Person in this family
Margaret Fraher
before 1849 – 27 March 1891
Margaret Fraher married farmer John Fitzgerald at Kildorrery on 25 February 1870; the record names her father as Richard Fraher, a farmer.
Proved by a record
Margaret Fraher, born by 1849, married farmer John Fitzgerald at Kildorrery on 25 February 1870.
Died at Cullane South, County Cork, Ireland
Recorded as: Mary Fraher, Maggie Fitzgerald
How is this person related?
Andrew John Leahey’s great-great-grandparent
Gina D. Cacace’s spouse's great-great-grandparent (by marriage)
Abigail Ann Leahey’s great-great-great-grandparent
Marie C. Fitzgerald’s great-grandparent
Kevin Leahey’s spouse's great-grandparent (by marriage)
Worked out from the recorded parents and marriages. No sex is recorded for anyone in this archive, so the wording stays neutral.
How this person is related to Andrew:
Margaret Fraher is your 2× great-grandparent.
Life
Margaret Fraher married John Fitzgerald in the Roman Catholic Chapel of Kildorrery on 25 February 1870. The civil record describes her as of "Full age," meaning at least 21, so she was born no later than 1849. It names her father as Richard Fraher, a farmer.
The entry reads in part:
"Marriage of JOHN FITZGERALD and MARGARET FRAHER on 25 February 1870. Roman Catholic Chapel of Kildorrery. Full age. Richd Fraher."
Civil birth records identify Margaret, under the married form "Margaret Fitzgerald formerly Fraher," as the mother of Richard, Ellen, David, William, and Johanna Fitzgerald, born at Cullane between 1872 and 1878. Our family tree adds Mary F., Maurice, Helena, and another Maurice entry, but those additions are not all independently supported and include overlapping birth years.
Margaret's exact birth and death are not known, and this archive does not settle which Cullane locality the family occupied.
How we know this: Her marriage and five children's births are documented; her own exact vital dates and several family-tree children remain unresolved. [1][2][3][4]
Family
Parents
Spouse
Children
See this family in the family treeWhere they lived
- 1870: Kilclooney, County Cork, Ireland
Use the place list first. The map below is optional.
Places listed on this page
- Cloyne, County Cork, Ireland
- Kildorrery, County Cork, Ireland
- Mitchelstown, County Cork, Ireland
- Ballylanders, County Limerick, Ireland
- Galbally, County Cork, Ireland
- Cullane (county unresolved), Ireland
- County Cork, Ireland
- Ireland
- Ireland (County Cork)
The map could not load. The complete place list is above it.
The pins show approximate places. The line only joins them in time order; it does not prove the route travelled. 3 of the places listed above are recorded only as a county or country, so they are not pinned. Cemetery and burial places have red pins.
Timeline
Born before
Inferred from the 25 February 1870 marriage record, which describes Margaret as full age (21 or older). [1]
Proved by a record
Married
Twenty fifth February 1870 ... Roman Catholic Chapel of Kildorrery ... John Fitzgerald ... Margaret Fraher
Proved by a record
Married at Kildorrery
Married in the Roman Catholic Chapel of Kildorrery, County Cork, by Danl O'Brien P.P. John Fitzgerald, of full age, a bachelor and farmer of Carrakeen, son of Maurice FitzGerald, farmer; Margaret Fraher, of full age, a spinster of Kilclooney, daughter of Richard Fraher, farmer. Witnesses John Connell and Joanna Downey. John signed his own name; Margaret signed by mark. [2]
Proved by a record
Son David born at Cullane
Named in David's civil birth register: John Fitzgerald of Cullane, farmer, and Margaret Fitzgerald formerly Fraher. [3]
Proved by a record
Original records
Tap to open a larger copyCivil birth register, David Fitzgerald, 28 Mar 1875, Cullane
Civil registration means an official government record of a birth, marriage, or death. It matters on this page because it records information connected with Margaret Fraher.
Tap to open a larger copyCivil birth register, Ellen Fitzgerald, 2 May 1873, Cullane
Civil registration means an official government record of a birth, marriage, or death. It matters on this page because it records information connected with Margaret Fraher.
Tap to open a larger copyCivil marriage register, John Fitzgerald and Margaret Fraher, 25 Feb 1870, Kildorrery
Civil registration means an official government record of a birth, marriage, or death. It matters on this page because it records information connected with Margaret Fraher.
Tap to open a larger copyCivil birth register, Johanna Fitzgerald, 2 Dec 1878, Cullane
Civil registration means an official government record of a birth, marriage, or death. It matters on this page because it records information connected with Margaret Fraher.
Tap to open a larger copyCivil birth register, Richard Fitzgerald, 17 Apr 1872, Cullane
Civil registration means an official government record of a birth, marriage, or death. It matters on this page because it records information connected with Margaret Fraher.
Tap to open a larger copyCivil birth register, William Fitzgerald, 11 Jan 1877, Cullane
Civil registration means an official government record of a birth, marriage, or death. It matters on this page because it records information connected with Margaret Fraher.
What the records say
4 records transcribed.
