The Ford family name has several possible origins. Its Anglo-Saxon roots can be traced back to Devonshire, where the name derived from the topographical term “ford,” meaning “a shallow place where water can be crossed.” However, this term originally comes from the Norse “fjord,” meaning a narrow inlet of sea. Therefore, the Ford family name is also thought to be Viking in … [Read more...] about Roots: The Ford Family
Family
Review of Books
Recently published books of Irish and Irish-American interest. Recommended Chango’s Beads and Two-Tone Shoes Thirty-six years after publishing Legs, the first book in his acclaimed Albany Cycle, William Kennedy, 83, has added an eighth book to his dedicated rendering of his home town. Chango’s Beads and Two-Tone Shoes tells the story of Daniel Quinn, another son of Albany, … [Read more...] about Review of Books
The Old First Ward
By Florence Tobin , Irish America Reader.
Photo Album: Family Pictures These photos were taken [80] years ago in front of my grandfather’s house on Kentucky Street in Buffalo’s well-known “Old First Ward.” This section, on the South Side of the city, is Buffalo’s little Ireland, and would relate to Leopold Bloom’s trip through the streets of Dublin. Everyone on these streets is of Irish ancestry, and it is a world … [Read more...] about The Old First Ward
Bring Them All Back Home
'Ireland Reaching Out' is a pilot project that aims to reconnect all 70 million Irish people worldwide with their ancestral homeland. The Ireland Reaching Out project is the brainchild of Mike Feerick, a Galway businessman who has his own personal experience of emigration. Feerick, who now lives near Loughrea, was born in New York and lived for many years in America. “I … [Read more...] about Bring Them All Back Home
Scarlett is 75 and Still Going Strong
On the 75th anniversary of the publication of Gone With the Wind, David O'Connell explores how Margaret Mitchell's Irish background influenced her writing. Writing in the second edition (1940) of his monumental and influential study The American Novel, Carl van Doren wrote: “Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind not only gave a revised version of the Civil War in the South, … [Read more...] about Scarlett is 75 and Still Going Strong