Mamie Fitzgerald ~1922-1969 & Thomas Hearne ~1919-~2015
This page to investigate who Mamie was - an illegitimate daughter of Martin Fitzgerald and Mary Kirwan ??
Nick discovered this Tramore headstone - 1/3/2021 on the Fitzgerald N.Y. Whatsapp page
In Loving Memory of
Nicholas Doody
Endsleigh Place
Who died 22 September 1949 aged 64 years
His wife Mary died 17 March 1962
Their daughter Mamie Hearne (Marian Terrace)
22nd February 1969 aged 48
Her grandson Thomas Corcoran
died 22nd November 1976 aged 6 months
And Loving Husband
Thomas (Tosh) Hearne
Died 14th October 2011 aged 96 years.
Mamie’s daughter Maureen Hearne’s married name is Corcoran. She lost a baby boy in 1976.
It is thought that Granddad Martin FitzGerald, 1870, was the father of several children ‘out of wedlock’. One of these was Mamie (Mary?). She was a bit younger than Teresa, 1918, & was raised with the family - and much loved by her father. The two young girls were and remained great pals.
1920.A Mary Kirwan was born 6/12/1920, fatherless, mother's maiden name Dillon?- .irishgen
But image not available - suggesting something odd about the birth
"There is currently no image to display. This may be because the record was registered or amended in a later year, or there are quality issues with the original image . If you have any further queries you can contact the General Register Office at gro@groireland.ie.".
A baptism for this birth exists on RI. in Kill on 21/6/1921, mother Mary Kirwan, sponsor Margaret Abbott - Kill 17 k W of Tramore
1922-. A second baptism exists on RI on 2/6/1922 in Trinity Without for another fatherless Mary Kirwan, address Lower Yellowstone Road : mother again Mary Kirwan, a Margaret Kirwan a sponsor . Nick thinks she was born 25/12/1921
I think the second 1922 baptism is more likely that of our Mamie- year of birth closer to that of family lore, fits better with age at death and place more likely
A 1922 b.c will not become available on irishgen until , likely, 2023
It is thought she was 'adopted' into the home of Martin Fitzgerald & Kate Hutchinson, whose last child, of 13, Teresa, Nick's mother, had been born in 1918
Alice, Mamie & Teasie ~ 1925 . What age difference exists between the 2 teenies?? - we think 3 and a half
1929 Nicholas Doody, ~1885, married Mary Kirwan, ~1891, in Butterstown in 1929. Butterstown 10 k N of Tramore; 5 k SW of Waterford . This m.c. not avilable
It is thought that at this stage Mary Doody/Kirwan wanted her daughter back - see below
cerca 1948. . Mamie married Thomas (Tosh) Hearne, born ~1915. They lived in Marrian Park, Tramore and had four children: John 1948, Maureen 1950 and 2 much younger boys, Thomas & Anthony
BUT No marriage of a Thomas Hearne to her! It is thought he too was illegitimate! THIS Marriage still needs to be discovered!!
There is a 1943 marriage of a Thomas Hearne to Margaret Power in Waterford -this is in the wrong place and nothing fits!
Thomas Hearne, 19, porter, of Lower Yellow Road Waterford married 19 yr old Margaret Power of 83 Roanmore Waterford, father Patrick Power. 26/12/1943. Witnesses:Frances Power & James Lonergan??
There is also a 1948 marriage in Trinity Without, Waterford of a Thomas Hearne to Helen McGuiness daughter of James McG & Anaestasia Mackan-RI
BUT
the 2008 long article, printed at bottom of the page, on Tosh Hearne, then aged 89, in the Munster Express states he married Mamie in 1949, being in the Irish Army at the time
1969. Mary Hearne, 46, wife of Thomas Hearne, commercial traveller, died 22/2/1969 at 59 Mariam Terrace Tramore . - so born ~1922
There were two others; boys, probably. One was possibly named Kirby. I’m curious about these kids. Mom always said they (Mamie, at any rate) were ‘adopted’. Understandably, she didn’t discuss them further. All will have been born after 1918. Only recently did it emerge that Martin was something of a ‘wandering gardener’ who cast his seed rather less than carefully.
“From what Johnny Hearne, son of Mamie & Tosh, told me, after all the Fitz were dead- maybe 1980s? - he demanded of Tosh which of them had been Mamie’s father. Tosh told him it was Martin ; I don't know whether Tosh knew this for a fact or not.
