Tuesday, March 23, 2010

I'M IRISH!!!!!!!!

After about a year or so with delay after delay to see my family tree, I finally got sent a copy of my family tree, and...

Seems like I'm a little bit of everything, but I've definitely got a hefty chunk of Irish in me (along with British, French, Italian, Welsh, German, Spanish, and Scottish). Here are my Irish ancestors!

Name                                      Birth                                                        Death

Robert DePollock                     1580 - Coleraine, Londonderry, Ireland          1660, Coleraine, Londonderry, Ireland

Fitzgerald, Thomas Fitzmaurice          B. 1153 - Wexford, , Kildare, Ireland       D. Apr 1213 - Connello, Eireann, Limerick, Ireland

Fitzmaurice, Gerald          B. 1150 - Windsor, Berkshire, , England       D. 15 Jan 1203 - Offaly, , Kildare, Ireland

Fitzmaurice, Thomas         B. 1176 - Connello, , Limerick, Ireland       D. 1213 - Castle, McPherson, Kansas, United States

FitzMaurice, William         B. 1152 - Wexford, , Kildare, Ireland       D. 1199 -

Gras Grace, William Le         B. 1093 - Of, , Kilkenny, Ireland       -  D. Huh

O Brien, Muirchertach          1030 - Munster, , , Ireland       1119 - Lismore, , Waterford, Ireland

OBrien, Lafracoth          1076 - Munster, , , Ireland       1135 - , Pembrokeshire, , Wales

Ossory, Dubhchobhleigh Na          1050 - Ossory, , , Ireland       1098 - Munster, , , Ireland

Polk, Robert Bruce          1625 - Donegal, Ireland       1703 - Somerset, Maryland, USA

Polk, William B          1664 - , , Donegal, Ireland       1739 - Whitehall, Somerset, Maryland, United States

Pollock, Robert Bruce  1606 - Coleraine, Londonderry, , Ireland       1660 - City, , , Ireland

Seawell, Clara              1675 - Ireland                      Huh - Ireland

Tasker, Magdalen          1637 - , , Donegal, Ireland       1726 - Somerset, Maryland, United States

Tasker, Roger          1606 - Ballindrate, , Donegal, Ireland       1688 - , , Donegal, Ireland

Tasker, Thomas          1570 - , , , Ireland       - , , , Ireland

I'm so happy that I can FINALLY confirm the fact that I am indeed IRISH - even if partially so. By the looks of it, my family comes from both Northern and the Republic of Ireland!!!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Happy Saint Paddy's Day!

Cead mile failte! (A hundred thousand welcomes to you!)


Lord, I'm glad to be back. Sorry for not posting in a while. My computer was having tons of problems, so I had to wait until my trip to Hendersonville to have my extremely tech-savvy cousin fix it. Now my computer is fixed and running SO smoothly!

ANYWAYS, Happy Saint Patrick's Day! I'm not gonna make an extremely long post as I have classes and *ahem* plans. ;-) What I WILL put in this post is some interesting facts about Saint Patrick's Day and its country of origin...IRELAND, of course!

Saint Patrick (Sanctus Patricius in Latin) is the most generally recognized patron saint in Ireland. He was a missionary who came to Ireland to spread God's Word. Legend has it that he introduced the concept of the Trinity to the native Irish people using a shamrock - hence why the shamrock is so closely associated with Ireland.

St. Patrick is believed to have died on March 17th, 493, which is why March 17th became a holiday - to remember St. Patrick's work.

The shamrock's importance shows up later in Irish history. When the Irish wanted to break away from British rule, their sign of rebellion was to put a shamrock on their caubeen hats. They would also wear green as the color for the Society of United Irishmen. At that time, wearing green was punishable by hanging!

Off to celebrate!

Le gra