Back in February of 2008, I was interviewed by Corey Taratuta of Irish Fireside.  We talked about my experience obtaining dual citizenship with Ireland.  I was very happy with the content, but unfortunately the audio quality is something only a family member could endure.  I’m sure the audio quality problems were on my end.  If you dare, the interview is posted here.

• Gubnaveagh, Leitrim – the birthplace of my grandfather, James Francis Sweeney (left at age 29)
• Ballaghboy, Sligo – the birthplace of my grandmother, Anne Maria Horan (left at age 20)
• Carrownamaddy, Roscommon – the townland of my mother’s paternal ancestors, the Brennans

The trip exceeded all our expectations.  We visited old family cottages in all three townlands and met cousins for the first time.  Having covered the Horan part of the journey in my last blog entry, I’ll discuss the Sweeney and Brennan visits here.

Most of the Sweeneys that lived in Gubnaveagh, Leitrim emigrated to America around 1900.  I can trace the family back into the mid-1800′s, but it gets a little cloudy before that.  The Sweeney’s seemed to have sub-let a parcel of land in the 1800′s from the Gannons, but were only officially added to the lease in 1869.  However, an entry for that parcel in a 1739-1810 book is recorded as “Gannon and others”.  If I had more time in Dublin, I could have obtained this record at the Deeds office to see who the “others” were.  Maybe I’ll call and see if they will pull the record for me.  We also saw a book called “Mountain Echoes“  about the people in the area and it shows the Sweeney property on a hand-drawn map.

Of my grandfather’s 7 siblings, only the oldest, John, stayed with the property.  John had no children and when he died, Thomas Sweeney and his wife returned from America to take over the property.  When Thomas and his wife died, the property was sold.  Last August, I met the owner of the property, Michael Mohan.  My cousin, Jim Murphy, connected with Michael’s cousin when talking about their Providence roots.  Another small world connection.  On this trip, Michael took us out on the property to see the old 2-room cottage ruins.  It’s not hard to imagine why the grown children left for America with such cramped living quarters and little promise for their future.

After the Sweeney stop on the tour, it was on to the Horans, and then the Brennans.  My mother had an extensive family tree of the Brennans and I searched Irish and US census information to enhance the tree.  I was able to pinpoint the townland through my searches.  We  intended to visit the old St. John Cemetery to look for tombstones.  However, while in the cemetery we were approached by two members of a local historical society.   One of the women called her 86 year old father who came down to talk to us.  He directed us to the Brennan’s house.  We knocked on their door and were welcomed by three Brennan brothers.  We had a great chat and they took us out to the remains of the cottage which was occupied for generations until the 1960s.

They showed us a book written by Diane Dunnigan, about a cousin, Margaret Brennan.  “A south Roscommon emigrant: Emigration and return, 1890-1920” takes an interesting look at the cycle of emigration and permanent return.  I opened the book and saw the “left side” of my family tree.  It was an odd feeling to stumble upon a perfect matching family tree.  The book was lacking information on my side of the tree that had left Ireland in the mid-1800s.   Reading the book has really helped me understand the Brennans that stayed in Ireland.  I emailed the author and she is interested in my Brennan information.  We will set up an interview in the coming weeks.

Now that I have a rock solid base to my Irish ancestry, I plan to keep pushing for more detail.  After that, it will be on to a new family history tour searching the roots of my grandmother, Florence Elizabeth Gaetz, who emigrated from Nova Scotia.  This time, my wife will be with me since her mother’s ancestors also emigrated from Nova Scotia.

After my August visit to Ireland I blogged about the nice people we met in Ballinafad.  Subsequently, Gerry was searching the Internet for recent mentions of Ballinafad and came across my blog.   He then did a direct tweet to me saying he wished we could have met when I was there.  Turns out the person I mentioned in my blog was a groomsman in his wedding and his wife was from my grandfather’s parish in Leitrim.   I responded to the tweet with an email to Gerry and the connection was made!

Building up to the trip, Gerry and I exchanged emails about my family history.  He talked to people in the village and was able to find my grandmother’s cottage in Ballaghboy as well as information about people in my family tree.  When we arrived, he graciously spent several hours with us.  We met his family and a neighbor who remembered some of my relatives.  He and his daughter showed us the cottage, which is now a storage house owned by the Irish Forestry Service.  Gerry also brought us to see two of our 2nd cousins.  It gets better – turns out we might be distant cousins as there is a common family name in both of our family trees!

It really is a small world and a world where people go out of their way to help a stranger with no prospect of personal gain.  Thank you Gerry Clarke, and the social media that connected us.

It will be a whirlwind trip through Ballinamore (Gubnaveagh) in county Leitrim,  Ballinafad (Ballaghboy) in county Sligo, and Lecarrow (Carrownamaddy) in county Roscommon.

If I bring my laptop, I might do some updates from the road.  I hope to have some good stories to tell upon my return.

Our first stop was Ballaghboy in County Sligo.  There didn’t seem to be any center of Ballaghboy, but we found the nearby village of Ballinafad .  With only one small main street,  it was not difficult to find my grandmother’s church in the parish of Aughanagh.  We walked a few doors down and inquired at the post office regarding my grandmother’s family – the Horans.   The woman in the post office suggested we walk down the street and knock on a door where a man would know.  We were a bit reluctant to do so, but we did and he was extremely helpful and directed us to the local cemetery.

