Week 7 – 2023: Outcast #52Ancestors — Making Sense of it All

My great-grandfather’s middle name was Michael Sarsfield McDonough.[1] I had always wondered where his middle name came from and then I found a distant McDonough cousin with the same middle name, I thought I’d stumbled on a family name that might help research this line. However, I recently got a history post from The Irish Times that put that theory to rest but (of course) opened up a new chapter in Irish history for me to explore.

Entitled “Remains of Irish hero Patrick Sarsfield located after more than 300 years” this article reports that the remains of Patrick Sarsfield may have been located on the grounds of St. Martin’s Church in Belgium.[2]

Who was Patrick Sarsfield? Likely born about 1655 into a wealthy Dublin family, the 1st Earl of Lucan ancestors arrived in Ireland during the Anglo-Norman invasion of the twelfth century.[3] Patrick’s family were long opponents to English rule and his grandfather, Rory O’More, took part in the 1641 rebellion crushed by Oliver Cromwell. When still a teenager, Patrick received his first commission as an ensign with the ‘Irish Brigade’ fighting for France. Returning home in 1678, Patrick became an officer under Catholic King James II (hence called a Jacobite”).[4] Sarsfield made his name throughout Ireland, especially when he and his troops defended Limerick against the army of William of Orange. Realizing that the campaign of James II to recapture the throne was lost, Patrick negotiated a “favourable surrender,” and was exiled to France.[5] He died after having been struck by a musket ball at the Battle of Landen in 1693 fighting on behalf of Louis XIV, purportedly crying out “Oh, that this were for Ireland!”[6]

The mythologizing of his life began during his lifetime. In 1691, poet David O’Bruadair wrote a panegyric where he characterized Patrick as “valorous, virtuous, heroic, popular, passionate, a warrior, and a leader of men.”[7] His reputation grew exponentially after his death; lauded as a patriot and Catholic hero well into the twentieth century taking on a Robin Hood-like persona.[8] Even his surrender in Limerick was later deemed “glorious” or “heroic” such that his figure appears on the coat of arms for County Limerick.[9]

It is no surprise that my great-grandfather was named for this famous figure from Irish history. Especially considering that his father was born in Sixmilebridge, County Clare, a mere eight miles from Limerick and the site of Patrick’s most famous battle.

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[1] Most of the records I have located regarding Michael do not use a middle name but if they do it is an “S.” However, in the 1915 New Jersey census, he is identified as “McDonough Sarsfield M.” 1915 New Jersey state census, Essex County, population schedule, South Orange Township, p. 11, dwelling 237, family 258, Sarsfield M. McDonough; citing State Census of New Jersey, 1915, Reference Number L-12, Film Number 25, New Jersey State Archive, Trenton, New Jersey. Curiously, he is not living with his wife and four adult children who were enumerated living a block or so away.

[2] Ronan McGreevy, “Remains of Irish hero Patrick Sarsfield located after more than 300 years,” The Irish Times, 11 February 2023 (https://www.irishtimes.com/history/2023/02/11/remains-of-irish-hero-patrick-sarsfield-located-after-more-than-300-years/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter : accessed 11 February 2023).

[3] Stuart Pearson, “Patrick Sarsfield, 1st Earl of Lucan (c. 1655-93) – Jacobite Commander,” Great Irish Heroes, (London: John Blake Publishing Ltd., 2016), 28; digital images, Google Books (http://books.Google.com: accessed 20 February 2023).

[4] Ibid, 28-29.

[5] Ibid, 30-32.

[6] John Todhunter, Life of Patrick Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan (London: T. Fiser Unwin, 1895), 201-202; digital images, Google Books (http://books.Google.com: accessed 22 February 2023). Pearson, Great Irish Heroes, 33

[7] John Gibney, “’Sarsfield Is the Word’: The Heroic Afterlife of an Irish Jacobite,” New Hibernia Review / Iris Éireannach Nua, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Spring 2011), pp. 64-80, specifically 71; image copy, JSTOR (https://www.jstor.org/stable/25801059 : accessed 23 February 2023).

[8] Ibid, 73, 75.

[9] Ibid, 78. Wikipedia.org, “County Limerick,” rev. 12:45, 12 February 2023.