Murray. They were from a very close-knit Catholic community centred around St. Charles church, and the school. {Links here and here to pages about the church, and here for the school website.}
Frances Ranson's parents were William and Bridget Ranson. It seems that they were brought up in Houghton-le-Spring, but they were married in Sunderland. William came from a strongly Methodist family.
So, when his daughter Frances (born 1854) met and married the Catholic lad Thomas Fitzpatrick, he was rather unhappy. He cut her off and the two had little to do with each other from then on. We see that there was some contact with her siblings, but perhaps only after her father/parents had died?? Luckily for Frances, her marriage is remembered as very much a love match.
To quote directly:
"It is years since I collated the Ranson information, I have a large file dedicated to census and parish records just for that side of the family... The earliest Ranson I have located is Annas who married Robert Burton in 1564, just six years after Elizabeth I came to the throne."
Information on Frances Ranson's wider family
We learn from Hilary that Frances' mother's maiden name is Bridget Paterson.
We also learn that Frances' sister Louisa died young, leaving her husband William with a family of daughters to bring up. One of Louisa's descendants is now living in Perth, Australia.
Remember the very old photo of the Ranson sisters (in my earliest Ranson post, linked here)??
Although one of the women could be a sister-in-law, we perhaps can deduce that that old photo was a shot of the only remaining Ranson sisters - that's to say Jane Ann, and Elizabeth Margaret. Interesting to see that Frances named her daughters after her mother and sisters (using middle names, too) - but I don't recall any use of the name Louisa. Perhaps it was a name associated with too much sadness.
Information on the Fitzpatricks
Hilary also told me about another of Thomas Fitzpatrick's descendants with whom she has been in contact: a granddaughter of Tot Fitzpatrick (b.1891). She actually has the citation for bravery I have mentioned, (linked here) so that nicely confirms it is the correct Thomas. It would be interesting to get some more details on this man!
Further up on that first Fitzpatrick blog page - that photo outside Burn Hall - the gaffer is in fact the man with the bowler hat, as was tradition in those days. (Hilary also has a copy of that photo!!)
Much love across the miles to our relatives and a huge Thankyou to our Hilary for her help - passing on all this information and correcting my mistooks.
**********
(And apologies for the pun in this title!)
Hopefully, Hilary will also find something of interest from what we already have here on TrunkCalls, but also perhaps from some of the future feedback to this post? You can use the COMMENTS button at the bottom of this message.
SO: Hilary's father is Michael (Mick) Murray, son of Mary Hannah (Nance) Fitzpatrick and Michael Murray. Mick Murray was a cousin of my Gran, Mary Sennett.
Hilary was brought up here in the UK, but now lives in New Zealand; nice to have some International Readers. She began researching her family history in the nineteen eighties, spending time in Ireland to delve further into it all before emigrating from the UK.
My message to her was apparently not expected: "Hell's teeth, what a surprise!!!!!!!"
Information on Frances Ranson & Thomas Fitzpatrick
Common ancestors for Hilary & me are Frances Ranson & Thomas Fitzpatrick. Hilary has added or confirmed lots of interesting things about many of our ancestors.
Thomas Fitzpatrick came from County Tipperary in Ireland (not Mayo, as was previously remembered/guessed at) and his family knew the Murray family (from Roscommon) very well even before Thomas' daughter Nance married Michael Murray. They were from a very close-knit Catholic community centred around St. Charles church, and the school. {Links here and here to pages about the church, and here for the school website.}
Frances Ranson's parents were William and Bridget Ranson. It seems that they were brought up in Houghton-le-Spring, but they were married in Sunderland. William came from a strongly Methodist family.
So, when his daughter Frances (born 1854) met and married the Catholic lad Thomas Fitzpatrick, he was rather unhappy. He cut her off and the two had little to do with each other from then on. We see that there was some contact with her siblings, but perhaps only after her father/parents had died?? Luckily for Frances, her marriage is remembered as very much a love match.
To quote directly:
"It is years since I collated the Ranson information, I have a large file dedicated to census and parish records just for that side of the family... The earliest Ranson I have located is Annas who married Robert Burton in 1564, just six years after Elizabeth I came to the throne."
Information on Frances Ranson's wider family
We learn from Hilary that Frances' mother's maiden name is Bridget Paterson.
We also learn that Frances' sister Louisa died young, leaving her husband William with a family of daughters to bring up. One of Louisa's descendants is now living in Perth, Australia.
Remember the very old photo of the Ranson sisters (in my earliest Ranson post, linked here)??
Although one of the women could be a sister-in-law, we perhaps can deduce that that old photo was a shot of the only remaining Ranson sisters - that's to say Jane Ann, and Elizabeth Margaret. Interesting to see that Frances named her daughters after her mother and sisters (using middle names, too) - but I don't recall any use of the name Louisa. Perhaps it was a name associated with too much sadness.
Information on the Fitzpatricks
Hilary also told me about another of Thomas Fitzpatrick's descendants with whom she has been in contact: a granddaughter of Tot Fitzpatrick (b.1891). She actually has the citation for bravery I have mentioned, (linked here) so that nicely confirms it is the correct Thomas. It would be interesting to get some more details on this man!
Further up on that first Fitzpatrick blog page - that photo outside Burn Hall - the gaffer is in fact the man with the bowler hat, as was tradition in those days. (Hilary also has a copy of that photo!!)
Much love across the miles to our relatives and a huge Thankyou to our Hilary for her help - passing on all this information and correcting my mistooks.
**********
(And apologies for the pun in this title!)
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