Forty Shades of Green

Ireland, My Ancestral Home

Many years ago, I began a search for my ancestors, starting with my father's side, the Harneys.  My great aunt Helen had compiled some family facts, which she passed along to me before she died.  To these, I added the Mormon records, but made little headway.  The furthest back that we could verify was my great-great grandfather's death certificate which listed his parents as having been born in Ireland, but gave no county and no names.  So I set everything aside for twenty years.

Then last summer, I agreed to a home exchange with a lovely Irish couple, who came to the U.S. to stay in my Chicago condo for three weeks.  I was to have their home in Galway the next summer.  Suddenly, my passion to find my Irish ancestors' names and county in Ireland was reignited.

With the help of Ancestry.com and a good friend, whose decades of experience produced thousands of names of relatives on her genealogy tree, we found dozens of my ancestors, going back to the time of the Irish potato famine (1846-1849.)  Unfortunately, many genealogical treasures were burned in Dublin during the Irish Civil War in 1922.  So as of yet, I've not discovered what county or counties we hail from.

Now here it is, a week away from my departure to my ancestral home, and I have to be content knowing that my great-great-great grandparents on my great-great grandmother's side, James Barron and Jane (nee?) Barron and my great-great-great grandparents on my great-great grandfather's side, John Harney and Elizabeth Clairmont were all born in Ireland.  Just seeing their homeland will have to be enough for this journey.

Perhaps if I find more specifically where I hail from, one day I'll return and walk the same hills or roads or city streets they did.