SNIPPET: "Irish Heart Jewish Soul, Favourite Irish and Jewish Songs" 2004 CD: The Jewish community in Ireland is not large, but its contribution to Irish life and culture is very notable. Singer Carl NELKIN, supported by fiddle, pipes, mandolin and percussion present a selection of Irish songs including "Love Thee Dearest," "By the Short Cut to the Rosses," "Bantry Bay," "Danny Boy" and Jewish melodies from the Yiddish theatre, interpreting Jewish-Irish intercultural activity and unique inheritance of Irish Jews by the use of traditional Irish instruments in the music for songs including the traditional "Der Rebbi Elimelech, Mazl" from the film "Mamele" and the lovely lullaby "Yankele" written by the great Polish folk singer Mordechai GEBIRTIG in the tragic year 1942. These songs are sung in Yiddish and a printed version of English is provided, per review in Irish magazine. Info: cnelkin@iol.ie. Some background -- "Jews have a long, but by no means continuous, history in Ireland. Scattered references to their presence have been discovered between the 11th and 13th centuries. In 1290 Jews were expelled from the dominions of the English crown, though there are stray references thereafter to individuals, including some refugees from Spain and Portugal in the 16th century. Jews began to resettle in England from 1656 and had reappeared in Ireland by the 1660s. Dublin had a rabbi by 1700, and a Jewish cemetery opened in 1718. By the mid-18th century Cork also had an organized community. Jews were by now sufficiently numerous, or at least noticeable, for their status to become a political issue. Proposals to permit their naturalization were debated by the Irish parliament on four occasions between 1743-1747, but rejected each time. A British act of 1753, which would have permitted naturalization in both Great Britain and Ireland, was repealed after eight months due! to hostile agitation. The Irish Naturalization Act of 1784 explicitly excluded Jews, a provision repealed only in 1816. The Jewish presence in Ireland remained a volatile one, highly responsive to economic and other circumstances. From the 1690s Dublin had attracted a group of wealthy merchants originally based in London; most of these, however, returned to England during the depressed years of the late 1720s. At the end of the 18th century the Dublin community largely collapsed, due partly to conversion and intermarriage with Christians, but also to emigration at a time of political unrest and economic uncertainty. In 1818 there were said to be only two Jewish families in the city. From the 1820s a new Jewish popilation appeared, of German and Polish origin but coming to Ireland via England. A high proportion were goldsmiths, silversmiths, and watchmakers, or dealers in tobacco, cigars, and snuff. In 1874 Lewis HARRIS (1812-76), merchant and jeweller, stood successfully for election in Dublin corporation. Overall numbers remained small: the census recorded 393 Jews in 1861 and only! 285 in 1871. From the 1880s, however, there arrived a much larger group of immigrants from eastern Europe, mainly refugees from prosecution in Tsarist Russia. By 1901 Jewish numbers had risen to 3,769. This influx of mainly poor eastern Europeans encouraged a degree of anti-Semitism, notably in Limerick, where inflammatory preaching by a Redemptorist priest, John CREAGH, inspired a two-year boycott of the city's Jewish shopkeepers and traders" -- The Oxford Companion to Irish History," new edition/2002, Oxford Press/editor, S. J. CONNOLLY, Prof. Irish History, Queen's University, Belfast.

My 2great grandparents Joseph Coombs and Ann Robinson Coombs were in Devonport, Plymouth England when their first children Mary Francis Coombs and John Thomas Coombs (Twins) were born in 1819. Charlotte born 1820, John Shine Coombs Born 1821 , Faith born 1822, James born 1823, Harriet born 1826 and then they moved to Canada. Joseph was an engineer working under Col By during the construction of the Rideau Canel in Canada. They remained in Canada and are buried in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. I am trying to find the parents and sibblings of Joseph & Ann. I believe Ann was born in Wexford Co. Ireland. But I do not know where in Ireland Joseph came from. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Bernice Lawrence -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 267.15.2/252 - Release Date: 2/6/2006

