The father of Jimmy Governor's Aboriginal mother Annie was an Irish stockman named Jack Fitzgerald.
A prominent Fitzgerald famil, descended from a convict, y was squatting on land in the part of New South Wales where Annie was born.
I initially thought Annie's father may have been related to them, but I have not been able to prove this.
However, I have kept the information I found about this Fitzgerald family here, just in case more comes to light about this line of inquiry in the future.
*
Irish convict, Richard Fitzgerald Snr, arrived in the penal colony of New South Wales aged 19 on 28 August 1791.
He quickly proved to have excellent people skills and was appointed superintendent of convicts at Toongabbie, and later constable of the Hawkesbury district north-west of Sydney.
He was a friend of Governor Lachlan Macquarie and managed his wife's and son's landholdings after the family returned to Scotland.
According to Fitzgerald family historian, Susan Perrett, not all of his behaviour was above board, despite him rising to great heights in colonial society.
*
Richard Fitzgerald Snr had three sons:
*RICHARD Jnr b. 1805; d. 1822 age 17*
*ROBERT b. 1807; d. 1865 at Darlinghurst, Sydney aged 58
*JOHN b. 1812; d. 21 April 1835 aged 23 at Windsor, Hawkesbury
*
ROBERT FITZGERALD had two children, a boy called Robert Marsden Fitzgerald and a girl called Adelaide, out of wedlock to a woman called Hannah.
In 1841 at age 34 he married Elizabeth Henrietta Rouse, 23, and they brought up these two children together with seven of their own.
Robert and Elizabeth had six girls and one boy:
1843 Mary; 1844 Elizabeth R; 1846 Henrietta; 1848 Emily; 1850 Lucy; 1852 Richard; 1854 Louisa.
*
FROM RAGS TO RICHES - CONVICT TO MILLIONAIRE
When Richard Fitzgerald died in 1840, he left 34,000 pounds or over $4 million dollars (2003 exchange rate) in his will. [Source: Perrett]
According to Perrett, this was not all made by honest means.
At one stage, he was accused of selling vegetables grown on a government farm that were part of the colony's food rations.
He also held a publican's licence in another man's name because his other business activities precluded him from having one.
This licence was for the Macquarie Arms at Windsor.
*
RICHARD FITZGERALD SNR CLAIMED TO HAVE IRISH ARISTOCRATIC BLOOD
According to Fitzgerald family historian, Susan Perrett, Richard Fitzgerald claimed to be the illegitimate son of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, leader of the Irish rebellion who was executed for treason in 1798.
She says this was not possible as Edward was only 11 when Richard was born.
Edward was the 5th son of Lieutenant-General James Fitzpatrick, 1st Duke of Leinster, a revolutionary who died in Newgate Prison, Dublin after being wounded.
It has also been claimed that Richard Snr was a cousin of the duke, and that the two bore strong facial resemblance to each other.
Richard's son Robert obviously bought the story, naming his daughters after those of the duke!
He may have read with interest a letter to the editor of the Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday 26 May 1857 about French wine-growing that mentioned Lord Gerald Fitzgerald, son of the Duke of Leinster.
*
Robert Fitzgerald
Richard Snr left all of his landholdings to his only surviving son, Robert Fitzgerald (1807-1865) who was 33 at the time.
His eldest son, Richard Jnr, had managed his father's properties before his premature death at age 17 in 1822, but none of these were beyond the Blue Mountains. [Source: Fitzgerald family file, Hawkesbury Library].
Robert had 10 children with three women, the first two and last one out of wedlock - a total of six daughters and three sons.
His first two children were Robert Marsden Fitzgerald, born 1835, and his sister, Adelaide, born 1839.
Their mother was a woman named Hannah.
In 1841 Robert Snr married Elizabeth Henrietta Rouse and these two children were brought up with their six girls and a boy.
Robert Snr's only son with Elizabeth, Richard, was born on the Fitzgerald property, Dabee, on 30-10-1852 and was christened at Mudgee on 8-11-1852. [Source: Fitzgerald family history by Susan Perrett.]
The boy was 13 when his father died in 1865.
*
In 1864, Robert Fitzgerald had married a widow, Charlotte Bennett, who had a son, William Robert Fitzgerald, born 1860-61. [Source: Perrett]
This child was Robert's second illegimate son and was around 5 when his father died the following year.
[See also: Post 'Irish Fitzgerald ancestry?']
