Ellen (FitzGibbon) FitzGerald (abt. 1560 - abt. 1630)

Born about 1560 in Ireland

Ancestors

Descendants

Died about May 1630 at about age 70 in Ireland

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Biography

Ellen FitzGibbon was a member of the aristocracy in British Isles.

Ellen (FitzGibbon) FitzGerald is Notable.

Historical accounts credit Ellen FitzGibbon, a good businesswoman, with helping the Decies estate to regain its financial footing during her marriage to Sir John FitzGerald.^[1][2]

Physical description: "In Russell's Relation, Sir John is described "by persons yet liveing who have seen him," as "a little brown man with one eye only," and Dame Ellen his wife as "a fatt big woeman, goeing in a hatt and gold hat-band, a silke gowne and mantle with a fringe, her hayre bound up in a golden cewle."^[3]

Excerpts from the book Dromana: The Memoirs of an Irish Family:^[4]

• Sir John married Ellen Fitzgibbon, daughter of Maurice the White Knight, and this lady outlived him, her will being dated 30th May, 1630.

• In the year 1625, the Earl of Cork [Richard Boyle] complains [in his diary] that on St. Valentine's Day "the Lady Ellen FitzGerald of Dromana, widow, with 30 armed men, took [her grandson] Gerald FitzJohn prisoner and carried him to the Castle of Dromana and terrified and threatened his Uncle Thomas."^[5][6] The Lady Ellen would seem from this to have been possessed of a certain reckless determination of character, though it is just possible she had suffered severe provocation before she retaliated in such a high-handed fashion. Whether she was in the right or in the wrong, retribution followed, for on the 20th of February, we read that "the purcevant^[7] came to Dromana to attach the Lady Fitzgerald and her men that took away Gerald FitzJohn of Camphire, but he was not suffered [allowed] to come within the gates, so I gave the purcevant half a piece [presumably a coin]," and continues the Earl "the last of this month the fat sergeant-at-arms came with warrant for her and the rest of her riotouse servants."

• The author adds, "It is a pity we have no record of why Gerald FitzJohn was taken prisoner."

Paraphrased from the "Unpublished Geraldine Documents":^[8]

• Eleanor FitzMaurice survived her husband, Sir John. He died at Dromana on 24 May 1620 and was buried in Youghal Church. Eleanor the relict of Sir John then removed to Templemichael Castle, where she continued to the time of her death, and in the absence of her grandchild Garrett FitzGerald, then in England, these riches being in the Castle with her, were all embezzled and conveyed away.

Research Notes

Identity confusion: Where historical sources concur is that Ellen FitzGibbon married John FitzGerald, 7th Lord of Decies (b.1560). Where they differ is which Maurice FitzGibbon was her father: Was it 1) Maurice Fitz-John FitzGibbon (1538-1565), son of John "Oge" FitzGibbon, 10th White Knight, or his nephew 2) Maurice Fitz-Edmund FitzGibbon (1565-1608), son of Edmund FitzGibbon, 11th White Knight?

While Cracroft's Peerage^[9] appears to confuse Maurice FitzJohn with Maurice FitzEdmund, the following 3 sources lead us to choose option 1 -- which is also the more realistic option in terms of a) years/ages of spouses and b) avoiding issues of consanguinity:

• Lodge's Peerage calls Maurice "eldest son of the White Knight", leaving the door open to both possibilites above.^[10]

• From the Waterford Journal: "Sir John, before he came to the estate, marryed Ellen, daughter to Maurice Fitz-John, the White Knight, who being a careful industrious woeman, treasured up much riches, by which the said estate was again recovered" [from previous financial ruin]^[11] [this supports option #1 above]

• From Cokayne's Peerage: "Sir John m. Ellen, daughter of Maurice FitzGibbon, son and heir apparent of John Oge, the White Knight."^[12] [this supports option #1 above]

