Did Many of Your Ancestors STAY in Ireland?

Carina here – a bit of a change from Mike. I came downstairs earlier and pulled Mike off the keyboard to sent him back to bed – still stressing about “never missing a Letter from Ireland yet”. So I said, don’t worry, I’ll do it instead.At this stage I read the Letter from Ireland each week – and reply to so many – that I feel  know everyone here and enjoy the amazing stories that come back from our readers all over the world.

Did Many of Your Irish Ancestors STAY in Ireland?

When I think about my own family, where they come from, lived and traveled down through the centuries, I realise that I have a very different story from so many people reading this letter. You see, apart from one amazing tale of a grand-uncle who walked back from the Boer War in South Africa, all of my own family lived in the same place all their lives.

My own father, a Cronin, would happily travel the world for his holidays but was always delighted to arrive home and catch up with all that was going on in the village. He left for England briefly in the 1950s, but returned after 6 months and never left again. He was the only person in his family to “emigrate”. On my mother’s side – the O’Donoghues of north Cork – not one of them emigrated over the years.

I now understand that this was the way most Irish people would have liked things to be. Back to my own father. He was born in a bed over the shop he inherited and worked there most of his life. He went to school in the building next door to his house. The church and football pitch were just beyond the school. Family members and good neighbours were dotted all around. He died in the room he was born in, yet he was very much a man of the world.

I guess that this may also be the reality for many of your Irish cousins, people like my father, who managed to stay in Ireland through luck or fortune.

I’ll finish this letter leaving you with the invitation that Mike always extends – do feel free to share the family names and stories in your tree.

That’s it – short and sweet for now!

Slán, Carina… and hopefully back to Mike next week.