Wordless Wednesday - Gulielmus ( William ) Maher ~ Requiescat in pace my cousins

Gulielmus ( William Maher ) born  on  7 May 1858  in Wolverhampton, Stafford, England  to Jeremiah Maher  and Margaritae( Margaret ) Fant and died in Bolton  December 5, 1932.

Cousins of mine who went from Tipperary, to Staffordshire, to Cork and some then died in Liverpool. William ( baptized Gulielmus)  dies in Bolton Manchester, interestingly his parents married Church of Ireland but the children were raised Catholic.

Friday Faces From the Past - Mercenaries and Made Men

                                                    Shrewsbury, Shropshire ~ and Sicily?

Shrewsbury is within  the winding course of the Severn, which is crossed by two bridges, called English and Welsh bridges.From Debrett's Peerage, we find  that in  1222 Robert I' Enfant was Provost of Shrewsbury.

Also in Shropshire we find  William L'enfant  as Bailiff of Munslow under William Bagod's Shrievalty  (sort of sheriff) but this is later in that century.William  is son of John, who was also may also be father to Walter and Adam, knights in Kildare.

What we see here on the Welsh Marches and the wilds of Ireland is a family who were, perhaps, landless in  the Midi Pyrenees region of their probable origin. Did they come into the British Isles with the Conquerer or was it actually the rulers of Aquitaine,Gascony a c. Warfare and specifically siege warfare was very sophisticated in the Midi and these fighting men sold their swords and indeed became made men.

A book entitled  "Mercenaries and Paid Men" discusses Robert L'Enfant as Justiciar of Sicily about 1272.
So were they "paid men" or  " made men" and where was their allegiance prior to this time?

Mystery Monday ~ Sardinian DNA matches

So if, indeed, we do find in a week or so that we match 40% of Sardinian-Americans or current Sardinians what will that mean? Surely it will matter as to how close they are to us ancestrally and how long their family lived there. Could there have been men going to and fro from Sardinia in the period of the Norman Conquest?  Even taking it one step beyond, could our men/man have been recruited from Sardinia to work for the Norman Kings?

One of the daughters of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine married the King of Sicily. Wasn't there a 
L'enfant who was an official in Sicily?  Wondering. How would someone like Georami Pigna, if he was I2a1a connect to us..Food for thought..

Mystery Monday ~ Was Sir Adam L'enfant of Kildare the progenitor of the Galway line?

                                                               Athenry  Castle, Galway


Thanks for this mystery go to Luke Fant who reminded me today to look for the 14 Families of Galway while doing my research. I felt I had laid that to rest some time ago, but his reminder stirred  a memory for me, as I mentioned Adam Fonte of Galway in my response to him. Oh wow, won't my cousin Francis Faunt will be happy about this also! Yes, Fran, I know I have a tendency to dismiss theories I do not ascribe to. 
Major ancient research has indicated that the Galway lot are  "of the Kilmallock line" so there I was with that thought.

I just wrote about Adam L'enfant before Christmas when I learned he was brother to Sir Walter and son of John. How did I forget that John McDermot told me this? "Walter Lenfaunt was paid £20 p.a. as the Keeper of Kildare Castle from 1299 on. The money was paid to his brother Adam Lenfaunt that year. In 1302, Walter handed the castle over to Albert de Kenley on the king’s instructions. Though he is mentioned in relation to the castle 1300-4." I don't know, but I did. Perhaps that is why I share this information with all my close and distant cousins.

Luke and Fran, Let's  take a look at this. Maybe Patty and I will go to Galway, it's not so far from Shannon.

 Kildare Castle, County Kildare

Friday's Faces From The Past ~ Fant Family of the East Midlands

Attempting in 2014 to prove or disprove the Fant, Faunt,L'enfant family as a single origin family, I am getting a huge amount of families in my assorted databases. I find families in Lincolnshire, Rutland, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire,Derbyshire and a bit of Staffordshire pretty far back in time.

The family which Ernest Albert Fant originated in first comes to my attention in Lincolnshire. Robert Fant, father of Ernest, is apparently born to a single mother in Spalding, Lincolnshire. This Martha Fant born in Gosberton also has sons John Thomas and William Laycock Fant. Was there a William Laycock who she married before she marries William Burwell in 1859? If so I cannot find him although it is surely  possible. Her father was Thomas Fant  from Upwell Cambridgeshire and her mother Elizabeth Carteron. She has a brother Thomas who in 1849 goes to jail for larceny for 2 months and seems to die without issue.

So Ernest Albert Fant and his progeny who eventually are found in Nottinghamshire and perhaps even in Hull. Perhaps they would not be DNA matches as their  male line seems to be handed down differently than the Fant surname.

There is also a group from Yorkshire and Westmorland but that may be for another day, although the areas sort of drift into one another.