*
Jimmy Governor was born in 1875, his mother's fourth child.
A prominent Fitzgerald famil, descended from a convict, y was squatting on land in the part of New South Wales where Annie was born.
I initially thought Annie's father may have been related to them, but I have not been able to prove this.
However, I have kept the information I found about this Fitzgerald family here, just in case more comes to light about this line of inquiry in the future.
*
Irish convict, Richard Fitzgerald Snr, arrived in the penal colony of New South Wales aged 19 on 28 August 1791.
He quickly proved to have excellent people skills and was appointed superintendent of convicts at Toongabbie, and later constable of the Hawkesbury district north-west of Sydney.
He was a friend of Governor Lachlan Macquarie and managed his wife's and son's landholdings after the family returned to Scotland.
According to Fitzgerald family historian, Susan Perrett, not all of his behaviour was above board, despite him rising to great heights in colonial society.
*
Richard Fitzgerald Snr had three sons:
*RICHARD Jnr b. 1805; d. 1822 age 17*
*ROBERT b. 1807; d. 1865 at Darlinghurst, Sydney aged 58
*JOHN b. 1812; d. 21 April 1835 aged 23 at Windsor, Hawkesbury
*
ROBERT FITZGERALD had two children, a boy called Robert Marsden Fitzgerald and a girl called Adelaide, out of wedlock to a woman called Hannah.
In 1841 at age 34 he married Elizabeth Henrietta Rouse, 23, and they brought up these two children together with seven of their own.
Robert and Elizabeth had six girls and one boy:
1843 Mary; 1844 Elizabeth R; 1846 Henrietta; 1848 Emily; 1850 Lucy; 1852 Richard; 1854 Louisa.
*
FROM RAGS TO RICHES - CONVICT TO MILLIONAIRE
When Richard Fitzgerald died in 1840, he left 34,000 pounds or over $4 million dollars (2003 exchange rate) in his will. [Source: Perrett]
According to Perrett, this was not all made by honest means.
At one stage, he was accused of selling vegetables grown on a government farm that were part of the colony's food rations.
He also held a publican's licence in another man's name because his other business activities precluded him from having one.
This licence was for the Macquarie Arms at Windsor.
*
RICHARD FITZGERALD SNR CLAIMED TO HAVE IRISH ARISTOCRATIC BLOOD
According to Fitzgerald family historian, Susan Perrett, Richard Fitzgerald claimed to be the illegitimate son of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, leader of the Irish rebellion who was executed for treason in 1798.
She says this was not possible as Edward was only 11 when Richard was born.
Edward was the 5th son of Lieutenant-General James Fitzpatrick, 1st Duke of Leinster, a revolutionary who died in Newgate Prison, Dublin after being wounded.
It has also been claimed that Richard Snr was a cousin of the duke, and that the two bore strong facial resemblance to each other.
Richard's son Robert obviously bought the story, naming his daughters after those of the duke!
He may have read with interest a letter to the editor of the Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday 26 May 1857 about French wine-growing that mentioned Lord Gerald Fitzgerald, son of the Duke of Leinster.
*
Robert Fitzgerald
Richard Snr left all of his landholdings to his only surviving son, Robert Fitzgerald (1807-1865) who was 33 at the time.
His eldest son, Richard Jnr, had managed his father's properties before his premature death at age 17 in 1822, but none of these were beyond the Blue Mountains. [Source: Fitzgerald family file, Hawkesbury Library].
Robert had 10 children with three women, the first two and last one out of wedlock - a total of six daughters and three sons.
His first two children were Robert Marsden Fitzgerald, born 1835, and his sister, Adelaide, born 1839.
Their mother was a woman named Hannah.
In 1841 Robert Snr married Elizabeth Henrietta Rouse and these two children were brought up with their six girls and a boy.
Robert Snr's only son with Elizabeth, Richard, was born on the Fitzgerald property, Dabee, on 30-10-1852 and was christened at Mudgee on 8-11-1852. [Source: Fitzgerald family history by Susan Perrett.]
The boy was 13 when his father died in 1865.
*
In 1864, Robert Fitzgerald had married a widow, Charlotte Bennett, who had a son, William Robert Fitzgerald, born 1860-61. [Source: Perrett]
This child was Robert's second illegimate son and was around 5 when his father died the following year.
[See also: Post 'Irish Fitzgerald ancestry?']
*
Jimmy Governor was born in 1875, his mother's fourth child.
