The Great Ferriter Family

Causation trumps randomness, every time. That events emerge as consequences of precursors, and are formed by myriad related influences that also extend from predecessor commissions and omissions seems without refute. Our lives also then, take certain form under the influence of innumerable actions and reactions extending back into time immemorial. Channeled and directed in more or less greater ways by all that has happened before, we make our choices, and in doing so set in motion the context of the future.

Not all those factors at play in our lives have emerged from human activity, and those human influences are in turn the sum of many individual actions. Many steering currents have emerged from people who lived long ago, far away and are unrelated to us in any meaningful way. That those who lived close to our ancestors, and most importantly those ancestors themselves have had a greater impact upon us as individuals seems obvious.

General statements about individuals don’t provide much insight into their nature. “Good”, “bad”, “caring”, “loving”, “energetic”, “creative” – all of these are terms that we encounter daily, as applied to the people around us, and to the degree such labels bear on the matter at hand, they might be useful. Without context or additional qualification such terms simply do not help much in defining the identity of an individual, as we are much more complex than simple topical labels might indicate.

My sense is that families, growing through time as a succession of generations do reflect a summation of their individual constituent members, and that as families do have certain commonalities in any given generation, the qualities that reflect these commonly held characteristics do have some certain merit and applicability.

About those Ferriters: Philip was a swordfighter, Nicholas (in his successive iterations) a warrior, Eamon a survivor, Piaras and his sons and great grandsons all soldiers of note. Piaras a poet and musician, Nicholas again, as a sea captain, Edward the holder of a great estate, Padraig a chronicler. These are just fragments of the whole picture of the past.

In the flowering of freedom, both away in America and at home in Ireland, the efflorescence of Ferriter Family talent can only be seen as extraordinary. In the past four generations we have had many military men of distinction in both deed and position, people who were and are talented artists, great storytellers, historians, academics, athletes, doctors, scientists and engineers, people of the law, leaders of all sorts, and on and on.

Not every family on this earth is like this. Few are.

Here I should tip the nature of one of our familial mysteries: while the family has produced a few nuns, my research has never revealed any Ferriter priest. We have offered our very lives in defense of our religion, and in defense of the priests of that faith, but have never produced one, at least on the record. Most Irish families produced priests in every generation – certainly through the post penal law times, and in America. There are no Ferriter priests on record, for at least the past 200 years. I have no additional comment upon that, at least not right now.

That there are darkly colored aspects to our lives and our collective past – yes, of course that also is true. Perhaps these traits are more pronounced, and in greater color - more vivid than in many families. Perhaps such things serve as a counter balance to the great positives we often exhibit. These things will be topics for future essays.

What does any of this mean? Less the apparent lack of priestliness, the Ferriter (Feiritear/ Ferreter/ Farritor/ Ferritor/ Firtear/ et alia) family is brimful and flush with talent, capability, and accomplishment.

Since we can look at ourselves today, and across the recent yesterdays, and back into the deeper past, we can conclude that only circumstance has precluded more visibility and that the long generations when suppression of language and faith ruled, the spark of greatness was preserved. One can only imagine what hidden talents and glories were cherished within the Ferriter families of those times – the spoken poets, the fighters, the fishermen, the sailors, the singers and musicians…of this I have no knowledge, yet have certainty.

Looking ahead, the illumination of our shared past seems to me to be a worthwhile goal. That the isolated lines of descent in the U.S.A. and elsewhere - founded by cousins or siblings who lost touch with one another - that we all share in this seems to me to be without question and without doubt. The influences and patterns set by twenty generations of predecessors may not be extinguished in three or four – what seems more likely is that the commonalities we share, along with the wonderful distinctions of our individualities underwrite the familial affinities that Ferriter men and women have for one another.

That there may be a Ferriter “brand” and that this characteristic transcends isolation of time or space seems to be the real deal. The things that I post on this blog may serve to highlight certain of those things, as they may seem to have echoed down the years. I hope so.

Archived Comments:

michele said...
Nicely said, like your collage of photos; in general, Ferriters are hardworkers, seekers of education law, the arts and business.

19 MAY 2010 17:10

Medieval life in Ireland was most often harsh, and frequently violent. The intrusion of the Normans and the follow-on attempts of the English monarchy to exert control within Ireland created extended periods of social, political and economic turmoil, and the constant friction between the Norman Lords and the Irish, as well as between the Norman Lords themselves led to a succession of minor wars that sputtered for centuries.

English Law extended only to those of English birth, English Heritage (including the descendants of the Normans), and those few Irish who had been granted coverage by the crown. During the first 150 years following the initial incursion, a large swath of southern Ireland, extending down the coast from Dublin, and westward across the Earldoms of Kildare, Ormond, and Desmond had recognized the authority of the English crown, and the legal apparatus of English government. Outside of this area, Irish (Brehon) Law prevailed.

Land ownership, and control of land by the Ferriters extended directly from application of English Law. At present, our understanding of Ferriter entitlements suggests that the initial grants and enfoeffments were provided by the DeMarisco lordship, and when local authority passed to the Desmond FitzGeralds, the feudal commitment of the Ferriters passed to that family also. During this time, Ferriter lands in Ossurys cantred (Western Corkaguinney) were quite extensive, including all of Dunurlan, Marhin, and parts of Kilamrkedar and Dunquin Parishes, including the Blasket Islands.

So, in the year 1307, the chief of the Ferriters seems to have been Phillip le Fureter. This Phillip’s name appears on a number of legal documents of the period, both Close Rolls, (which documented inheritances and property transactions), and on Plea Rolls, (which documented the legal activities of the Justiciar, who was a sort of traveling Chief Justice for those portions of Ireland under English Law). Philip was then the landlord for all of the tenants living on Ferriter lands, some of them Irish, some English, and some family members.

