Thomas Freeman had a national reputation for precision and trustworthiness. He was a government surveyor, civil - topographical engineer and astronomer during the formative period of the Republic. Freeman was an Irish immigrant who caught the attention of master surveyor George Washington and Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. As a result Freeman had a significant role in laying out the District of Columbia. Freeman was engaged in 1808 as the chief surveyor of the Mississippi…

The Bear Flag Revolt, was from June to July in 1846. American settlers in California rebelled against the Mexican government and proclaimed California an independent republic.  After the Bear Flag  was…

                                        Mississippi became a state on December 10, 1817  [Enchanted Learning]                                           

                                                         Above, Mississippi Territory (1798-1817), Wikipedia

Originally published in 1996, the book “Desperate Haven” is the definitive study to date of the Great Famine and its effects on the towns and villages of West Waterford. This long out-of-print and much sought-after volume was the product of more than five years of research by Dungarvan Museum…

LUAIN -- On June 24, 1797, John Hughes, the first archbishop of New York, was born in Annaloghlan, County Tyrone. Hughes emigrated to the United States in 1817 and was ordained in Maryland in 1826. Appointed bishop in New York in 1842 and archbishop in 1850, Hughes was a fierce defender…

The (New York) Evening World declares the war over on Nov. 7, four days before the Armistice was formally signed. (Library of Congress)

To commemorate 100 years since the ending of the First World War, Find My Past is offering free access to its family history database collections this weekend from 12:00 noon (GMT)…

A quick intro on research for my Irish roots:

As a child, my mother always told me that her father said his mother was from Ireland; he (my grandfather) never told my mom her name, birthplace in Ireland, age or anything else: All he told my mom was where she was buried. When I went to the cemetery, she was…

I began researching my family tree a little over three years ago, and two years ago I shared some of my journey in this post:…

Irish loyalties in the Rebellion of 1641 were intertwined between religion and the destabilization of English politics. "The Catholic  landowners desire to recover their lost land was one main reason for the rebellion. The rebellion started eleven years of war between 1641-52 in Ireland and was…

The more presentations I make of my book, HIMSELF, A CIVIL WAR VETERAN'S STRUGGLES WITH REBELS, BRITS, AND DEVILS, the more readers and commentators lead me to read further and think deeper. If I were to rewrite this historical novel, I would include episodes depicting how poorly received were Northern veterans upon returning home, how much they were forced to turn to one…

The immigration experience of the Presbyterians in colonial Virginia was an oppressive time for the Scotsmen from Northern Ireland. Subject to the penalties imposed on them by the Established Church of England, their presence in Virginia, especially, in Hanover and Louisa County was tenuous. Formed from New Kent County,…

The genealogy and history of the Presbyterian Church has always been intertwined in Virginia history. Beginning in the 18th century, protestant dissenters were seen unfavorably by the Established Church of England. Presbyterians, Quakers, and Puritans because of their religious beliefs were penalized by the British government socially, politically, and in matters of religion. The Presbyterians, especially, had a traumatic…

David Goodall was born in 1931. One side of his family had Wexford ancestors who were on both sides of the 1798 Rising. Though he had no professional involvement in Anglo-Irish relations until 1982, Goodall had a lifelong scholarly interest in Irish and, especially, Wexford history. He was president of…

My mother (God rest her) must have taken this photo. It was in Connemara and they were on their honeymoon… It was a long time ago, but we still had a copy in a dusty old photo album at home in Ranelagh. It was lovely to see it projected onto the gable end of Pearse’s Cottage in Ros Muc last weekend.

It’s a long story. But maybe today, I’ll just tell you about the short film that I produced as part of my artist’s…

Tinteán Tréigthe no.19, oil on canvas, 2016

Now if you’re searching for your great grandmother’s cottage in the country, you can follow the map to a certain extent, but, in the end, you just have to ask someone. So, after driving a crooked mile up a crooked mucky roadeen, searching for the dot beside the ‘S’ of…

Do you know where you’ll be on April 24? Maybe not, but chances are you might just find yourself huddled over a form, answering innumerable questions about your personal life. Filling in the census may not be the most exciting of pastimes, but it sure is important. Without all those statistics…

Boy, we had us a whopping week of celebrations. There isn't a child in the country who can't now recite the Proclamation, nor an adult that cannot name everyone who fought in the GPO in 1916. We can all quote Yeats and Pearse, Connolly and Casement. We can sing songs that weren't sung in a century, and we can recite thumping…