Irish Lit & Times discussion

This just came into my head as I was looking at the picture for our group:

I know not all of us are Irish in heritage, but for those of you who are, are you aware from which county you herald?

I have found my surname past in an old county in the eastern portions that has now been divided up, and also Limerick, but the vast majority of us apparently came from Kerry.

I was born and raised in Cork. Here are some pictures of my alma mater:

http://gaelstat.blogspot.com/2007/09/...

Nice!

My grandparents are from Galway.
I've not made the trip yet, but I think soon.

Yep, my great great grandparents were from Kerry too. It is cool, if your family came through Ellis island, you can look them up on the ship manifest.

Great pictures.

My grandparents came from Cork, but I've read that their name originated in Galway.

When I was young I went to Trallee to find a Conners. One of them had come to the States and married a Fitzpatrick and the Connors back in Ireland kept writing until 1916. Trallee is plumb full of Conners but I think I discovered the right bunch. It didn't really matter because everyone there became the best of friends & gave me a helping hand in searching.

But what I'll never forget was my bicycle trip to Killarney where I stopped in at a pub called McNeills and an old woman had tears in her eyes when I asked if anyone there knew this friend of my fathers who now worked for the American telephone company.

She said, "He was a machine gunner for the illegal IRA and we were all told he was shot through he head. He gave me some music for my wedding."

I was welcomed by everyone there with open arms.

My father told me his friend started writing to this woman in Killarney after my visit and letter back home.

I'm an American in South Carolina, 7/8 Irish descent, my Mother's folk from County Donegal, the village of Anabry. My Fathers from Cork and Strasbourg. My Mother's cousin Pader O'Donnell (deceased) was an IRA luminary, editor of Bell's Literary magazine in Dublin, and the author of nine novels.

I must include this because it is the truth. It is not about Ireland but it does deal with Countries of Origin.

I wrote this to a Moslem girl in Indonesia who thought she would lead almost the same life in the Mid-East.

She did not believe me when I told her that no woman yet has ever gotten a driver's license in Saudi Arabia. Neither is a woman there, in most sections of the country, allowed to open a door to her house to let someone in or to even answer the telephone. In about half the Mid-East countries women are not going to heaven either. Heaven, in these countries, is restricted to men only.

xxxx

You would not like being a woman in half the countries in Africa.

In Egypt there are no problems whatsoever. A woman can drive. She can work. She can do about anything she wants just like in Indonesia.

But it is NOT this way in Saudi Arabia and half the Moslem countries in the Mid-East.

If your dress is more than two inches from the ground the police will whack your legs HARD with a cane pole. Even then before you are allowed on the street you MUST be accompanied by a man who walks in front of you. Women are not only secluded to the house but also they REMAIN in a quiet corner thereof.

When you go there then you will KNOW you are no longer in Indonesia.

If you and your husband are the same shade of color and you have a very much darker/lighter baby then make no mistake about it. You will be buried half way in a pit and stoned to death (for adultery) in half the Moslem countries that I have been in. Your baby will survive being brought up in a religious school studying the Koran.

I've been all through that area and this is the truth!

I´m irish 100%. Born in Dublin, lived in Galway for a while too. Both parents from Dublin, my granny´s family all came from Dublin, and my grandads´ from Galway, with some popping in from Louth. Some members of my family still live in the Connemara Gaeltacht, using the irish translation of my second name.

I'm Canadian but I live in Northern Ireland (since 1990). My Irish ancestors went from Ireland to England to Canada. I've traced my family back to Devon and Lancashire in England but then the records get vague. The census etc just lists them as originating in Ireland but not so much as a county. I've checked where the surnames are prominent but there is more than one county where my ancestors surnames can be found. So I live here and wonder if I'm living and working near where my family may once have lived...I'd love to know!

Dianne Ascroft,
author, 'Hitler and Mars Bars'

The ancestors came from Ulster, but I'm unable to get any more specific than that.

A number of years ago my aunt traced our roots and then got tired of it so left off. My ancestors were established in America before the Civil War, we know that because there are records of a farm. Another problem for tracing is that we had a fairly unusual name, McCargh, that I haven't come across in books.

My husband's grandparents were from Sligo and my great-grandparents were from county Laois

I'm from the USA. But I love the language and music. My heredity is more Scottish than anything, but I suspect there may be a bit of the Green Isle somewhere back on grandmother "Bogan's" side.

I'm a Fitzgerald, so the family came from Kildare and Desmond (and about 28 other places, apparently)...

My Grandparents came from County Fermanagh. But I also have family from County Dublin.

My late mother was from Cobh, Co. Cork. I'm a Desmond from Cork.
I now live in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England which is where my late father was from. Hoping to move back to Cork in 2012 unless I go to Uni as a (very) mature student.

Cork here, too! Great-grandfather came over to USA to run some sort of business, silly man.

I'm from the USA. Three of my paternal great-grandparents came from Ireland, one from near Clifden in Co. Galway, another from from Carrowhubbock in Co. Sligo and the third from Mitcheltown, Co. Tipperary.

On the other side of the family, direct ancestors hail from Co. Mayo and also from Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh.

I've had the pleasure of visiting Ireland and exploring some of the family hometowns. I hope to be back again soon!

I was born in Westmeath, but raised in the States. My mother lives still in Limerick city.

I'm from the USA, have an almost 100% Teutonic heritage (1 relative since 1700 from Wales), but have a hobby interest in Celtic Studies. From a literature point of view Ireland is the holy-land of Celtic studies, thus my interest in modern and ancient Irish literature and culture.

Daniel wrote: "I must include this because it is the truth. It is not about Ireland but it does deal with Countries of Origin.

I wrote this to a Moslem girl in Indonesia who thought she would lead almost the s..."

