The Search for the real Walter Robert Fitzgerald-Moore

At the time of his marriage to my grandmother, Marion Sophia Greenway, his first wife Elizabeth may still have been alive. Her existence was never admitted and her surviving children, Robert, Anita, and Lizita, were introduced as his nephew and nieces (no attempt was ever made to identify the brother whose offspring they were alleged to be). His descendants made every effort to hide the truth by denials, by burning all the papers that they could get their hands on, and by “romancing” about the remarkable man he was.

He made two great fortunes and lost them both, but not without tasting the fruits of his success in the enjoyment of mansions, carriages, and liveried footmen.  His son Robert, whom he was unable publicly to acknowledge, was as great a romancer as his father and left an equally obfuscated trail of birth dates and parentage.  Some years ago I undertook the immensely difficult task of checking every statement and record that I could lay my hands upon.  I have been very successful in dispelling some of the lies; but much less successful in arriving at the truth.  The search continues!

Walter’s schooling is said to have been at Ashgarden Academy. No trace of such an institution has been found.  Walter says that after leaving school he was articled to a lawyer.  He also said that his father was a barrister although no Benjamin Moore appears in the legal records for Dublin (checked 1840-1850).

Walter reported working for the Millwall Ironwork Company and assisting in the building of the ships the Northumberland and the Agincourt.  The Millwall yard is on the Isle of Dogs in London and the Northumberland was laid down there in 1861, launched in 1866, and completed in 1868.  Walter’s claim seems reasonable in this regard.  However, the Agincourt was built by Lairds at their Birkenhead (Liverpool) yard, being laid down in 1861, launched in 1865, and completed in 1867.   He might have started in London and moved to Liverpool because his next job was on the Isle of Man, just offshore from that city. Walter said he worked at the Glen May mine.  The Glen May, or North Foxdale Mine was in fact never developed to production although exploratory workings were carried out, chiefly between 1857 and 1865 but continuing to 1869. This fits in well with Walter’s chronology.

Sometime between 1861 and 1869 Walter set sail for Quebec. Presumably from the port of Liverpool.  The date can be narrowed down if we accept the veracity of two other statements he made in this connection. The first is that “At this time the civil war was raging between north and south.”  The American civil war was fought from 1861 to 1865, so that narrows the gap. “Without any delay Mr. Moore accepted an engagement to repair the engines of the well-known blockade runner “Palmyra,” just docked after the capture of Savannah.”  This permits further refinement as we know that Savannah was captured in 1864.  One’s confidence in this account is, however, weakened by the fact that no trace of the “well-known” vessel Palmyra has been found.  This includes a search of the Civil War Naval Chronology 1861-1865.

In Walter’s account, he travelled from Quebec City to Montreal en route for Boston. Continuing from Montreal, Walter described an incident approaching St. John’s in Canada East.  The first true railway built in Canada was the Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad from La Prairie on the St. Lawrence River to St Johns on the Richelieu River, built as a portage between Montreal and Lake Champlain. The line opened officially on 21 July 1836, and so no narrowing of the date is provided.  The only other candidate would have been Saint John N.B. but the railway did not reach that city until some time after confederation in 1867. Another clue to the date is given by his statement that the Bank of Michigan had been defunct for two years at this time.  Research continues. He was then to travel to  Mexico before returning to Australia and dying in Coolgardie Western Australia on the 31^st July 1896. He is buried in the Coolgardie Cemetery.