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I first came across the name Francis Tumblety when doing research for my family tree, a couple of years back.
It turned out I’m related to him through his sister Mary.
Brief story is that my maternal grandfather was Mary’s grandson and was raised by her because of his mother’s death a year after he was born.
We all knew he spent time as a child in Rochester NY, having been brought over by an uncle who was a doctor. It was assumed that was one of Mary’s sons as two of them lived in Rochester. As I filled in information regarding my great-grandfather and his siblings, I quickly found 5 generations of my mother’s family stretching back to the 1780s – this is rare in Ireland as most civil records were destroyed by fire in 1922.
Having made contact with a distant Tumuelty relation I was directed to the story about the court case surrounding the settlement of his will. Then came the “Jack the Ripper” connection; which was a fun thing to tell friends. But the more I read; the more some things just didn’t make sense. Please note that I’m not saying that he isn’t Jack but rather that Francis needs to be looked at in the wider picture of the times that he lived through as opposed to some random paper clippings.
Personality wise, if alive today Francis would probably be an “influencer” with his own Instagram account and youtube channel. You know the type a photograph taken with Conor McGregor, Brad Pitt or one of the Kardashians; blasted all over social media and linked as best friends. He’d probably wangle his way onto a morning TV show as a health expert. It’s acknowledged that he was one of the first to use newspapers as a tool for self-promotion, but he also must have had a terrific business skillset as well, leaving a legacy of close to $4,000,000.00 today when he died in 1903.
The Tumuelty family came from the Church of Ireland parish of Donaghpatrack, near Navan, Co. Meath, Ireland. This area is rich in history being the site of the Tailteann Games, which were the ancient Irish equivalent to the Olympic Games. Being close to Tara it was also a place of ritual for the High Kings of Ireland in pre-Christian times.
The land is some of the best in Ireland & pre 1800 had a thriving flax growing and linen weaving industry. This rapidly came to an end in the 1830s when cotton flooded Ireland from the mills in England. As a result, many flax weavers moved to Lancashire to work in the cotton mills. The 1821 census shows James and his family as follows:
The Tithe books also show that James and his brother Thomas jointly farmed a lot of 29 acres, which in pre-famine Ireland was quite big.
Before 1845 95% of tenant farmers survived on lot of between 5 to 7 acres. The Tumueltys’ had 4 times that size.
As there were some 150 boys and girls enrolled in the Catholic “hedge” schools in the parish, it can be safely assumed that the Tumuelty children attended one of these.
Hedge schools were independent private schools taught in cottages often by former candidates to the Catholic priesthood.
As a result, pupils often had a semi classical education as well as reading writing and arithmetic – leading to popular lore about dying tramps able to recite and translate verse from ancient Latin or Greek verse.
I tend to go with Francis’ birth year as 1833 and his given name being Thomas Francis and that of his brother Lawrence being James Lawrence.
I also believe that the family moved to Chorlton, Lancashire prior to 1845.
My reasoning for this is the collapse of the flax trade, which meant they would have turned into subsistence farmers due to high rents and the loss of their “money maker”.
Also, I think that it’s important to note that they bought a relatively big lot of land on Plymouth Avenue in Rochester, almost immediately upon arrival in 1847. It had a rateable value of $400 in the 1851 census which would be almost impossible if fleeing Famine.
Rather I think they moved on as a result of the massive influx of starving and sick Irish into the cities of northern England from 1846 onwards. The reason for Rochester was that it was a developing centre for market gardening and hence the big rise in both the German and Irish populations in the 1850s..
Staying with the Tumuelty family, I’m going to digress here,
Not wishing to insult anyone’s opinion about the Ripper Case, but, there’s a Youtube about the Tumuelty grave which is total rubbish. It goes along the lines of examining the headstone for clues that show the family somehow had a secret knowledge of Francis’ crimes. For that reason, it states because there’s no “Rest in Peace” under Francis’ name something odd is afoot.
The odd thing is that there is a Latin Requiem under Lawrence’s name as the normal standard was and is for only one Rest in Peace at the bottom of the headstone.
It claims that both parents as well as Lawrence and Francis are buried there. Not True, the plot has room for five graves but only contains three burials: Margaret, Lawrence & Francis.
The reason for this is that James died in 1850 and Patrick died in 1858? But Holy Sepulchre Cemetery didn’t open until 1870.
I surmise that because there are five graves the intention was to re-inter James and Patrick and some stage.
Next supposition is at the grave of Patrick’s son who changed his name to Tumility – had to be hiding a secret. The big secret was that Patrick was a watchman for the municipal gas company and on entering politics the decision was made to make the name appear less Irish, to catch more middle-class voters, while at the same time keep it enough Irish sounding. The added bonus was that people looking at back copies if the city directory wouldn’t connect him to Patrick.
Rather than bore you with anymore “useless” information I’ll stop here and if you want to know what I found and think about Francis’ education “medical training” please leave a comment,
It turned out I’m related to him through his sister Mary.
Brief story is that my maternal grandfather was Mary’s grandson and was raised by her because of his mother’s death a year after he was born.