Hi, Daniel. I am an Indonesian Moslem girl. I have read your comment, and I believe it. I know that is true. It is so hard to live in Arabia for a girl. Anyway, where are you come from? How do you know about all that rule in Arabia?

Kernos wrote: "I'm from the USA, have an almost 100% Teutonic heritage (1 relative since 1700 from Wales), but have a hobby interest in Celtic Studies. From a literature point of view Ireland is the holy-land of ..."

Hi, Kernos. I like Irish literature too and I love study about it. I am an Indonesian. Sorry, I don't know what do you mean with 'Celtic'. Can you tell me?

Tyas wrote: "Kernos wrote: "...Sorry, I don't know what do you mean with 'Celtic'. Can you tell me?"

Wow! What a difficult question to answer. Our Gaelic friends may do a better job than I.

J. R. R. Tolkien observed that the word Celtic "is a magic bag, into which anything may be put, and out of which almost anything may come . . . Anything is possible in the fabulous Celtic twilight, which is not so much a twilight of the gods as of the reason."

It as become more meaningful since Tolkien's day. The simplest way of defining "Celtic' is linguistically. It is a group of related languages and the cultures of those who speak or spoke them.

The languages surviving today include Irish and Scot's Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish (it has been, is being reconstructed from the few living survivors who spoke Cornish from Cornwall), Manx (Isle of Man—I'm not sure if there are still living speakers, and Breton (the dying language of Brittany).

There is an effort by linguists to reconstruct, Gaulish—The language spoken by those in what is now France back in Julius Caesar's day.

A decent short overview about Celts is the book The Celts: A Very Short Introduction by Barry Cunliffe

I grew up in Virginia with Irish heritage. I spent the last few months living in Cork and Cobh, Co. Cork. I went to University College Cork (which I loved). And I hoping to move back to Ireland after graduation.

I am not sure where my family is from, but parts of Cork, especially the north, were plastered with my family name. And the tea company of Cork was also named after my family. I think they might have been from Cork....

Kernos wrote: Wow! What a difficult question to answer. Our Gaelic friends may do a better job than I.

J. R..."

So, Celtic is a kind of language in Ireland, isn't it? That is an idiom or dialect, right?

'Celtic' refers to a group of languages all related to old Celtic and to each other. Gaelic (Irish) is one such modern language.

It can also be used in archeological, numismatic, cultural, historical, genetic, mythologic senses...

How many native Gaelic speakers here grew up with stories of Cú Chulainn, perhaps the greatest known Celtic hero?

@Kernos: Oh, I understand now. Thank you for sharing with me. I like learn about language too, actually. Old English in Sheffield is my favourite.

Is as contae na Mhi me, ach taim mo chonai i dTra li anuas!

Christopher, I have no idea what you just wrote. But I know how to say Dia duit! Conas atá tú?

I was born in the USA but my father was from Wexford and my mom from Longford. we spent our childhood returning to Eire practically every summer and in the end I went to college there. It was a lovely experience and i did learn some Irish but unfortunately the wrong words :)

I was born in the USA as well as both my parents and my maternal grandmother. My maternal grandfather however hailed from Bray, County Wicklow. He is a Byrne.

Hi folks,
It's lovely to see so many people interested in Ireland. I am from Dublin and I have written and published seven fiction books, some of which may be of interest to people who want to read about modern Ireland.
I also review a lot so you may see my name coming up on reviews of Irish books. One I have at present is Maeve Binchy's Chestnut Street.
Of course I read and review a lot of different genres as well as factual books.
Having been on Goodreads for a while I am just starting to explore groups.

My titles are;
Murder at Irish Mensa
Murder at Scottish Mensa
Murder at Dublin Mensa
Murder at Kildare Mensa
Murder at Wicklow Mensa

Silks And Sins - equestrian romantic suspense

Dining Out Around The Solar System - a science fiction look at the future of Ireland and the UK.

I've reviewed The Days Of The Servant Boy which is a look at times past in south-west Ireland.

So who will be celebrating St Patrick's Day?

Here's a thought - buy a book by an Irish author. There are so many to choose from.

Born in Wexford.

First book "Claddagh Pool" published 2012.Available on Amazon as book or Kindle.

Second book currently in third re-write.

Headed back to Ireland later this year.

www.denishearn.com

I'm a McDonnell, and as near as I can tell my ancestors came from around Foxford and Swinford. I haven't made much headway in researching that side of the family, but my mother's side came from Skibbereen in County Cork. Well, that was her mother's side, the Burchills. Her maternal grandfather was a bit of a mystery man. His name was Peter O'Farrell, but he changed it after he came to America. I based my ebook series, "Rose Of Skibbereen" on that side of my family. It's a fascinating story.

John McDonnell

my maiden name is white- actually- De Faoite, born and bred in Dublin as they say, of Viking heritage (long way back) now living in Wicklow- best part of Ireland.

I'm descended from relatives in County Wicklow, south of Dublin. One of those ancestors was born in County Sligo ("Yeats Country"). I worked this into a short story that's listed in Goodreads: Uncharted Passage: Toward New Realms

My father came from Wexford, the sunny south, and my mom from Longford, the midlands. I live in New Jersey

Born in Wexford Ireland. Live in Atlanta.

My parents came from Wicklow (Mom) and Limerick/Mayo (Dad).
I have been to Ireland many times and regularly follow events in Ireland on RTE.ie and the Irish Times. I just love Irish fiction because it brings me back in my imagination. My favourite Irish author at the moment is Colum Toibin.

I am half way through writing my third novel, Retribution. Hope to have it completed by the end of December.

See: Bagger Island. Claddagh Pool, on Facebook.

www.denishearn.com