We reached the cemetery and found a truck there labeled “Horan Brothers Monuments”.  I asked the man working if he knew where the Horan’s might be buried and he said “I’m a Horan”!  We determined that he was not part of my family but showed me to the grave of my grandmother’s brother and his family.  We didn’t have enough current information or time to see if there were any relatives living in the area.  Maybe next trip.

We then drove on to Ballinamore in County Leitrim.  Ballinamore has about 1000 residents with a beautiful downtown area.  My grandfather was from Gubnaveagh, a townland about 15 minutes drive into the hills outside Ballinamore.  We stayed in a nice B&B – the Buille Toll.  We planned to visit the gentleman whose family purchased the Sweeney property in the early 1960′s when my grandfather’s brother and wife passed away.   At every turn we met friendly, helpful people.  Whenever we asked someone about 30-45 years old about the Sweeneys, they said “let me call my dad, he’ll know”.  That happened at least five times.  It makes me think about all the oral history that will be lost when that generation dies.  We arrived unannounced at 8pm at Sharon Sweeney’s home/Confectionery in town.  She greeted us warmly and chatted for about 20 minutes before calling her father.  He immediately drove over from the other side of town and spent another 20 minutes with us.  It seems we are not related, but it was fun to chat with such friendly people.  Lots of wonderful conversations with our B&B hosts as well – along with the now expected call to her father to ask about the Sweeneys because “he would know”.  We also visited the Aughacashel Post Office where they said the person there knew everyone.  I actually heard about him from a genealogy Internet forum.  It was true, he gave me a few more bits of family information.

We visited St. Marys at Aughnasheelin in the parish of Oughteragh.  This is the church where my grandfather’s parents were married.  After covering the cemetery multiple times would could not find a Sweeney grave marker.  Perhaps with no Sweeneys left in the area for over 40 years, it was overgrown.   I have birth and marriage information about 3 generations of Sweeneys in the area and yet couldn’t find any death/burial records.  Is it possible they were buried on their property?

We managed to get directions to the former Sweeney property.  We made this connection through my cousin, Jim Murphy, and a cousin of the family that bought the property.  At some point, they made the connection when Jim mentioned his mother’s maiden name was Sweeney.  As it turns out, our families were all from the same area in Leitrim and had settled in Providence.  Another “small world” connection.  I was really looking forward to meeting the owner and hearing about the Sweeneys and the property.  Needless to say, there was no address or street signs and we got lost.  We took the “if you get lost” advice of our B&B hosts and knocked on a random front door.  The woman there didn’t know of the house we were looking for but she said “my father lives next door and he knows everyone”.  We went next door and sure enough he did.  It was raining, but he hopped in his car and led us to our destination.  Talk about making us feel welcome.

We had a great visit with the current owner whose family purchased the adjacent property from a family that purchased the Sweeney property.  We learned more about the Sweeneys and life in the area.  What a friendly man.  After a generous glass of whiskey in his kitchen, we were on our way back to Dublin.

Visiting these small towns in Ireland was the highlight of our trip.  It was so much fun talking to the local people and finding out what I could about the Sweeneys.  I’m doing more research and hope to visit again.  My one regret is letting the bad weather stop us from walking out to see the remains of the cottage where my grandfather grew up.  It’s still there and I guess that means I have to go back!

(Note: I was reluctant to use names without permission with the exception of my cousin and Sharon Sweeney who has a web site.)

After several planning iterations, including advice from Pat Preston of IrelandExpert.com, we ended up with a hybrid trip that worked out really well.  We flew into Dublin and spent some time in the city on our own.  We then joined a tour to see some famous sites and get us to Galway.  We left the tour in Galway and stayed there to visit the Aran Islands.  We then rented a car and drove to the townlands where my grandmother and grandfather were from.  We stayed in a B&B and met some wonderful, helpful people in small towns in Sligo and Leitrim.  Many stories to tell when I get a chance.

Modes of transportation on this trip – plane, train, ferry, bus, car, and bicycle!  Enjoyed the city, the famous sites, and the countryside.  It seemed like a good compromise to keep the stress level down that we were afraid a full driving vacation might have brought.

Here’s a summary of the trip for anyone interested in doing something similar.