And also: “I remember hearing when I was young that when Mamie was about 7 or 8 her mother wanted to take her back and Martin refused, saying she was one of the family. But maybe [the mother] had been allowed access since then.” - Betty, and, with the discovery of the above headstone, it would seem that Mamie did indeed also become part of the Doody family though still known locally as Mamie Fitzgerald, at least until 1938
Mamie Fitzgerald is mentioned in the Waterford Standard of 4/7/1936 in a Tramore Foursome reel. And again on 4/6/1938
1969. Mamie Hearne died quite young, aged 46, at 59 Marian Terrace, Tramore, of a haemorrage, her husband a commercial traveller . Tosh died a few years ago, 2011, when well into his 90s.
Her son, Johnie Hearne, became a Christian brother
2011. Thomas Hearne, 98, died . No birth certificate for him 1912-1919 under this name!
Br. John Hearne, cfc
Br. John Hearne was born in Tramore, Co. Waterford and received his early education in Tramore C.B.S. He joined the Christian Brothers in 1962. John has taught in primary schools in Greystones, Ss. Peter and Paul’s, Clonmel, and Scoil Iosagain, Dublin. After studying Irish, French and Catechetics in U.C.D. he taught in secondary schools in Dun Laoghaire, Youghal and Thurles. Recently he taught in the Life Centre, Cherry Orchard. For three years John served as Vocations Director. He has also been involved in Boards of Management at primary and secondary level. He served as Community Leader in Youghal, Thurles and Mount Merrion. John joined the Mount Sion community in September 2012 and is glad to be back on home territory where he looks forward to following the fortunes of the Deise
The article below was in the Munster Express, 2008. So Tosh seemingly 89 then, would have been born ~1919
It’s sixty years since Tramore elected its first Town Commissioners and among the special guests at the diamond anniversary celebrations this week was the only surviving candidate from 1948.
Tosh (Thomas) Hearne, in the army at the time, was one of three men who contested the election “on behalf of the workers”. The other two, both postmen, were Stan Lennon and John “Steel” O’Brien and the latter won a seat.
“There was a meeting of workers at which three of us were nominated to go forward with the aim of aiding the cause of the ordinary man and woman. I’d like to think that Stan and I helped get Steel in”, Tosh recalled as he prepared for the celebration party in the local, plush Civic Offices on Tuesday night.
He wasn’t at all disappointed not to get elected himself. “It was a novelty at the time and we didn’t take it too seriously”, he recollected at his comfortable Marian Terrace home. .
He didn’t stand again but in fact Tosh, 89 last Saturday, has since contributed more to his community than many a dedicated politician. A founder member of both Tramore Boxing Club, which he then served as long time secretary and the town’s Credit Union, to which his contributions through the years were many-faceted, he is also a Past President of the CBS Past Pupils Union.
As a young man he boxed for a spell at welterweight level and he has a passing interest in horseracing, but his prime passion in sport is soccer. Liverpool has always been his team and long before the term was fashionable he was a striker – and an effective one too – with Tramore Rookies. At the time the town only had the one soccer team and it played in the Munster Senior League as well as the Waterford Junior League.
The game is much faster now than in his day and it has become “too professional”, Tosh reckons.
Originally from Waterford Road, Tramore, he married Mamie in 1949 and they had a family of four: John, Superior at Mount Merrion Christian Brothers Monastery in Dublin; Tom, a Storeman in Sydney, Australia; Tony, an Electrical Engineer based in Dublin; and only daughter Maureen (Corcoran), who lives locally at Moonloun. Mamie died young in 1969, leaving Tosh a widower since then.
He retired from the army in 1952, having reached the rank of Sergeant and worked at Sloan’s drapery and furniture store in Waterford’s Michael St. until it closed down in 1982.
At the time of his tilt at local politics Tosh wasn’t attached to any particular party but subsequently threw in his lot with Fine Gael and was local branch secretary for many years. He’s disappointed, however, with the party’s current standing. “They’re not going very well – the leadership is too weak”, is his verdict. And he doesn’t see any obvious candidates who might radically alter the situation either.
How about Tramore then and now – 1948 compared to 2008? “At that time everyone knew everybody else in the town”, he remembers. “And you could leave your door open day or night. Today’s crime is definitely a big negative factor”.
But people are better off materially – and more confident in themselves, which is a good thing, Tosh concedes. The town still needs industry though to create jobs.
The celebration party, to which all surviving Commissioners were also invited, was hosted by Mayor Joe Conway and the Town Council – the Commissioners having been upgraded in status in 2001.