We all knew he spent time as a child in Rochester NY, having been brought over by an uncle who was a doctor. It was assumed that was one of Mary’s sons as two of them lived in Rochester. As I filled in information regarding my great-grandfather and his siblings, I quickly found 5 generations of my mother’s family stretching back to the 1780s – this is rare in Ireland as most civil records were destroyed by fire in 1922.
Having made contact with a distant Tumuelty relation I was directed to the story about the court case surrounding the settlement of his will. Then came the “Jack the Ripper” connection; which was a fun thing to tell friends. But the more I read; the more some things just didn’t make sense. Please note that I’m not saying that he isn’t Jack but rather that Francis needs to be looked at in the wider picture of the times that he lived through as opposed to some random paper clippings.
Personality wise, if alive today Francis would probably be an “influencer” with his own Instagram account and youtube channel. You know the type a photograph taken with Conor McGregor, Brad Pitt or one of the Kardashians; blasted all over social media and linked as best friends. He’d probably wangle his way onto a morning TV show as a health expert. It’s acknowledged that he was one of the first to use newspapers as a tool for self-promotion, but he also must have had a terrific business skillset as well, leaving a legacy of close to $4,000,000.00 today when he died in 1903.
The Tumuelty family came from the Church of Ireland parish of Donaghpatrack, near Navan, Co. Meath, Ireland. This area is rich in history being the site of the Tailteann Games, which were the ancient Irish equivalent to the Olympic Games. Being close to Tara it was also a place of ritual for the High Kings of Ireland in pre-Christian times.
The land is some of the best in Ireland & pre 1800 had a thriving flax growing and linen weaving industry. This rapidly came to an end in the 1830s when cotton flooded Ireland from the mills in England. As a result, many flax weavers moved to Lancashire to work in the cotton mills. The 1821 census shows James and his family as follows:
| Tumulty | James | 36 | - | Farmer |
| Tumulty | Margret | 33 | Wife | - |
| Tumulty | Larry | 3 | Son | - |
| Tumulty | Patt | 1 | Son | - |
| Tumulty | Allice | 13 | Daughter | - |
| Tumulty | Bridgt | 11 | Daughter | - |
| Tumulty | Judieth | 9 | Daughter | - |
| Tumulty | Betty | 7 | Daughter | - |
| Tumulty | Mary | 5 | Daughter | - |
| Malton | Thoms | 40 | - | Labourer |
Before 1845 95% of tenant farmers survived on lot of between 5 to 7 acres. The Tumueltys’ had 4 times that size.
As there were some 150 boys and girls enrolled in the Catholic “hedge” schools in the parish, it can be safely assumed that the Tumuelty children attended one of these.
Hedge schools were independent private schools taught in cottages often by former candidates to the Catholic priesthood.
As a result, pupils often had a semi classical education as well as reading writing and arithmetic – leading to popular lore about dying tramps able to recite and translate verse from ancient Latin or Greek verse.
I tend to go with Francis’ birth year as 1833 and his given name being Thomas Francis and that of his brother Lawrence being James Lawrence.
I also believe that the family moved to Chorlton, Lancashire prior to 1845.
My reasoning for this is the collapse of the flax trade, which meant they would have turned into subsistence farmers due to high rents and the loss of their “money maker”.
Also, I think that it’s important to note that they bought a relatively big lot of land on Plymouth Avenue in Rochester, almost immediately upon arrival in 1847. It had a rateable value of $400 in the 1851 census which would be almost impossible if fleeing Famine.
Rather I think they moved on as a result of the massive influx of starving and sick Irish into the cities of northern England from 1846 onwards. The reason for Rochester was that it was a developing centre for market gardening and hence the big rise in both the German and Irish populations in the 1850s..
Staying with the Tumuelty family, I’m going to digress here,
Not wishing to insult anyone’s opinion about the Ripper Case, but, there’s a Youtube about the Tumuelty grave which is total rubbish. It goes along the lines of examining the headstone for clues that show the family somehow had a secret knowledge of Francis’ crimes. For that reason, it states because there’s no “Rest in Peace” under Francis’ name something odd is afoot.
The odd thing is that there is a Latin Requiem under Lawrence’s name as the normal standard was and is for only one Rest in Peace at the bottom of the headstone.
It claims that both parents as well as Lawrence and Francis are buried there. Not True, the plot has room for five graves but only contains three burials: Margaret, Lawrence & Francis.
The reason for this is that James died in 1850 and Patrick died in 1858? But Holy Sepulchre Cemetery didn’t open until 1870.
I surmise that because there are five graves the intention was to re-inter James and Patrick and some stage.
Next supposition is at the grave of Patrick’s son who changed his name to Tumility – had to be hiding a secret. The big secret was that Patrick was a watchman for the municipal gas company and on entering politics the decision was made to make the name appear less Irish, to catch more middle-class voters, while at the same time keep it enough Irish sounding. The added bonus was that people looking at back copies if the city directory wouldn’t connect him to Patrick.
Rather than bore you with anymore “useless” information I’ll stop here and if you want to know what I found and think about Francis’ education “medical training” please leave a comment,
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