Welcome to The Wild Geese community, Owen!  Glad to have another O'Rourke here. :-)

I was just looking at your genealogy website.  Well done on that.  My family emigrated to America a long, long time ago (1730s!), and I moved back to the ancestral homeland about four years ago.  Going to send you a private message with what I know genealogy-wise to see what you might suggest.

Hi Owen, my O'Rourke "cousin!"

Welcome to The Wild Geese. Would you like to get involved?

We are working on a collection of short articles about Irish Christmas Traditions, and we need your help. Would you be willing to tell us about the history behind one of these customs? We'd also love to know about your personal experiences with the custom, if applicable. Choose one from this list, or suggest another Irish Christmas Tradition:

Women's Christmas / Nollaig na mBean

Christmas Day Swim

Pre-Christmas cleaning

Christmas Crackers

The Wren (taken)

Candle in the Window (taken)

Midnight mass

Please email me at Kelly@thewildgeese.com if you'd like to participate. Thanks so much!

Kelly O'Rourke

The Wild Geese