The Fitzsimons Family

John Rooney

A Genealogical History of Irish Families

1895

Fitzsimons family crest

(Crest No. 17. Plate 69.)

THE Fitzsimons family is of Norman origin, and came to Ireland in 1171. Various branches of it settled in the present Counties of Down, Cavan, Dublin, Cork, Limerick, and Tipperary. Many members of this family acquired distinction in Ireland and other countries. The Most Rev. Walter Fitzsimons, Archbishop of Dublin, 1484, was one of the most learned men of his time. He joined the Earl of Kildare in crowning Simnel in 1487, but was subsequently pardoned by Henry the Seventh, who bestowed many favors on him.

Rev. Henry Fitzsimon, a learned Jesuit, born in 1569, was a participant in the great Rebellion of 1641, which he encouraged and supported with zeal and ability. He published many works on religious and controversial subjects.

Thomas Fitzsimons, born in Ireland in 1741, was a rich merchant in Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War, and subscribed a large amount of money for the support of the army. He was a senator of the First Congress and a delegate to the Federal Convention in 1787.

Featured Books

An American widow’s account of her travels in Ireland in 1844–45 on the eve of the Great Famine:

Ireland’s Welcome to the Stranger

Sailing from New York, she set out to determine the condition of the Irish poor and discover why so many were emigrating to her home country.

Mrs Nicholson’s recollections of her tour among the peasantry are still revealing and gripping today.

The author returned to Ireland in 1847–49 to help with famine relief and recorded those experiences in the rather harrowing: Annals of the Famine in Ireland.

See more of our books »

The Ocean Plague: or, A Voyage to Quebec in an Irish Emigrant Vessel is based upon the diary of Robert Whyte who, in 1847, crossed the Atlantic from Dublin to Quebec in an Irish emigrant ship. His account of the journey provides invaluable eyewitness testimony to the trauma and tragedy that many emigrants had to face en route to their new lives in Canada and America. The book is also available in Kindle.

The Irish in America by John F. Maguire provides a substantial and invaluable account of the extreme difficulties faced by pioneer Irish immigrants in North America during the 19th Century. The book is also available in Kindle.

The Scotch-Irish in America tells the story of how the hardy breed of men and women, who in America came to be known as the ‘Scotch-Irish’, was forged in the north of Ireland during the seventeenth century. It relates the circumstances under which the great exodus to the New World began, the trials and tribulations faced by these tough American pioneers and the enduring influence they came to exert on the politics, education and religion of the country.

Show fewer titles