The Great Ferriter Family

One can wonder about the nature of “family”. Certainly shared personal experience, bonds of love, common values and bonds of place are fundamental to any acceptable definition of what constitutes a family. This explains why certain faith communities, military units, political cadres, and even work groups can attain a strong sense of being families. Sometimes these groups displace or replace blood relationship-based families in the lives of individuals. I have written before about the unique attributes of the Ferriter Family. In this context, I am defining the family in a very broad sense – that of a group of people who share certain genetic kinship,... Read More

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!   ARMORIAL SYMBOLS of the FERRITER FAMILY The Ferriter Family has been known in Ireland since one generation following the advent of the Normans, and in Kerry within another generation following. Although information regarding those who came to Ireland with the... Read More

During the 1950s and 1960s, my family lived in a house with a formal sitting room, across an entry hall from a formal dining room. The sitting room was something of a repository for certain heirloom items, and a number of family portraits hung upon the walls. In the far corner of the room stood a walnut étagère, with graduated display shelves, largest on the bottom, getting smaller higher – five shelves total. The middle shelf was the most prominent, and upon this shelf were several items of family historical importance: a small flat stone, a chunk of peat with a green silk ribbon tied... Read More

A few months ago, I posted a piece that focused upon certain events early in the life of my grandfather, John Patrick Ferriter, (1873 – 1957). In that first story, I described his early military service, as a Private in the U.S. Army on the high plains during the early 1890s. Subsequent to that experience, “Pop” as my cousins called him, took advantage of his skills with codes and electrical devices and became a telegraph operator. By account, his abilities were “first rate”, and he made his career working as a telegrapher during the two decades leading up to the U.S. involvement in WWI. When... Read More

A look into the past, from Morgan Ferriter, Donegal, Ireland. These are two shots I scanned from a book called West Kerry Camera. I am not sure exactly who the Ferriter men in the shot below are, someone else may be better able to shed light on this.   All these men but one, are from the parish of Ballyferriter. Front row, from left: Tomas O Fearghusa, Séan Feiritéar, Tomas Óg Feiritéar. Back row, from left: __?, Tomás Feiritéar, Séamus Feiritéar (with son Brendan), Johnny Ó Guithín (Dunquin)   Trif ghIdin Feirtarach Thforabhin i bPariste an Fheirtaraigh 1907. (Feirtear family in Ballyferriter parish taken 1907.... Read More