Winter trip to Ireland can be rewarding

I realize that visiting Ireland in the winter is not on many people's 'to do' list, but the other night as I was watching an American television show filmed here last winter I was reminded of just how beautiful Ireland looks in the winter.

I was watching the latest installment of the NBC series Who Do You Think You Are on Ireland's national television station, RTE. The episode featured Rosie O'Donnell's search for her Irish roots (in America it can be seen here).

Of course Ireland was always going to look great. The folks at NBC were determined to get fantastic aerial shots of Dublin and the snow-covered Kildare country-side. Yet, those pictures weren't made up either - Ireland really does look great in the winter. And it provides insights into history that are less obvious in summer.

One of my favorite memories of traveling around Ireland is being in the wilds of Connemara one January in the mid-90s. I got talking to a local man, who pointed out vertical ridges clearly visible in the snow on a nearby hill. "Those are the lazy beds. People grew potatoes there before the famine, but not since."

I didn't question it because as I was looking at it I couldn't imagine anyone other than the desperate trying to cultivate such land. I would never have seen those ridges without the snow to highlight them.

The snow highlights the positive in Ireland's landscape. Although most people here preferred complaining about the mess last winter's snow made of the roads (and Dublin airport), I think most Irish people would admit that the snow really looked special on our treeless hills, patchwork fields and old churches and graveyards.

Ireland doesn't just look great in winter either. It smells good too – at least in rural areas. In rural areas people mostly burn turf, not wood, in their fireplaces. I always like the smell of a wood fire in the winter. Turf gives off its own distinctive, appealing smell.

The smell isn't just pleasant. It's part of a memory, the smell my ancestors would have known. In fact, one of the best things about being in Ireland in the winter is the chance to experience the dark, damp, cold, bleak conditions that are part of any Irish-American family's ancestral past. I always think that anyone who only sees Ireland in bright sunshine might well leave these shores wondering why anyone ever left. A few days in Mayo in January will give you part of that answer.

You don't have to suffer long, however, once you've endured a sufficiency of the damp cold, enter the nearest pub and the heat from the blazing turf fire will revive you.

A few caveats, however. It does tend to rain in the winter in Ireland. Of course, it tends to rain in the summer too, but the longer days mean you have a better chance of a few hours of dry, bright weather each day. Last winter's heavy snow was exceptional, usually it only lasts on high ground.

When it does snow on the roads, it quickly makes driving treacherous. Few cars have snow tires and fewer drivers have any snow sense. (I was wondering how Rosie O'Donnell managed driving on rural Kildare's icy, snowy roads, but we didn't see any of that. She probably had a local driver when off camera.}

Regardless, it's worthwhile. If you've seen Ireland in the summer in glorious sunshine (or even in sunshine and showers), come prepared for cold, damp weather and get in touch with the other aspect of Ireland that your ancestors knew well. I doubt you'd be disappointed.

{Photo thanks to Sligo Heritage.}

World War I dead reburied

Today in Fromelles, France a joint Australian-British ceremony marked the occasion of the last burial of the 250 men from the Australian and British World War I armies whose bodies were recently found in a mass grave near the battle site. This follows last week's ceremony at Arlington when American soldier and Irishman Thomas Costello was buried with full military honors following the recent discovery of his body in eastern France.

The Australians who have been buried at Fromelles were killed 94 years ago today, in what was the worst day in Australian military history. July 19, 1916 was the first day that Australians fought on the western front and by the morning of the 20th nearly 2,000 were dead and another 3,000 were missing. More than 200 of those who were found in the grave were Australian.

The bodies of those who died were behind the German lines when the action ceased and the Germans buried them in a mass grave*, where they remained until the grave was found in 2007. The exhumation, identification and reburial process carried out by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission culminated in today's ceremony.

Many descendants and other family members from Australia and Britain traveled to France for today's events and there's great media interest in both countries.

Relevant to this site is the question of whether any of those who fought in the British or Australian forces were Irish? That's unclear, but there are Irish names among the 96 Australians whose bodies have been identified. There were no Irish regiments involved in the action, but it would hardly be a surprise to learn that some of those Australian or British soldiers were Irish immigrants or - even more likely - children of immigrants.

The British and Australian authorities are still trying to identify those soldiers who have not yet been identified and are still seeking DNA samples from people who believe that a family member was killed in the battle.

