I am so excited to find this site. I have been looking at Wild West of Ireland travel and that is the best trips I have found so far, as to where I want to go. And just like everyone else my dream is to come to Ireland the home of my DNA contributors. I  want to touch the ground, feel the breeze and smell the air. Did the land where they settled in Virginia remind them of Ireland?  Does that sound crazy?  Maybe so but that's my dream. I am from Florida USA, Born in West Virginia which…

George Arthur French was born at Roscommon, Ireland in 1841. He was educated at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and commissioned in the Royal Artillery in 1860. 

In 1871, at the request of the Canadian government, he was sent…

We use lots of maps in tracing the paths of our ancestors. Mapmakers will often place a tiny piece of incorrect information in their maps to prevent illegal reproduction of their work. Called a "copyright trap," the fake text might be a bogus street name or even the…

Thomas McKean (March 19, 1734 – June 24, 1817) was the son of William McKean from County Antrim who came to Pennsylvania via the city of…

Book review

"The Longing," by Kimberly Mae

Friesen Press, 2015

Reading this warm-hearted book was a precise reminder to me of the full range of…

You probably know the wild west part, some fact and some fiction, depending upon which movie you watch. 

William Barclay "Bat" Masterson (1853 –  1921) was a figure of the American "old west" known as a buffalo hunter, U.S. Marshal and Army scout, avid fisherman, gambler,…

http://federalhillirish.com/2014/03/the-long-and-uneven-fight-for-equality-providence-r-i-1841/

This interesting and uncommon name is of Old French origin.  It was introduced into England after the Norman Conquest of 1066 and derives from the Old French "avril(l)."  The month of April, ultimately from the Latin "aprilis", a derivative of "aperire", to open, has reference to…

James Smith was born in Ireland's province of Ulster in 1719 and went to the American colonies as a boy. A member of the Continental Congress 1776-1778,  he  served in the war of independence as a Colonel of the Pennsylvania Militia from 1775-1776. Smith died on 11 July 1806. He was also a…

If you live in the southern part of the United States, you know they are still not over the war. Which war? The one where the south lost!  So thought I would stir the pot a little.

A large part of the 34th Mississippi Infantry was captured on the 24th of November, 1863 at…

When European settlement of North America started pushing inland from the coast, transportation problems repeatedly occurred. The biggest problem was the Appalachian Mountains, 400 miles from the coast.  This made it difficult to transport goods as well as…

Many people are familiar with the exploits of the Victorian explorer David Livingstone in Africa, his missionary work, anti-slavery agitation and his meeting with the journalist, Henry Morton Stanley on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, in November 1871 which gave rise to the now famous, and much parodied phrase, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”

Few people are aware that when contact with Livingstone was again lost after he parted company with Stanley, concern about his safety and health…

Read about the great woman from Cork, Mary Nagle Donohue, who was buried unknown and unmarked in a pauper's grave in Lackawanna, NY: www.billdonohue.ws. ;

The Irish were present at the creation of Georgia as a British colony in 1733. The second Royal Governor (1757-1760) of the colony was the Monaghan-born naval explorer Henry Ellis.  By treaty signed in 1763 with the Creek Indians, a tract of land was transferred which was roughly…

Before Columbus, Europe had never tasted potatoes, tomatoes, red peppers, chocolate, pumpkins, coconuts, pineapples, strawberries, and much more.  All these food items are native to the Americas.  Although explorers brought potatoes back from the New World in the early 1500s,…

Thomas Fitzsimons was born at Ballikilty, County Wexford, Ireland in October of 1741 to Anthony Fitzsymons in the mid-1750s.  We know his mother's name was Jane, but we do not have a record of her maiden surname.  Fitzsimons immigrated to Philadelphia where his father…

Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry, the word, in its most general sense, encompasses all matters relating to the duties and responsibilities of…

"Jack Tar" was a common English term originally used to refer to seamen of the Merchant or Royal Navy, particularly during the period of the British Empire. By World War I the term was used as a nickname for those in the U.S. Navy. Both members of the public and seafarers…

What’s hard about doing your family tree is finding some branches you’d rather break off, and one that comes to mind is a Kentuckian, a Gregory, whose 19 slaves were identified only by gender and age in the 1850 census, as if they were machine parts rather than human beings. That’s…