Damsel’s sister is an Ancestry addict, having traced not only her roots, but also those of mine, and many of her other in-laws. Thanks to her, we were able to look back in our family tree to establish that, indeed, there were Irish ancestors in both Damsel’s and my lineage. In both cases, we have to go back quite a few generations to actually find someone who lived on the Emerald Isles.
Damsel’s birth surname is quite Irish-sounding, while mine is more of English derivation. In both cases, we each trace to that region of Europe with some Dutch showing up in my ancestry (e.g. Van Patten, Van Slyck). Damsel has some Native American in the Oklahoma region up her tree.
Regardless of our actual heritage, we’re both Irish today as we settle in to enjoy a traditional (to Irish Americans) Corned Beef and Cabbage boiled dinner this afternoon. We hope that you are enjoying the day as well, Irish or not.
Hope the two of you had a fine St. Patrick’s Day!
Hi Glenn – we did have a great holiday dinner and enjoyed an Irish Luck Cocktail as well. The dinner was OK with the diet we’re on but not so much the drink. 🙂
A couple of days ago, I was messing with our ancestry stuff and I found a great (6) grandfather who was born in County Mayo, Ireland in 1717. I’m sure he’s not the only ancestor contributing to our Irish heritage, though, I just have not found the others (yet).