The Family Tree
By Terence L. Day
Terence L. Day, genealogist and journalist, is on the Washington State University faculty. He welcomes e-mail at genealogy@moscow.com, or regular mail in care of the Tri-City Herald City newsroom, P.O. Box 2608, Tri-Cities, WA 99302-2608.
Luckily, finding the Irish in you is an easy thing to do
This story was published March 1, 1998
With St. Patrick's Day just around the corner, it's a good time to turn your attention to your Irish ancestors, if ye be lucky enough to have any.
Family tradition says the Days are Irish, and I figure it must be true. Given the persecution experienced by Irish immigrants in the old days, surely me ancestors wouldna claimed the honor if they weren't deservin' it.
In early America - indeed, well into this century - Irish immigrants were considered to be lazy, drunken ne'er do wells. "Mick" was a pejorative nickname meant to demean the Irish in the same way "wop" denigrated Italian immigrants and "chink" was an insult to the Chinese.
Not to be disrespectin' me noble forebearers, but 'tis the business of genealogists to demand that claims be documented. And so this celebration of St. Paddy's finds me still a searchin' for proof that me ancestors weren't just tryin' to latch on to a little O' the luck O' the Irish by layin' the blarney on a bit thick.
If you are among those bless'd with Irish ancestors, and a computer connected to the Internet, now's a good time to set your browser to http:// www.usacitylink.com/lucky. There you'll be findin' Lucky Leprechaun's Lane and a number of hyperlinks to interesting World Wide Web pages with an Irish flavor.
Some are just fun, and well worth visitin' at that, but genealogists will be most interested in the one labeled "Trace your roots from Ireland." The address is too long to use her, but any good search engine can find it.
Click your mouse on it and you'll soon be strollin' through the magical mists of the green glens of Irish genealogy.
There are many other sites you might be wantin' to visit on the World Wide Web this St. Patrick's Day. Set whatever search engine you prefer, on "Irish Genealogy" and you'll be gettin' a long list of Irish genealogical sites. You might scroll down the list until you get to "Books on Irish Genealogy" and click that site open. It lists at least 50 books. Sorry, you can't be readin' 'em on-line. They're wantin' to be sellin' 'em to you. But you can make a list and be takin' it to the library to commence your research.
If your local library doesn't have the book, you can ask for an inter-library loan. Be sure to write down full information: author's name, publisher, that kind of thing.
Another great site is Cindi's List at http://www.CyndisList.com/. Scroll down to Ireland, then search those lists. There must be hundreds of Irish genealogy resources on the World Wide Web.
Many millions of Americans have Irish ancestry. Some, like mine, fled Ireland before the American revolution; but most Americans who have Irish ancestry descend from the tidal wave of Irish who escaped the Potato Famine in 1845-1849.
An estimated 1 million people died in the famine, which was triggered by a blight that devastated the potato crop. Potatoes then were the staple in the diets of Ireland's poor.
Ironically, the Irishman who we honor on St. Patrick's Day wasn't Irish born. Frankly, it's hard to separate fact from myth, but here's some more-or-less reliable information about the man.
Apparently St. Patrick was born Maewyn Succat around 373 A.D., either in Scotland or Roman Britain. He was captured by pirates and sold into slavery in Ireland, but escaped and went to France where he became a priest, and later a bishop. When he became a priest, he took on the name Patrick, or Patricus.
I gather St. Patrick didn't return to Ireland until he was 60 years old. There, he spread Christianity, using the three-leafed clover as a metaphor to explain the concept of the Holy Trinity - the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Don't ask me where the four-leafed clover came into Irish lore. Apparently, that's another story.
Speaking of stories, one of those associated with St. Patrick is that of driving all the snakes out of Ire land. Legend has it St. Patrick drove 'em all into the sea and they drowned.
Likely this was a metaphor for bringing Christianity to the island, snakes representing paganism.
So, put on something green, turn on the computer and head for the Emerald Isle in pursuit of your Irish genes as we prepare to celebrate this most
Irish event - St. Patrick's Day.
On a final note, I will be speaking about ways to handle sensitive information in family histories during the Tri-City Genealogical Society meeting at 7:30 p.m. March 11 at the Harry Kramer Senior Center in Richland.