The Fitzgerald Family of Bedford Township, Frontenac County

James J. Barrett | Sep 22, 2023

Thomas Fitzgerald, a native of County Limerick, Ireland immigrated to British North America by sailing ship with his family escaping the Great Famine in Ireland. Thomas stemmed from the Townland of Curraghbeg, a rural parish which lies about one mile west of the village of Adare. Upon the time of Thomas Fitzgerald and his families’ immigration to British North America, the family settled on the Buck Bay Road in Bedford Township, Frontenac County, Ontario.

For Thomas’s children, whom all immigrated, Bridget Ellen married John Frawley, and later John Burns [Byrne], settling at the Burns Road near the hamlet of Burridge. Catherine married William W. Caffery and settled in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Mary married William Fitzgerald of no relation and settled on the Buck Bay Road at Glendower. Edward married Sarah Jane Scott of Hinchinbrooke Township and settled not far from his father’s farm on the Buck Bay Road. Thomas Jr. married Bridget Mangan and settled on the Buck Bay Road near Bob’s Lake, and Thomas’s youngest daughter Ellen married Patrick Kiley and settled on the Kiley homestead in Glendower. Of these marriages, their descendents married into the Hickey, Coulter and Mulville families of Bedford Township and many, many descendants remain in Bedford Township, Westport, and the outlying areas to this day.

Tracing Thomas Fitzgerald and his descendants stemming from Bedford Township has become a 765 page chronological history on the Fitzgerald family that is nearly at its completion. Through a vast amount of research, this book explores Irish immigrant Thomas Fitzgerald, his children and the first four to five generations of their descendants and offers an accurate record of the Fitzgerald family in Canada and the United States, all descending from Thomas Fitzgerald, native of rural County Limerick, Ireland.

Additional photographs to complete the story of the Fitzgerald Family of Bedford Township are sought. Many area residents have contributed family photographs and family information and for that I am truly grateful. For those interested in contributing to this book, it’s time to break out the old photo albums and I will make my best attempt to add the photographs of your forefathers, farmsteads or group family photos to the book. Deadline for receiving photograph contributions is October 10, 2023. For those interested in purchasing a copy of the book, the plan is to have the Fitzgerald family book available for Christmas. No price is available at this time, however if interested in you can contact me by call, text or email:

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705-988-6129

Thanks, James J. Barrett, grandson of James E. “Jim” Barrett and Marcella Fitzgeral