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These people have learned that knowing the family stories can be just
as much fun as knowing the names and dates:
I am currently trying to find out where my great-great grandfather
James D. Farrell came from in Ireland. He was born April 7, 1818 and
came to the United States in 1834. In 1842, he married my great-great
grandmother, Catharine O'Farrell in Philadelphia. She had come over
when she was quite young in 1827 at the age of about 5. When two people
of the same surname married it was considered a "cure," so she would
sell excess fruits and vegetables that she canned to those who had someone
ill in the hopes that the food would "cure" them.
My favorite story is about the time there was a very bad thunderstorm.
My great-great grandmother, being the good Catholic that she was, got
the bottle of holy water and sprinkled everyone with the water saying
"Bless you." Imagine everyone's surprise the next morning when they
realized she had grabbed the bottle of blueing for the laundry instead
of the holy water. Everywhere and everyone was spotted with blueing!
— Anonymous
I remember a story that my grandmother told me about her grandmother,
Susan Cody Barnett. Susan was born in County Kilkenny and came to the
United States with her mother Ann. They went west to California during
the gold rush of 1849 and operated a boarding house near San Francisco.
The mother, Ann, died there and Susan decided to leave California and
go east. She took a ship south to Panama, crossed the Isthmus of Panama,
and then got on another ship and sailed up to New Orleans. From there
she was headed to join a convent and to become a nun in St. Louis. While
on the train to St. Louis she met two women who introduced her to their
brother, Edwin Barnett — and I'm happy to say that the rest was history.
— Jeff Palmer
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July
24, 1996
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