Dear friends of Beara, By way of commenting on the nature of Irish identity among those who left... I was in Detroit last Memorial Day with my mother. We'd gone there for the funeral of one of my father's brothers. After the solemnities, mom and I went out to Holy Sepulchre cemetery where so many of our relatives are buried. We stopped at the flower shop just outside the main gate to buy flowers, and mom wanted to get little Irish flags to go with the bouquets. But they'd already sold out. There were rows and rows of flags from every other country you could imagine, and the woman at the counter assured us she'd begun the day with four rows of Irish flags among them, but they'd all gone out the door by the time we got there in the afternoon. In the cemetery itself, back in section 6 where so many of my older relatives lie at rest, you can see on stone after stone, "Born in Ireland" "Born in Beara, Ireland" "Born in Ballylongford, Ireland" (the stonecutter had to squeeze the letters to make that fit) "Born in Ireland" on and on and on as you walk along the rows. So yes, there's a strong and lasting sense of Irish identity, both for those who came over and those of us who buy up those little tri-color flags to place on their graves. -- Bill

I'll add an Irish identity story from my own family. My great grandmother Catharine Barry was born in London, but her family (we believe) was from the next peninsula south of Beara, probably near the town of Crookhaven. They moved to England to find work in the famine times. Catharine had a brother Thomas, who had two sons while the family was in London: Thomas Jr and Jack (John) Barry. A relative told me Tom Jr was teased once by someone who found out he had been born in England, not Ireland. He replied sharply: "If a cat has kittens in a chicken coop, does that make them chickens?" Kevin in MO ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Gawne" <gawne@cesmail.net> To: <beara@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, October 31, 2009 10:11 AM Subject: [BEARA] An anecdote > Dear friends of Beara, > > By way of commenting on the nature of Irish identity among those who > left... > > I was in Detroit last Memorial Day with my mother. We'd gone there > for the funeral of one of my father's brothers. After the > solemnities, mom and I went out to Holy Sepulchre cemetery where so > many of our relatives are buried. We stopped at the flower shop just > outside the main gate to buy flowers, and mom wanted to get little > Irish flags to go with the bouquets. But they'd already sold out. > There were rows and rows of flags from every other country you could > imagine, and the woman at the counter assured us she'd begun the day > with four rows of Irish flags among them, but they'd all gone out the > door by the time we got there in the afternoon. > > In the cemetery itself, back in section 6 where so many of my older > relatives lie at rest, you can see on stone after stone, "Born in > Ireland" "Born in Beara, Ireland" "Born in Ballylongford, Ireland" > (the stonecutter had to squeeze the letters to make that fit) "Born in > Ireland" on and on and on as you walk along the rows. > > So yes, there's a strong and lasting sense of Irish identity, both for > those who came over and those of us who buy up those little tri-color > flags to place on their graves. > > -- Bill > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > BEARA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.5.423 / Virus Database: 270.14.40/2471 - Release Date: 10/31/09 07:53:00