AMAZING HOUSE IN CARROWKEEL

After picking up our son at the Dublin Airport, we headed northwest to County Mayo.  It was a 3 hour drive.  We met the husband of the owner of our rental vacation house in a tiny town called Ballyvarry.  We then followed him to the house -- down the road to Carrowkeel, down another road, past a campground and down another long country road.  We arrived at the rental house and was greeted by the owner Ann Marie who had brought us a homemade cake called "treacle".

We were given a tour of the beautiful house with hardwood floors, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a washer and dryer.  The backyard was large and very green. The view out the front windows was mesmerizing.  During our three day stay at this house, I often stood by the window and gazed at all the beauty of the countryside.

My 2nd great grandparents, Thomas Chambers and Ann Kilroy Chambers raised their family in the townland of Letter (not more than 15 minutes away) in a rural setting, probably much like Carrowkeel.

THE RING OF KERRY

Visiting the west coast of Ireland would not have been complete without a visit to the Ring of Kerry.  Yes, we did visit the Cliffs of Moher on our last trip to Ireland in 2012.  Our bus tour of the Ring of Kerry would cover 110 miles and take over 6 hours.  Even though this would be a longer tour than we desired, we thought it was preferable to trying to drive it on our own.

Our first stop was at the Kerry Bog Village (photo above).  We saw Irish wolfhounds, peat bogs and Kerry Bog ponies.  We learned how to make Irish coffee and of course needed to sample one (okay, we drank the entire thing).  It was delicious!

Continuing on our tour, we saw the Dingle Peninsula and Slea Head (the most western point of Europe) and the Askill Islands.  We stopped again and watched a demonstration with two border collies displaying their skills at herding sheep.

Our next stop was the shores of Ballinskellig Bay.  We walked along the shore, admiring all of its natural beauty and of course taking lots of photos!

We stopped for lunch at Scariff Inn in Caherdaniel, where we enjoyed amazing views of Derrynane, Kenmare Bay and Bantry Bay.  Continuing on our tour we also saw Dunloe Gap, a spectacular glacial valley.

Our last stop (and my favorite) was at Ladies' View, which has an absolutely gorgeous view.  Supposedly this site was named "Ladies' View" after this area was admired by Queen Victoria's ladies in waiting.

I am in awe of all of the natural beauty in Ireland.  It is so peaceful and so beautiful!

KILLARNEY NATIONAL PARK

What should we do on our first full day in Killarney?  We wanted to see some of its natural beauty but not spend all day on a tour.  Killarney National Park is close by and I hear it is beautiful.

Cars are not allowed in Killarney National Park so we took a 1 1/2 hour tour of Killarney National Park in a jaunting car (a 2 wheeled horse drawn vehicle).  Killarney National Park was the first national park established in Ireland.  It is the home of red deer, black Kelly cattle and cypress, linden and holly trees.

We saw St. Mary's Cathedral, Mt Tomis, Loch Leane (the lower lake) and Innisfallen Island.  We stopped and visited the grounds of Ross Castle, which is located on the edge of Loch Leane and is the ancestral home of the O'Donoghue clan.

Later my daughter would tell me that visiting Killarney National Park was on her favorite highlights of her trip to Ireland.

DESTINATION: KILLARNEY

After meeting our daughter at the Dublin Airport (we were arriving from Amsterdam and she was flying in from California) our plan was to drive to the west coast of Ireland and in particular to Killarney.  It is rather amazing to me that we can drive from the east coast of Ireland to the west coast of Ireland in about 3 hours when it takes days to do that in the United States.

After driving through the counties of Kildare, Laoise, Offaly, Tipperary and Limerick, we stopped for lunch in the town of Adare and had a delightful lunch at Pat Collins' Bar.

After lunch we decided to explore the town of Adare just a bit -- after all it is a heritage city where the Desmond Castle and friaries are located.  We visited the Trinitarian Priory and Trinity Church.

