Family Ties
The Lafferty Family
Origins of the Lafferty Name
The name Lafferty is believed to be Irish, mainly northern Ireland. It is a reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Fhlaithbheartaigh or Mac Fhlaithbheartaigh, meaning 'descendant (or son) of Flaithbheartach. The elements of that name mean flaith 'prince' or 'rule' and beartach meaning 'doer of valiant deeds'. As in other early names there are various spellings over time including Flaherty, O'Flaherty, Flaverty, Laverty, Faherty and many more.
The name is first found in Connemara, County Galway in Connacht where they held a family seat from very ancient days. We have not been able to discover the name of Jerome's father or his place of birth. It is certain that there were Lafferty immigrants in the colonies as early as the 18th century and perhaps even earlier. We do not know when or where the progenitor Lafferty of our family line arrived in America. We know only that it was prior to about 1825 to 1830.
Jerome B. Lafferty
In two surviving census records, 1850 and 1860, the place of birth for Jerome is different. One shows Pennsylvania and the other Maryland. The census of 1850, however, is a bit tricky. The only Lafferty found is "Joseph Laferty", born about 1826 in Pennsylvania. However, it is almost certain that this is our Jerome Lafferty as he is living next door to the Demerest family who have a young daughter, Almira. Jerome married Almira Demerest a few years later in that same town. It appears the information on Jerome was obtained by the census enumerator from someone other than Jerome himself, as he would have been working during the daylight hours as a farm laborer and was listed as a boarder at the residence. The informant giving the enumerator the census information was likely mistaken.
In the 1860 census, the census enumerator likely spoke directly with Almira and the information would have been more accurate. In this census Jerome's place of birth is Maryland in about 1832. Information on the birth place of parents was not collected in this census.