Roots Archive
Roots: The O’Brien Clan
The O’Briens are one of the great Gaelic families of Ireland, and were the rulers…
Roots: Reynolds and Haughey
This month we are featuring the families of our new Taoiseach [Prime Minister] Albert Reynolds,…
Roots: Unusual Irish Names
My recent article on “That’s Not an Irish Name” has prompted a lot of comment…
More Articles
Roots: Phelan, Whelan, and Fallon
The origin of the names Phelan and Whelan is an excellent example of the vagaries of Anglicization of Irish names. Both of these names are derived from the same Gaelic […]
“No Man Left Behind”
“No Man Left Behind” is so much more than a slogan to me. In a sense, I contemplate Memorial Day year-round due to my work with the Army. For the […]
Finding Our Roots
For many Irish Americans traveling to the Emerald Isle, the chance to track down family histories and conduct genealogical research is one of the largest draws. Failte Ireland, the National […]
How I Found My Elusive John Murphy
The Deadly Trail that Finally Revealed a Phantom Branch of My Family Tree My earliest American-born ancestor was my great-great-grandfather, Edward Murphy. It took a while to figure this out […]
Irish Roots and Rituals
Growing up in New York City, I lived in the heart of the American melting pot. There seemed to be a festival or parade celebrating the city’s nationalities and ethnicities […]
Connecting After a Half-Century
‘God bless Facebook’ That was the phrase that kept going through my head in Glasgow Crematorium. As I listened to the minister conducting the funeral service I was wondering if […]