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My Taaffe ancestors go back to about 1750, starting with James Taaffe. He had twelve children: Joseph, Frank, Patrick, Philip, Jack, James, Edward, Robert, Mary (married Thomas French), Esme (married William S Johnson) and Eliza (married James Lynch Plunkett, whose mother was also a Taaffe).
The following is an extract from a family history account written by the daughter of Eliza and James PLunkett. It was written as a letter to my ggg aunt in the year 1894.
Plunkett of Castlemore's youngest son, my father, James Lynch Plunkett, married Miss Eliza Taaffe of "Brook Lawn", County Roscommon, Ireland.
Miss Eliza Taaffe's brothers and sisters, who were all older than herself were Joe, Frank, Pat, Philip, Jack, James, Ned, Bob, Mary, Esme, Bride and two others whose names I do not remember. The above named brothers and their families were distinguished from each other as "the Taaffes of Foxborough" (Pat), "the Taaffes of Killaden", "the Taaffes of Killyane", "the Taaffes of Wood Lawn" and "the Taaffes of Killeen".
Mary Taaffe married Thomas French of Ballykinave, Co Roscommon, by whom she had 21 children, Mary, Anne, Thomas, James and Pat survived. (further information is given about the children)
Esme Taaffe married the son of an English clergyman. Her husband was Capt William Stephen Johnson, 29th Regiment, R.I. He became a Catholic. [....] She had no children of her own, therefore she, as it were, adopted me.
The other Taaffe sister, Bride, was married at the age of thirteen to Hyacinth O Rourke, Prince of Breffni. When he was bringing here to his home in the vessel, he began to remonstrate with her for playing with her doll, saying that now she was a married woman she should have more sense and act like one. Whereupon she flew into a rage, tore the wedding ring off her finger and flung it into the river. She left one daughter, Jane, later Mrs O MAra, who was so fond of your mother when she was a girl. She was our first cousin, and always styled herself "the Princess of Breffni". She lived with Mrs French (Mary Taaffe) until both died within a short time of each other, since we came to Canada.
I do not know who my uncles, the Taaffe brothers married, but Aunt Esme Told me I remember, of one of them, whose wife was a beautiful woman. She happened to meet Lord William Fitzgerald, the youngest brother of the Duke of Leinster, at a ball, with the result that they fell in love with each other. They managed to conceal their love from Taaffe, until it was discovered, when they fled together, taking her two little daughters with them to France, where they lived as husband and wife. When they heard that Taaffe was dead - he died of a broken heart, they married. There was a daughter born to them called Geraldine Fitzgerald, who always lay under a cloud, as it was doubtful whether she was born before or after the marriage of the elopers. There were also two sons born to them whose births were never questioned. One was named William and the other Gerald. They were officers in the English Army when Aunt Esme and I were in Dublin.
Old Count Taaffe, the present Austrian Minister, Aunt Esme also told me, is a relative of the Taaffe family. The Taaffes originally came to Ireland from the South of France.
Aunt Esme solemnly assured me that there was a "banshee" or mourning spirit who had ever followed the Taaffe family, which had always been heard to give warning by wailing mournfully the night before one of them was about to die. Later on I was fully convinced of this extraordinary statement, for the night before she herself died, now twelve years ago, I had been sitting up all night with her, as I had been doing for several nights before. It was long past midnight and all around was hushed in silence, when all at once a woman began to sing in the little garden beneath. [....]
All that I have said of Aunt esme's character and disposition applies equally well to that of my mother (Eliza Taaffe), her sister. The latter however, was the beauty of the family, being tall and of fine figure, regular features, dark hair, eyebrows and eyelashes, large soft grey eyes and the rich warm dark complexion of southern France.
[....]There were two ladies who used to come often and visit aunt Esme when we were in Dublin. They were about 35-40 years of age. Tall, handsome women, always elegantly dressed and of distinguished manners. [....] They were also my cousins, Johanna and Julia Taaffe, whose mother had eloped with Lord William Fitzgerald so many years before. [....]
There was yet another cousin of whom Aunt Esme told me, called Ellen Taaffe, who went crazy in consequence of a disappointment in love. Her relatives put her into a lunatic asylum in Finglass. She had a large fortune and when she died some distant relatives for possession of her money. However, Aunt Esme and her sister and brother-in-law were the rightful heirs.
by Mary Josephine Plunkett, Toronto, 1894
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