My Irish Father (Fitzsimmons) decided he'd like to go to Ireland to visit his homeland. As a result he found an organization that would take a group of American/Irish Simmons families on a tour of Ireland where we were introduced to Irish Simmons families.
The surname Fitzsimmons was first found in County Cavan, where they had been granted lands by the Earl of Pembroke for their assistance in the Anglo/ Norman invasion in 1172. Though Fitzsimmons is an ancient name in Ireland, the surname is actually derived from the Normans and made its way into Ireland by way of England.
Migration of the Fitzsimmons family to the New World
During the middle of the 19th century, Irish families often experienced extreme poverty and racial discrimination in their own homeland under English rule. Record numbers died of disease and starvation and many others, deciding against such a fate, boarded ships bound for North America. The largest influx of Irish settlers occurred with Great Potato Famine of the late 1840s. Unfortunately, many of those Irish that arrived in Canada or the United States still experienced economic and racial discrimination. Although often maligned, these Irish people were essential to the rapid development of these countries because they provided the cheap labor required for the many canals, roads, railways, and other projects required for strong national infrastructures. Eventually the Irish went on to make contributions in the less backbreaking and more intellectual arenas of commerce, education, and the arts.
My Father tells the story of how the Fitz got dropped from Fitzsimmons. His Grandmother didn't like the connotation of their name to that of the heavyweight champion of the World, Bob Fitzsimmons, of the time. She felt boxing was just to barbaric so she dropped the Fitz and we all became Simmons.
There is still a Fitzsimmons hotel in Dublin:
Fitzsimons Hotel Temple Bar
21-22 Wellington Quay, Temple Bar, Dublin, Ireland
In Temple Bar, the boutique Fitzsimons Hotel overlooks the River Liffey.
And so we spent 11 days touring around Ireland. The following are some of the pictures from that trip. The picture at the top is the whole group that travelled with us.
So of course more data should be entered here. After we were released from our kids responsibility we took off for Belgium. Oh boy!
The pictures are a few of the pictures of our trip.
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| Arriving in Ireland | Carol and Ken | Dinner in the Castle |
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| Which way? | Mom, Diane, Bob, Ken & Carol | Diane |
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| Blarney Castle | Blarney Castle closeup | Dad kissing the Blarney stone |
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| Kenny Kissing the Blarney Stone | Diane Kissing the Blarney Stone | Diane really kissing the Blarney stone |
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| I'm not kissing that stone! | Diane and Bob | Another Dinner |
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| Mom and Dad at Waterford | Carol in hotel room | Bob in hotel room room |
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| Mom and Dad dancing | Ken and Carol dancing | Bob and Diane dancing |
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| Simmons family reception | Dad and Mom by castle | Dad and a big valley |
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| Family before dinner | Welcoming drink at a hotel | Dad and a big valley Mom Carol Dad and a tall lady |
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| Ken Mom Diane | Last pint at a great pub | The group |