thanks again to the Ireland Heritage Newsletter.. Liam Neeson Glens of Antrim Irish Stew "Serve with good bread, a bottle of wine, such as Margaux '85, and Van Morrison's 'Celtic Twilight' playing in the background." 1 oz/25 g butter 2 lb/900 g lamb or beef, cubed 1 large onion, coarsely chopped 2 carrots, chopped 1 tbsp plain flour (optional) 0.5 pint/275 ml beef stock 2 tbsp tomato puree 0.5 tbsp sugar 2 potatoes, cubed (optional) 1 bottle of Guinness or a large glass of red wine 1 bouquet garni (sprig of parsley, sprig of thyme, 1 bay leaf tied up in muslin) Salt and freshly ground black pepper Tabasco sauce METHOD Melt the butter in a large pan and fry the meat in it until browned on all sides. Do not crowd the pan; brown the meat in two or three batches if necessary. Remove the meat from the pan, add the onion and carrots and cook until slightly softened. Return the meat to the pan, add the flour, if using, then stir in the stock, tomato puree and sugar. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Add the potatoes, if using, the Guinness or the wine, the bouquet garni and salt and pepper to taste. Cook over a low heat for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is tender. While the stew is simmering, add 4 or 5 drops of tabasco to taste. Serves 4 -- Pat Connors, Sacramento CA http://www.connorsgenealogy.com

Thanks to the Irish Heritage Newsletter: Lá Naomh Vailintín Shona Dhuit What to say to your love in Irish... Grá (graw) - Love A ghrá (Ah hraw) - My love/My dear A stóirín (Ah store-reen) - Darling! Mo mhuirnín (Muh whurneen/vurneen) - My sweetheart Póg mé! (Pogue may) - Kiss me! Tóg mé, tá mé leatsa (Toag may, taw may latsah) - Take me, I'm yours Mo chupcáca (Muh hup-caw-cah) - My cupcake Is é cinniúint é! (Shay kinn-noo-int ay) - It's kismet! Mo ghrá thú (Muh hraw hoo) - I love you Thitim mé i ngrá leat (Hittim may ih nraw lat) - I fell in love with you Is tusa an grá mo chroí (Iss tussah ahn graw muh hree) - You are the love of my heart Táim i ngrá leatsa (Tah-im ih nraw latsah) - I'm in love with you Táim i bpian an ghrá (Tah-im ih beh-in ahn raw) - I'm lovesick Barróga agus póga (Bahrogue-ah ahguss pogue-ah) - Hugs and kisses Tá siad ag seinm ár n-amhráin grá (taw shee-ad a shen-um awhr nahrawn graw) - They're playing our song. (Connemara pickup line) B'fhearr liom thú nó céad bó bhainne! (Barr lum hoo no cayd bow wahn-nyah) - I prefer you to a hundred milk cows! Lá Naomh Vailintín Shona Dhuit (Law neev val-in-teen hunna gwitch) - Happy Valentine's Day -- Pat Connors, Sacramento CA http://www.connorsgenealogy.com

SNIPPET: "The Emergency" -- In neutral Ireland, this was the name given to the period of WWII, 1939-1945. Despite pressure from Britain and, when it had declared war, the United States, Ireland also maintained formal diplomatic relations with Germany and Japan. As in previous centuries, Irish volunteers fought both for Britain and for Britain's enemies; and many crossed the Irish Sea to England, to earn money in the war economy that could not be earned in Ireland. The flow of emigration of course came to a complete halt. Ireland suffered as a result of the German blockade of the British Isles, and there were shortages of every important commodity. These were borne with typical wry humor and a tendency to blame the government. "By the year 1942...it was illegal to sell flour without a licence. As far as we knew there were no ships which were prepared to risk the mine-swept seas to bring us wheat. So the Government made an order that the millers were to get 100% flour from the wheat. The result was black or brown bread... "Bless them all, bless them all, The long and the short and the tall; Bless de Valera and Sean McEntee For giving us the black bread and the half-ounce of tea. but we're saying goodbye to them all, As back to the barracks we crawl, If we don't get cocoa we're going to go loco, So cheer up, me lads, bless 'em all." -- Eamonn MacThomais, "The Labour and The Royal" Market day, 1940 - Despite wartime shortages, life in the Irish Free State went on much as normal. In 1940, stalwart members of the Irish army stood guard at Maryborough (now Portlaoise) railroad station. In 1941, heavy German air-raids in Belfast. Damage from German bombs in Dublin killed 30 people. -- Excerpts, "Through Irish Eyes" & "A Short History of Ireland"

