St. Patrick's Day was a big deal where I come from: parties, green hats, parades. Not so much where I live now. Fortunately, I have my Dad here with us, and we've always played up his Irishness tremendously. It's an annual affair to trace our Irish heritage with him while we eat our corned beef and cabbage. (And this year, I made it instead of my mom!) Andrew O'Riley and his brother came over in the 1860s from Ireland to escape the famine. Andrew dropped the "O" and begat James Welsh Riley, who married Aretha and had 10 children, of which my grandmother Gladys was the second to last. It's not too far of a stretch from Ireland to my Dad—just 3 generations. And a continent. And, hard to imagine, 150 years.It's a long way from Clare to here.
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How absolutely cool- I just love family trees! We have Scots, not Irish, in my family- the Stuarts. (It makes me so proud to be a red-head!)
ReplyDeleteIt would be fun to trace Glen's family tree and see if any of our past Riley's were related? There are lots of Riley's where Glen grew up in Bridgeton, NJ.
ReplyDeleteHow was the corned beef?
That is very cool.
ReplyDeleteHave a great Wednesday!
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What a great way to honor your father today and your heritage. I married Irish, but am not Irish myself. We have fun celebrating with the kiddos! Happy W.W.
ReplyDeleteJen from Creative and Curious Kids!
So cool to be Irish! I might be, but I can't prove it, my great grandmother came from England when she was 10, I'm hoping there is some Irish roots there, my husband has an Irish first name from a great Uncle, so we are thinking there is Irish there too, but again we don't know.
ReplyDeleteHappy St. Patrick's day!