Record exhibit
civil image
This old record gives information about the person or family named here.
Proved by a record
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
Marriage of JOHN FITZGERALD and MARGARET FRAHER on 25 February 1870, | Roman Catholic Chapel of Kildorrery | Full age, | Maurice Fitzgerald, | Kildorrery, | Richd Fraher, | Margaret Fitzgerald formerly Fraher. | Full age | 1 JAN 1859 | Diocese of Cloyne | County of Cork | Richd Fraher
Record exhibit
Irish civil marriage register, John Fitzgerald and Margaret Fraher, 25 February 1870, Kildorrery, Co. Cork
Civil registration means an official government record of a birth, marriage, or death.
Partly proved
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
February 25th 1870 | John FitzGerald, of full age, Bachelor, Farmer, Carrakeen, father Maurice FitzGerald, Farmer | Margt Fraher, of full age, Spinster, Kilclooney, father Rich'd Fraher, Farmer | Roman Catholic Chapel of Kildorrery | Danl O'Brien P.P. | witnesses John Connell, Joanna Downey
Record exhibit
Irish civil birth register, David Fitzgerald, 28 March 1875, Cullane, Ballylanders
Civil registration means an official government record of a birth, marriage, or death.
Partly proved
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
116 | Twenty eighth March 1875, Cullane, Ballylanders | David | Male | John Fitzgerald, Cullane | Margaret Fitzgerald formerly Fraher | Farmer | John Fitzgerald, Father, Cullane | registered Fifth April 1875 | M.P. O'Connor, Registrar
Record exhibit
Irish civil birth register, Richard Fitzgerald, 17 April 1872, Cullane, Ballylanders, Galbally district
Civil registration means an official government record of a birth, marriage, or death.
Partly proved
Verbatim transcription currently held in this archive — reproduced in full.
399 | Seventeenth April 1872, Cullane, Ballylanders | Richard | Male | John Fitzgerald, Cullane | Margaret Fitzgerald formerly Fraher | Farmer | John Fitzgerald, Father, Cullane | registered Twenty Sixth June 1872. Superintendent Registrar's District Mitchelstown, Registrar's District GALBALLY, Union of Mitchelstown, County of LIMERICK.
Historical context
These background articles explain the places, work, and events in this entry.
What Sponsors and Witnesses Can Tell Us
Catholic registers often preserve the people standing just outside a family photograph. A baptism normally names the child, parents, date and sponsors or godparents; a marriage normally names the couple and wit…
Reading Irish Civil Registration
The year 1864 is the dividing line in this family’s Irish paper trail. Civil registration began in 1845 for non-Catholic and civil marriages, but from 1 January 1864 the law required registration of all births,…
Farmers and Labourers in North Cork
Two words in the Cork records—“farmer” and “labourer”—describe different positions in the same rural economy. When John Fitzgerald married Margaret Fraher at Kildorrery in 1870, the register called John, his fa…
Islandeady and Derrycriff, County Mayo
Islandeady is not an island off Galway. It is a rural parish between Castlebar and Westport in County Mayo, set among lakes and low hills in the shadow of Croagh Patrick. That distinction solves a long-standing…
The Irish Road to Ipswich, Queensland
Most branches on this site point toward New York or New Jersey. The Hickey–McGreevy–McGuire cluster points in the opposite direction, to Ipswich, Queensland. The Australian evidence is uneven: cemetery records …
What we still don't know
- Her exact birth date and place
- Her death date and place
- Which Cullane locality the family occupied
- Whether every child added by our family tree belonged to this household
- Her birth was before 1849, inferred from the 1870 marriage record describing her as full age; obtain a birth or baptism record for an exact date and place.
- The 1870 marriage register names her “Margt Fraher” in the entry but “Mary her mark Fraher” on the signature line. Her son David's 1877 birth register says “Margaret Fitzgerald formerly Fraher”. Margaret is treated as her name and Mary recorded as a variant. Note the same Mary/Margaret interchange occurs for Margaret Boyle in the Farrelly family — it appears to be a clerical habit of the period, not evidence against an identification.
- The family's registration geography is now precise. Cullane, Ballylanders sits in the **Galbally** registrar's district, **County Limerick**, inside the **Mitchelstown** Poor Law Union. Flemingstown, where Catherine Condon was born, is in the same **Mitchelstown union**. An earlier note in this archive described the Fitzgeralds and Condons as families 'twenty miles apart in different counties' — that overstated the distance. Both were inside one union, which makes the marriage an ordinary local one. Galbally had never been searched before August 2026 because it was absent from the district lists used.
References
- [1] civil imageBack to citation 1a Back to citation 1b
- [2] Irish civil marriage register, John Fitzgerald and Margaret Fraher, 25 February 1870, Kildorrery, Co. CorkBack to citation 2a Back to citation 2b
- [3] Irish civil birth register, David Fitzgerald, 28 March 1875, Cullane, BallylandersBack to citation 3a Back to citation 3b
- [4] Irish civil birth register, Richard Fitzgerald, 17 April 1872, Cullane, Ballylanders, Galbally districtBack to citation 4