So have any of you been watching "Who Do You Think You Are" on Friday nights? I've been planning my Friday evenings around it, much to the amusement of the Friday night wine sippers in the neighborhood. Wouldn't it be fun to find some really fun and significant story in the family tree, but you probably have to be a celebrity to earn that privilege.
It's had me thinking though. What is the one question you would like to have answered about our family forebears? Come on, you guys - there has to be one. I want to know why Richard Long came to the United stats, and what were the circumstances of his coming. (Does that qualify as one question?) I don't think it's as simple as the famine; he was able to buy land pretty soon after he got here. So why? Any ideas? Jim thought perhaps Richard inherited money instead of land and was able to make the move. Tell me what you think and then give us a question to discuss.
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I would like to know if Richard Long came to America with a brother and was that brother the Long relative who lived in Chicago.
ReplyDeleteYour blog made get out all that genealogy stuff from Shirley Miller you gave me. I know I read in that stuff we have from her that Richard came to America around 1845 and worked builing a railroad in Virginia? He didn't move to the Bloomington area until early 1850's.
While I was looking for that source I came upon the book Shirley made where she wrote her memories of her grandparents. It is so nice to read the human stories of these people we know about, but never really knew. You find yourself loving and admiring them just because they are part of you! (I'm not sure if I explained that well enough there)
I would love at my age now and with the knowledge and the right questions to ask, to sit with Grandpa Long (Gene) and ask those questions. I always enjoyed listening to him talk about his family. I'm sure he could straighten up the Chicago branch of the family for us. Who knows, when he talked about the uncle who was a Chicago cop, it could have been the McCann side of the family.
Geez! who's post is this anyway? We love our elusive Irish ancestors!
I think it's a great idea. I'm sure Grandpa Long could answer a lot of questions. I always enjoyed his stories too. I had heard he worked for a railroad also, the Irish and Railroads seems to go hand in hand. Denny has worked with Ancestry.com and has taken the lineage back quite a bit but it never gives you the stories that we all enjoy.
ReplyDeleteScott, I had completely missed all of that stuff you found in Shirley's work, or my old brain just didn't retain it. I'll have to go back and read. Could he really have made enough money building railroads to buy land? I guess so. The McCanns were railroaders, too, weren't they?
ReplyDeleteI think we'll have to get back onto Ancestry.com and hook up to Denny's files eventually.