So...one of the problems of studying my Irish past... is no one knows nothing. There is no great stories of the homeland. My relatives shared nothing good, great, or happy stories. They didn't even bother to share the region from where they were from. They simply didn't care, Who can blame them? They were leaving a horrible hell...looking at the U.S.A ...the promised land... they left Hell behind..they didn't look back...They left poverty, only to be confronted with a new hell... life aboard…

I learn more and more about the ghosts from my past. My ancestors are, after all the stuff of me. My family is...colorful. I don't know much about them when they were in Ireland but I know a lot since they arrived in America. I know my great, great grandpa John married a fiery, headstrong lass from County Tipperary. John arrived in 1865. His bride Margaret some years earlier. John was Catholic, didn't know how to read or write, and came from a simple farmers family. Margaret, was educated,…

recently, I was able to trace my family from Seattle, Washington and all the steps they took from the home in county Laois.All my life I never knew where my family came from... just Ireland. I feel pretty good about bringing my family back to life....and in my imagination I could really feel who these people were. It also helped to watch period shows like "Coppers" and "Boardwalk Empire" I read books on the history of Ireland and America in the 1800's and early 1900's... The journey was so…