A labourer from Co. Limerick who spent 21 years as a soldier of the 62nd Regiment of Foot, nearly 17 of them in India, then cleared and farmed a free grant on the Hastings Road for 32 years. He was the first of the Fitzgibbon male line in Canada.
This account is written for anyone descended from him, or curious about him. It keeps to what the records show. Where a statement rests on family research not yet checked against a document, or is a reasonable guess, the text says so. Those statements are marked family research.
James was born around 1810 in the parish of Cappagh, Co. Limerick, a few miles north of the market town of Rathkeale and about 15 miles southwest of Limerick city. His army discharge records his birthplace as “the Parish of Cappagh, in or near the Town of Limerick” and his trade as labourer. He gave his age as 19 when he enlisted in February 1830. Later records agree: 52 in the 1861 census, 61 in 1871, and 81 at his death in 1891.
Cappagh was a small rural parish. Samuel Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary of 1837 counts 694 people on 1,124 acres, with stony ground and limestone breaking through in places. The village had a police station and a large, plain, thatched Catholic chapel, and the parish had one private school of about 50 children. Rathkeale parish next door was much larger, about 8,800 people.
The Fitzgibbon name was familiar in the district without being common in Cappagh itself. Griffith’s Valuation (1852) lists no Fitzgibbon households in Cappagh parish, eight in Rathkeale and 123 across Co. Limerick.
His parents, brothers and sisters are not yet known.
He grew up in troubled years. In 1821–24 the “Rockite” agrarian rising brought burnings and killings across Co. Limerick, with Rathkeale at its centre. In October 1821 the county’s chief magistrate of police, Major Richard Going, was shot dead on the road between Rathkeale and Cappagh. Two men were hanged for it at Limerick in March 1823: Patrick Neville and a James Fitzgibbon, aged about 27 or 28. That man was born around 1795 and cannot be our James, who was about 12 at the time. No link between the two families has been found. He is mentioned here so that descendants searching the newspapers aren’t misled by the shared name.
On 10 February 1830 James was attested at Limerick for the 62nd Regiment of Foot as Private No. 737. He served 21 years. Of those, about 16 years and 10 months were spent in the East Indies, mostly India, and about 10 months at the Cape of Good Hope. The regimental surgeon summed it up at his discharge as “long service (18 years) in India.”
His discharge papers list every change of rank:
| Rank | From | To | Time in rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private | 9 Feb 1830 | 25 Feb 1834 | 4 yrs 17 days |
| Corporal | 26 Feb 1834 | 6 Feb 1835 | 346 days |
| Serjeant | 7 Feb 1835 | 17 Oct 1836 | 1 yr 253 days |
| Private (reduced) | 18 Oct 1836 | 16 Sept 1846 | 9 yrs 334 days |
| Corporal | 17 Sept 1846 | 9 Oct 1847 | 1 yr 23 days |
| Serjeant | 10 Oct 1847 | 5 May 1851 | 3 yrs 208 days |
He rose fast. He was a serjeant within five years of enlisting, at about 24. In October 1836 he was reduced to private and stayed in the ranks for ten years. The papers don’t give a reason or a place. family research places the reduction in Burma.
The ten years in the ranks were not years of bad conduct. He was awarded good conduct pay three times, on 1 May 1841, 9 February 1844 and 1 January 1846, each award marking years without an offence on his record.
In 1845–46 the 62nd fought in the First Anglo-Sikh War, the campaign of the Sutlej. James “was present with the campaign of the Sutledge in 1845 & 46 and was present at the Battles of Ferozeshah and Sobraon,” and received the Sutlej medal with clasp. He fought both battles as a private. Ferozeshah, on 21–22 December 1845, was among the bloodiest battles the British fought in India. The 62nd lost heavily there, and many more of its men to disease. Seven months after Sobraon he was made corporal again.
At some point in these years he married for the first time. His first wife died before October 1847, when he remarried as a widower. Her name, and when and where she died, are not known.
