My Trails into the Past

This is my third year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past . I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways. My father, William J. Hork, was half Irish and half German. His mother, Anna Marie Sullivan was one hundred percent Irish. Her father, John H. Sullivan was born in County Cork and her mother, Anna Marie Gleeson, was born in Carleton County, Ontario, Canada to Canadian-born Irish. Her grandparents, Martin & Ann Gleeson, and John Tierney & Ann Murray were probably born in County Tipperary. Growing up, we were very proud of our Irish ancestry. We looked forward to St. Patrick’s Day when we could wear green (so as to not get pinched) and have corned beef and cabbage for dinner. Mom would make a cake for dessert, decorated with green frosting. Or perhaps we had green-frosted cupcakes at school. Peopl...

I am participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge (April 2016) , where we write 26 blog posts featuring each letter of the alphabet. I is for Ireland One fourth of my ancestry is Irish.  This comes from my father’s side of the family. Here you can see his ancestry on his mother’s side of the family. My father's maternal Irish ancestry Irish surnames I am researching: Gleeson Tierney Murray Sullivan Sheehan The Gleeson , Tierney , and Murray families ended up in Ontario, Canada. Some of the Gleesons moved to the United States. I think the Tierney and Gleeson  families came from County Tipperary, near Nenagh. County Tipperary The Sullivan and Sheehan families were from County Cork near Castletown Berehaven, which on the map below is near Schull. The Sullivans arrived in the United States in the 1860s.  County Cork I hope to someday visit the land of my Irish ancestors, both in Canada and Ireland. Copyr...