Have you ever had the occasion to visit a cemetery and noticed headstones that had coins left on them?  Here are some interesting reasons for the ‘tokens’ being left behind.

The Ferryman

By far the most popular…

Since the 'dead babies in Tuam' story *hit* the headlines I've read a lot about it on the internet in particular and I wonder a lot of things and this is a difficult blog to write because where do I let my thoughts go.

An extremely emotional subject.

The first things I thought when I heard the story and as I listened to the immediate reaction here in Ireland was

1. Do you have any idea of what life was like for those people (the mothers).

2. Do you remember what…

In the field of battle, he shone like a

meteor on a clouded sky. As a dashing

military man, he was all virtue; a single

voice does not stain him as a warrior.

 -- Robert E. Lee…

I am proud that Gerry Conlon was a friend of mine. Not surprisingly, what brought us together was that the British government kept framing people the same way they framed him.

I first heard from Gerry a few weeks after he got out of prison in October 1989. The phone rang and…

From pagan sites to ecclesiastical settlements, intricate layers of religious and secular cultural history set against rugged mountains, glorious countryside and lush river valleys make County Carlow a perfect base for exploring the Southeast of Ireland. Whether brought here by faith, born and spent their lives here, educated here…

Copy of message sent to my Facebook page

My name is Jane Lyons, Ph.D., and I post on this page. I set this page up as an attachment to my Jane Lyons Genealogy page. This page is called Irish Genealogy, it has NOTHING to do with any professional site of the same name



I do not have and this page has nothing to do with a website which carries the name irishgenealogy



This page has been set up by a…

Sir Henry Wilson

DOMHNAIGH -- On June 22, 1922, Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson was shot and killed by two…

Beyond the Grave Conference, Limerick - a few weeks ago........

Jane Lyons (me) Talk.

I've just been sent a link to a 'video' of my talk at this conference and y'know, I was wrecked, had had about three hrs sleep the night before, it was 4.30pm, I was tired.

My music career began the year I joined Mickey Moran's Country and Oldtime Stars. I was seventeen, had long hair and played electric guitar, one of the solid red axes like Keith Richards had. Good for the image, Mickey said. There were four of us in the 'outfit', as he called it: himself played  a piano accordion, Tats was on the drums, me  on guitar and Tony Flynn covered clarinet, flute, maracas and tambourine. Mickey  did the…

I gave a tour to a group of people at Midway Village Museum in Rockford, Illinois. Of course, when they heard my accent they told me about their trip to Ireland. They had gone on a hill-walking vacation. That is an extremely popular activity with locals and tourists alike. There…

Most of us older readers remember the ubiquitous Ford Anglia. It was produced in four versions from 1939 until 1967. About 1.5 million of them were made. The 100E model lasted from 1953 to 1959. The engine was a 1,172 cc 4 cylinder unit mated to a three-speed gearbox. While there were some variations on the type of body most people bought the basic two-door, box-shaped model which had a top speed of approximately 70 miles per hour and returned about 30 miles to a gallon of petrol. A heater…

1928: Killenkere, County Cavan Ireland

The following article regarding the author’s grandfather is from a 1928 Anglo Celt newspaper published in County Cavan, Ireland.

… Mr. Matthew Smith, Beagh Upper, Parish of Upr. Killinkere. Mr. Smith resided in Philadelphia until a few years ago, when he returned…

Confusion over the term "family crest" probably arose from an understandable abbreviation of the terminology in heraldry for an important part of a coat of arms. One of the most respected sources for heraldry information is Fairbairn's Book of Crests of the Families of Great…

The  following is a transcript from the LIVE Community Chat held here at TheWildGeese.com on Friday, June 20, 2014 with with Éilís Crean, the founder of a very creative online Irish community called…

Brave laundress Mullany offers historic reminder of why unions matter

By Liza Frenette, New York State United Teachers

It was February 1864 and it was winter in Troy, NY, a harsh time of year with snow and cold in upstate New York. But the working…

The  following is a transcript from the LIVE Community Chat held here at TheWildGeese.com on Thursday, June 19, 2014 with with…

It was one of those beautifully mild summer evenings in Ireland. The Dubliners were playing at the Merriman Tavern in Scariff and I was not working until the following evening. Perhaps my brother, Tony, would like to join me so I headed the 50 or so miles for North Clare from my…

One could be forgiven for assuming a place named Stonefield would be located in Ireland. There are many stony fields particularly in the Burren region of County Clare where I grew up.

The Stonefield of this article is located at 12195 County Hwy VV, Cassville, Wisconsin, USA close to the Mighty…

I made an early start from my home in County Clare to catch the ferry boat at Larne which would take me to Scotland. The most direct distance was about 400 km (250 miles) but I took a somewhat longer route to avoid large towns. Better to deal with the rural mileage than the urban traffic congestion. It was before motorways linked main towns. The year was 1993 and…