'I find genealogy a time consuming but all absorbing hobby too'

'I find genealogy a time consuming but all absorbing hobby too'

Mary describes the activities that keep her busy in her retirement. In particular she notes her interest in geneology.

Mary Dynan

Trinity College Dublin

2001

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Mary Dynan

Retirement

Life Story

Belfast

2000's

I enjoy keeping in touch with my far flung friends by email. I enjoy fiddling with photo shop and publisher - producing things like cards for special birthdays etc. I used to do this with calligraphy but the choice of fonts and possibilities electronically is so dazzling that it leaves pen and ink for dead. And my arthritic hands make the penmanship difficult.I find genealogy a time consuming but all absorbing hobby too. There are letters from one set of great grandparents, the earliest of which was written in 1864, which have whetted my appetite and that of my cousins to explore our origins.My ancestors give me a very 'all - Ireland' dimension. My great grandmother, Sarah Mellows, one of the earliest Catholics to be trained as a teacher at Marlborough Street College, was born in Westport, Co. Mayo, but her forbearers we from Co. Tyrone, having, according to her, been sent to 'hell or to Connaught' in 1798. Her husband, James Byrne was born in Co. Wicklow but as a member of the RIC was posted to Mayo. Their daughter, Katie, my grandmother was born in Glenamaddy Co. Galway, where her father was stationed. She met and fell in love with John McKenna, a young RIC man, from County Monaghan, who was also posted to Co. Galway. After their marriage, John was posted to Co. Antrim, where my mother was born in Carnlough. She eventually met my father, Brian McGuckian, when she got her first teaching job in Magheramoney Co. Antrim. The McGuckians / Lavertys / McKeevers / Mooneys/McKays who constituted his heritage have been in Co. Antrim since at least the 1750s. However an American researcher, John McGuckin, is of the opinion that the people of that name - McGuckian - were located in Co. Tyrone in ancient times.

Irish Research Council for Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (IRCHSS)

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)