There are still hundreds presumed buried in other mass graves in the area. I heard one historian say on the news this morning that in the past few weeks another mass grave had been located meaning more bodies will be exhumed and identified, if possible.

Although interest in the Irish involvement in World War I is pretty low, it has been increasing in recent years. Yesterday Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness encouraged Irish nationalists and republicans to remember those who fought in the war. I hope many are encouraged to do so and that we have a better national memory of those Irish who suffered in the trenches.

I'd also like to think that this national remembering will include those who fought in the Austalian or New Zealand or Canadian or, like Thomas Costello and my grandfather, in the American army. It would be great to think of people here offering up DNA samples to help identify a forgotten family member lost in the trenches nearly a century ago.

{* The bodies weren't just dumped in a big pit by the Germans. Each body was wrapped individually in a blanket. The Germans often buried their own dead this way. There are 25,000 German soldiers buried in a mass grave in Langemark Cemetery near Ieper in Belgium.}

Mark your family's progress with 1901 & 1911 Census returns

The 1901 Census is now available online. For anyone interested in their family roots, this is a great addition.

Now you can actually compare the census returns from 1911 with those made 10 years earlier. Maybe you'll see little of interest or more likely you'll find something wouldn't seem interesting normally but it is of interest to you because it's your family.

For example, on my great-grandfather's 1911 Census form he indicated that only he and his wife could speak Irish. Yet, on the 1901 Census return he indicates that the two of his sons could speak Irish.

Or does he? The more I looked at the two returns the more likely it seemed to me that he didn't fill out the 1911 form. The handwriting is different. I suspect that one of the sons or daughters filled in the '11 form. Obviously not of much interest outside my family, but it's a minor mystery as to why two of my grand-uncles were listed as Irish-speakers in 1901, but not in 1911.

Also, as I said when I first brought up the 1911 Census, don't ignore the House and Building Return. Through those details I was able to see that my great-grandfather had added a room to the house {photo} and replaced the thatch roof with a new slate one during those 10 years. Sounds like things went well for him during the decade.

"Friends" star Kudrow's new series inspired by a night of TV watching in Ireland

Lisa Kudrow, star of "Friends", was in Ireland filming "PS I Love You" a few years back when, according to one of the Sunday papers here, she was inspired to take on a new project - to produce a new television series, which will be broadcast in America starting in March.

Now, you might think to yourself that artists being inspired by Ireland is hardly something new, but Kudrow (photo) was inspired while inside watching t.v., not out admiring the beautiful rocky, green landscape. Kudrow's inspiration was an episode of "Who Do You Think You Are," a BBC program that RTE has adapted for Ireland.

The basic concept behind WDYTYA (#WDYTYA on Twitter) is that someone the public knows will research their family tree and we the audience get to experience their discovery. It may sound dull, but it is usually far from that. You may even remember I wrote about this back in July and described WDYTYA as 'must see t.v.' (That post is now lost to the site, but I've reproduced it below)

For many of the featured celebrities it is an emotional experience as they learn about the hardships or tragedies that their grandparents, great-grandparents and further back had to overcome. Some of them get visibly moved and, although they're generally showbiz people and capable of putting it on, anyone who's researched their own family history can relate to the emotions on display - you feel closely connected to people you've never met simply because you know their blood runs in your veins.

Something you have to realize is that not knowing who the celebrity is doesn't matter. Some of the best episodes I've seen have been ones where I had no idea who the celebrity was. In fact, the episode I wrote about in July was about a British radio DJ who I'd never heard of before.

From the first time I saw WDYTYA I thought it would suit America to a tee, in fact better than any other country for the simple reason that Americans all have the immigrant stories that are generally the best ones to watch. And even if the celebrity is a bit stuck on themselves, that usually fades as they learn little truths about their family's past. (And, it's amazing how often bigamy comes up!)

The American series of WDYTYA premiers on NBC on March 5. I just hope the American series is as entertaining as the British and Irish versions. If it is, it will be well worth watching.

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Originally Posted July 22, 2009

Genealogy as Must See tv

There are times when I love the BBC. Tonight was one of them.

I just finished watching Who Do You Think You Are? and, honestly, it was riveting. This is a series that has been on for years, and it's often been riveting in the past. Tonight was one of the best.

The idea of the series is that basically we watch some semi-well known person research their roots. Tonight it was Chris Moyles, a DJ on BBC radio. I knew nothing of him before tonight, but that didn't hinder my enjoyment of the show.

