Fitzsimmons Family
My name is Selene Elizabeth Fitzsimmons.
As I have stated before, I am Irish. Unfortunately, the records of my mother's family are not complete. All we know is that she is Irish.
My maiden name is Batty. It is Scandinavian and my father has roots all over northern Europe.
When I married into the Fitzsimmons family, I knew they were Irish. What I didn't know was how destiny played a part without me even knowing it. I knew about the cosmic aspects of our meeting and falling in love, but I never could have guessed what historic fate would have in store.
I am in the process of researching the Fitzsimmons family line deeper. When I find things I'll post them.
This is the Fitzsimmons family coat of arms with crest.
See what I mean about historic fate?
Who could have guessed that crescent moons would be in the shield of my husband's family? Wow!
Here are the different aspects of the coat of arms interpreted:
Fess (the field in three stripes) - Signifies the military belt, represents honor.
White or silver in the field - Peace and sincerity.
Sable or black in the field- Constancy, sometimes grief.
Eagle - Signifies a man of action, ever more occupied in high and weighty affairs, and one of lofty spirit, ingenious, speedy in apprehension and judicious in matters of ambiguity.
Crescent - Hope of glory, signifies one who has been enlightened and honored by the gracious aspect of his sovereign; sign of the second son.
Some history on County Down, where the Fitzsimmons family originated:
Down, Irish An Dún, district, Northern Ireland. Formerly within County Down, Down was established in 1973 as a district covering 249 square miles (646 square km) on Northern Ireland's eastern coast, fronting Strangford Lough (inlet of the sea) and the Irish Sea. It is bordered by the districts of Ards to the north; Castlereagh, Lisburn, and Banbridge to the west; and Newry and Mourne to the south. Extreme southern and western Down is mountainous; the dome-shaped Mourne Mountains reach an elevation of 2,789 feet (850 m) at Slieve Donard on the Down/Newry and Mourne border. Most of the district is covered by clusters of drumlins (oval mounds of glacial till). The area was invaded by the Anglo-Norman John de Courci in the late 12th century, and the town of Downpatrick was his stronghold until 1203. The Downpatrick (Protestant) Cathedral is reputedly built over the burial site of St. Patrick, who began his mission in Ireland (ad 432) in the nearby village of Saul. Down is a rich agricultural district; the chief crops are oats, barley, wheat, and hay. Livestock raising (sheep and pigs) is also important. Downpatrick is the district's market and administrative seat and has some textile industry, while Ballynahinch, located farther west, has agricultural machinery and metal-fabrication industries. Newcastle in the south and Killyleagh in the east are popular seaside resorts. Tollymore Park, about 1,200 acres (500 hectares) of forest on the slopes of the Mourne Mountains in southern Down, was the first such park established in Northern Ireland (1955). Pop. (1985 est.) 55,400. Source: http://www.britannica.com
The Fitzsimmons' came from the Murphy's. Here is some history on the Murphy surname.
Murphy is much the commonest surname in Ireland: birth registration statistics indicate that of, a population of 4 millions, no less than approximately 55,000 are Murphys. The name may be either O'Murchadha or MacMurchadha in Irish. No one uses the O' or Mac these days. It arose independently in several parts of Ireland: there are, for example, indigenous septs so called in counties Tyrone and Sligo, both these are unimportant in comparison with the great Murphy clan of Leinster. This was centred in Co. Wexford. The Chief of the Name is O'Morchoe, an otherwise obsolete form in English. Birth statistics indicate that Murphy is the place in Co. Carlow. The surname is even more numerous to-day particularly in Counties Cork and Kerry. This Munster sept, which is associated particularly with the barony of Muskerry, Co. Cork, is said to be a branch of the Kinsella section of the Wexford clan. Their arms, however, are quite different from those of the Wexford Murphys. The Ulster sept of Murphy mentioned above as belonging to Co. Tyrone is still numerous but is now more common in the adjacent county of Armagh, where in fact it is first in the statistical list.
The Murphy family crest interpreted:
Lion - Fierce Courage. In Ireland the Lion represented the 'lion' season, prior to the full arrival of Summer. The symbol can also represent a great Warrior or Chief.
Wheat Sheaf/Garb - Plentifulness, achievement of hope.
In Ireland the Garb often represented the fertility of a particular area. Saint Kieran blessed the corn crop so the symbol was sometimes used as a mark of respect to him.
