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We are planning to go to Ireland next year, to try to verify some family history and geneology. It turned out that almost our entire family - DH's and mine - are from County Cork.
One of the stories in my family goes that Dear Old Grandpa (whom I never met) was a randy sort of fellow. He had two older brothers who inherited the family shipyard. In a fit of jealousy and pique, he burned the shipyard down and absconded to America with the insurance and money in the safe, and fled to Chicago, where in true Irish tradition of that time, and with a lack of information exchange between Ireland and America, he became a cop. True or not true? We only know that the part about Chicago is true. While we don't plan on walking up and crying "Cousin!" to any folks we find who may be related, it would be nice to know the facts.
Although to be strictly honest, DH's interest in geneology is driving him. What is driving me is the urge to explore a beautiful country, experience its culture and food, and have a little pub crawl or three. I AM Irish, after all.
You will enjoy Ireland! I've had two wonderful trips there. Lovely hospitality and gorgeous scenery.
I went before my interest in genealogy. I still am not sure where my Irish roots are. Would love to go back if I find them.
One of the stories in my family goes that Dear Old Grandpa (whom I never met) was a randy sort of fellow. He had two older brothers who inherited the family shipyard. In a fit of jealousy and pique, he burned the shipyard down and absconded to America with the insurance and money in the safe, and fled to Chicago, where in true Irish tradition of that time, and with a lack of information exchange between Ireland and America, he became a cop. True or not true?.
I'd say probably not true. Seriously, if your family owned a shipyard, don't you think you'd know the name of it and be able to find it in the historical records? That would have been a pretty big business. My ancestors from County Cork (great grandmother and great great grandmother) were dirt poor and came here as a result of the potato famine like most others from there. However, it is a beautiful country and I'm sure you'll enjoy yourselves there, regardless of what you find out.
Very cool! I hope that you willl find out if the first part of the story is true; but why would you not tell cousins, if you meet them, that you are related? Just curious!
The Irish hold grudges, m'dear! For generations! If Granda did abscond with all of the family money, I would not ever want to admit that I was his grandchild to the family that he robbed...
Besides, not a whole lot of people truly appreciate it when their 'long lost' whatever shows up; no matter what the reality shows and media try to tell people. 15 years ago, I got a letter from a guy claiming to be my half-brother. It was very effusive, and put me off initially. After a year of correspondence we agreed to meet, and while I now claim him as my brother, and we have grown pretty close, it took a lot of time. (My mother had abandoned him in a boardinghouse to take off with my dad!!) There was also a lot of discussion in my DH's family about who was the real father of my BIL's first child; he accused his wife and my DH of consorting and producing a child, and never let his wife or their daughter (which behavior I found distinctly repulsive) forget it. Imagine getting a phone call from a tearful 16 year old girl asking, "are you my REAL daddy?" It was an argument that ran for over 20 years and involved almost everyone in the family at one time or another, and hurt a lot of people unnecessarily. No one should drag up hurtful things or start painful accusations, and oftentimes that is what happens when segments of families live apart.
Too much Sturm und Drang in some peoples' lives, and I would rather have friends than claim relations... at least at first. Better sitting around at the pub and having a good time with fun people (related or not, who cares?) than that tentative, uncomfortable "Uh, so what happened to YOU?" stuff...
I'd say probably not true. Seriously, if your family owned a shipyard, don't you think you'd know the name of it and be able to find it in the historical records? That would have been a pretty big business. My ancestors from County Cork (great grandmother and great great grandmother) were dirt poor and came here as a result of the potato famine like most others from there. However, it is a beautiful country and I'm sure you'll enjoy yourselves there, regardless of what you find out.
Oh, I'm betting on 'not true', too! But... there's always a chance. Could have been a small shipyard; could have been two fishing boats, who knows? But DH wants to look up those records and see. And I'm taking no chances!
Oh, I'm betting on 'not true', too! But... there's always a chance. Could have been a small shipyard; could have been two fishing boats, who knows? But DH wants to look up those records and see. And I'm taking no chances!
