Have you ever seen one of those ancestry shows on television? Usually a celebrity will spend time finding out who their family is and was and where they came from. I always found these shows entertaining but found it strange when someone who was exploring their ancestry got emotional. It was difficult for me to imagine finding a connection with a family member who lived a hundred (or more) years before them. I would often think, “You didn’t know them, why are you getting emotional?”
When I found out that I had been accepted to volunteer with House of Brigid in Wexford my dad sent me an email with the subject “If you go to Wexford…” My great-grandfather, grandfather, and dad have each done hundreds of hours of research into the Dunn/e family history in the United States and Ireland. The email contained a brief family tree of the Dunnes in Wexford and where I fit into it. Richard and Mary Emma Dunne left Wexford in the late 1850’s for New York and then shortly after moved to central Illinois. When the Dunnes lived in Ireland they lived in the shadow of Johnstown castle and attended church in Piercestown at Saint Martin’s. (Piercestown is only 10 minutes from where we live in Wexford!) It appears that Mary Emma became Catholic when she married Richard and they had one son before moving to the United States. It’s unclear exactly why they moved to the United States though. My grandfather especially, has researched and read hundreds of names and documents from Wexford County to try to piece together how the Dunnes, Cramptons, Devereuxs, and more family members from hundreds of years ago fit together. My grandfather has written hundreds of pages with the information he has collected.
A few weeks after arriving in Wexford Father Denis took all four members of our community to Piercestown to visit Saint Martin’s and Johnstown castle. In the church is a stain glass window with the names of my great-great-great-great grandfather and grandmother that my great-grandfather donated when he visited in the 1970’s. As I stood in the aisle of the church so many emotions and questions rushed over me.
What were Richard and Mary thinking the last time they were in this church?
Were they afraid? Were they excited?
Did they have any idea what was about to happen?
What would they think if they knew their great-great-great-great granddaughter from California would return one day to volunteer at a church a few miles away?
Why has God now put me here?
It was while standing in the aisle that I understood how those celebrities could have such a strong reaction to being in the place that their family had once been, even if it was hundreds of year prior. Your family, whether you knew them or not, has a huge influence on why you are who you are today.
I am so thankful for my Catholic faith and that my family had the courage to move to the United States. It is neat to think that somehow their journey has come full circle when I moved to Wexford for this year. I’m so excited to get to heaven one day and talk to them all about it.