Leaving India, the regiment spent about ten months at the Cape of Good Hope. There, on 11 October 1847, James married Bridget Butler in the Roman Catholic church at Cape Town, after banns. He had been promoted serjeant again the day before.
The marriage register describes him as a widower and serjeant of the 62nd Regiment, and her as a spinster and servant. He signed “J. Fitzgibbon, Sergt 62nd Regt.” Bridget, who could not write, made her mark, as did one of the witnesses, Mary Black. The South African Commercial Advertiser of 20 November 1847 printed the notice:
in the Roman Catholic Church: Oct 11: James FITZGIBBON, serjeant 62nd Regt, to Bridget BUTLER.
Bridget was Irish-born and about 20, some 17 years younger than James. family research says she had lived through the frontier (Xhosa) war at the Cape. How an Irish girl came to be in service at Cape Town is one of the family’s open questions.
The regiment sailed home. family research says their first child, MaryAnn, was born in England on the way, around 1848, and that the 62nd then served in Ireland during the last years of the Great Famine. Their son Michael was born in Ireland around 1849.
By 1851 the years in India had worn James out. On 5 May 1851 a regimental board at Richmond Barracks, Dublin, met to record his service and character. It reported “his general character has been that of a good and faithful Soldier, trustworthy and sober.” The regiment’s surgeon, Wm L. Langley, wrote:
this man’s disability arises from Chronic Rheumatism and impaired general health, the result of long service (18 years) in India, not aggravated by vice, misconduct or intemperance.
A medical board at Dublin found him unfit for further service on 19 May, and his discharge was approved on 26 May 1851. His service counted for pension was 21 years and 107 days. He signed for his final pay as “Jas Fitzgibbon.”
He was admitted to an army out-pension of one shilling and sixpence a day, permanent, from 10 June 1851. For the rest of his life this was the family’s steady cash. The pension registers show it was first paid in the Limerick district, up to 31 December 1851, so he went home to Co. Limerick after his discharge.
After 31 December 1851 James’s pension was transferred from Limerick to Canada West, as Ontario was then called. The family crossed the Atlantic in spring 1852: James, Bridget, MaryAnn and Michael, with Bridget heavily pregnant. Their son James, known in the family as Jem, was born in Toronto on 14 May 1852 and baptized there on 14 June by Father T. Fitzhenry, “aged thirty one days.” His godparents were Gerald and Bridget Rahly.
For the next few years the family lived west and northwest of Toronto. Ellen was born around 1854. family research places them at Wildfield, in Toronto Gore Township, in 1855–56. Their son John was born about 18 May 1856 and baptized on 25 May 1856 by Eugene O’Reilly, the missionary priest for the Catholic settlements of the Gore, Albion and Caledon.
At the end of 1856 the family moved east. The pension register for the Kingston district records James’s pension transferred from Toronto, paid there up to 31 December 1856. An undated pension list for “Madoc Station” shows Serjeant James Fitzgibbon, 62nd Foot, at 1s 6d, living at “Hastings,” an older name for Madoc village. Other pensioners on the same list are entered at “Madoc” or “Hastings Road.” If the list dates from 1857–58, it shows the family living near Madoc before they went north.
Madoc was the gateway to the Hastings Road, a colonization road the government was pushing north into the Canadian Shield. From 1856 it offered 100 acres free to any settler who would take possession within a month, clear and cultivate 12 acres within four years, build a house at least 20 by 18 feet, and live on the land until the conditions were met.
Catherine was born around 1858, and William (Willie) in 1859.
In 1859 James, then about 49, took up Lots 10 and 11 on the west side of the Hastings Road in Wollaston Township, about 24 miles north of Madoc. The road lots were 50 acres each, so the two together made his 100-acre free grant. The month they arrived isn’t recorded. They came with six or seven children, from MaryAnn at about 11 down to Catherine or the newborn Willie. Settlers on that stretch faced corduroy road, rock, swamp and blackflies, a long day’s walk from Madoc.
