Old house on The Kerry Way My friend Simon had graciously offered to come with me on a family history tour of some of the sites of my ancestors’s lives in County Kerry, in Ireland. We had been walking in the mountains of Kerry for … Continue reading Dromore
Back to Kerry. Part 2
This is the second part of my reflections about returning to one of our ancestral homelands. Various members of two families, the Hicksons and the Byrnes, left the County Kerry in the southwest of Ireland some 150 years ago to make new lives for themselves … Continue reading Back to Kerry. Part 2
Back to Kerry. Part 1
A good few of my ancestors came from County Kerry in southwest Ireland. They went by various names - Hicksons, Needhams, Ruddles and Byrnes. I visited Kerry for a few days in August and found myself thinking a lot about them, my forebears. I marvelled … Continue reading Back to Kerry. Part 1
Chapel Lane
On the thirtieth of October 1872, George Byrne, husband of Sarah Byrne, died at home in Chapel Lane, Killarney. According to his death certificate he was 47 years old, and died of bronchitis, from which he had suffered for two years. He was a nailor … Continue reading Chapel Lane
William Byrne, trooper
My mother’s maternal grandparents were Irish. George and Susie Byrne came from Killarney, though not at the same time. Susie came first, when she was 16, with her parents and siblings, in 1877. George, who had known Susie in Ireland before her family left for … Continue reading William Byrne, trooper
Forgotten tales 