Since it was raining (well it is Ireland) and our daughter was exhausted from her flight, we continued driving to our destination of Killarney and more specifically our vacation home rental.

The Killarney rental house has lots of space with four bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and a backyard (even a washer and dryer) and was only a 15 minute walk into town.   Our Irish Adventure begins ...

THOSE PLACES THURSDAY

A lot of people make "bucket lists" of the places they would like to visit before they die.  Yeah, I have one of those but I also want to make a "genealogical travel bucket list" -- places that I want to visit where my ancestors either lived or visited.  It is not about the research here but rather to walk in their shoes or rather experience just a bit of what they saw.

So, I am starting my list and they are in no particular order.  #1 is Letter, Mayo, Ireland.  Letter is a townland in the parish of Islandeady in County Mayo.  Last year, I visited Ireland and even got the opportunity to see the old cemetery and ruins of the old church in Islandeady.  I was beyond thrilled!  So, yeah, I am possibly being a little selfish here but I want a return trip.  I have now located on a map the exact area where my great grandmother Bridget Chambers grew up in the townland of Letter.

I want to see the land where she lived (the above photo is of their land taken by my cousin Betsy on one of her trips there).  I want to see St. Patrick's church (could there be a more perfect name for an Irish church?) where she attended Mass.  As I stand on their land, I will look towards the west to view Croagh Patrick (photo below) where supposedly Saint Patrick preached and chased the snakes out of Ireland.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

                                   Unknown ancestors -- Dublin -- between 1880 & 1914

WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?

I promise this will be my last post about my grandparents' photos of their 1961 Ireland trip, at least for awhile!  I have at least 3 photos of Charles and Theresa with unknown (to me) Irish relatives.  I would love to know who they are.  So, I am posting these photos with the hope that someone may recognize them and share their information with me.  One can always hope!

In the above photo (somewhere in probably County Meath), I can identify two of the people -- Pat Sherlock (who is at the far left) and Grandpa Charlie (who is behind the red headed women).  I don't know who any of the women are.

In this photo, Pat Sherlock is cut-off [Put on my to-do-list to re-scan slide].  However, I have no idea who the couple is with Grandma Theresa.  This is the only photo that this couple is in.  In addition to Sherlocks (or people from the Sherlock tree), my Grandparents could have visited members of the Caffrey family too.  Charlie's paternal grandmother was Margaret Caffrey.

In this last photo, Grandma Theresa is with two unknown women.  I am thinking perhaps they are mother and daughter (love the red hair).  I hope the luck of the Irish is with me and that some day I will be able to identify these Irish relatives of mine.  In the meantime, back to researching ...

PUTTING TOGETHER THE IRISH PUZZLE

      The past two days I have been reading Grandma Theresa's travel journal and trying to match her entries with the photos that I have of their trip to Ireland.  Now, I know that I did complain a lot about "slides" in a previous post, but there are distinct advantages.  One advantage is that the picture for the most part has not degraded as much as those "lovely" photos from the 1970's and 1980's.  You know the ones that have that orange color!  A few of the slides do have some black dots on them but I can live with that.

        Another advantage is that they have the number of the image on the back of the slide.  So, while I can't tell what roll of film they belonged to, I can put them in order according to image number.   Now, why is that important?  Well, when Grandma Theresa mentions she has visited several people and several locations, I can try and see if I can determine the location by the order of the images. For example, she wrote on 5/26/1961 that Patrick Sherlock picked them up and went for a ride in the country.  Then they visited more Sherlocks (Christian and his wife).  Since Patrick was their "chauffeur" for their Ireland trip, he must be the guy in almost all of the photos.  After visiting Christian and his wife, they went to visit Charles'  father's family old homestead.

     When I read they visited the childhood homestead of Edward Sherlock, I was delighted.  I absolutely love to see photos of the houses my ancestors lived in.  In the journal, Theresa continues, "The people who lived there did some changes, but the lady let us take pictures and look around. There was over 60 acres and what land all green."

