So my daughter has worked hard in school to get were she is now. And where is she now? Standing on some rocks on the Irish coast, making her mother cry! Why is her mother crying because Mom wants to be there so badly! Anyway my daughter, Elizabeth will be entering her senior year at The College of William and Mary this fall, but for four weeks this summer she will be studying Irish film and literature in two classes in Ireland!
The main reason that my wife longs to go to Ireland so much is that her roots go deep in Ireland. Her great-grandfather James Corbett Browne was born in 1864 in county Down and she has traced the Browne line back to Samuel born in 1787 in Hilltown in County Down!
Now my Irish roots start with my great-grandmother Margaret (McCLoskey) Ashton born in 1864 in the Donnegal area of Ireland. Here parents John McCloskey and Mary Stewart were born in 1840 and 1843 respectively! My wife also has roots in the Donegal area through the Laird and Jamison families.
Now Lizzie is in Galway and you can see that Galway is a good way from Donegal, but I’m sure that if she went into a pub somebody would know the famous drinkin’ and fightin’ McCloskeys from Donegal!! Now the reason I say that is that one of my wife’s favorite things to do is read the Beverly newspapers from around the early 1900’s and there isn’t a one that doesn’t have a report of a McCloskey getting in a fight and being arrested, including my great grandmother!
Here’s a picture of Galway at night You can check out more of Elizabeth’s pictures on my wife’s Facebook page. Wait, is that a McCloskey I see staggering down the street, nah, I think not! One thing I know for sure it’s not one of those straight laced Browne’s!
