The theme for this week is “lucky.” I chose my Great-grandmother, a child of Irish immigrants, because from what I know of her life, she considered herself a fortunate person. Mary Ellen O’Brien, or Minnie to family and friends, was born in 1874 to Patrick and Ellen (Hughes) O’Brien in Boston. She was the eldest…
Since I missed a week, I’m going to keep numbering along with the 52 ancestors challenge calendar. This week’s theme is in the census. The first ancestor I thought of when I read that was my ancestor Patrick O’Brien who immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts from County Cork, Ireland. The only documents that I have both…
Today is the 259th birthday of the venerated Scottish poet Robert Burns, born in Ayrshire, in 1759. I had vague knowledge about Burns the poet for most of my life. I knew he wrote “Auld Lang Syne,” and that he was a famous Scottish poet. Then I found a photo of the headstone of one of…