The land he chose was, by the standards of that rocky road, good. Geological and soil maps show a band of marble (limestone) and richer rock meeting the road at his lots, with a creek, a dry front and a pond behind. In the 1871 assessment roll his was one of only three holdings on the nearby Wollaston–Limerick stretch of the road with 30 or more acres cleared.
The 1861 census found the family living in a one-storey log house. James is listed as 52, “Yeoman,” born in Ireland, Roman Catholic. Next door, on Lot 9, Alexander Menzies kept a tavern. Two more children were born on the lot, Charles around 1861–62 and Margaret (or Mary) around 1863.
He met the grant conditions. On 27 September 1864 the Crown issued the patent for Lots 10 and 11, “all, 100 acres,” to James Fitzgibbon. Several of his neighbours received theirs the same day.
The family had sorrows as well. family research records that Michael, the eldest son, died in 1866. In 1867, when James was about 57 and Bridget about 40, their youngest son Thomas was born.
In 1871 James was assessed as a freeholder, aged 61, Roman Catholic, with 100 acres, 30 of them cleared, valued at $80.
The census of the same year shows the whole household. James, a farmer, and Bridget, 44, had ten children at home: James Jr (18, labourer), Ellen, John, Catherine, William, Charles, Margaret, Patrick, a second Michael aged 5, and Thomas, 3. Their neighbours on the same page include Alexander Menzies, the hotel keeper on Lot 9, and Angus Robertson, a Scottish weaver, who later wrote out James’s will.
By the 1881 census James was 70 and still farming. With him and Bridget were John, Catherine, Charles, Michael and Thomas. Their son William, 23 and married, was farming in the next household.
In July 1885 he made his will. He dictated it to a neighbour, Angus Robertson, read it over and signed it himself. It is short:
I do hereby will and bequeath to my wife Bridget Fitz Gibbon my landed property consisting of lots No. 10 and 11 grants west Hastings road Township Wollaston County Hastings also every thing on the place horses cattle sheep pigs &c. &c. after my death the whole property will be owned by her.
If she died first, the will was void. William McKillican witnessed it.
James Fitzgibbon died at Wollaston on 6 February 1891, aged 81, of old age, with no doctor. The death register describes him, 40 years after he left the army, as a “British pensioner.” (McKillican’s affidavit for the will, sworn in January 1892, gives the year as 1890. The civil registration, made seven weeks after the death, is more likely right.) When the census taker came on 30 April 1891, Bridget, 62, was a widow and listed herself as the farmer, with Thomas, 22, farming beside her. The will was registered on 1 February 1892. According to family research, the family left Lots 10 and 11 in 1893, 34 years after James had walked onto them.
Start of boyhood approximate. About 21 years in the army, about 31 on the Hastings Road lots.
James and Bridget had at least twelve children, born in England, Ireland, Toronto and the bush of North Hastings.
| Name | Born | Where | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| James Fitzgibbon | c. 1810 | Cappagh, Co. Limerick | Died Wollaston, 6 Feb 1891 |
| First wife (name unknown) | Died before Oct 1847 | ||
| Bridget Butler | c. 1827 | Ireland | Married James 11 Oct 1847, Cape Town; 44 in 1871, 54 in 1881; widow and farmer, 62, in 1891 |
| MaryAnn | c. 1848 | England | Not in the household by 1871 |
| Michael | c. 1849 | Ireland | Eldest son; died 1866 |
| James Jr (Jem) | 14 May 1852 | Toronto | Labourer at home, 1871; later a miner |
| Ellen | c. 1854 | Canada West | At home, 1871 |
| John | c. 18 May 1856 | Toronto Gore area | At home, 1871 and 1881 |
| Catherine | c. 1858 | Canada West | At home, 1871 |
| William (Willie) | c. 1859–61 | Canada West | Married farmer next door to his parents, 1881 |
| Charles | c. 1861–62 | Wollaston | At home, 1871 and 1881 |
| Margaret (or Mary) | c. 1863 | Wollaston | At home, 1871 |
| Patrick | c. 1865 | Wollaston | At home, 1871 |
| Michael | c. 1866 | Wollaston | Born about the year his eldest brother died; at home, 1871 and 1881 |
| Thomas | 1867 | Wollaston | Died 1951; married Elizabeth Waudby (Woodby; 1874–1937) at Madoc, 30 Apr 1894; farmed Lot 31, Concession 7, Limerick Township |
Thomas and Elizabeth’s children included Margaret Anne (b. 24 Nov 1898), William Thomas (b. 23 May 1901), Florence (b. 7 Aug 1905) and Charles E. (b. 22 Nov 1906). Through Thomas the Fitzgibbon name continued in North Hastings into the 20th century.
