Dublin Trip: Part 1

**More photos in WEB ALBUM on left**

I'm finally getting around to posting about my Dublin trip that took place last week. I had such a wonderful time and I wasn't sure what I wanted to say about it for a while. I was in Dublin the 27-29 of August to begin family research on a branch of my family. (I'll elaborate in another post.) This was the first trip where I was completely on my own - I traveled on my own, did not meet up with anyone while in town, and didn't attend a convention or workshop. It was great! I only had to worry about myself and my own schedule. You all know how organized I am, but I tried to keep it light this trip. The important thing was that I needed to be cognisant of the opening hours for the records offices.

I stayed at the wonderful Albany House Hotel on Harcourt Street. It is a quaint Georgian building with 25+ rooms. It is within a few minutes walking distance of Grafton Street Shopping, St. Stephen's Green (park), and Stephen's Green Shopping Centre. I highly recommend this should you be in Dublin overnight. Everything in the city centre is within walking distance, which is how I got around most of the time. Some of the other main attractions, like the Zoo and Guinness Brewery, are better left to other modes of transportation. Since I was there on a fact-finding trip I did not allow a lot of time for sightseeing. I did get to see a lot of the city through my daily walking and I also took a Hop-on Hop-off bus tour. Instead of hopping off at the attractions, though, I stayed on for the entire ride just to get a sense of the entire city. It was wonderful! The first evening I ate in a traditional Irish pub, of course, and had Irish Beef & Guiness Stew...yummmm! I'm saving the Guinness tour for when Matt can join me.

One funny thing that happened is that I ran into two couples on the bus tour that were on the plane with me from London. I recognized them on the bus and chatted with them for a while before they got off. I found out that they would also be on the flight with me heading back. However, before the return trip I ran into them again in town. What a small world!

Dublin Trip: Part 2 (Family Research)

A bit of history. My mother's paternal grandparents immigrated from Ireland and my grandfather was a first generation Irish-American. That is very fascinating to me. I've always been interested in my family history, but more recently have become even more interested. Part of it is because I am in Europe and am closer to my roots, partly because I have access to some of the resources over here that I might not have ever had, and another part is because I know so little about my family past my parents' generation. I want to start my research now so that I can find out as much as I can for myself, for my older living relatives, for my children and for generations after me. As far as I know, I am Irish and German but don't ask me the percentage of my ancestry. My father's family is German from what I can gather (Schoming is a German surname). My mother's family is Irish and German. Her father's side is Irish as previously mentioned and we believe her mother's side is Irish & German. Since I have more information about her father's family, albeit very little, I have decided to start my research there. It has been difficult over the years to gather any information as my father died when I was two, his parents shortly after that, my mother's father died before I was born and her mother died when I was 11 years old. I have no other contact with my father's family and very little with my mother's family outside of her siblings and their families. As far as we know, there are no surviving family documents for either family other than civil records I might be able to obtain.

Dublin is the research mecca for Irish ancestry. How fortunate I was to be able to start my research there. From the General Register Office (civil records of births, marriages, and deaths) I found my great-grandfather's birth record (1885) and from that I found his parents' names and the town & county in which they lived (Clifden, Co. Galway), as well as the original spelling of their surname. How exciting! I also found one of his older brother's birth records (1866), which I thought would turn out to be his father's. One very interesting fact about him was that we share the same birthday - November 24! From there I took a trip to the National Library of Ireland to search through microfilm of Church/Parish records (for baptisms and marriages). I was unsucceful during that attempt as the records were very blurry and in some cases rather illegible. I found out later that they were also not necessarily in chronological order. So, I potentially overlooked relevant information. After that, I went to the National Archives of Ireland which house census records among other things. Unfortunately, they did not have census records before 1901, long story. However, from the 1901 and 1911 census records I found out a little bit more about my family at that time. The census shows who was living in the house at that time and what their "recorded" ages were. These ages weren't necessarily accurate, for a number of reasons, but it did list out some other childrens' names. All in all, I found out that there were 8 children born to my great-greatgrandparents between 1864 and 1890. I still need to find records of their marriage as well as the births, marriages, deaths, of their children. From there I can work my way up to present day. Unfortunately, it will be very difficult to work further back than 1864 as civil records are not available before then. So, I have even more reason to return to Dublin before we return to the States. I would eventually like to visit the area where my family came from. You never know who I might run into there!

This will be a project that will last several years I'm sure, as I have other branches of my family to research...as well as the Biviano family! I would like my future children to know what they can about Matt's family tree too!

K9 Capers Fun Day

On our way to the park today we saw signs for 'K9 Capers'. Curiosity got the better of us and we followed them to another park in the country. Turns out it was a fair for dogs! There were competitions, displays, vendor booths, and an agility course that Cheyenne could just not pass up. She was in puppy agility as a youngster but sadly we did not continue her training. All proceeds go directly to Gemini Kennels for the care of neglected and ill-treated dogs.

The pictures below are from the event. Matt wasn't as quick with the shutter as I was, so during my course with Cheyenne it looks like I'm doing the obstacles instead of her! I wanted to enter her into the Prettiest Female competition, since she just so happened to get groomed yesterday, but we left before it began. She is also showing off her new car harness, which she is still getting used to.