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Fitzgerald/Vesey Fitzgerald
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Catherine Vesey Fitzgerald was elevated to the peerage of Ireland as Baroness Fitzgerald and Vesey in 1826. Her father, the Reverend Henry Vesey, was Warden of Galway and a great, great grandson of John Vesey, Archbishop of Tuam. She and her sister eventually succeeded to the estates of her father and uncles, John and Agmondisham Vesey. Her eldest son William succeeded her as Baron Fitzgerald and Vesey and died unmarried in 1843. In 1853 his executor advertised for sale lands in the baronies of Clare and Tiaquin, county Galway, amounting to almost 4,000 acres. The lands in the barony of Tiaquin were bought by the Reverend George Salmon and those in the barony of Clare by the Very Reverend Henry Vesey Fitzgerald, Dean of Kilmore, brother of Willliam and his successor as Baron Fitzgerald and Vesey. His county Galway estate was in the parishes of Belclare and Lackagh, barony of Clare and in the parish of Tuam, barony of Dunmore, while his county Clare estate was mainly in the parishes of Inchicronan, barony of Bunratty Upper and Kilkeedy, barony of Inchiquin. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Standish O'Grady of county Limerick and had 5 daughters. He died in 1860. His daughters appear to have succeeded to his county Galway estates while his sister Letitia Foster Vesey Fitzgerald's children succeeded to the county Clare estate. In the 1870s his representatives owned 1,437 acres in county Galway while Walter Trevor Stannus is recorded as owning 2976 acres. Two of the Baron's daughters married sons of the Very Reverend James Stannus, Dean of Ross, and the 5,678 acre estate of M.G. Stannus and others in county Galway was vested in the Congested Districts' Board on 5 March 1914. The sale of 1,567 acres belonging to Mary G. Fitzgerald and others to the Congested Districts' Board was proceeding in 1909. P. Lane writes that Martin McDonnell bought almost 6,000 acres of Lord Fitzgerald's property around the town of Dunmore in the early 1850s. Besides the estate in county Galway the representatives of Lord Fitzgerald and Vesey owned 628 acres in county Cavan. Griffith’s Valuation records lands in the parishes of Ballintemple, Denn, Kilmore, Crosserlough and Castlerahan belonging to Lord Fitzgerald and Vesey.
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Fitzgerald/Foster Vesey Fitzgerald (Moyriesk)
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This family of Fitzgeralds was originally Fitzgerald Fitzgibbon but the surname Fitzgibbon was dropped in the late 17th century after the family settled in county Clare. The Right Honourable James Fitzgerald, son of William Fitzgerald of Inchicronan, county Clare, married Catherine Vesey daughter and co heiress of the Reverend Henry Vesey. She was created Baroness Fitzgerald and Vesci in 1826. In the mid 19th century the Vesey Fitzgeralds held an estate in the barony of Bunratty Upper, county Clare, mainly located in the parish of Inchicronan but also in the parishes of Clooney, Doora, Quin and Templemaley and in the barony of Inchiquin, mainly in the parish of Kilkeedy, formerly belonging to the Macnamaras. Their house at Lahardan was in ruins by the time of the first Ordnance Survey. When the last Baron Fitzgerald and Vesci died in 1860 his sister Letitia Foster assumed the additional surname of Fitzgerald and Vesci and her children inherited the Fitzgerald Vesci estates in county Clare. In the 1870s her three sons William (of Derrybrick, parish of Kilmurry, Clonderalaw, county Clare and Moyvane, county Kerry), John and James owned 3,581, 2,224 and 1,047 acres respectively in the county. William also owned 2400 acres in county Kerry. In addition the youngest James Foster Fitzgerald Vesci of Moyriesk and Glantreague, near Clonbur, county Galway, also owned 3,715 acres in county Galway and 531 acres in county Louth. He wrote a book entitled 'A Practical Guide to the Valuation of rent in Ireland' and married his first cousin Henrietta Mahon of Castlegar. They lived at Mountbernard at the time of Griffith's Valuation. By 1916 John V. Fitzgerald had agree to the purchase of over 2,000 acres of his county Clare estate by the Congested Districts' Board.
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Macnamara (Moyriesk)
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The Macnamaras were settled at Moyriesk, parish of Clooney, barony of Bunratty Upper, county Clare from the 17th century. In 1684 John Macnamara received a grant of 2,370 acres in the barony of Bunratty, including Moyriesk. Colonel Francis Macnamara was Member of Parliament for county Clare 1790-1798. His son was the well known duellist John "Fireball" Macnamara. His hell raising caused the loss of the family estates. In 1837 Lewis writes that Moriesk was bought by the father of Lord Fitzgerald and Vesci from the Macnamaras and that Knopouge Castle, then in the hands of William Scott, formerly belonged to the Macnamaras of Moriesk.
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