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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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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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Evans (Cross House)
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At the time of Griffith’s Valuation John C. Evans was leasing a number of townlands from Lord Fitzgerald and Vesey in the parish of Killoscobe, barony of Tiaquin, county Galway. He is also recorded as one of the principal lessors in the parish of Tynagh, barony of Longford, at the same time. Lane notes that he was a land agent for other estates.
In 1852 Evans bought the townland of Ballinruane in the parish of Moylough from George Porter. In the 1870s Mary Evans of Cross House owned over 1,000 acres in the locality.
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McDonnell (Dunmore)
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Martin McDonnell was a merchant from Roscommon who prospered significantly in the mid 19th century. He held eight townlands in the parish of Boyounagh, barony of Tiaquin, one townland in the parish of Tuam, barony of Clare and one townland in the parish of Dunmore, barony of Ballymoe, county Galway at time of Griffith's Valuation. P. Lane writes that McDonnell bought almost 6,000 acres of Lord Fitzgerald's estate in the vicinity of Dunmore in the early 1850s. By the 1870s he owned over 9,000 acres in county Galway, 2,940 acres in county Roscommon and three acres in county Mayo. The lands in Roscommon included property in the parish of Kiltullagh, barony of Castlereagh. Sister T.Delaney writes that in 1893 he bought Headford Castle and much of the town. Over 3,000 acres of the estate of his son, James McDonnell, in county Galway was vested in the Congested Districts' Board on 24 Mar 1911 and a further 1,000 acres in February 1912. The Congested Districts' Board was negotiating the purchase of some of McDonnell's county Roscommon estate in 1916. Martin McDonnell also had a son named Farrell. Sister Delaney writes that Farrell went to Clongowes and married the daughter of Frank McDonagh of Wilmount, Portumna. She also records James McDonnell residing at Waterslade, Tuam and at Castle Ellen, Athenry.
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Stannus
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Walter Trevor Stannus of the Manor House, Lisburn, county Antrim is recorded as the owner of almost 6000 acres in county Galway in the ''Landowners of Ireland'' of the mid 1870s. He was married to Catherine, one of the daughters of the Reverend Henry Vesey Fitzgerald, Dean of Kilmore and 2nd Baron Vesey Fitzgerald. 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.
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Fitzgerald (Horsham)
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Sir William Robert Seymour Vesey-FitzGerald (1818 – 1885) was a British politician, Member of Parliament for Horsham and Governor of Bombay. He was a son of William Vesey-FitzGerald, 2nd Baron FitzGerald and Vesey. In 1846 he married Maria Tryphena Seymour and was succeeded in 1885 by his eldest son, Sir Gerald Seymour Fitzgerald, who married in 1862 and had three daughters. At the time of Griffith's Valuation Seymour Fitzgerald held land in the parish of Croagh, barony of Connello Lower, county Limerick, most of it leased to Richard C. Smith. In May and July 1857 an estate of about 600 acres belonging to him in the barony of Connello Lower was advertised for sale. In 1862 the 3,000+ acre estate of William Robert Seymour Fitzgerald in the parish of Lismalin, barony of Slievardagh, county Tipperary, was advertised for sale. The estate was held in fee simple and must have been purchased from the Earl of Carrick, the owner at the time of Griffith's Valuation. Three lots were sold to Mr Lysaght (in trust). The remainder comprised of 1647 acres was advertised for sale again in November 1863. However a buyer does not seem to have been found as the Right Honourable Sir William Robert Seymour Vesey Fitzgerald of Holbrook, Horsham, is recorded as owning 1,587 acres in county Tipperary in the 1870s. In May 1875 his fee simple and freehold estates in the barony of Slievardagh were again advertised for sale. These estates amounted to 2,540 acres and included a fee farm rent charged on 959 acres of Mohobber. Five of the eleven lots were sold on this occasion. The Irish Times reported that Messers. Cashan, Fox, Cahill and Barnes were the purchasers. The remainder were advertised for sale again on 3 December 1875. The Irish Times reported that the lots sold on that occasion were bought in trust for Michael Morris at a total cost of £11,200.
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