Day 0 – Aug 5 – depart Aer Lingus EI-104 from JFK at 5:45pm, overnight flight

Day 1 – Aug 6 – arrive at Dublin airport at 5:15am (Best Western Ashling Hotel)
Train to Kilkenny, back in Dublin for the evening

Day 2 – Aug 7 – Dublin, join 2009 Irish Discovery Tour at 7pm (Ashling Hotel)
St Patrick’s, Christ Church, Guinness tour, Kilmainham Gaol

Day 3 – Aug 8 – Tour Dublin (Ashling Hotel)
Trinity College/Book of Kells, Dublin Castle, Jameson dinner show

Day 4 – Aug 9 – Tour to Killarney (The Brehon Hotel in Killarney)
Rock of Cashel, Blarney Castle

Day 5 – Aug 10 – Tour to Dingle Peninsula (Brehon)
Dingle, Blasket Centre, Dunquin

Day 6 – Aug 11 – Tour to Galway (Radisson SAS Hotel in Galway)
Tarbert, River Shannon by ferry, Lahinch to view Cliffs of Moher, Galway Bay

Day 7 – Aug 12 – Exit Tour – stay in Galway (Radisson)
Aran Islands – bicycle around Inishmore

Day 8 – Aug 13 – Ballinamore (Buille Toll B&B)
Drive to Ballaghboy, Sligo then Gubnaveagh/Ballinamore, Leitrim

Day 9 – Aug 14 – drop car at Dublin airport (O’Callaghan Alexander Hotel)
Abbey Theatre to see The Rivals

Day 10 – Aug 15 – Dublin (O’Callaghan Alexander)
Train to Belfast, bus to Giant’s Causeway

Day 11 – Aug 16 – depart Aer Lingus EI-105 from Dublin airport at 10:30am, arrive at JFK at 1pm

Here are a few authors/books that come to mind.  Each author worked hard to build an audience by giving away content for free via podcasting.  Using social media, building and nurturing their online communities allowed them to bring that loyal audience to publishers as proof they could sell their product.  This helped to separate themselves from other authors trying to get books published.  They were pioneers as this was somewhat counter-intuitive and considered a bit crazy to give your content away for free in one medium hopes of being able to sell it in another medium.  These authors each signed contracts with traditional publishers after podcasting their content.

1. J.C. Hutchins – http://www.jchutchins.net/ – 7th Son Trilogy

I really enjoyed this trilogy.  It makes the top of my podcast novel list in this genre.

2. Scott Sigler – http://www.scottsigler.com/ – Infected, Earthcore, Nocturnal, The Rookie, and short stories

I almost hesitate to recommend Scott Sigler, but I must admit to waiting impatiently for each new chapter to be released via podcast as he was writing the books.  He is scary and funny, albeit in a violent, foul, and egotistical way.  His books are clearly not for everyone and his style takes some getting used to.  He refers to his readers as junkies since they get hooked on his content.

3. Mark Jeffrey – http://markjeffrey.typepad.com/ – The Pocket and the Pendant of the Max Quick Series

This series is suitable for a younger audience, but something all ages can enjoy.  I’m about to start the second book.

Beyond the obvious  iTunes, lots of  interesting podcast content can be found at sites like:

1. http://www.podiobooks.com/

2. http://librivox.org/

3. http://www.podcastalley.com/

Enjoy!

Collaboration doesn’t require computers, but this discussion will assume computers are involved.  Collaboration occurs when two or more people work together toward a common goal.  People that know each other tend to work better together.  There is a level of trust and alignment of goals.  A common bond motivates people to help each other and have the desire to succeed together.  Co-location is one way to accelerate the process of building trust.  However, co-location is often not an option in this global economy.   The question is how can we get to know and trust each other and strive for mutual success if we are not co-located.   One answer is by leveraging social computing.

Social computing accelerates the collaborative process by extending our collective rolodex.  Most work starts by reaching out to our personal networks.  Social computing helps people get to know and trust each other as well as build reputations.  Every successful endeavor is an opportunity to exhibit and grow one’s skills while adding new network connections.  This knowledge helps us form teams on future projects and be productive more quickly.

While collaboration implies working together for a specific purpose, social computing does not have to be as purposeful.  We can build our social networks through casual interaction, common interests, and fun and games.  Even relationships built socially can prove useful in later collaborative work efforts.

How do we measure the impact of social computing on collaboration?   What is the return on investment for implementing these tools in a corporate setting?  I’ll discuss these questions in a future post.

Social Computing – This term tends to be used for the entire space of social interaction using computing technology.

Social Software – The  computer software that enables social interaction.

Social Networking – The act of building, maintaining and utilizing relationships with people facilitated by social software.  You can draw these networks with individuals as nodes and lines connecting the nodes depicting relationships between individuals.

Social Media – The information we publish, share, discover and re-purpose using social software.  This process leverages our social networks or enhances our networks while sharing information.  You can relate the use of the word media to how people refer to traditional vehicles such as television, radio, and newspapers focusing on content, communications and the ability to reach and influence an audience.   With Social Media, it is possible to drive deeper relationships and build more effective communities than with traditional media.

Positioning Social Networking and Social Media – I think Social Media is the term that is more in vogue.  You also sound less like a computer geek if you talk about Social Media.  However, if you are focused on the connections more than the content, Social Networking  is more appropriate.

I hope that helps simplify the landscape.  In a future post, I’ll position Social Media vs Collaboration.  No computer science degree required, just a simple explanation.

Of course, very few people read this blog and the prospect of a criminal reading it and being in my physical area and taking advantage of the fact that I am traveling is probably minuscule at this point.  However, if I am announcing when I am not home and perhaps a member of my family is home that is a risk that I don’t want to invite, no matter how small.  It’s one thing to have someone rob your empty house, it’s another to have them think it is empty and yet have your family there.

Am I paranoid or is this a valid concern?