Near Templeathea, County Limerick, Ireland, July 2009 (Google Maps Street View)

JAMES WOLFE (ca. 1651–1704)

James Wolfe, also known as James of Inchareagh, was born about 1651 at Inchareagh, near present-day Athea, on the River Galey, in western County Limerick, Ireland. His father was Maurice James Wolfe, a Catholic farmer; the identity of his mother is unknown. He had one sibling, Maurice.

Virtually nothing is known of Wolfe's life except that he likely farmed in western Limerick and, with an unknown wife, had eight children: six daughters, three of whom are said to have emigrated to the United States; Maurice James "Old Maurice" (b. 1690), and Richard (b. ca. 1690). Family oral history—contained in a letter between Wolfe relatives dated August 1956 from Cratloe, County Clare, also known as the "Aunt Dollie" letter—suggests that Richard died young.

"The story is that he got chilled while on a visit eastward down in the plain of Limerick and was buried in Monagay churchyard," the letter reads. "It was winter and the snow lay so deep that the body could not be brought home."

Detail from the gravestone of Anne Marie Woulfe at Temple Athea graveyard in western Limerick

James Wolfe died in 1704 and is buried at the Templeathea graveyard, near Athea.