March Snippet: Books I have read and why they helped me understand historical Ireland and my O’Donoghue family – Response Three
Contributed by Roderick O'Donoghue "Books are like unsown seeds. When they open up and are allowed to sow their own seeds in our minds, their effect can be 'seismic'. In my youth I was told that I was descended from O'Donoghues who had once been kings. I decided to find out whether this was […]
March Snippet: Books I have read and why they helped me understand historical Ireland and my O’Donoghue family – Response Two
Contributed by Mike Donahue An anthology of newspaper columns written by Finley Peter Dunne helped me understand what life was like in Chicago when my great grandfather, Patrick Donohue and his wife, Mary Kelly Donohue raised their family in the Southside neighborhood called Bridgeport. Dunne was an American journalist; he was born in Chicago […]
March Snippet: Books I have read and why they helped me understand historical Ireland and my O’Donoghue family – Response One
Contributed by Tim Donohue So many to choose from. Certainly your books Heroic Landscapes:Irish Myth and Legend and O'Donoghue-People and Places would be a good foundation. In a more general sense I really enjoyed these books. "The Imortal Irishman" by Timothy Egan. A look at Irish American Thomas Francis Meagher banished to Tasmania in 1849 […]
February snippet: How the Famine affected my family – Case 3
Submitted by Marcia Anne Donahue My family, formerly landed gentry and once the noble occupiers of a formidable castle, which they themselves had built, had their ranks decimated by the famine to the point that ONE SOLE SURVIVOR was left; either he or his son, was eventually obligated to flee his homeland, probably for political […]
February snippet: How the Famine affected my family – Case 2
Submitted by Bob Donahue I don't know if this is of interest to this month's blog question, but the topic is intriguing to me because my own genealogical research has presented me with a puzzle. Overall, I'm 1/2 Irish/English (dad's side) and 1/4 Irish + 1/4 Québecois (mom's side). I became hooked on genealogy […]
February snippet: How the Famine affected my family – Case 1
Submitted by Carol Hurley The indescribably harsh decade of the Irish Famine turned out to be in time a positive happening for my Irish Immigrant ancestors and their descendants. My paternal greatgrandfather was Thomas Hurley. According to son’s written history, Thomas was born in 1815 to Jeremiah Hurley and Honora Fitzgerald, in County Kerry, somewhere […]
January Snippet ‘Emigrant ancestors who returned to Ireland’ – Response Four
Marcia Anne Donahue's story I can tell you how it 'affected' my father, although it isn't the type of response you would expect – You see, when WWII broke out, my father was serving in the Canadian Army and was susequently sent overseas in 1940, where his first post was in Liverpool, just a mere […]
January Snippet ‘Emigrant ancestors who returned to Ireland’ – Response Three
John Donahue's story Two of my friends, born in Ireland, returned there for good and died there. I was told my grandfather may have returned for a brief visit but can't prove that. Other friends born there have visited and come back to America. One told me that those people talk funny. I said […]
January Snippet ‘Emigrant ancestors who returned to Ireland’ – Response Two
Michael O'Donohue's story If you will allow me, I would like to reply in a indirect way to this snippet. My story is all about a family returning 'home' (as the Irish say) two generations later. My father was a Wexfordman, born in Dunmain. He left Ireland twice. First, on a short trial run in […]
January Snippet ‘Emigrant ancestors who returned to Ireland’ – Response One
January's subject was 'Emigrant ancestors who returned to Ireland'. Could be for a visit or permanently. Tell us the story. Here is Cleve's Watson's story From Ireland to the USA and back I did not know what research journey I would undertake when I asked my wife a simple question. What do you know about your […]