SNIPPET: Francis LOUGHLIN, a second generation Irish born in Lancashire, England, in 1946, is a professional photographer whose work has achieved many accolades over 30 years. It is Ireland, however, and Connemara in particular, that is the focus of some of his most powerful and exciting images. Several of his colorful photographs are featured in the Jan-Feb 2004 issue of Dublin's "Ireland of the Welcomes" magazine. Connemara on the west coast of Ireland in County Galway is an area of outstanding natural beauty. It boasts a breathtaking coastline with white sandy beaches that contrast against an imposing backdrop of mountain ranges. For those who are only recent visitors to Connemara it might be difficult to imagine that it is only in the last decade or so that the west coast of Ireland has become easily accessible. LOUGHLIN's first impression of visiting Connemara some years ago was when journeying past Galway City, there was a change in the landscape and the roads. "The roads suddenly narrowed, became more rugged and strangely quiet, whilst the landscape was more dramatic and wild. I began to notice that passers-by were waving as if they knew me and a distinct, welcoming aroma of turf hung in the area." This was his first taste of Connemara life, and the Loughlin family returned sometime later to buy a homey cottage three miles from the tiny fishing village of Cleggan. Many of the fishermen in Connemara still depend on the currach, a traditional wooden fishing boat, to navigate their way around the rocky coastline. There are a number of islands dotted off the coast of Connemara. Many were once populated but now, with the exception of Inishbofin, one of the larger islands, there are only a few people remaining on them. Researchers interested in this part of Ireland should enjoy LOUGHLIN's photographs in the magazine which include: Sunset over Friar Island off Aughrusmore, Connemara; an Inishbofin cottage; Paddy TIERNEY who lived on Inishbofin all his life and is remembered as a great local character standing amongst colorful flowers in his red plaid shirt; the late Mary COOHILL and her dog, who lived in Omey Island with her husband Mickey; a magnificent Connemara pony standing out in the fading light as dusk falls at Aughrusmore; James BURKE at home in Inishbofin, his brightly painted mantelpiece holds family photographs and a picture of the Sacred Heart; Eddie O'TOOLE walking on the uninhabited High Island, Connemara with a fuzzy young seabird watching him closely from a field of flowers; a close-up panoramic view of the annual horse race on Omey Strand; photos of Mickey COOHILL, Omey Island, who was a farmer and fisherman whose distinctive hand-made lobster pots are remembered by many; E! ddie O'TOOLE, again, setting lobster pots from his curragh with the sun glinting on the water; the beach and village at Inishbofin; Mr. Festy LACEY, resting from digging in the fields; a donkey stallion; the beach and village at Inishbofin. Island life breeds strong, interesting characters, and although the older generation is slowly fading away, a new one is continuing its forefathers' traditions that include cutting the turf, fishing and playing traditional music. Clifden is known as the capital of Connemara. Each August the Connemara Pony Show draws crowds of onlookers. Francis LOUGHLIN's images beautifully capture this peaceful part of Ireland and make his work very intimate, very special indeed.

SNIPPET: Between 1846 and 1851, more than a million Irish, almost all destitute and downtrodden, crossed the Atlantic, and even after the blight lifted, huge numbers kept coming. Most of them weathered the Atlantic crossing in steerage - inferior, often wretched accommodations reserved for the lowest-paying passengers. For $50 dollars, no small sum for an impoverished immigrant, passengers were crammed into a cargo ship with as many as 900 others, allotted only as much space as their bodies took up, their possessions tightly rolled up by their sides. Worse, filth and human excrement was everywhere. And cholera and other fatal illnesses, often brought on board by diseased immigrants, stalked the ship like a stowaway. Stephen de VERE, a wealthy Irishman so curious about steerage conditions that he decided to experience them first-hand, set down his impressions in his "Journal," quoted in Terry COLEMAN's "Going to America." -- "Before the emigrant has been a week at sea he is an altered man. How can it be otherwise? Hundreds of poor people, men, women, and children, of all ages, from the drivelling idiot of ninety to the babe just born , huddled together without light, without air, wallowing in filth and breathing a fetid atmosphere, sick in body, dispirited in heart, the fevered patient lying ... in sleeping places so narrow as almost to deny them the power of indulging, by a change of position, the natural restlessness of their diseases; by the agnonized raving disturbing those around, and predisposing them through the effects of the imagination, to imbibe the contagion; living without food or medicine ... dying without the voice of spiritual consolation, and burying in the deep without the rites of the church." Scores of similar accounts survive, each describing a nightmare that lasted from one to three months. Although the American and English governments enacted laws meant to improve conditions, it was difficult to enforce them, and steerage passengers traveled at the mercy of captain, crew, and each other. Forced to share berths, men and women had little or no privacy. The standard meal consisted of rough grain, served as a hardened lump. Crew members cursed passengers and sometimes physically abused them. By the end of one 1853 voyage that began with 200 passengers, between 37 and 41 had died en route. Their corpses were heaved overboard. On the whole, though, immigrants arrived safely; death claimed on the average of about one out of two hundred passengers, decidedly better odds than those posed by the Great Famine. In one respect the burden of traveling steerage was eased: The cost of the voyage was often shouldered by existing communities of Irish North Americans who financed the emigration of relatives through organizations such as Boston's "Pilot" newspaper and New York's Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank. And in 1871 an international postal money-order agreement, signed by the American and British governments, aided the transfer of funds between nations. From 1848 to 1900 Irish North American sent an annual average of $5 million to Ireland, 90 percent of it from the United States. The vast majority of 19th-century Irish Catholic immigrants soon discovered, however, that conditions in America were little better than those they had escaped, particularly in the cities. In contrast with other newcomers - Scandinavians and Germans, for instance - the Irish seldom lit out for the unpopulated frontier. One reason was that the land had been a source of anguish in Ireland, especially after the recent crop failures. In addition, most Irish farmers had experience growing only one crop, potatoes, and were ill-equipped to try their hands at others. Finally, Irish were reluctant to venture into isolated areas barren of churches and other places where they were used to congregating. Huge numbers of Irish immigrants were thus lumped together in industrial and port cities. In the mid-19th century four states - MA, NY, PA, and IL, contained more than half the total Irish American population. Penniless and unskilled, these refugees from a land racked by starvati! on took whatever jobs they could find, for any wage. In the 1830s unskilled laborers received about one dollar per working day. A decade later, even as business boomed, wages dropped to less than 75 cents for a 10 to 12-hour working day. -- Excerpts, "The Peoples of North American: The Irish Americans," Jim F. Watts (USA/1988)

