Hi - I don't know if this qualifies as a "quirky" story or not, but my English grandmother would take a yearly trip home to the Liverpool area and add the Isle of Man as a side trip on occasion. Each time she came home, she would open a small envelope and show us her Irish Sweeptstakes ticket which she would then "hide" away because she said it was illegal to have it in the States. I remember many a day worrying that the police would come knocking at our front door and take Grandmom to jail! I now raise American Paint horses and when I watch them run and frolic, I always remember Grandmom O'Connor and her "illegal" sweepstakes tickets. From soon-to-be-winter Ohio, SallyAnn (O'Connor) McChesney irl-kerry-request@rootsweb.com wrote: Today's Topics: 1. Re: horse jumping (Fintan Sheehan) 2. Re: horse jumping (John L. Sweeney) 3. More Quirky Stories Needed (Barb Glassel) From: Fintan Sheehan <fintansheehan@yahoo.ie> To: CLabre1068@aol.com, IRL-KERRY-L@rootsweb.com Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2007 09:16:30 +0000 (GMT) Subject: Re: [IRL-KERRY] horse jumping Army used to always have riders on Irish showjumping teams in 70's and 80's. Have a look around army site at http://www.military.ie/ and http://www.military.ie/army/specialists/equit/history.htm Regards, Fintan ----- Original Message ---- From: "CLabre1068@aol.com" To: IRL-KERRY-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Sunday, 2 December, 2007 1:36:43 PM Subject: [IRL-KERRY] horse jumping The previous post reminded me of a story an uncle told. One day my great Uncle Pat took my uncle to Madison Gardens to a horse show. While admiring the horses, a man came up to my great uncle Pat and asked him to warm up the horses as his trainer was delayed. The man recognized my great uncle Pat because he was a "famous" (according to the story teller) horse jumper with the Irish Army. These are the little tidbits that I have to go by in my research. Other information I have on great Uncle Pat's immigration was that "he jumped ship" when coming to America. My question is, does anyone have information on the history of horse jumpers with the Irish Army or can point me the direction to research? Thanks, The other Cheryl in Massachusetts **************************************Check out AOL's list of 2007's hottest products. (http://money.aol.com/special/hot-products-2007?NCID=aoltop00030000000001) ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to IRL-KERRY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message __________________________________________________________ Sent from Yahoo! - the World's favourite mail http://uk.mail.yahoo.com From: "John L. Sweeney" <sweelab@enter.net> To: "Fintan Sheehan" <fintansheehan@yahoo.ie>, <CLabre1068@aol.com>, <IRL-KERRY-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2007 11:49:35 -0500 Subject: Re: [IRL-KERRY] horse jumping Good Morning All: My mother and father took me to the National Horseshow in N.Y. City's Madison Square Garden. This had to have been in the 1950's, I think I might have been in High School, ? ca. 1952 ?. There was competition in jumping between several nations, Ireland one of them. That evening Ireland won and its national anthem was played while the tricolor brought to a prominent position. I remember the crowd standing while The Soldier's Song was played and still remember the look of great joy and pride on my father's face. I think one of the Irish riders was a Captain Tubrity, they were all from Ireland's Army and mounted on very large, beautiful horses. Love, Jack Sweeney in cold and icy Palmer, Pennsylvania. From: Barb Glassel <tglassel@execpc.com> To: irl-kerry@rootsweb.com Date: Mon, 03 Dec 2007 15:16:36 -0600 Subject: [IRL-KERRY] More Quirky Stories Needed Greetings, Sure hope somebody can help the other Cheryl with that horse-jumping connection to the Army, fascinating. What would be this great uncle Pat's probable time frame in the Irish Army? We all could be submitting our own little quirky bits, and helping each other analyze them. My quirky story: My grandmother's oldest brother, John MAHONEY, [b. late 1850's - early 1860's, location somewhere near the Cork / Kerry border] was in the British Army. My aunt recalled that he was in a special unit with the term "Princess" or "Queen" in it. She said he was chosen because he was the right size to fit a particular uniform, for ceremonies! He supposedly never married, and died on Malta, after 1900. Importance of this? It's all we know about him, no photos. He was the only child not to emigrate to the USA with parents Cornelius MAHONEY and Margaret REGAN. So further info on him might be my best bet connecting to Kerry. Re-thinking and sharing family stories --even the trivial and unprovable-- really could improve our Irish luck! Regards, Barb Glassel To contact the IRL-KERRY list administrator, send an email to IRL-KERRY-admin@rootsweb.com. To post a message to the IRL-KERRY mailing list, send an email to IRL-KERRY@rootsweb.com. __________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to IRL-KERRY-request@rootsweb.com with the word "unsubscribe" without the quotes in the subject and the body of the email with no additional text.