Sources

1. ↑ Notes on the family, from the Journal of the Waterford & South-East of Ireland Archaeological Society, Vol.1, 1894-5, pp.263-264:
   • http://snap.waterfordcoco.ie/collections/ejournals/100575/100575.pdf
     • “ Sir John Fitzgerald, Knight (son to Gerald (who in turn was 3rd son of Sir Gerald Fitz-John Fitz-Gerald of Desmond) by Elleanor, daughter of John Butler of Deriliskane [Derryloskan], in Co. Kilkenny, Esq.), after the death of his [1st] cousin, Gerald Fitz-James of Cappagh, entered into the estate of Decies, then hardly worth the name of an estate, by reason of the destruction made thereof voluntarily or carelessly by his said cousin, Gerald, son of James of Cappagh.
     • Sir John's cousin Gerald Fitz-James must have squandered his patrimony at a great rate, for it is mentioned that his successor and cousin, John Fitzgerald Fitzgerald, was for many years after succeeding to the estates in very straightened circumstances, and it was only by the strictest economy, in the exercise of which he was ably assisted by his wife, Ellen FitzGibbon, daughter of the White Knight, that he retrieved his broken fortunes.
2. ↑ Ellen FitzGibbon and John FitzGerald had a number of common ancestors, including Sir John FitzGibbon (ca.1468-1545), 9th White Knight.
3. ↑ As recorded in Cokayne's Peerage, and citing Unpublished Geraldine Documents, from a report by R.G. FitzGerald-Uniacke.
   • Cokayne, George Edward and Vicary Gibbs ed., Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Vol.4, 2nd edition (London, 1916), p.111:
     • https://archive.org/details/completepeerageo04coka/page/110/mode/2up
4. ↑ Dromana: The Memoirs of an Irish Family, by Therese Muir MacKenzie (Therese Villiers Stuart), published 1907 (Dublin: Sealy, Bryers & Walker), pp.81-82:
   • https://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/thrse-mackenzie/dromana--the-memoirs-of-an-irish-family-ala.shtml
5. ↑ From context, her grandson Gerald, age 15 at the time, might have been colluding with his Uncle Thomas against Ellen's eldest son (and Gerald's father) John FitzJohn. John died in March 1626 and Gerald inherited the estate, under the wardship of Sir Edward Villiers, President of Munster.
6. ↑ Who is the colluding "Uncle Thomas" in question? As there were no recorded Thomas siblings in the generation of Gerald's father, this might refer to either his paternal aunt Ellice FitzGerald's husband Thomas Butler, 2nd Baron Cahir (d.1627), or to his maternal uncle Thomas Butler (d.1637), son of James Butler, 2nd/12th Baron Dunboyne.
7. ↑ Purcevant or Poursuivant: Originally, a junior heraldic officer attendant on a herald or nobleman. In later use: An officer of the English, Scottish, or (formerly) Irish heraldic authority, ranking below a herald; (in Scotland also) a private officer of arms, appointed by an earl.
   • https://eithni.livejournal.com/336971.html
8. ↑ Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Volume V, Fourth Series (1882), Dublin: Ponsonby and Weldrick, p.647
9. ↑ From Cracroft's Peerage: The Desmond Line, here are two items which seem incompatible because of consanguinity with James Butler, 2nd Baron Dunboyne. Cracroft himself includes a question mark in the genealogy, as he seems to realise the confusion:
   • Sir John FitzGerald, Lord of the Decies, married Ellen FitzGibbon, daughter of Maurice FitzGibbon (by his wife Joan Butler, daughter by his first wife ( Margaret FitzPatrick) of James Butler, 2nd Baron Dunboyne), son and heir ap. of John "Oge" FitzGibbon, the White Knight
     • [Cracroft's appears to be conflating the 2 Maurices above. Maurice son of John Oge was long dead (d.1565) before any daughter of James 2nd Baron (b.1547) was of marrying age. Also, the Maurice who married Joan Butler, daughter of James 2nd Baron Dunboyne, was by all accounts the son of Edmund 11th White Knight. This observation therefore supports option #1 above.]
   • Their son John FitzGerald, Lord of the Decies (d.1626), married Eleanor Butler, daughter of James Butler, 2nd Baron Dunboyne (Eleanor was born to Dunboyne's second wife, Margaret O'Brien)
     • [Historical accounts concur on this marriage. For both Cracroft entries to be true, John must have married his grandmother Joan Butler's younger half-sister Eleanor, which makes option #2 above very unlikely due to age and consanguinity.]
10. ↑ John Lodge, The Peerage of Ireland, Vol. 6 (publisher J. Moore, 1789), p.225:
    • https://books.google.com.ua/books?id=z4oUAAAAYAAJ&q
11. ↑ Gabriel Redmond, "Notes on the History, Antiquities, Archeological Remains & Legends Connected with the Western End of County Waterford", Journal of the Waterford & South-East of Ireland Archaeological Society, Vol.1, 1894-5, p.263:
    • http://snap.waterfordcoco.ie/collections/ejournals/100575/100575.pdf
12. ↑ Cokayne, George Edward and Vicary Gibbs ed., Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Vol.4, 2nd edition (London, 1916), p.111:
    • https://archive.org/details/completepeerageo04coka/page/110/mode/2up

• http://www.thepeerage.com/p29956.htm#i299554
• Desmond, Earl of (I, 1329 - 1582) Cracroft's Peerage