I'm trying to research my GG Grandfather Patrick Herward or Hereward.
I can't find his marriage or death on family search - Irish Civil Registration Index.
He married Mary Conroy, I don't know when they married but she was born in 1836 in Frenchbrook, Lough Mask, Ballinrobe.
She died 9 May 1916, she is buried beside her husband at the old Kilcommon Cemetery, Roundfort, County Mayo.
Patrick died 13 Mar 1875 and was aged around 40 when he died in tragic circumstances.
Patrick had a brother, John. I'm thinking this may be John:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.2/MFCT-Z9W/p1Patrick and Mary had four children:
James HEREWARD
Birth 12 Dec 1865 in HOLLYMOUNT,MAYO,IRELAND
Death 23 January 1927
Patrick HEREWARD
Birth 1867 in Roose, County Mayo
Death 31 Mar 1954
Bridget HEREWARD
Birth 03 Jun 1870 in HOLLYMOUNT, MAYO, IRE
Death 1942 to 1943,
[not sure about this!] Buried in the old Ballinrobe Cemetery
Mary HEREWARD
Birth 26 Jul 1872
Death 1941
I know the spouses and other info of the above children but I don't think it's needed in this thread.
The following information has been provided by a member of the Hereward family who has long-since died. He wrote a general biography of the entire extended family. Many of the dates are out by a few years as he must have been writing from memory but in general, the information seems to be correct.
Patrick's death: There was some sort of fight taking place between neighbours of Patrick's at the crossroads of Scaurdaune, Claremorris, in 1875. Patrick attempted to break up the fight and was struck in the head with a stone by one of his neighbours which resulted in his death. Apparently, he did not die immediately but his date of death is 13 Mar 1875.
I have searched through several newspapers covering that time period and did not see any mentions of the fight, or Patrick's death.
I cannot find his death on the civil register. But his gravestone reflects this as his date of death also.
In this family biography, it is believed Patrick and John Hereward had come from Scotland. He believed Patrick had come to Ballinrobe as it was a garrison town.
[I would think Hereward is more of an English name.]
Patrick resided in Davros, in a place called Capaquila. He seems to have had a different relationship with the landlords compared to the average Irish resident at that time. He was living on land owned by Landlord Lindsay Fitzpatrick of Hollymount but then had to leave that property as Fitzpatrick wanted to make a bigger farm of the land in Davros. I do not know what year this happened.
He was instead given a piece of land by Charles Ben Jennings of Mount Jennings, the Landlord over the land of Roose. He had to build his own house. John, Patrick's brother, was working for Charles Ben Jennings and he had a two-storey house in the yard of the Jennings' estate.
John was described as a good worker by Charles Ben Jennings, and managed the stock and farm well. Because of this, Jennings provided him with the two-storey house. John was buried by Charles Ben Jennings when he died.
I guess John had no wife or family of his own?
The subsequent Hereward family are all Roman Catholic, but Hereward certainly isn't an Irish Catholic name, so I would expect a change from the Protestant denomination somewhere along the way, perhaps this happened when Patrick arrived in Ireland.
The surname of Herward or Hereward is extremely rare, so I thought it would be easy to research but I couldn't have been more wrong.
There are other Herwards showing up in Oughterard and Clonbur, Galway; I don't believe they are any relation.
I really just want to find a marriage record or death record for Patrick in the hopes that it may state his father's name, or where he came from, or something like that.
If anyone could offer any information or advice, I'd much appreciate it.
