JFK’s daughter to visit sites of family ancestral homes
Land records show that both Thomas Fitzgerald and Mary Ann Fitzgerald — the paternal grandfather and maternal grandmother to JFK’s mother, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy — were cousins who lived beside each other on the Palatine Rd in Bruff.
On the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy’s visit to Ireland, his daughter Caroline Kennedy will be brought to the site of her great, great grandparents’ homes on Jun 21, when she visits Bruff as part of The Gathering.
There is no trace now of the rural homes in the adjacent fields where the Fitzgerald-Kennedy dynasty began, but it is thought the cousins would have lived in the typical tenants’ thatched cottages dotted all over Ireland in the 1800s. Records show that both houses were rented from local landlords.
Declan Hehir of Bruff Community Council said records in the 19th century property tax survey Griffith’s Valuation show both of Rose’s grandparents lived on the same street in Bruff as young adults.
“We’ve seen records from Griffith’s Valuation which show us the great grandparents lived about 20 yards apart. The Kennedys always knew the close connection but now all the records show how strong it is.
“When they left Bruff to go to Boston, Thomas and Mary Ann were both quite young. Thomas was 27 and Mary Ann was 16.
“The Bible which was used to swear in John F Kennedy to office came from Bruff. Thomas Fitzgerald brought it over to America with him.”
Caroline Kennedy visited her ancestral family home in Wexford with her mother Jackie in 1967 but this will be her first visit to Bruff.