Dates marked “c.” are worked out from census ages. Several children’s births and later lives are still to be traced.
These are the best next steps for anyone carrying the research on.
The records below were found by family researchers. Copies are held with the family’s research files.
| Record | What it shows | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Discharge papers, 62nd Foot, 1851 | Birthplace, trade, enlistment, every rank, service abroad, battles, medal, character, medical report | The National Archives (UK), WO 97/755/31; online at Findmypast |
| Army pension registers | Pension from 10 June 1851; transfers Limerick to Canada West, then Toronto to Kingston | The National Archives (UK), WO 22 |
| Pension list, “Madoc Station” (undated) | Residence “Hastings” (Madoc) | Army pension records (exact reference to confirm) |
| Marriage register, Roman Catholic Church, Cape Town, 1847 (no. 54) | Marriage to Bridget Butler, 11 Oct 1847 | Cape Town church registers (duplicate original) |
| South African Commercial Advertiser, 20 Nov 1847 | Marriage notice | Families in British India Society (FIBIS) database |
| Baptism of James Jr, Toronto, 14 June 1852 | Birth 14 May 1852; parents James Fitzgibbon and Bridget Butler | Catholic register, Toronto (priest T. Fitzhenry) |
| Baptism of John, 25 May 1856 | Birth c. 18 May 1856 | Register of Eugene O’Reilly, missionary priest, p. 279 |
| 1861 census of Canada West, Wollaston, District 1, p. 7 | Household, ages, log house | Library and Archives Canada |
| Crown patent, 27 Sept 1864 | Lots 10 and 11 West, Hastings Road, 100 acres | Ontario patent books, “Wollaston West Side Hastings Road”, p. 442 |
| Assessment roll, 1871 | Freeholder, 61; 100 acres, 30 cleared, $80 | United Townships of Tudor, Wollaston, Limerick and Cashel |
| 1871 census of Ontario, District 62 (North Riding of Hastings), Sub-district 8 (Wollaston, Limerick, Cashel), p. 7 | Household of James and Bridget with ten children; neighbours Menzies and Robertson | Library and Archives Canada |
| 1881 census of Canada, District 122 (North Hastings), Sub-district 9 (Wollaston), pp. 12–13 | James 70, Bridget 54, five children at home; William farming next door | Library and Archives Canada |
| Will no. 252 (made 1885, registered 1 Feb 1892) and McKillican affidavit | Estate left to Bridget | Hastings County will registers |
| Death registration, Wollaston, 1891 | Died 6 Feb 1891, aged 81, “British pensioner” | Archives of Ontario, death registrations |
| 1891 census of Canada, District 74 (North Hastings), Wollaston, p. 31 (enumerated 30 Apr 1891) | Bridget, 62, widow, farmer; Thomas, 22, farmer | Library and Archives Canada |
| Ontario birth registrations, 1898–1906 | Children of Thomas Fitzgibbon and Elizabeth Woodby | Archives of Ontario |
| Headstone of Thomas Fitzgibbon and Elizabeth Waudby | Thomas 1867–1951; Elizabeth 1874–1937 | Family photograph |
Background sources: Samuel Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837), entry for Cappagh (libraryireland.com); Griffith’s Valuation surname counts (johngrenham.com); Limerick Chronicle, 15 Mar 1823, and Connaught Journal, 24 Mar 1823, on the Going trial (irelandoldnews.com); the 1856 Hastings Road free-grant notices; Ontario Department of Mines Map 2020 (Wollaston) and the 1962 Hastings County soil survey.