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This family has its roots buried deep in Ballyhaunis, County Mayo, Ireland. The crumbling remains of the house and outbuildings remain there today.

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The tiny stone cottage was home to Thomas and Catharine (Hunt) Fitzmaurice. Among their five children were Patrick and Thomas, which means this humble place is where our family began.

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Patrick was born March 16, 1816. He left his home right before the onset of the potato famine that drove many Irish men, women, and children from their homeland. He arrived in New York Harbor in the fall of 1844 and settled in Baltimore before living a remarkable life as a U.S. soldier in the Mexican-American War, traveling the Oregon Trail, panning for gold in California, and buying land in Holt County, Missouri. There, he built a home that still stands overlooking some of the more than 1,000 acres of farmland he eventually owned.

 

Thomas, born December 12, 1826, made his way here in 1855. Like his brother, he was a soldier, fighting in the Civil War. As his older brother had, Thomas made Forest City his home. 

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We don’t know what happened to Thomas and Catharine, or to Patrick and Thomas’s older siblings. What we do know is that this family has a history of resilience, faith, adventure, and pride. From these ancestors have come the Harnetts, Terhunes, Stones, Segos, and more.