Sunday June 5, 2016

Finally some rain. The area is almost in a drought and the farmers must have been getting worried. It looks quite socked in and hopefully will be an all-day soaking rain. This means there should be no excuses for the indoor activities that are screaming to be done. Well of course there's laundry and cleaning, but I'm thinking more along the lines of scanning photos and working on the story of Aggie.

The main focus of my time in Ireland next Winter will be the Byrne heritage, although I have several other Irish lines to pursue - Fennell, Fitzpatrick, Brennan, McGrath and Loughnane in particular. Then if I get bored I can move on to Walsh, Mcdonald, Maher, Kane/Keane/Cain ...

To this end I had written (emailed) to the Archives in Sheffield England which holds the largest collection of Fitzwilliam records and manuscripts. Their holdings include rental records for every year as far back as the mid 18th century. I'm hoping to find clues to when Arthur Byrne started renting there and possibly who his father was. In parallel, I'm looking into the ancestors and descendants of Michael Byrne whose descendants still live at Coolross. My working theory is the Arthur and Michael were brothers.

Well the query brought an answer. There is a wealth of documentation to be pored through. Thinking that paying a researcher might be less expensive and more productive than doing it myself, I asked for a quote. Yikes! Cost is 13.50 GBP per half hour. It can take half an hour just to browse through a manuscript to find one name, even knowing the name and location you are seeking. The report that is produced is merely a recounting of what was found. If you want a digital image of the page the cost is 15 GBP. Holy smokes!

If you go in person to search, and they are open Saturday, Monday and Tuesday only, there is no cost to do your own research and you can take digital images of what you find, also at no cost. Hmmm - I'm now re-thinking the possibility of finding a suitable flight on Ryanair from Dublin to Leeds-Bradford on a Friday and returning the following Tuesday night or Wednesday. The air fare is quite cheap if booked far enough in advance, bus fare from the airport to Sheffield is cheap and I'll seek reasonably priced accommodations. It will probably work out to be less expensive and will give me another peek at the area my maternal grandfather came from.

I still have not figured out when exactly to leave for Ireland but I think it will be soon after Christmas with a return in mid to late April. That should allow for a little break in Portugal for the Genealogy in the Sun conference in Albufeira at the end of March. I'll probably stick around for a bit afterwards and do a bit more sightseeing and enjoy the sun. It won't be hot but pleasantly mild will do nicely for looking around. If I'm feeling a bit richer maybe I'll go as far as Barcelona.

So, now that the day is fully underway it's about time I made myself some breakfast and enjoyed a cup of coffee. I'll ponder my options and must include some laundry and perhaps force myself to do some vacuuming while the clothes are getting clean. After that - the siren call of genealogy will be answered.