Genealogy

Sometimes an adventure can take you far beyond your wildest imagination.  In 2017 we took a driving adventure around Ireland with hopes to visit the area that my great-great-grandparents raised their family before their children started to travel to America.  We planned to drive to County Mayo, explore a cemetery or two, and drive through the town our ancestors called home.  Our giddy excitement on our plans sent our current Ireland family on a search on other possible places to visit – and found the diamond in the rough.  

Exploring an unknown country by car for 12 days can be an adventure, especially when you’re 40-ish years old driving your 60-ish-year-old mother and 16-year-old niece around.  We made a great trio and did we had goals. Some were to explore Ireland and learn more about there area where my great-grandparents lived before immigrating to Chicago.  Since my mom & her sister have spent many years researching our ancestry so we knew quite a bit.  They lived in County Mayo, from a small town called Crossmolina.  We even had a cemetery name of their final resting place – Addergoole Cemetery.  Mom was determined to visit but after a Google Earth search and satellite view, I was a little leary on our adventure.  To put it simply – it looked spooky.

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