Special presentation made at Thurles Library

Michael Fitzgerald, who died in 2004, was a native of Gragaugh, Ballingarry, Thurles, but spent most of his life with his wife Kathleen (nee Moroney) in Bohernanave, Thurles.

Kathleen’s niece, Catherine O’Gorman (nee Regan), recently donated Michael’s extensive archive to the Tipperary Studies Department, Tipperary County Council Library Service.

Educated at Mount St. Joseph’s, Roscrea, and Mount Melleray, Waterford, Michael was fortunate insofar as one of his teachers in Mount Melleray was An tAthair Colmcille Conway, native of Clonmel and the distinguished historian of the Cistercian Order.

Michael began his working life with the Irish Land Commission in Dublin but returned to take up the position of wages clerk with Bord Na Móna at Littleton Bog in 1946.

He was to remain with the company until retirement, spending his final years at its briquette factory at Lanespark.

Michael was to chronicle the pioneering days of bog development in Scéal na Móna, the company’s journal, and document all the archaeological finds, including that of the Derrynaflan Chalice.

He had a great love of history and heritage.

He was an active member of the Tipperary Remembers Society, which organised yearly seminars in Thurles and regularly attended the annual Kickham Country Weekend in Mullinahone.

When the Tipperary Historical Society was established in 1987, Michael was appointed its first treasurer.

He published two important articles in the Society’s Journal.

The first published in 1988 was on David Power Conygham, the Young Irelander, born in Crohane in 1825, who participated in the Rising at Farranrory, Ballingarry, on 29 July 1848.

Michael was also an authority on Michael Doheny, a native of Fethard and a leading Young Irelander, and his article on Doheny was published in the Tipperary Historical Journal in 1993.

Michael Fitzgerald’s enduring legacy was his determination to highlight the importance of the Widow McCormack’s house at Farranrory, the location of the 1848 Rising.

He was particularly pleased when the house was officially declared a National Monument and taken into state ownership.

The Michael Fitzgerald Archive, much of which deals with the Slieveardagh area, may be consulted in Tipperary Studies during regular opening hours.

On the same evening, Martin Maher also presented a copy of The Graphic 1892 on behalf of his first cousin Seamus Brennan, Kilkenny, who has family connections to Ballingarry Parish.