Until now, the many genealogists who have researched Hillary Clinton’s ancestry have attached her Welsh grandmother, Hannah Jones, to the wrong parents. Roots detective Megan Smolenyak homes in on Clinton’s Welsh heritage and sets the record straight. When it was announced that Hillary Rodham Clinton would be inducted into the Irish America Hall of Fame for her work on the … [Read more...] about Hillary Clinton’s Celtic Roots
Jersey Boys:
Irish American Soldiers in World War I
America entered World War One on April 6th, 1917, and many Irish and Irish-Americans saw it as their duty to enlist. Megan Smolenyak looks at the great state of New Jersey and profiles several of those soldiers, including her grandfather, who heard the call of duty.
He was Pop-Pop to me, and I remembered him as the gentle, older fellow who would give me a penny for gum when … [Read more...] about Jersey Boys:
Irish American Soldiers in World War I
War Numbers: Counting the Irish-born Dead in WWI
Megan Smolenyak delves into the archives and reaches the conclusion that many more Irish-born soldiers were killed in the U.S. Armed Forces in WWI than previous calculations have shown. As a New Jersey resident with Jersey City Irish roots, I am constantly on the lookout for resources that can assist with Garden State genealogy, so was delighted when I first stumbled … [Read more...] about War Numbers: Counting the Irish-born Dead in WWI
Patriot Graves: Dublin’s Glasnevin Cemetery
Dublin’s Glasnevin Cemetery, the final resting place of many famous Irish people including Daniel O’Connell, Maud Gonne, Brendan Behan, and most recently Chuck Feeney. Shannon Ní Chonchúir visits Glasnevin and talks to Aoife Kelleher about her documentary on Ireland’s largest cemetery. One Million Dubliners, directed by Aoife Kelleher, shines a light on the past and present … [Read more...] about Patriot Graves: Dublin’s Glasnevin Cemetery
Lovely Lough Erne
Two connected lakes on the River Erne in County Fermanagh boast over 150 islands, great fishing, and the lovely town of Enniskillen, which sits right between the upper and lower lough. There is an old saying in Fermanagh, “In summer Fermanagh has the lake lands, in winter the lake lands has Fermanagh.” This was certainly true when I visited the Upper Lough Erne region on a … [Read more...] about Lovely Lough Erne