We have a "tall tale" in our family involving ships. Supposedly my 5x great grandmother was the daughter of the Captain of the King's Life Guard and fell in love with a sea captain against the wishes of her family. She married him and sailed off with him to the new world and shortly before reaching Virginia the ship wrecked and she, one of only 6 or 7 survivors, was rescued by a French ship and then sold for salvage, into indentured servitude. Would make for a great movie script. In reality, it was more likely she came here as just a run of the mill indentured servant, but it is a good story.
My African homeland, Nigeria, is known only through DNA - and there is no way I could actually figure out where in Nigeria my people are from.
Then there is the problem of having traced other family to about 10 European countries and not being able to figure out how I would be received if I showed up in any of them looking for Grandpa and Grandma.
My African homeland, Nigeria, is known only through DNA - and there is no way I could actually figure out where in Nigeria my people are from.
Then there is the problem of having traced other family to about 10 European countries and not being able to figure out how I would be received if I showed up in any of them looking for Grandpa and Grandma.
I feel ya, my family didn't remember any "old countries" and I've been able to trace exactly two of my European ancestors back across the water. A guy from the south of France who was brought over as an indentured servant in the 1630s and a Scottish Quaker who also came over in the early 1600s. Both appear to have cut all ties with their families. It's interesting I guess but I don't feel any connection to Scotland or France and I don't see the point in looking around either trying to find my roots. They're such a tiny part of my ancestry and it was so long ago, not likely I'd turn up any cousins or anything like that.
Which DNA test? I'm often tempted to try that route and see if they can tell me anything new about my mutted up bloodlines but I worry that I'd just be tossing my money down a hole. I have quite a few ancestors who were racially ambiguous and I'd hate to drop a wad of cash just to get a certificate that said "all of the above" or something uninformative like that.
The Irish hold grudges, m'dear! For generations! If Granda did abscond with all of the family money, I would not ever want to admit that I was his grandchild to the family that he robbed...
Besides, not a whole lot of people truly appreciate it when their 'long lost' whatever shows up; no matter what the reality shows and media try to tell people.
<snip>
Too much Sturm und Drang in some peoples' lives, and I would rather have friends than claim relations... at least at first. Better sitting around at the pub and having a good time with fun people (related or not, who cares?) than that tentative, uncomfortable "Uh, so what happened to YOU?" stuff...
Too true!
I'm of Irish and Croatian descent.
I travel to Croatia about once a year, my last name is similar to Smith or Green in the US.
What am I going to do, start looking up LName families in the phone book and ask if they knew Grandpa and Grandma LName who left Croatia 100 years ago?
How silly.
I'm off to Ireland for a week starting Saturday.
I plan to meet one of my sister's there for a few days. That's the only family I'm looking for in Ireland, and I know her already.
I feel ya, my family didn't remember any "old countries" and I've been able to trace exactly two of my European ancestors back across the water. A guy from the south of France who was brought over as an indentured servant in the 1630s and a Scottish Quaker who also came over in the early 1600s. Both appear to have cut all ties with their families. It's interesting I guess but I don't feel any connection to Scotland or France and I don't see the point in looking around either trying to find my roots. They're such a tiny part of my ancestry and it was so long ago, not likely I'd turn up any cousins or anything like that.
Which DNA test? I'm often tempted to try that route and see if they can tell me anything new about my mutted up bloodlines but I worry that I'd just be tossing my money down a hole. I have quite a few ancestors who were racially ambiguous and I'd hate to drop a wad of cash just to get a certificate that said "all of the above" or something uninformative like that.
Doug McDonald. The testing and first analysis was done by 23andme.com and then Dr. McDonald, now an independent genetic researcher, analyzed the results again. He found that I was substantially Nigerian (which I knew) but that the rest of me, in terms of deep genetic history, came from France, Spain, Italy, Romania and Hungary (what?) If you want more info, PM me.
My family has always been here. You'd have to go back to at least the Ice Age to find anyone who came from an "old country." They weren't very good at keeping records.
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