FITZMAURICES  of ROLLINGDAM

        The Edward FITZMAURICE family was another of the very earliest settlers in the Rollingdam community and resided on the Whittier Ridge road, about a mile from McGuire's Bridge and above the William MONTGOMERY lands.  It is this writer's judgment that the FITZMAURICES must have arrived in this area sometime in the 1820's, and apparently, were middle-aged pioneers- in contrast to the great majority of immigrants being in the 20 to 40 years of age bracket.

        This couple was prominent in the establishment of the Catholic Church on their land-- as shown by a deed from Edward and Mary FITZMAURICE, dated May 16, 1836, and addresses-- "Unto any Roman Catholic Clergyman presiding in the Chapel, now partly built on my farm . . . to wit one acre in my grant for the purpose of a burying ground and Chapel . . . along the road to the Rolling Dam adjoining where the Chapel now stands". ( Registrar of Deeds, St. Andrews, N. B. )  And so we have the beginning of the first church in the Rollingdam settlement.  ( The first Mass was conducted in the home of Michael GRIFFIN, late in 1836.) ( Historical Booklet, Diocese of St. John, 1948 )  The Chapel was dismantled and rebuilt in 1857 on the main road where it now stands.

        The FITZMAURICE cellar is large and well preserved and may be seen a few yards south of where the power line crosses this road;  and the church stood exactly where the power lines run through and west of the road.  However, soon after the Church was built, Edward and his wife died.

        According to an old but rather grim story, Edward and Mary had been buried in the old Catholic cemetery on the Whittier Ridge road, but when disinterment took place some time after the Church was dismantled, and Edward's remains were removed, the buttons of a military garb found therein were the stark reminders that the deceased went to his rest in the uniform of his country.  Their grave stone in the Rollingdam Catholic Cemetery read:  Edward Fitzmaurice, Died 1842, aged 62, Mary, wife, died 1845, aged 63." Another stone reads;  "John Fitzmaurice, Died-- 1886, aged 62"  "Mary, wife, Died 1885, aged 58.

        According to local reports the FITZMAURICES moved from this community to Tower Hill where many of their descendants now live.