Anyone with Irish roots would enjoy this program. All of Moyles' family was from Ireland and they all came from extreme poverty. There are a couple of twists in his family story that would probably differ from that of most Irish-Americans - like the grandmother from the slums of Dublin, always more likely to head to Britain than America - but I still think people of Irish descent anywhere would find the story moving.

My only regret is that the BBC doesn't allow people outside the UK to watch their shows online. If they did, I'd highly recommend it. If they show this series on BBC America, look out for the Chris Moyles episode. It's worth it.

Destroying land certificates seems so stupid.

I agree with the head of the Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations that these documents should be preserved.

Look for your relatives in the 1911 Census

Posted by TheYank at 9/10/2009 11:35 AM EDT

Now we're cooking. As Kelly reports elsewhere on the site, the full 1911 Census of Ireland is now available online. This is absolutely tremendous.

For those of us whose grandparents or great-grandparents had not left Ireland by this time, it's actually exciting to see the forms. I found my great-grandfather's form, which included all sorts of little tidbits that I didn't know. First I had some trouble finding my great-grandfather's census form. Why? Because the database lists the family as Fahey and not Fahy, which it should be.

Yet, unlike the error by the people at Ellis Island, where my grandfather's name was spelled as Tahy, the problem with my great-grandfather's census form is that he didn't seem too settled on any particular spelling for the family name. He seems to spell the name with an "e" in his signature, but without the "e" in the "Surname" column.

This might seem a little odd, but if you read Mike O'Laughlin's column on Irish family names you'll get an idea as to how this might have happened. My great-grandfather was born in 1848 and - I'm assuming - grew up speaking Irish more than English. As an Irish-speaking friend once explained it to me, "The Anglicized name wasn't really their name anyway so a lot of people didn't mind how it was spelled in English."

Again, don't be put off if you have trouble finding your relatives. It's worth it to make that extra effort. And, be sure to have a look at the House and Building Return. That can take a bit of effort to figure out, but you can get an idea as to what the house was like and how it compared with their neighbors'.

I can't wait for the 1901 Census to go online next spring.

Genealogy as Must See tv

Posted by TheYank at 7/22/2009 5:13 PM EDT

There are times when I love the BBC. Tonight was one of them.

I just finished watching Who Do You Think You Are? and, honestly, it was riveting. This is a series that has been on for years, and it's often been riveting in the past. Tonight was one of the best.

The idea of the series is that basically we watch some semi-well known person research their roots. Tonight it was Chris Moyles, a DJ on BBC radio. I knew nothing of him before tonight, but that didn't hinder my enjoyment of the show.

Anyone with Irish roots would enjoy this program. All of Moyles' family was from Ireland and they all came from extreme poverty. There are a couple of twists in his family story that would probably differ from that of most Irish-Americans - like the grandmother from the slums of Dublin, always more likely to head to Britain than America - but I still think people of Irish descent anywhere would find the story moving.

My only regret is that the BBC doesn't allow people outside the UK to watch their shows online. If they did, I'd highly recommend it. If they show this series on BBC America, look out for the Chris Moyles episode. It's worth it.

Who was Patrick Conway?

=== This was originally posted at IrishCentral.com ===

One of the great things about studying family history is that you find that members of your family did things that make you wonder 'What they were thinking?', 'What drove them?'. Often they did things that don't fit the general historic themes you learn about in school and through books.

For my wife and I this process started with regards to Patrick Conway back at the end of May when we first found her great grandparents' census form on the 1911 Census web site. Patrick was "head of family", a "bricklayer's labourer". had been married for nine years and had four children. The oldest child, my wife's grandmother, was nearly 7.

It wasn't even that anything we found was all that surprising, but my wife had never really thought about Patrick Conway other than as the man who was her father's grandfather and that he died in the First World War. The census somehow brought him to life.

We have few hard facts, but we believe Patrick served with the British Army in the Boer War in South Africa around 1900. We also believe he was a member of the Citizen's Army - a worker's militia born out of the Lockout of 1913.

Now that's interesting because in Irish history the Citizen's Army and the British Army ended up on opposite sides during the 1916 Rising, but that was all in the future when Patrick Conway enlisted in January 1915.