      Okay, that gave me some more clues -- there would be multiple photos of this house as compared to only a few of some other relatives' home.  There would be a lot of land around the house.  There would probably most definitely be a photo of Grandpa Charlie next to this house since it belonged originally to his grandparents.   With all of these clues and some jiggling of the puzzle pieces on my part, I deduced that the above photo is of  Patrick Sherlock, Christian's wife and Christian and Grandma Theresa at the old homestead in Demailestown, Meath, Ireland.  The photo below of Charles at the homestead confirms to me that this is indeed the house. It obviously was so important to him that he was the only one in the photo.

      One more comment before I go -- Without knowing, the photo I selected for my last post was taken at the old homestead.  I have posted the photo again below.  Grandma Theresa was right, it was absolutely beautiful and green!

TRAVEL TUESDAY

       This is one of many photos that I ran across while scanning the "slides" from my Grandparents Charles and Theresa Sherlock's trip to Ireland in 1961. I wish it had notes on the slide as to where exactly they are in Ireland and who are the rest of the people.  Grandma Theresa is in the light blue dress with the red coat but I have no idea who the rest of the people are.  I hope they are relatives since we do have relatives in Ireland and it would be great to have a photo of them. There are photos of these people in this location and a few other locations in Ireland in my collection.

       Now Grandpa Charles's ancestors were all from Ireland -- his mother's side (the Chamber's and Kilroy's) were from County Mayo while his father's side (the Sherlock's and Caffrey's were from County Meath).  My Dad's cousin recently told me that we still had relatives in Meath.  I think we may also have some on the western coast -- in Westport or Newport.

      Hold everything!  While rummaging around while writing this post (I think it is called either multitasking or being unorganized -- I'll go with the first one), I just found a travel diary that my Grandmother kept during this trip.  Okay, this is exciting ... I may be actually able to discover who these people are and much, much more about their trip.

      Stay tuned!

Planning my trip to the Emerald Isle

    To make the most of one’s travelling, I think planning is a must!  I learned this lesson the hard way last year on our family’s Mediterranean cruise.  While I absolutely loved seeing the Coliseum, Vatican City and the Amalfi Coast, we definitely would have had a better experience in Barcelona, Marseille and Mallorca with a little more planning.

          The Mediterranean cruise was also my first trip to Europe and I was exhausted after my flight from the west coast of the US to Barcelona.  All I wanted to do was sleep the day we arrived and the next day.  It turned out to be okay on the cruise since we had a day at sea, but I didn’t think it would work on my Ireland tour.  Perhaps, my husband and I should go to Ireland a few days earlier and get acclimated before the tour started?   We could rent a car and see a part of Ireland that we wouldn’t see on the tour.  What would interest him and yet give me a tiny morsel of reward in my never ending genealogical quest?  So, it was decided we would fly into Dublin, rent a car and he would drive the car with a stick shift on the wrong side of the road to County Cork.  There we could go visit the town of Cobh, where my great grandmother Bridget and my great grandfather Edward left Ireland for their new life in the US.   Okay, now I am getting even more excited about this trip.  

          So, six months prior to my departure for Ireland, I purchased the book “Ireland for Dummies” by Liz Albertson.  I am partial to those “Dummies” book series – they always give you the basics and build from there.  I not only read the book (almost cover to cover) but I also highlighted passages and put tab markers on various pages throughout the book.  I wanted to have access to this information before and during my trip.

          Why stop with reading a guide book?  What else would give me a taste of the Irish culture?  Perhaps, watching some movies based in Ireland might do the trick.  If nothing else,  I would admire the Irish scenery.  First, I watched the movie “Leap Year”, starring Amy Adams.  It was very cute!  I was hoping those same calamities wouldn’t happen to me when I got to Ireland.  I followed that movie with another fun one – “Waking Ned Devine”, which was about winning the lottery and what happens to a small Irish village. 

