Here is a brief snapshot of Kitty Parker’s rebel ancestry: Michael Dwyer’s sister Sarah married Hugh Vesty Byrne, Dwyer’s Lieutenant. They had fourteen children. In 1825 a daughter Catherine Byrne married John Keirghan also a currency lad, or child of the convict Patrick Keirghan transported on Marquis Cornwallis, 1796, who married convict Catherine Kitts in Sydney. John Leary, convict on transport Prince Regent 1824, married convict Catherine Jones in Sydney 1825 Continue reading
This was the start of a 14 year war, which divided the Irish community. Enormous efforts to resolve the matter by many parties occurred at a high legal cost. Continue reading
In Old Norse, there are two words for Viking: víkingr refers to a person, while víking is an activity. Neither word is inherently negative nor associated with violence. Continue reading
His wife is reported in 1926 as being a ‘Delph shop-keeper’ on her ‘own account.’ This matches my mother’s story of the family having a shop. Continue reading
The flag is one of the last surviving artifacts linked to the dramatic prison break in Western Australia that unfolded 150 years ago, from April 17 to 19, 1876. During the operation, six Fenian prisoners escaped from a British penal colony and made their way aboard the US whaling ship Catalpa. Continue reading
Conviction Politics I unexpectedly attended a fascinating presentation at the Celtic Club this month on the massive international Conviction Politics project. Its aim is to use recently digitised records of Tasmanian convicts to reframe Australian democratic politics. It emphasises the scale of the convict system, and focusses on the ordinary working men and women. It … Continue reading
Eliza was obviously interested in people who came from different cultures, and she tried to understand them by studying their languages. We see this in some of her first poems written in Ireland. For instance, she made a point of using Irish placename spellings, rather than anglicised ones, when describing the impressive natural features of south County Down, including the Mourne Mountains. Continue reading
For many families, this will be the first opportunity to see relatives recorded in the early years of the Irish Free State. Beyond genealogy, the records will support research in social history, economics, public health, housing, education and language use. Continue reading
Class took place on Monday night around the kitchen table, and it was always a relaxing cultural evening. Afterwards the chat continued often to near midnight. Indeed, there were times I felt transported to a farm house in the Donegal Gaeltacht of the 1960s and that I was not in Canada at all. Continue reading
Jamie’s intimate inner thoughts are pell-mell, associative, obsession-driven, literal, and culturally well-stocked. Continue reading
Tinteán 