So, he was in the British Army, left, married, had a family, worked as a bricklayer, joined the Citizen's Army and joined the British Army again. As my wife thought about all these things and the fact that he was around 38 years old when he (re)enlisted in the Army, the main question was: why? Why did Patrick Conway, a 38-year-old husband and father of four. decide to go to war?

And really there was only one answer. He must have been out of work. As a friend of mine said to me recently when I told him this story, "What employer would hire a 38-year-old militant trade unionist bricklayer's laborer?" So simple and straight-forward that it has to be true.

They were harsh times and he probably realized that the army at least offered a wage and, even in death, a pension. Something for his family to live on.

That man was the father of my wife's grandmother, somebody she knew well, but who had never talked about these things. This is why my wife had to go to Bethune, France to visit his grave. We were going to be too near to let the chance slip by.

Bethune is only about an hour over the border from Ypres so we changed our plans to include a visit there. Unlike all the other British military cemeteries that I saw, Bethune is a local cemetery, with a war graves section. It is mostly local French people who are buried there. The war graves aren't exclusively British either. Most of them are British, but there are French and German soldiers buried there as well.

We found Patrick Conway's grave and found that he was buried near four other members of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, who all died within a day or two of each other. We guessed that they were all injured in the same engagement, but we have no way of knowing. More research.
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Comments:

jacersisityourself wrote:
The two Patrick Conway articles were indeed a delight to read. It is even personal in a way because years ago I got into Family History and Genealogy before the last of our elderly aunts and uncles died. I only got so far in my research but a younger cousin took up the cudgel and found information on generations further back, some with the help of the 1911 census publications. We even have ancient photographs, which is nice ‘cos you can see the persons in your family tree.

The reference to visiting the grave of Patrick Conway was also touching. It shows even after we’re gone, someone somewhere later in our families’ tree cares enough to bother to make that effort to do so. Members of my father’s family emigrated from Ireland to Canada and my cousins and their sons and daughters now have families of their own, born in Canada but with Irish roots. The youngsters were drawn into school projects along the lines of “Who do you think you are?” a popular TV show which helps the famous and not-so-famous find their family histories.

It was queries from my Canadian cousins that sprang me into family genealogy research for their sakes. It was rewarding and highly interesting. There is a photograph of me with my great grand-aunt when I was very young. She is buried in Canada. My cousin sent me a photo of her grave’s headstone. I treasure that photo and have put it aside for my own future generations.
I certainly understand the Patrick Conway articles' import. Well done & thaanks to The Yank and his wife.
7/3/2009 7:43 PM EDT

jacersisityourself wrote:
Pity there has not been any further comments yet to The Yank’s articles about one Patrick Conway. I am sure there are many Irish descendants around the world with thoughts and memories that could have contributed to these lovely articles.

Recently I marked one my so-called ‘milestone’ birthdays. As the first-born, I had my three immediate younger family members and their other halves together for the occasion. It was nice.

The mother of us four conceived ten times but lost six babies either before or after birth. We four are the lucky survivors. I was old enough by the time my mother’s last baby died to remember my father’s grief at her, and my last born sister’s, loss, two days into her wee life.

D’ye know what? Sitting looking at my three family members alive and well across the birthday dinner table, made me think of the brothers and sisters we could have had around the table too.

And thinking just the other day about the Yank and his wife’s the visit to France to Patrick Conway’s grave made me realise I have no idea where my lost brothers and sisters are buried, if they were at all. I would like to visit a marked grave, or even unmarked grave, of at least the ones who survived delivery into our world.
What do hospitals and their staffs do with born babies that die within hours or just a couple of days? Could I ever hope to visit at least a hospital-known mass burial plot to remember my brothers and sisters, like the Yank and his wife remembered Patrick Conway?
7/4/2009 10:03 PM EDT

TheYank wrote:
jacersisityourself,

Am I right in assuming you're in Ireland? I think more people here will (& should) get interested in family history. The 1911 census is a great spur. I've seen it in action, but questions from America/Canada/wherever can also help. Obviously, I'm from America, but even I have taken for granted the access I have to the family history until I get a question from an American relative which spurs me into learning more.

