I'm new to genealogy but old to investigative journalism, and I'm astonished at how hard it is to find out where in Ireland my 2nd great-grandparents were born.

I'm especially interested in the narrative histories of my family. Many of them left everything and everyone behind and ventured to the new world in the 1600s. They spoke English and Gaelic and German and French and Dutch. Some were Quakers, some were war heroes; some were illiterate, some were scholars; some died young, some lived to be 100; some were famous, some are unknown even by name; some had multiple spouses and a dozen children, some were quite stingy with their DNA. One died in a shipwreck in the South Seas in the 1700s (leaving DNA relatives in both Connecticut and Tasmania!), one was captured and killed by Indians, one was of royalty, one was an indentured servant. And all of them pressed on, going west and north and south, being far more modest and leaving far fewer tracks and records than a modern genealogist would wish. I see the search for their graves and memorials to be respectful rather than morbid.

And 41.5 percent of them were Irish, English, or Scottish, according to DNA tests. Immediate (i.e. 19th and 20th century) family surnames include:

Lewis, O'Brian, Rodgers, Holland, Balch, Rowse, Earley, Chenoweth, Drake, Crane, Thompson, Pancoast, Lyons, Brewster, Wilson, Christman, King, Johnston, Shepard, Kennedy, Patterson, Daniels, Stevens/Stevenson, Yoder, Hurd, Finn, Morrison, Broherd/Broahard, Stout.

Thanks to all of you who volunteer to keep the past alive.

I'm new to genealogy but old to investigative journalism, and I'm astonished at how hard it is to find out where in Ireland my 2nd great-grandparents were born.

I'm especially interested in the narrative histories of my family. Many of them left everything and everyone behind and ventured to the new world in the 1600s. They spoke English and Gaelic and German and French and Dutch. Some were Quakers, some were war heroes; some were illiterate, some were scholars; some died young, some lived to be 100; some were famous, some are unknown even by name; some had multiple spouses and a dozen children, some were quite stingy with their DNA. One died in a shipwreck in the South Seas in the 1700s (leaving DNA relatives in both Connecticut and Tasmania!), one was captured and killed by Indians, one was of royalty, one was an indentured servant. And all of them pressed on, going west and north and south, being far more modest and leaving far fewer tracks and records than a modern genealogist would wish. I see the search for their graves and memorials to be respectful rather than morbid.

And 41.5 percent of them were Irish, English, or Scottish, according to DNA tests. Immediate (i.e. 19th and 20th century) family surnames include:

Lewis, O'Brian, Rodgers, Holland, Balch, Rowse, Earley, Chenoweth, Drake, Crane, Thompson, Pancoast, Lyons, Brewster, Wilson, Christman, King, Johnston, Shepard, Kennedy, Patterson, Daniels, Stevens/Stevenson, Yoder, Hurd, Finn, Morrison, Broherd/Broahard, Stout.

Thanks to all of you who volunteer to keep the past alive.