WALKING AWAY It is eighteen years ago, almost to the day -- A sunny day with the leaves just turning, The touch-lines new-ruled -- since I watched you play Your first game of football, then, like a satellite Wrenched from its orbit, go drifting away Behind a scatter of boys. I can see You walking away from me towards the school With the pathos of a half-fledged thing set free Into a wilderness, the gait of one Who finds no path where the path should be. That hesitant figure, eddying away Like a winged seed loosened from its parent stem, Has something I never quite grasp to convey About nature's give-and-take -- the small, the scorching Ordeals which fire one's irresolute clay. I have had worse partings, but none that so Gnaws at my mind still. Perhaps it is roughly Saying what God alone could perfectly show -- How selfhood begins with a walking away, And love is proved in the letting go. -- Cecil Day-Lewis wrote this poem for his first-born son, Sean.

SNIPPET: Boer War, the name by which the South African or second Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 is popularly known. Many Irish nationalists, including Arthur GRIFFITH who spent some time in the Transvaal during the late 1890s, drew a parallel between the plight of the Boers -- white Christian nationalists -- and the Irish, each resisting the might of the British empire. Two Transvaal Irish brigades were formed to support the Boer cause. One was led by an Irish-American adventurer, Col. John BLAKE, along with Maj. John MacBRIDE, while the other was commanded by Arthur LYNCH. Although ao few recruits joined from Ireland and the USA, essentially these units were drawn from the existing Irish community in South Africa. Together they never numbered more than about 400 men, a striking contrast to the 28,000 or so Irishmen who served against them in the British army. In Ireland, an 'Irish-Transvaal Committee,' including GRIFFITH, james CONNOLLY, W. B. YEATS, and Maud GONNE, w! as formed to support the Boer republics and dissuade young Irishmen from joining up to fight on the British side. Although this effort had only a slight impact, the anti-war campaign as a whole greatly invigorated the Irish nationalist movement at a time when it was still suffering from the effects of the Parnellite split in 1890. -- Keith JEFFERY, Prof. Modern History, University of Ulster.

THE FAIR HILLS OF IRELAND A plenteous place is Ireland for hospitable cheer, Uileacan dubh O! Where the wholesome fruit is bursting from the yellow barley ear; Uileacan dubh O! There is honey in the trees where her misty vales expand, And her forest paths, in summer, are by falling waters fanned, There is dew at high noontide there, and springs i' the yellow sand On the fair hills of holy Ireland. Curled he and ringleted, and plaited to the knee, Uileacan dubh O! Each captain who comes sailing across the Irish sea; Uileacan dubh O! And I will make my journey, if life and health but stand, Unto that pleasant country, that fresh and fragrant strand, And leave your boasted braveries, your wealth and high command, For the fair hills of holy Ireland. Large and profitable are the stacks upon the ground, Uileacan dubh O! The butter and the cream do wondrously abound, Uileacan dubh O! The cresses on the water and the sorrels are at hand, And the cuckoo's calling daily his note of music bland, And the bold thrush sings so bravely of his son i' the forests grand, On the fair hills of holy Ireland. -- Anon, 18th c., trans. by Samuel FERGUSON. Attributed to an Irish student in one of the French Colleges. Uileacan dubh O (O sad lament).

