Patrick FitzGerald aka Percy A. Fitzgerald

Dear Lavigne:

Many thanks for your post to the Ireland Reaching Out message board and welcome to the site!

Have you checked the 1901 & 1911 Census for him or other members of his family?  The link to this is below:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/

In addition, the 1940 article that you found in the Waterford Standard, was that an obituary?  If so, you should be able to find his death record (if he died in Ireland) on the Irish Genealogy website at:

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/civil-search.jsp

You have a lot of great information about your great-grandfather, Patrick Fitzgerald as well as some of your grandaunts that would make ideal Ancestry profiles for the XO Chronicles.  You might consider doing so, particularly with the files that you have attached.  The XO Chronicles feature is a good way to share information with all other members of the Ireland Reaching Out programme who will be updated to new additions every week.  There may be others who are researching the same family as you and will be able to assist you with further information.  The link for the XO Chronicles is below:

https://www.irelandxo.com/ireland-xo/history-and-genealogy

If you need further assistance, please let me know.  You can contact me directly at:  jhalloranryan@irelandxo.com. 

Many thanks for your interest in Ireland Reaching Out and the very best of luck with your research!

Kind regards,

Jane.

Jane:

Thank You for your reply.

The 1940 article I included was not an obituary.  It appears to be a discussion of the possibility of reviving amateur opera in Waterford.  He is cited as someone who graduated from the ranks of Waterford's amateur singers to join the professional Operatic stage.  I am not sure of when he died.  I know for sure it was prior to 1911 since he is identified as being deceased on my grandmother's marriage certificate.  I think it was probably in the late 1890's.  Family lore states he caught pneumonia while on tour.  At any rate if there is any repository or organization that deals with the history of Opera in Ireland/Waterford, it is possible they might have some information?

I may consider putting Lillian on the website.  In her time she was a fairly well known star on the vaudeville stage.  It appears that she never really acquired US citizenship.  She was born in Ireland; however, the records morphed to indicate that she had been born in New York by the time she died in 1947.

At times I use the brute force method of research so I will search the Census data for 1901 and 1911 and attempt to identify the Fitzgerald's from Ballybricken and see if I can find a relationship.

Thanks again for the suggestions

Jim

not sure how much of the earlier details you have already on your Fitzgeralds... so just in case ...

Based on father's name and occupation I found marriages for two sisters to your Patrick jnr. - both in the vicinity of Waterford city :

Marriage of William Meagher and Mary Fitzgerald on the 18th January 1882
Marriage of John Grogan and Geraldine Fitzgerald on the 6th November 1887

Father of the two brides is Patrick Fitzgerald, Railway Guard/Guard, and residences for both brides as Ballybricken. The parish of Ballybricken/Trinity Without covers Western parts of Waterford City and some outlying areas to the north west.  Both brides are listed as 'full age' so 21 or over so Mary would have been born before the start of civil birth records, but there's a match for Geraldine's civil birth just a year after the start of registration - Birth of Geraldine Fitzgerald on the 26th February 1865  with place of birth Ballybricken (see the 2nd entry on the page - ref. 488). Parents are Patrick Fitzgerald and Ellen Fitzgerald (also her maiden surname), and Patrick's occupation is given as guard of train.

Edited to add : found Patrick jnr's baptism on the 23rd December 1860 in Holy Trinity RC parish Waterford City. The parish is adjacent to Trinity Without/Ballybricken. See towards the end of this page (NLI parish register images)

Shane:

Thank you for the input.  I did not have anything much on Patrick's family other than the data from his marriage in 1882,    At the time he was a warden at the jail.  He was full age and his father Patrick was a guard on the train.  All of which fits with your data. Thanks again.  I will see if I can discover anything from his sisters.

Jim

Dear Jim:

Thanks for your reply.  It would be wonderful if you would create a profile for Lillian as it would make for interesting reading and might be very helpful for others who are researching the same families or have knowledge of vaudeville shows. 

As to your remark about the History of Opera in Wexford, there are two possiblities:

http://www.theatreroyal.ie/

This site deals with the history of the Theatre Royal in Waterford and contact with them might be very beneficial to your research.

http://waterford-history.org/

The above is the link to the Waterford Archaeological & Historical Society in Waterford.

http://www.waterfordtreasures.com/

The above is a link to the Waterford Museum which has a very good staff who are knowledgeable in genealogy and local history. 

If you need further assistance, please let me know at:  jhalloranryan@irelandxo.com.

Kind regards,

Jane.

Good day Jane:   Thanks again for your suggestions,  I will start contacting them in the near futeure.  I will also see what I can do for a posting between now and Christmas.  In the interim I am uploading a photo of Lillian with Ed Wynne.        Cheers,  Jim