          I have typed my family history for the Sherlock side and the Chambers side (I might need it on the trip), finished packing my bags with 8 hours to spare (that has never happened before) and actually got about 5 ½ hours of sleep the night before our departure date.   It is now 4:30am and my in-laws are giving us a ride to the airport.  Let my Irish adventure begin … 

The Decision to Go

        I have this intense desire to visit the homelands of my ancestors.  It is as if the countries of Ireland, Germany and Poland are calling me “home”.  It doesn’t matter that I was born in the US, as was my parents and grandparents!  I think on some subconscious level it is my attempt to connect to my great grandparents – to as it were – “to take a walk in their shoes”.  Since I never had the opportunity to meet them, at least maybe I could learn a little bit about them.

          Eighteen months ago, my older brother proposed the idea that my husband and I should join him and his wife on a trip to Ireland.  My brother (as was my Dad) is a big Notre Dame University fan and they had a football game scheduled for Sept. 1^st, 2012 in Dublin, Ireland, playing the Naval Academy team.  While my football allegiances lie with my alma mater, the UCLA Bruins, this was an opportunity too great to pass up.  He even sweetened the deal by allowing me to select the itinerary for the trip. 

          I did a bit of research and decided that among the choices – Galway, Claire or Kerry (Belfast was never even in my consideration), that I would select Galway as the 2^nd city in our 2 city tour.  You see the trip was a planned tour so while we wouldn’t have to worry about transportation from one place to another or accommodations, it would be limiting in where we could visit.  Neither County Mayo nor County Meath (the birthplaces of my great grandparents) were choices for the tour.  I am guessing that means these aren’t the most favorite tourist spots! 

          However, County Galway is just south of County Mayo so I would be close to my ancestral homeland.  Does this actually count?  Well, at that moment I rationalized just stepping on Irish soil would be enough.  The big bonus to Galway was that I could also see the magnificent Cliffs of Moher.  Now, I do know that the Cliffs are actually in County Claire but they offered tours from Galway.  So after selecting side tours – one to the Cliffs and the Burren and another one in Dublin, I paid my deposit and went on with my daily life for the next 18 months. 

NOTE: The next 10 or so posts will be about my trip to Ireland – the wonderful discoveries, the amazing people and their culture, and a very special surprise side trip that led me to my ancestral “home town”.   

MORE OF BRIDGET CHAMBERS' SIBLINGS

         

          As I discussed in my last post, my great grandmother Bridget Elizabeth Chambers was born in Islandeady, County Mayo, Ireland.  She was the youngest of 9 children.

          Her older sister Ann Chambers was born in 1864 in Islandeady and married Hugh Feehan.  Ann and Hugh lived in Rossow, County Mayo. Rossow is west of Islandeady and very close to the coast. The Feehans had 8 children: Maria, Bridget, Thomas, Jack, Patrick, Nora, Hugh and Elly. Ann and Hugh lived in Ireland their entire lives and their grandson Hugh now lives in the old family home in Rossow.  However, Ann and Hugh did manage to help some of their children and some of James Chamber’s children immigrate to Chicago. 

          Another sister Barbara was born in 1866 but died as a baby in 1867.  A year after Barbara’s death, James Chambers was born in 1868 in Islandeady.  James married Mary Malley and they had 3 children: Thomas, Maria and Kate.  Bridget’s (and James’) mother Ann Kilroy Chambers lived with James and Mary after the death of her husband Thomas Chambers in 1889.  James and Mary, though, died in the early 1900’s.  Ann Kilroy Chambers then immigrated to the US to live with her daughter Bridget in 1905. 

          Bridget’s younger sister Nora was born in 1873 and married Patrick Murray in Ireland.  Nora and Patrick immigrated to Chicago in 1906 and had a son named Thomas. As a child, I remember Tommy Murray visiting my Grandpa Charlie (who was his cousin).  Tommy wore white pants to church and my Dad and Grandpa used to tease him that he was the “ice cream man”.  Once I started researching Tommy, I found out that he was a driver for a laundry.  No wonder he had a lot of very clean white pants!