I was wondering what had happened to any mails as I haven't had any for ages I was going to recommend the BBC history site for photo's at http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/your_history/your_photos/ Also to say I wrote a little piece about my Irish ancestors in Caribbee Island, Wolverhampton which was put on the site - Imigration. I've noticed there aren't any other stories for for Irish Imigrants in the C19, so wondered if anyone else knew that this can be done. Gill North Wales ----- Original Message ----- From: "Pat Connors" <nymets11@pacbell.net> To: <IRISH-IN-UK-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2006 9:29 PM Subject: [UK-Irish] ADMIN MSG: Rootsweb lists being bounced > For about a week or so AOL has blacklisted some of the mail from Rootsweb. > Rootsweb is corresponding with AOL to get the mail whitelisted. However, > after three bounces (not delivered mail), the email address will > automatically be unsubscribed from the list. If you are on AOL and still > getting mail, contact AOL and complain. They may try to blame Rootsweb, > but it is not Rootsweb's fault. > > Now Rootsweb's mail is being bounce by ISPs (servers) that use SpamCop > software. Again, three bounces and you will be automatically > unsubscribed. The problem with SpamCop occurs every now and then and the > cause is because someone does not want mail from a particular list that > they subbed to but don't 'officially' unsubscribe, so they complain to > their server that it is spam mail. The server then reports it to SpamCop, > if they use that program, and bingo, all Rootsweb mail gets refused by > SpamCop. This then effects all the servers that use the program to filter > spam. > > So, first, if you have not been getting Rootsweb mail, check the lists' > archives and see if mail has been posted to the list that you are not > receiving. You can check the archives by going to the the Rootsweb lists > index at: > http://lists.rootsweb.com > Find the list, go to the bottom of the list's webpage and find the link > for "browse archives". Choose year and month and see if there is mail > posted that you are not receiving. If so, contact your server and find > out if they use SpamCop. If they do, request that they let Rootsweb mail > through their filters. > > Also, never complain to your server about Rootsweb mail that you want > stopped. Use the above link, find the list and then find the unsubscribe > link for that list. If you have problems, write me off list and I can > manually unsub you. > > If you have questions, feel free to write me and I'll do my best to help > you. > > -- > Pat Connors, Sacramento CA, list admin > http://www.connorsgenealogy.com > > > > ==== IRISH-IN-UK Mailing List ==== > The Irish-In-UK Mailing List Website: > http://www.connorsgenealogy.com/IrishUK/ > > ============================== > Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the > last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx > >

For about a week or so AOL has blacklisted some of the mail from Rootsweb. Rootsweb is corresponding with AOL to get the mail whitelisted. However, after three bounces (not delivered mail), the email address will automatically be unsubscribed from the list. If you are on AOL and still getting mail, contact AOL and complain. They may try to blame Rootsweb, but it is not Rootsweb's fault. Now Rootsweb's mail is being bounce by ISPs (servers) that use SpamCop software. Again, three bounces and you will be automatically unsubscribed. The problem with SpamCop occurs every now and then and the cause is because someone does not want mail from a particular list that they subbed to but don't 'officially' unsubscribe, so they complain to their server that it is spam mail. The server then reports it to SpamCop, if they use that program, and bingo, all Rootsweb mail gets refused by SpamCop. This then effects all the servers that use the program to filter spam. So, first, if you have not been getting Rootsweb mail, check the lists' archives and see if mail has been posted to the list that you are not receiving. You can check the archives by going to the the Rootsweb lists index at: http://lists.rootsweb.com Find the list, go to the bottom of the list's webpage and find the link for "browse archives". Choose year and month and see if there is mail posted that you are not receiving. If so, contact your server and find out if they use SpamCop. If they do, request that they let Rootsweb mail through their filters. Also, never complain to your server about Rootsweb mail that you want stopped. Use the above link, find the list and then find the unsubscribe link for that list. If you have problems, write me off list and I can manually unsub you. If you have questions, feel free to write me and I'll do my best to help you. -- Pat Connors, Sacramento CA, list admin http://www.connorsgenealogy.com

GOING TO SCHOOL The milkman's horse began to trot, the milk float ran behind, and we who ran and jumped and held were taken for a ride. The milkman turned and growled at us who clung on tight behind, but we who'd run and jumped and held were taken for a ride. The milkman reached and took his whip and flicked it every way, and we jumped off and ran to school -- it happened every day. -- Leslie Scrase, "Poet's Corner," in "Best of British, Past & Present" mag. June 1998

