Hi all,

My name, Kelly Joleen Sullivan, is obviously Irish and for years I've tried to find the exact locations in Ireland my family came from. Recently, I finally found paternal ancestry from Ulster Ireland, and the "dark Irish" heritage came to light. As a young girl, I remember my father talking about the differences of black haired, dark skinned Irish and Mom's family being red headed, freckled faced Irish. Lucky me, I have all the traits mentioned here!

While I do know that "Dark Irish" is rumored to be of religious historical origin, or relating to poor heritages of Irish immigrants and the stories that bounce around year after year, I personally believe it was more about physicality and nothing more.

Moving on, from what I know, Dad's family was originally from Ulster Ireland, migrated from New York to Louisiana and then settled in California. Through maternal marriages, he picked up relations from Daniel Boone's brother George.

Mom's family was from England and the Woolsey line. (One of the most frustrating geological adventures to date. So many trees full of mistakes that it has been a nightmare to allocate profiles). With her heritage Irish, Welsh and English, we are connected to Cornell, Cheesbrough, Allen, Ault, Thomas, Case, and Woolsey. Her Grandmother traveled from Kansas to Wyoming by stage coach. Most of the men worked in the coal mines. Little by little, they moved away. Oregon is where mom was raised. After marriage, my parents settled in California.

Which brings me to my childhood. We lived in Santa Barbara, well, Goleta. A medium sized family with five kids. We played outside until dark, ate dinners at the table and used words like "please" and "thank you."

We all looked so much alike, went boy, girl, boy, girl, boy and were each one year apart in age. The middle brother was born a day after our Dad and he teased Mom, "You missed my Birthday." The next year... I was born...on his Birthday!

Santa Barbara was a lovely place and we all grew up to be hard working adults.

If you need help finding a grave in Tucson, please ask. I love connecting dots.
All the best,
Kelly

Hi all,

My name, Kelly Joleen Sullivan, is obviously Irish and for years I've tried to find the exact locations in Ireland my family came from. Recently, I finally found paternal ancestry from Ulster Ireland, and the "dark Irish" heritage came to light. As a young girl, I remember my father talking about the differences of black haired, dark skinned Irish and Mom's family being red headed, freckled faced Irish. Lucky me, I have all the traits mentioned here!

While I do know that "Dark Irish" is rumored to be of religious historical origin, or relating to poor heritages of Irish immigrants and the stories that bounce around year after year, I personally believe it was more about physicality and nothing more.

Moving on, from what I know, Dad's family was originally from Ulster Ireland, migrated from New York to Louisiana and then settled in California. Through maternal marriages, he picked up relations from Daniel Boone's brother George.

Mom's family was from England and the Woolsey line. (One of the most frustrating geological adventures to date. So many trees full of mistakes that it has been a nightmare to allocate profiles). With her heritage Irish, Welsh and English, we are connected to Cornell, Cheesbrough, Allen, Ault, Thomas, Case, and Woolsey. Her Grandmother traveled from Kansas to Wyoming by stage coach. Most of the men worked in the coal mines. Little by little, they moved away. Oregon is where mom was raised. After marriage, my parents settled in California.

Which brings me to my childhood. We lived in Santa Barbara, well, Goleta. A medium sized family with five kids. We played outside until dark, ate dinners at the table and used words like "please" and "thank you."

We all looked so much alike, went boy, girl, boy, girl, boy and were each one year apart in age. The middle brother was born a day after our Dad and he teased Mom, "You missed my Birthday." The next year... I was born...on his Birthday!

Santa Barbara was a lovely place and we all grew up to be hard working adults.

If you need help finding a grave in Tucson, please ask. I love connecting dots.
All the best,
Kelly