Red Hand - The mark of a Baronet.
In Ireland the open red hand is often a symbol of the Province of Ulster.
Arms (shield) - Divided vertically gold and red on the middle third engrailed between four lions attacking three wheat sheafs all counter changed.
Crest: "On a mount vert a lion ramp. gu. bezantee
holding in the forepaws a garb or." (On a green mound
a red lion attacking sprinkled with gold coins, holding
in the forepaws a gold wheat sheaf.)
Scholars vary in their opinion concerning the reliability of any "commonly held" historic meanings for coats of arms and crests but the most commonly accepted meanings for the symbols and colors depicted on the Murphree coat of arms are as follows:
Gold - Generosity and elevation of the mind.
Red - Warrior or martyr; Military strength and magnanimity.
Green - Hope, joy, and loyalty in love.
Lion - Dauntless courage.
Wheat Garb or Sheaf - The harvest of one's hopes has been secured.
Gold Coins - Wealth attained.
The Murphy motto:
Here is a little histroy on the Fitzsimmons surname:
This name might have been treated as Hiberno-Norman, but it differs from the names included there, in that category in two main respects: first, it is by no means peculiar to Ireland being, indeed, much more usual in England, and secondly there are no basic arms common to all armigerous Irish Fitzsimons families. Nevertheless the first records of the name in Ireland are of a period very shortly after the Anglo-Norman invasion. Among the Norman families brought to Co. Down by John de Courcy in 1177 were some called Fitzsimon, while others of the name followed the Prendergasts to Mayo early in the next century and were still strong there in 1585, when a Fitzsimon possessed Castlereagh and other castles. People are particular nowadays about the way their names are spelt, but even as late as the eighteenth century we find the same families using FitzSimon and FitzSymon (with or without the final S), as well as FitzSymonds and even FitzSimmons, while occasionally the Fitz is dropped and Symons - the use or disuse of the capital S after Fitz was quite arbitrary - (or variants thereof) is used. The majority of births recorded by Matheson are entered as Fitzsimons. The most important line of the FitzSimons is that which came to Ireland from Simonshide, in Hertfordshire, and settled in the Pale in 1323, since when they have been continuously leading gentry in Counties Dublin and Westmeath. There are no less than seven Dublin men in the Funeral Entries of Ulster King of Arms between 1568 and 1610, four being civic dignitaries (Mayor, Recorder etc.). By 1659 they had become not only influential in Co. Westmeath but numerous, too, for in the census of that date FitzSimons appears as a principal Irish name in the barony of Demifore. Some of these adopted the Gaelic patronymic Mac anRidire, anglicized MacRuddery, which, in turn, was sometimes changed by translation to MacKnight. The Four Masters record the death in 1505 of Edmund Dorcha Fitzsimon "of the descendants of the Knight", who was prior of Fore. There was a connexion between the Mayo Fitzsimonses and those of Dublin, for in the "Composition Book of Connacht" (1585) Nicholas FitzSymons is described as "gent. of Downmackiny" (barony of Clanmorris) and also alderman of Dublin. They are now represented by the family of O'Connell- FitzSimon of Glenculle, Co. Dublin. Referring to those FitzSimons of Co. Mayo it is of interest to note that while in 1585 the "Composition Book of Connacht" has only one reference to them under their Gaelic patronymic, in the Stafford Inquisition, made fifty years later, they are called MacRuddery, MacEruddery etc. in 22 entries, the name Fitzsimon not being used at all. One of its synonyms in that document is Ediry, a surname which as Eddery is extant to-day, though rare. Eddery is not mentioned in Woulf's Slionnte. Especially noteworthy among the distinguished bearers of the name in Ireland are Walter Fitzsimons (d. 1511), Archbishop of Dublin from 1484, who also ably performed the duties of Lord Deputy and of Lord Chancellor for several years; and Father Henry Fitzsimon, S.J. (1566-1643), whose remarkable career is described in Rev. E. Hogan's Distinguished Irishmen of the Sixteenth Century. In America, Irish-born Thomas FitzSimmons (1741-1811) was one of the leading men in the War of Independence.
Here are samples of the two Tartans for the Fitzsimmons family.
Here is The County Down tartan:
And the Fitzsimmons' have their own tartan.
Here it is:
