Family of Edmund Fanning

(This person can be viewed within the Melton/Sharp Ancestry Chart by clicking here)

 

 

1.  EDMUND5 FANNING  (NICHOLAS4, WILLIAM3, WILLIAM2, OLIVER1) was born 1620 in Gortfree, Ballingarry, Tipperary, Ireland, and died December 1683 in Stonington, New London Co., Connecticut.  He married ELLEN BUTLER Abt. 1650 in Limrerick, Limerick, Ireland, daughter of JAMES BUTLER and ELEANOR FITZGERALD.  She was born Abt. 1623 in Ballynenoddagh, Ardmayle, Tipperary, Ireland, and died Bet. 1687 - 1693 in Stonington, New London Co., Connecticut.

 

Notes for EDMUND FANNING:

Edmund was the immigrant Fanning of the Stonington vicinity.

 

One "tradition" tells of his escape from Dublin ca 1641 at the time of the great rebellion in which 100,000 Protestants fell victims to the fury of the Roman Catholics, which tradition followed him in his travels over the ocean and to America, where after a few years he located himself in that part of New London, now Groton, in 1652. Later he removed to Stonington where he lived the remainder of his life.

 

Another "tradition" would make him a descendant of Dominicus Fanning, who was mayor of a city in Ireland under Charles the First, and was taken prisoner at the battle of Drogheda in 1649. All the garrison except Domincus was put to the sword. Domincus was beheaded by Cromwell, and his head was stuck on a pole at the principal gate of the city. Domincus' property was confiscated, because when Charles the First made a proclamation of peace, he was a member of the Irish Council. Domincus advised not to accept the proclamation unless the British government would secure to the Irish their religion, their property, and their lives. Domincus' son was born in Kilkenny, Ireland and married Catherine Hayn, daughter of Hugh, Earl Connaught, and emigrated to this country with two sons, Thomas and William, and settled in Stonington. This tradition is taken from an old tombstone at Riverside, Long Island, New York, and is claimed by many as the ancestral connecting line of Edmund Fanning, who died in December, 1683.

 

Neither "tradition" is relied upon as correct for they are so variant in their descriptions of his ancestry, marriages, and names of his wives that places them beyond an intelligent belief.

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General Notes:From Pioneer Irish in New England, Chapter VI, pg 85.

 

" Emigrated to this country with his family, consisting of his wife, two sons, Thomas and William, and two servants, Lathom and Orna, settled in Stonington, Ct." " He had served under the great Irish Chieftain, Owen Roe O'Neill, in the Rebellion of 1641." " An account his career, states that he escaped from Dublin in 1641 in the time of the great rebellion, and after 11 years of wandering and uncertainly, he found a resting place in Groton, Ct, in the year 1652. Munsells American Ancestry. Thence removed to Stonington, Ct, with which town the name has been associated for more than 2 centuries."

 

 

 

Notes for ELLEN BUTLER:

SWAMP YANKEE, by James Allyn, page 35.

     Ellen was the great-aunt of Nathaniel Fanning, midshipman with John Paul Jones.

 

Ellen's last name was obtained from Mrs. Ruba A. Orr's Ancestor Chart #836-53 in the Connecticut Society of Genealogists, Inc.

 

 

More About EDMUND FANNING and ELLEN BUTLER:

Marriage: Abt. 1650, Limrerick, Limerick, Ireland

     

Children of EDMUND FANNING and ELLEN BUTLER are:

              i.   JAMES FANNING.

              ii.   EDMUND FANNING, b. 1651, Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.

             iii.   MARGARET FANNING, b. 1653, Stonington, New London Co., Connecticut; d. April 29, 1664.

             iv.   THOMAS FANNING, b. 1655, Fisher's Island; d. April 27, 1704, Stonington, New London Co., Connecticut.

             v.   JOHN FANNING, b. 1657, Fisher's Island.

             vi.   WILLIAM FANNING, b. 1659, Fisher's Island.

            vii.   MARY FANNING, b. April 28, 1665, New London, New London Co., Connecticut; d. December 14, 1743, Stonington, New London Co., Connecticut; m. BENJAMIN HEWITT, September 24, 1684, Stonington, New London Co., Connecticut; b. August 22, 1662, Stonington, New London Co., Connecticut; d. April 26, 1725, Stonington, New London Co., Connecticut.