My initiation into my family history has been a rewarding and sometimes surprising adventure. I knew from my mother that her mother's family came from Monmore, County Clare. The amazing resources at County Clare Library confirmed that in 1901 Michael and Mary Keane and children Thomas, Delia, Patrick and Honor lived in the Kilrush Rural DED townland of Moanmore North during the Census of 1901. Further examination of the records also found my grandfather's parents, John Kitson and Anne Dee, met in Kilkee where Anne was living with John's mother, Anne, during the Census Returns in 1851. That document lists Anne Dee's parents as Stephen Dee and Bridget Purtil. The address is listed as Lisgurreen, Lisdeen. John and Anne Kitson's son Michael is my grandfather (died 1963 in New York) and Michael and Mary Keane's daughter, Delia, was my grandmother, she died around 1958 also in NYC. Her brother Patrick, who lived with them in NYC during the 1930 U.S. Census also died in the 1960s. My father's father, Maurice Francis Sweeney (b 1882) who immigrated in 1901 and died 4/1/1940, seems to have come from the area, but might have been from Kerry. His father, Morgan McSweeney, married Anna Flynn according to Maurice's sister Nora, (b 1884 d 12/24/1964) who became a Sister of Charity of St. Elizabeth in New Jersey. Maurice had two other sisters, Nellie Horan who had a daughter Josephine, and Mrs. Richard McCarthy, all of Waterbury CT. Maurice married Anna Delaney in 1906 and had a daughter, Anna Sweeney (b 1910). He married my grandmother, Jennie St. Peters, Aug. 25, 1922, in Detroit MI. Jennie was born somewhere in Canada in 1886. Maurice listed Castleisland as his last residence before going to the United States. Nellie may have listed Abbeyfeale. Maurice and Jennie are buried in the New St. Joseph Cemetery in Waterbury, My father, Ned Maurice (b 5/4/1928 in Waterbury d 8/22/1988 on Long Island New York) and mother Nora May (b 9/21/1928 in New York, d 8/18/2004 on Long Island) are both buried in Calverton National Cemetery. A 20-year-old note from an aunt lists Sister Mary Oliver at the Convent of Mercy in Monmore as a cousin and Thomas Keane, also of Monmore as a great-uncle. I would love to know more because I fall deeper in love with my family and my heritage the more I know, including the uncles and cousins. For example, what parishes would have their baptismal, marriage and death certificates. God bless you all, Ned. Ned Sweeney Central Islip NY 11722

Dear Ned, I see that your family lived in NY as do you. There is an absolutely wonderful NY Irish list owned by Pat Connors. I have almost no connections with NY, so I quit the list. I was doing some work on a Jimmy Flynn of NY for someone else and that list was so very kind. They knew that Jimmy was not my kin, but everyone seemed to have such fun trying to find him and any possible recordings. Jimmy Flynn was a wonderful singer, but I think that he died before any recordings were made of his singing. Sad. Alanna

Alanna, I want to thank you for your kind reply with a small humorous aside. The last social/romantic date I had was with a charming, good-looking and attractive lady with your last name in Auburn AL. Her father is a big shot in that town. Do you recall the Flynn website, list or email? God bless you and yours, Ned Ned Sweeney Central Islip NY -----Original Message----- From: Alanna Scanlon [mailto:alannal@prodigy.net] Sent: Monday, August 28, 2006 10:50 PM To: IRL-CLARE-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [CLARE] A lot of Clare roots Dear Ned, I see that your family lived in NY as do you. There is an absolutely wonderful NY Irish list owned by Pat Connors. I have almost no connections with NY, so I quit the list. I was doing some work on a Jimmy Flynn of NY for someone else and that list was so very kind. They knew that Jimmy was not my kin, but everyone seemed to have such fun trying to find him and any possible recordings. Jimmy Flynn was a wonderful singer, but I think that he died before any recordings were made of his singing. Sad. Alanna ==== IRL-CLARE Mailing List ==== If you just want to subscribe to this list or unsubscribe from it, send e-mail to IRL-CLARE-L-request@rootsweb.com or (for the digest list) IRL-CLARE-D-request@rootsweb.com and put the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the message body. ============================== Census images 1901, 1891, 1881 and 1871, plus so much more. Ancestry.com's United Kingdom & Ireland Collection. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13968/rd.ashx

Dear Ned, There was no web site for Jimmy Flynn. I was standing in line and another person and I started speaking about the Irish. That led to him telling me about his grandfather[?] who was Jimmy Flynn. He said that he had a most beautiful voice and was very well known by all the important people at the time. I think that he just dropped dead one day. He sang just about the time that recordings came into being. I did not keep the relative's email address on purpose. I might have it some place, but I would have to find it by pure accident. I might have had relatives in AL, but with a totally different surname, as Conwy/Conway, Jones, or maybe others. Those are my mother's people. My father's Scanlon relatives were in New England or PA or NJ. Then there were the relatives who came over in the 1700's or 1800's and never wrote back home and whose names are lost forever in that distant past. Alanna Ned Sweeney <nedf@optonline.net> wrote: Alanna, I want to thank you for your kind reply with a small humorous aside. The last social/romantic date I had was with a charming, good-looking and attractive lady with your last name in Auburn AL. Her father is a big shot in that town. Do you recall the Flynn website, list or email? God bless you and yours, Ned Ned Sweeney Central Islip NY -----Original Message----- From: Alanna Scanlon [mailto:alannal@prodigy.net] Sent: Monday, August 28, 2006 10:50 PM To: IRL-CLARE-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [CLARE] A lot of Clare roots Dear Ned, I see that your family lived in NY as do you. There is an absolutely wonderful NY Irish list owned by Pat Connors. I have almost no connections with NY, so I quit the list. I was doing some work on a Jimmy Flynn of NY for someone else and that list was so very kind. They knew that Jimmy was not my kin, but everyone seemed to have such fun trying to find him and any possible recordings. Jimmy Flynn was a wonderful singer, but I think that he died before any recordings were made of his singing. Sad. Alanna ==== IRL-CLARE Mailing List ==== If you just want to subscribe to this list or unsubscribe from it, send e-mail to IRL-CLARE-L-request@rootsweb.com or (for the digest list) IRL-CLARE-D-request@rootsweb.com and put the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the message body. ============================== Census images 1901, 1891, 1881 and 1871, plus so much more. Ancestry.com's United Kingdom & Ireland Collection. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13968/rd.ashx ==== IRL-CLARE Mailing List ==== If you just want to subscribe to this list or unsubscribe from it, send e-mail to IRL-CLARE-L-request@rootsweb.com or (for the digest list) IRL-CLARE-D-request@rootsweb.com and put the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the message body. ============================== Find your ancestors in the Birth, Marriage and Death Records. New content added every business day. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13964/rd.ashx