SNIPPET: At the end of August, 1980, Susan MOON and her sons, Noah and Sandy, sailed from Montreal for London on a Polish passenger liner named for a Polish king of old. The boys were 12 and 9 at the time. They were on their way to live for a year in the south of England. Susan had taken a year off from teaching to work on a book, and she wanted the three of them to have an adventure together. She had rented out their house in Berkeley, CA, and had found a cottage in a little village called Dittisham-on-the-Dart and had arranged to rent it, sight unseen. It was a nine-day crossing, and on about the sixth evening, they had the idea of putting a message in an empty wine bottle and tossing it over the side. Writing on a piece of ship's stationery, Sandy, wrote a message: "Sept. 5 1980, Greetings. We are on a Polish ship, the Stefan Batory, en route from Montreal to London .... If you find this bottle, please write, telling us where and when you found it, to: Sandy de Lissovoy, ! Binham Cottage, The Lane, Dittisham, near Dartmouth, Devon, England." The message was rolled up and poked into the bottle, the cork was pushed in, Susan flipped a coin and the winner, Noah, hurled the bottle as hard as he could. They never heard nor saw it hit the water. In England they settled into village life. Although there weren't any other Americans around, they felt welcome and loved the predictability of village life. Noah played rugby after school, and young Sandy attached chestnuts to strings and played "conker wars" with his friends. Susan played recorder duets with an elderly woman who lived down the lane. On Friday evenings they went down the lane to the Ferry Boat Inn, where local folksingers congregated to hear an old man from the village, "Pop," sing bawdy Devonshire songs and play the squeezebox. One day in October the old postman, Claud, pulled from his leather sack a letter for Sandy from Ireland: "Killelan, Cahirciveen, Co. Kerry, 26/10/80. Dear Sandy, At last I am writing to you after finding the bottle which you sent from the Polish ship. I found your bottle in a place called Beal Tra, it is a small strand where I live near. I got your bottle on the 16th of September and am very sorry for the delay in answering.... My name is Tom O'CONNOR and my house is just next to the strand. I have brought the bottle into my local Pub which is in Cahirciveen and the name of it 'The Central Bar.' I live in Killelan and it is roughly three miles distant from Cahirciveen. Did you ever hear of it? It is on the ring of Kerry. I shall finish now and and will be looking forward to hearing from you. Yours faithfully, Tom O'Connor." Excitedly, the family found Cahirciveen on a map, way in the SW of Ireland. Sandy wrote back and then he pasted the letter into his journal. That autumn they were watching TV in Binham Cottage when they got the news of John LENNON's assassination in NY. In their English village of 500 people, almost as many sheep, and probably 50 dogs, the violence of life back home seemed like a bad dream. Planning to spend a two-week Easter holiday in Ireland, they wrote to Tom again, c/o the Central Bar. They said they would look for him at the bar on the evening of April 18. Spring was in full bloom when they got to Ireland, and wildflowers were blooming everywhere and the sun shown brightly. After locating the bar they walked through the semi-darkness and the smell of stout. When they asked the landlord for Tom O'CONNOR, without explanation he said they were looking for Tom HAYES. He knew who they were and apologized for having accidentally broken the bottle just the day before. A young named Sean who was twirling on a stool said he was a relative of Tom O'CONNOR's and he would direct them to Tom's place . Bumping their way down a small road out of Cahirciveen, they drove across marshes, the rough pavement turning to dry-earth, past a stone-age fort beside a strand (beach), and on between fields of sheep. Purple vetch grew beside the road, the track became grass, and they ! stopped beside a stone farmhouse with smoke coming out of the chimney. Tom O'CONNOR stepped out of his house and eagerly shook their hands. He was about 60, small and wiry, with a full head of grey hair but not all his teeth. He had bright blue eyes. His house was one big room with a dirt floor. He told them he lived there with his brother. At one end of the room a peat fire was burning, and a TV glowed at the other. Two sheep dogs slept by the fire, and a young lamb was lying on a blanket. It was the time of the spring lambing, and its mother had died, so Tom was bottle-feeding it. Tom said that theirs was the third bottle he'd found with a message in it, all of them on Beal Tra. (One had floated all the way from Florida, the other message was in Chinese). Tra means beach in Gaelic, and he went there to collect edible periwinkles. After a little while they all squeezed back into the car and went back to the pub. After visiting, Susan and the children went to find a youth hostel on Valentia Island and have supper. A few days later they took an all-day boat ride to visit the ancient beehive cells on Skellig Michael and decided to stop at Tom O'CONNOR's to say good-bye again and take a picture. They found him in a field with his sheep. He was glad to see them and smoothed his hair with his hands. A man came down the road on a bicycle and took a picture of the four of them smiling and standing in a row. Later, in Dartmouth, they sent a copy to Tom, but they never heard from him again. Susan wondered if he was still living. In the picture Tom is holding his head high because he knows it is an important occasion. In the background you can see sheep, and blue water, and a few curls of peat smoke lifting off an Irish mountain. -- Excerpts, May-June 2001 "Ireland of the Welcomes" magazine (with photos and copy of letter).

Listers: Sorry for the intrusion. I have been told that my previous post about the New EAST COUNTY CORK Yahoo Group did not include the proper link. Please go to this link to sign up: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/East_County_Cork/ This is a new IRISH GENEALOGY and HISTORY group geared specifically to those with an avid interest in EAST COUNTY CORK, IRELAND. EAST COUNTY CORK, IRELAND is defined as the geographic area South of MIDLETON, West of YOUGHAL, East of COBH and North of BALLYCOTTON. There are a number of maps on the new Web Site indicating the boundaries of EAST COUNTY CORK. This Group is for anyone: 1. searching for ancestors in East County Cork, Ireland. 2. expressing an interest in the history, geography, mapping, surveys, ordinances, customs and immigration patterns of families from East County Cork, Ireland. 3. willing to share family histories, genealogies, photographs, anecdotes, stories, and folklore from East County Cork, Ireland. Please join us! The owner and moderator of this Yahoo Group is: Bill Dorgan You can also sign up for the EAST COUNTY CORK Yahoo Group by going to the opening page of my personal Web Site: www.billdorgan.com.

Hi folks The following records were added to the Lurgan Ancestry website. 1901 CENSUS: 10 townlands of Kernan, 10 townlands of Carrowbrack & 14 townlands of Portadown Rural making an approximate total of 700 individual records. Each giving full name, age, religion, occupation, marital status, place of birth and how many persons in the household. These new editions along with the thousands of other records, directories and valuations are free to everyone and accessed and searched (with an on site search engine) by going to; www.lurganancestry.net regards. Martin. Lurgan Ancestry

Now, does this sound good? Thanks to George at the Irish Heritage Newsletter. Irish Carrot Soup Ingredients: 1 Medium Onion 1 lb. Carrots 4 Tablespoons Butter ½ Teaspoon of salt ¼ Teaspoon of Pepper 1 Medium Sized Peeled Potato- Chopped 6 Cups of Chicken Stock (or broth) Method: Chop the onions Peel and shread the carrrots. Fry carrots and onions in butter for 10 minutes or until soft. Transfer carrots and onions to a saucepan and add the stock , seasonings and chopped potatoes. Simmer until vegetables are tender and allow to cool. Puree in blender or food processor. Re-heat and serve with chopped chives floating in center. -- Pat Connors, Sacramento CA http://www.connorsgenealogy.com

www.spatial-literacy.org The above site maybe useful for surname research which came on line recently here in the UK. Surnames came into use in the 13th century and are as we all know linked to specific areas. It is the result of the examination and distribution of 25000 surnames on the UK electoral register and compared to the UK 1881 census. It would appear that their was less movement of people between the two periods. The message appears to be if you locate areas of a surname it is best to search those areas for family roots when matters get desperate. Ciaran Colgan chggf@btinternet.com

SNIPPET: Recent studies of American origins have forced historians to revise the conventional picture of the colonists as English. Only 60.9% of colonial Americans came from England. Another 14.3% were Scots and Scotch-Irish from Northern Ireland, 8.7% were German, 5.8% were Dutch, 3.7% were southern Irish, and 6.6% miscellaneous. Apparently there were 540,000 blacks - most of them slaves. Religion was also varied. America boasted 749 Congregational churches, 485 Presbyterian, 457 Baptist, 406 Anglican, 328 Dutch or German Reformed, 240 Lutheran and 56 Catholic. There were also 200 Quaker meetinghouses and 5 synagogues. There was often hostility among the denominations. Catholics were tolerated only in MD and PA. Quakers were not welcomed in most of New England. Presbyterians regarded Anglicans as a threat to their religious freedom because they talked of bringing bishops to America to set up an established church as in England. Well-to-do colonial families spent a great deal of money on clothes and education for their children. Families were large - eight children was not unusual. There were few public schools outside New England, and tuition at private schools was high. Singing, dancing, the playing of musical instruments, concert-going and quilting were favorite recreations. Thomas JEFFERSON played the violin. Benjamin FRANKLIN the guitar, harp, and violin. Patrick HENRY played the violin, the lute, the flute and the piano! The impression, then, that Americans of the revolutionary era were poor is incorrect. Each of the 13 colonies, a highly stratified, class-conscious society already existed. In the northern colonies, the wealthiest 10% of the population owned about 45% of the property. In many parts of the South, 10% of the taxpayers possessed 75% of the wealth. This was not surprising, as the colonies had been in existence for 150 years when the Revolution began - more than enough time for the talented and ambitious to acquire money and land. In the 1770s George WASHINGTON was a typical member of the upper class, thanks in part to his marriage to wealthy Martha Dandridge CUSTIS. He owned 12,463 acres of VA farmland and 24,103 unimproved acres in the western wilderness along the Kanawha and Ohio rivers. On his farms he kept 130 horses and maintained 135 slaves, and earned as much as 3,213 pounds a year from his various crops - a fortune compared with the landless laborer's income of 30 pounds. WASHINGTON paid a thousand dollars (the equivalent of $50,000 today) for a spinet for his granddaughter, Nelly CUSTIS. Wealth was also dispersed widely through the rest of the population. About 40% of the people were independent farmers who lived in considerable comfort. When artisans, shopkeepers were added to this group, they made up a thriving middle class whose members typically owned property worth about 400 pounds. One prosperous craftsman in Charleston, SC, spent 313 pounds a year to live in genteel fashion and educate his two sons at a private school. It took about 500 pounds a year for a family to feel well-to-do. Skilled workers such as carpenters earned from 45 to 90 pounds a year. Schoolteachers were wretchedly paid, as little as 30 pounds a year, unless, like Nathan HALE, they taught at an academy or private school. Harvard paid its professors 100 pounds a year, one-eighth the salary of a judge. Yale paid its president 150 pounds a year, considerably less than the owner of a prosperous tavern made. Ministers did somewhat better, as did doctors. Near the top of the economic pyramid were lawyers. Boston attorneys often made 2,000 to 3,000 pounds a year. At the very top were merchants, who spent money as freely as they made it. The ultimate sign of wealth was an "equipage" - a coach drawn by four matched horses, with servants in livery riding outside. There were no fewer than 84 of these elaborate vehicles in Philadelphia - 30 of them owned by supposedly "unworldly" Quakers! In the cities, indigents and men temporarily out of work were placed in almshouses. In New England, "going on the town" was considered a catastrophe among the poor. At the town meeting, the selectmen "bid off" the indigent to whoever would hire them - a procedure almost as humiliating as a slave auction. Newspapers were full of ads for slaves who had run away. Rewards were offered for their capture. Indentured servants also ran away regularly. Excerpts, "Liberty! The American Revolution," Thomas Fleming (1997)

"GIVE ME THREE GRAINS OF CORN, MOTHER" By Amelia Blanford Edwards Give me three grains of corn, Mother, Only three grains of corn; It will keep the little life I have Till the coming of the morn. I am dying of hunger and cold, Mother, Dying of hunger and cold; And half the agony of such a death My lips have never told. It has gnawed like a wolf at my heart, Mother, A wolf that is fierce for blood; All the livelong day, and the night beside, Gnawing for lack of food. I dreamed of bread in my sleep, Mother, And the sight was heaven to see; I awoke with an eager, famishing lip, But you had no bread for me. How could I look to you, Mother, How could I look to you For bread to give to your starving boy, When you were starving too? For I read the famine in your cheek, And in your eyes so wild, And I felt it in your bony hand, As you laid it on your child. The Queen has lands and gold, Mother, The Queen has lands and gold, While you are forced to your empty breast A skeleton babe to hold- A babe that is dying of want, Mother, As I am dying now, With a ghastly look in its sunken eye, And famine upon its brow. There is many a brave heart here, Mother, Dying of want and cold, While only across the Channel, Mother, Are many that roll in gold; There are rich and proud men there, Mother, With wondrous wealth to view, And the bread they fling to their dogs tonight Would give life to me and you. What has poor Ireland done, Mother, What has poor Ireland done, That the world looks on, and sees us starve, Perishing one by one? Do the men of England care not, Mother, The great men and the high, For the suffering sons of Erin's Isle, Whether they live or die? Come nearer to my side, Mother, Come nearer to my side, And hold me fondly, as you held My father when he died; Quick, for I cannot see you, Mother, My breath is almost gone; Mother! Dear Mother! Ere I die, Give me three grains of corn.