Old photographs are great too, although they can be frustrating if you can't find someone who can identify the people in the picture. My grandmother was a great believer in writing names on the back of photographs and I think she's right. How we'll deal with all these digital pictures is another issue, however.
7/5/2009 5:09 PM EDT

TheYank wrote:
jacersisityourself, your story is a tough one. I wish I knew the answers to your questions about what hospitals do (did?), but I would imagine that every baby born alive would have been buried and that someone, somewhere would have a record of that. I hope so, anyway.
7/5/2009 5:12 PM EDT

jacersisityourself wrote:
I was abroad on holidays recently, so I dd not seeTheYank's postings above 'til now. Yes, I am Irish, born and raised in Dublin but living "in the sticks" now, as we say here.

Yes, old family photographs are indeed a treasure and yes, it can be frustrating trying to find out who's who in them! I have one of my great grandfather as a young man with a large group of other young men in an obviously official photo. The problem is that despite our efforts, we cannot yet find the circumstance of the photo!

I was big into photography years ago and have a black bag full of photos that I took as my family grew up. In time, those photos will be a delight to them and any descendants they might have. I appear in very few, as I was the one mostly behind the camera.

Yes, I can see the problem for future generations with digital photos, unless printed for posterity. As storage media are changing rapidly these days, even memory cards will be obsolete in time.

Thanks for kind comments on my non-surviving siblings. Your suggestions are well worth following up but a lot will depend on the extent that hospitals bother to search their records for any information that I might ask for.

I was born in the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin's city centre. As you will know from living in Dublin, there is a statue of Charles Stewart Parnell at the top of O'Connell Street. The statue shows Parnell pointing his finger towards the Rotunda Hospital. Beneath the statue, one of Parnell's speeches is written in gold. It begins "No man shall put stop to the march of a nation..." A folly, if ever there was one... the finger pointing to the door where thousands and thousands of Dublin's babies like me first smelled Dublin's air!
8/7/2009 3:25 PM EDT

Visiting Patrick Conway

As I mentioned in my Twitter posts, we visited my wife's great-grandfather's grave in Bethune, France. Corporal Patrick Conway was from Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire), Co. Dublin and served in the Dublin Fusiliers. He "died of wounds" in April 1916.

Although Patrick Conway died more than 90 years ago, my wife and our children were (as far as we know) the first members of his family to ever visit his grave. For my wife it was a moving experience. I can understand what she was feeling as I felt the same things when I was walking the area around the River Marne where my own grandfather fought with the American Army in 1918. My grandfather lived through the war, but my wife's great-grandfather did not. Both were Irishmen fighting on the same side in different uniforms.

Here's what my wife experienced standing at the grave.

My first thoughts were for my father who had never gotten the chance to see where his Grandfather was buried. Standing in front of the grave generations of Conways and Farrells seemed to be present.

We were all there to pay our respects to a man who had died in 1916. I kept picturing my Dad standing there. He would have loved to have visited Bethune. In his time it was just too expensive to do that. He was a working man with a family to support and going to France was not a possibility.

For me, going to my great-grandfather's grave was a necessity. I wanted him to know that his family is proud of him. I wanted him to know that his descendants were thinking of him. Standing there looking at that faded gravestone, I wanted him to know that he was not "a stranger without even a name, enshrined forever behind a glass frame. "He was a living and breathing human being who is remembered and honoured by his family.

The 1911 Census

Elsewhere on this site, Declan O'Kelly reports that an additional five counties have been added to the online database of the 1911 Census. Census data from nine counties is now available online: Antrim, Cork, Donegal, Down, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Offaly and Wexford. (Note: if you go to the 1911 census web site and see "Kings County", that's not Brooklyn. That was Offaly's name at the time.)

My wife and I recently spent quite a bit of time searching the records of the 1911 census. All of her family was living in County Dublin at the time and we were able to find records for each one of her grandparents' families.

What is particularly good about the digitized 1911 census is that you can view the actual census form that was filled in at the time. You can see your ancestor's hand-writing, etc.

My wife was excited by the fact that her great-grandfather had made a mistake all the way down the form and had to cross off and correct it. She pictured her great-grandmother letting him have it for this, projecting back through time onto her great-grandmother the traits she remembered from her grandmother, who was six in 1911. In addition, my wife learned something new - that her grandmother had been born in County Fermanagh.

I know for a lot of Irish-Americans 1911 is too late for any Irish connection, their Irish family was already living in America at the time. In that case the 1911 census might have little appeal, although maybe aunts/uncles/cousins still lived on the family homestead. If, however, you did have family in Ireland in 1911 the census is a great resource. It'll be even better when they finally finish digitizing all the counties' data.