Wednesday, March 17, 2010

St Patrick's Day WW


This is the Furnessia
Service speed 14 knots, 1,359 passengers
445 feet long, 44 feet wide.
She sailed out of Glasgow, and arrived at Ellis Island Feb 19, 1903
My Great Grandfather Robert Carton(27), his wife Sarah(22), and my
Grandmother Nettie( 9 mo), had left Pumperton, Ireland for a new life.

When I look at this ship and realize what they dared to do, the bravery that was
required, the hope and dreams they must have clung to, I am in awe.
Ireland came to my children from my side and from their father's side.
It is the only place in this world that I yearn to visit. Does Ireland call
all her children home again?

This is not a typical WW I know- but here is why I MckLinky'd anyway:
To make sure you all knew about this site. If you have relatives that came through
Ellis Island, you need to try a search. Please let me know who you find.

When Irish eyes are smiling,
Tis like a morn in spring.
With a lilt of Irish laughter
You can hear the angels sing
When Irish hearts are happy
All the world is bright and gay
When Irish eyes are smiling
Sure, they steal your heart away

10 comments:

the old white house said...

Here's my grandparents story... They both came to America on the same ship from Austria. They did not know eachother at the time but their sponsers were friends and so introduced them only for them to find out they lived in neighboring village 'back home'. When I think of the courage it must have taken for my grandmother to leave her family at the age of 16 and get on one of those enormous ships alone I am in awe. All in hopes of a dream fulfilled. They went on to raise 11 children and my grandmother was a successful restaurant owner while my grandfather worked in a local factory. Thanks for letting me share. I am so proud of my heritage and the strength they give me. Theresa

erin's art and gardens said...

may the luck o the irish be with you...........

The Charm of Home said...

Very nice post! It is a great idea to post that link. My mother does all our genealogy and she discovered my great great great great Grandmother was a beautiful "lace curtain Irish" girl who lived in the states with her new husband. I posted the picture of her on my website last Friday. It was amazing to see it, because that many generations back she really favors my Mom. Neat stuff family lineage.
Come by my site to win Rachael Ray bake ware.
Thanks!
Sherry
www.thecharmofhome.blogspot.com

Mary Beth @ Live. Laugh. Make Something said...

great post! I have bookmarked the site to later check on my reletives! I invite you to drop in over at my place one day this week. until later...

Carole said...

The courage that your parents and many immigrants had to have.
Things must have been really awful to want to leave and know they'd never go back. So sad.
My parents only had to board a plane:)) They were brave in that they barely spoke a word of English.
Thank you for sharing your story.

HSPD,
Carole

Faded Charm said...

So glad you shared this wonderful story and photo. Pretty cool to think about.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Kathleen

June said...

Hey Suzan, I too am in awe at what it would have taken to imigrate here. I often wonder if I would have been that brave. I'm just lucky that my ancestors did!
I would love to check out the site, so thank you for the link. Most of my family is from Scotland, but hubs are mostly from Ireland. Must be where he got his temper.lol
hugs

Julie@beingRUBY said...

Hi Suzan
What an interesting story... it's amazing how brave our parents and grandparents generation were.. not like us today .. living with our comforts and rarely venturing across the world to make a new life...

My grandfather came to Australia by ship [from England] .. I think he worked his passage here and came alone looking for adventure... certainly they were a brave lot..

Sorry to hear you've had so much trouble with your blog/formats etc.. I often have ppl ask me how to change to wide and I warn them to take a care and backup first as everything may go a bit topsy turvy... Good luck with it all.. xx Julie

Miss Gracie's House said...

What courage that would haven taken...I really can't even imagine...and with a baby, too.
Rene'

Dee@FrenchBleuVintage said...

I have used this site and Ancestry.com. they both helped in my search for any information on Maternal Great-grandparents. I found them somewhat easily too. