Thomas Fitzwilliam arrived in New Orleans in 1821, according to his naturalization papers, the tradition being that he came from the Vale of Avoca, County Wicklow, by way of Virginia. That same year he married Anna Hennings, born in Amsterdam, and the daughter of Michael and Margaritte Hennings. (A copy of the marriage certificate has three mistakes: his place of birth is given as "Meneribben" instead of Moneyribben; his father's name is given as Thomas instead of James, and his bride's birthplace is listed as Hamburg.)
Thomas Fitzwilliam (1793? – 1853)
There are few records of the life of Thomas Fitzwilliam; no one knows what his business was at first, when he bought the cotton plantation at Milliken's Bend, up the Mississippi River from New Orleans, near Vicksburg, or how he had enough money for the purchase. Did he bring the money with him from Ireland? Or did perhaps his wife, Anna, bring a substantial dowry? The wording of his will might indicate the latter. Milliken's Bend was a small settlement where an Irishman named Milliken had either a plantation or a store. It was destroyed during the Civil War and later the site washed away by the river.
Thomas Fitzwilliam was one of five men responsible for collecting money to build St. Patrick's Church in New Orleans. The large number of Irish who had emigrated to that city resented the French language used for sermons and announcements and decided to build their own church. As Thomas actually purchased the land the mortgage was made out in his name. He and many members of his family were eventually buried there, the last burial in the Fitzwilliam tomb in St. Patrick's Cemetary being that of Florence Haggerty in 1958. In her will Anna Hennings Fitzwilliam left her pew to her children.
Thomas Fitzwilliam is listed in the New Orleans Directory for 1842 as living at 89 Julia Street, so perhaps he kept a town house as well as the plantation. His first child, Mary Clementine, born in New Orleans in 1822, married when quite young, Dr. James Rogers Riggs, and the second daughter, Amelia, married John A. Haggerty in New Orleans in 1843. Their mother died in 1844.
In 1846 Thomas married for the second time, the thirty-year old Eliza Watson, daughter of Ringrose Drew and Frances Mahon Watson of St Louis County, who had come from Limerick in 1818. Apparently they lived entirely at Milliken's Bend. It is interesting to speculate as to how they met; did Thomas, like so many plantation owners, make a yearly trip to St. Louis where they stayed in such style and for so long a time that the leading hotel was called the Planters' House?
Thomas Fitzwilliam (1793? – 1853)
There are few records of the life of Thomas Fitzwilliam; no one knows what his business was at first, when he bought the cotton plantation at Milliken's Bend, up the Mississippi River from New Orleans, near Vicksburg, or how he had enough money for the purchase. Did he bring the money with him from Ireland? Or did perhaps his wife, Anna, bring a substantial dowry? The wording of his will might indicate the latter. Milliken's Bend was a small settlement where an Irishman named Milliken had either a plantation or a store. It was destroyed during the Civil War and later the site washed away by the river.
Thomas Fitzwilliam was one of five men responsible for collecting money to build St. Patrick's Church in New Orleans. The large number of Irish who had emigrated to that city resented the French language used for sermons and announcements and decided to build their own church. As Thomas actually purchased the land the mortgage was made out in his name. He and many members of his family were eventually buried there, the last burial in the Fitzwilliam tomb in St. Patrick's Cemetary being that of Florence Haggerty in 1958. In her will Anna Hennings Fitzwilliam left her pew to her children.
Thomas Fitzwilliam is listed in the New Orleans Directory for 1842 as living at 89 Julia Street, so perhaps he kept a town house as well as the plantation. His first child, Mary Clementine, born in New Orleans in 1822, married when quite young, Dr. James Rogers Riggs, and the second daughter, Amelia, married John A. Haggerty in New Orleans in 1843. Their mother died in 1844.
In 1846 Thomas married for the second time, the thirty-year old Eliza Watson, daughter of Ringrose Drew and Frances Mahon Watson of St Louis County, who had come from Limerick in 1818. Apparently they lived entirely at Milliken's Bend. It is interesting to speculate as to how they met; did Thomas, like so many plantation owners, make a yearly trip to St. Louis where they stayed in such style and for so long a time that the leading hotel was called the Planters' House?
Thomas Fitzwilliam arrived in New Orleans in 1821, according to his naturalization papers, the tradition being that he came from the Vale of Avoca, County Wicklow, by way of Virginia. That same year he married Anna Hennings, born in Amsterdam, and the daughter of Michael and Margaritte Hennings. (A copy of the marriage certificate has three mistakes: his place of birth is given as "Meneribben" instead of Moneyribben; his father's name is given as Thomas instead of James, and his bride's birthplace is listed as Hamburg.)
Thomas Fitzwilliam (1793? – 1853)
There are few records of the life of Thomas Fitzwilliam; no one knows what his business was at first, when he bought the cotton plantation at Milliken's Bend, up the Mississippi River from New Orleans, near Vicksburg, or how he had enough money for the purchase. Did he bring the money with him from Ireland? Or did perhaps his wife, Anna, bring a substantial dowry? The wording of his will might indicate the latter. Milliken's Bend was a small settlement where an Irishman named Milliken had either a plantation or a store. It was destroyed during the Civil War and later the site washed away by the river.
Thomas Fitzwilliam was one of five men responsible for collecting money to build St. Patrick's Church in New Orleans. The large number of Irish who had emigrated to that city resented the French language used for sermons and announcements and decided to build their own church. As Thomas actually purchased the land the mortgage was made out in his name. He and many members of his family were eventually buried there, the last burial in the Fitzwilliam tomb in St. Patrick's Cemetary being that of Florence Haggerty in 1958. In her will Anna Hennings Fitzwilliam left her pew to her children.
Thomas Fitzwilliam is listed in the New Orleans Directory for 1842 as living at 89 Julia Street, so perhaps he kept a town house as well as the plantation. His first child, Mary Clementine, born in New Orleans in 1822, married when quite young, Dr. James Rogers Riggs, and the second daughter, Amelia, married John A. Haggerty in New Orleans in 1843. Their mother died in 1844.
In 1846 Thomas married for the second time, the thirty-year old Eliza Watson, daughter of Ringrose Drew and Frances Mahon Watson of St Louis County, who had come from Limerick in 1818. Apparently they lived entirely at Milliken's Bend. It is interesting to speculate as to how they met; did Thomas, like so many plantation owners, make a yearly trip to St. Louis where they stayed in such style and for so long a time that the leading hotel was called the Planters' House?
Thomas Fitzwilliam (1793? – 1853)
There are few records of the life of Thomas Fitzwilliam; no one knows what his business was at first, when he bought the cotton plantation at Milliken's Bend, up the Mississippi River from New Orleans, near Vicksburg, or how he had enough money for the purchase. Did he bring the money with him from Ireland? Or did perhaps his wife, Anna, bring a substantial dowry? The wording of his will might indicate the latter. Milliken's Bend was a small settlement where an Irishman named Milliken had either a plantation or a store. It was destroyed during the Civil War and later the site washed away by the river.
Thomas Fitzwilliam was one of five men responsible for collecting money to build St. Patrick's Church in New Orleans. The large number of Irish who had emigrated to that city resented the French language used for sermons and announcements and decided to build their own church. As Thomas actually purchased the land the mortgage was made out in his name. He and many members of his family were eventually buried there, the last burial in the Fitzwilliam tomb in St. Patrick's Cemetary being that of Florence Haggerty in 1958. In her will Anna Hennings Fitzwilliam left her pew to her children.
Thomas Fitzwilliam is listed in the New Orleans Directory for 1842 as living at 89 Julia Street, so perhaps he kept a town house as well as the plantation. His first child, Mary Clementine, born in New Orleans in 1822, married when quite young, Dr. James Rogers Riggs, and the second daughter, Amelia, married John A. Haggerty in New Orleans in 1843. Their mother died in 1844.
In 1846 Thomas married for the second time, the thirty-year old Eliza Watson, daughter of Ringrose Drew and Frances Mahon Watson of St Louis County, who had come from Limerick in 1818. Apparently they lived entirely at Milliken's Bend. It is interesting to speculate as to how they met; did Thomas, like so many plantation owners, make a yearly trip to St. Louis where they stayed in such style and for so long a time that the leading hotel was called the Planters' House?
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