BRIDGET ELIZABETH CHAMBERS AND HER SIBLINGS

           Grandpa Charlie’s mother was Bridget Elizabeth Chambers. She was born on 3 Oct 1870 in Islandeady, County Mayo, Ireland to Anne Kilroy and Thomas Chambers.  Bridget was the 2^nd youngest of nine children. Five of her siblings immigrated to the US.  

          The oldest sibling, Patrick Chambers, who was born in 1857, immigrated to the US in 1879.  He worked as a foreman for city services in Chicago.  Patrick never married or as one of my dad’s friends used to say “never made the same mistake once”!

          Michael Chambers, the next oldest brother, was born in 1858 in Islandeady, Mayo, Ireland and immigrated to the US in 1880.  He married Winifred Callahan and they had 4 children.  Michael owned a saloon in Chicago and was possibly also a butcher at a meat market (located at 161 N Market, Chicago). 

          The oldest sister and 3^rd in line was Marie Chambers, who was born in 1860 in Islandeady, Ireland.  She immigrated to the US with her brother Michael and married Thomas Lynch.  They lived in Chicago and had 6 children: Anna, John, Mary, Thomas, Columbus and James. 

          Next in the sibling line is Charles, who was born in 1862 in Ireland.  Charles either immigrated in 1880 or 1885.  Charles married Ellen Ruane in Chicago.  He owned a grocery store/meat market, which was located at 678 Orleans Street in Chicago.  That building is one of the only wooden buildings to have survived the 1870’s Chicago fire.  It is now called “Green Door Tavern”. 

          I will talk more about Bridget and her other siblings in my next post but a quick note about the above photo.  The photo was taken in Islandeady, County Mayo, Ireland by my cousin Kevin on his pilgrimage back to the homeland with his wife a few years ago.

I KNOW HE'S RELATED BUT WHERE'S THE CONNECTION?

          For those of you who have been following the story of Charles Sherlock, in this post, I am going to discuss his father Edward Thomas Sherlock (who was my great grandfather).  

          Edward was born on January 6, 1869 in Navan, County Meath, Ireland to Bryan Sherlock and Margaret Caffrey.  I had very little information on Edward, except that he was a butcher, came to the US and lived in Chicago and then died at an early age in 1901, when my grandfather was just a baby.  Edward died of tuberculosis, which according to his death certificate he had for six months.  I did have the above photo of Edward.  I also knew my Dad’s cousin who somehow was related to us on the Sherlock side – his last name, in fact, being Sherlock.  What I didn’t know was where his branch intersected our family tree?

          I will readily admit that I am not very experienced in family history research outside of the U.S.  In fact, I am still learning how to do family history in the U.S.  But thanks to Ancestry.com and Familysearch.org, I was able to locate some birth record information that listed Bryan Sherlock and Margaret Caffrey as parents to Edward’s siblings.  So, I found Irish birth/baptism records for the following of Edward’s siblings – Mary (born in 1865), Bernard (born in 1867), Bridget (born in 1871), John (born in 1873) and Patrick Joseph (born in 1876).  However, none of them were my dad’s cousin’s grandfather Christopher Bartholomew Sherlock.  I couldn’t find a baptism/birth record for Christopher, but I did find 2 marriage certificates for Christopher that listed his parents as Bryan Sherlock and Margaret Caffrey.  I also found an Australian death record for a Nicholas Sherlock (also with his parents listed as Bryan Sherlock and Nicholas Sherlock) but no birth/baptism record for Nicholas.  It is puzzling to me why I can’t find a birth/baptism record for either Christopher or Nicholas.  

          I do also wonder what happened to the rest of Edward’s siblings since the only descendants I ever knew of were from Christopher.   I guess I have a lot more research to do.  Thanks to the online class on Irish Research that I took through Family Tree University, I do feel more prepared to tackle this quest to find the connecting branch of our family trees.