Going through his mother’s belongings after her death, Chris Gallagher found a number of old photos.
Gallagher had investigated his family history off and on over the years, but finding the photos and realizing his mother wasn’t around to ask her about them anymore re-sparked his interest.
“I retired a year and a half ago, and I had the time to do it. And it was a matter of my living relatives were dying off – I knew I needed to get the history now.”
Gallagher’s search culminated two weeks ago, when he traveled to Ireland, where his family first emigrated from in 1860, and where some of his relatives still live. While there, he visited the family farm, which has been in the family for five generations – since the time his great-grandfather left for America.
“They’re an oral type of people,” said Gallagher. “They had stories about my great-grandfather and his brother. It was like they left yesterday and they knew them.”
Inspired by his trip, Gallagher arranged a genealogy workshop at the Dublin Community Center last week for amateur researchers who want to know about their family history but didn’t know where to start. The session was led by Peter and Jeanne Jeffries.
That oral history, like the stories Gallagher gathered from his relatives, is not a primary source, but it can be incredibly valuable, said Jeanne Jeffries. She has been researching her own family history and assisting other genealogical and historical societies for 38 years.
“I started asking my grandfather questions when I was young,” said Jeffries.
And while primary sources like the census, ship’s passenger lists, death and birth certificates, and websites like Find a Grave, Ancestry.com, and Ellis Island can help fill in names and dates, for most people, it’s the stories that make the experience fun, and it’s usually people that record the stories.
They’re not always nice stories, said Jeffries, who recalled an ancestor in her mother’s line who was hung from the yardarm in the 1770s after running aground a ship with British officers aboard.
And it’s
not always verifiable, she added. Her husband’s father had always told him that he had no interest in the Mayflower, because his family had come over on their own boat – a story that’s been passed down in the family but never supported by evidence.
Margaret Cuddihee, who attended the workshop, said the stories are what she’s most interested in. She carried a poster made by her son, Bryan, almost 30 years ago as a school project, detailing several generations on both sides of his family tree. While detailed with names and dates and places of birth and death, Cuddihee said that she would like to know more about her ancestors.
“I’m retiring in June and it’s on my bucket list to do more genealogy,” said Cuddihee.
Some information can be gleaned from her family tree, she said. When discussing naming traditions during the workshop, Cuddihee was delighted to discover that her Scottish side had followed the tradition of naming the first born son after the father’s father, and the first born daughter after the mother’s mother.
“I have the names. Now I want to know more about these people,” said Cuddihee.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.