The following text is taken from the Calendar of the Justiciary Rolls of Ireland, 35 Edward I, Membrane 45:

“Yet of Pleas of Plaints at Ardart, before John Wogan, Justiciar on Monday the morrow of St. Barnabas”, June 12, 1307:

Ph. Le Furetter junior was attached to answer Hugh de Barry, of a plea wherefore when Hugh was in his house at the Tyf, in autumn, a.r. xxxi., Philip sent his men to Hugh’s house, to slay him.

Who by command attacked the house for a whole night, wishing to slay Hugh. And on the next day, Philip bringing in his company Nich. O Molran, a felon who abjured the land out of the church of Ballysyd, and other malefactors, went there and broke Hugh’s house. So that Hugh barely escaped on a horse. And Philip with Ric. De Leye and Walter de Hereford, afterward assaulted Hugh, and wounded him badly with a sword, so that he barely escaped on his horse to the church, and he unjustly took from Hugh a horse, value 10s.

And Philip comes and says that he did no injury to Hugh, and he prays that this be enquired by the country. Hugh likewise. Therefore let it be enquired.

(Following unrecorded testimony:)

The Jurors say that Philip came upon the land of Hugh which he held from Philip, and distrained Hugh, his tenant for pleas in default. And Hugh, seeing Philip coming and understanding that he wished to take, in name of distraint, a horse of his, ran to the horse and mounted it and fled.

And Philip rode his horse after him, and his horse stumbled and fell, and threw Philip to the ground. And Hugh, perceiving this, leaving his horse, returned to Philip and with his knife drawn would have slain Philip, his lord, to whom he had not yet done homage or fealty. And Philip perceiving this, and not otherwise able to escape, drew his sword and put it between him and Hugh. And Hugh vehemently moved with anger, intending to strike Philip with his knife, ran upon Philip’s sword, and wounded himself. As to the other trespasses, which Hugh says were done to him by Philip, they say that Philip is not in anyway culpable.

Judgement that Hugh take nothing by his plaint, but be in mercy for false claim.

Quite an exciting story! Professor Paul MacCotter, who identified this document in his “The Ferriters of Kerry” (Journal of Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society, 2003) informs us that the malefactor, Hugh De Barry leaves Ferriter lands, and within a years time is hung for murder.

This episode should leave us with a greater appreciation for what life in West Kerry was like for the early Ferriters, and with a better understanding for what having feudal authority over the tenantry on one’s lands really entailed. Within a generation following this event, the authority of the crown had begun slipping away, and with the naming of the first Earl of Desmond in 1328, many royal prerogatives reserved for the crown were granted the Earl.

The Desmond FitzGeralds in turn, gradually adopted Irish ways, and within a century following Phillip le Fureter’s adventure as told above, West Kerry had become quite Irish, and notions of English law held little weight. Yet the Ferriters held their lands, by virtue of feudal bonds with the Desmond Earls. Loyalty to the FitzGeralds extended up until that time the House of Desmond was overthrown and destroyed by the Tudors, a full two and a half centuries following the story of Philip and Hugh.

Archived comments:

michele said...
Thanks for posting that interesting story...which gives a better interpretation than MacCotter did to this incident. It was entertaining reading!

21 MARCH 2010 09:36

terryteti said...
Interesting bit of history. As more of the ancient Ferriter story unravels, I hope more will be posted. Terry (Ferriter) Teti

13 MAY 2010 13:48

Creation of the new Ferriter Family website moved me to a review of certain items that I had in hand, for inclusion on the site. A number of these are now posted as blog entries, including the following. None of these observations, speculations, and theories have been altered by the time that has passed between having been written and now…enjoy reading, and comment, please!

The lands that the Ferriters resided upon were not prime agricultural land. Those familiar with the place realize that aside from vegetable plots and grazing sheep, there’s not much to be had there, from the land itself. The Ferriter family members remaining in Dunurlan and there about during the 1700s surely had a rough time of it.

So what sorts of things might these folks have done to survive?  The two short answers are: (1) Just about anything and, (2) You do not want to know.

I suspect that there are two basic categories: what was legal, and what was illegal.  On the legal side would fall farming as a tenant for Lord Ventry – most certainly with a focus on Sheep, although we do know that several Ferriter men show up on “flax growers” lists, so raising flax must have been a worthwhile cash crop type activity.  An additional agricultural pursuit may have involved cows, and associated dairy. We know that Ferriters traveled the famous butter road to Cork, so this must be included.

Ferriters may have been boat builders, and may have repaired boats and dealt in maritime equipment from their anchorage at Ferriter’s Cove. Without a doubt, the sea must have offered a greater attraction than the land for most of these people. Fishing and shipping were most certainly pursued. We know that a Nicholas Ferriter mastered an ocean going vessel during the mid 18th century, and we know that another Nicholas Ferriter was a rope maker in Boston, Massachusetts during the 1770s, with rope-making a natural extension of marine activities in general.

These are all nice, legal occupations, but when one considers them for a moment, each resides close by some illegal activity. Raising livestock and livestock raiding, fishing and fish poaching, boat handling and small scale piracy, salvage and shipwrecking, coastwise shipping and smuggling – these things exist side by side, and for people under constant economic duress, the stepping over from the legal to the illegal may be a very short step indeed.

I will not pre-judge these people – rather I will not judge them at all. I can easily accept the motivations and proclivities that reside behind any illegal or extra-legal activity that they participated in. That said, before I cast the blanket of suspicion over the clan to any greater extent than I have, I will investigate the record.

At the onset, I must warn: I have already stumbled across evidences for many of the legal and illegal activities that I have cited.  To date, none of these evidentiary fragments have been collected, collated, and studied with an eye to understanding. I’ll try that going forward.

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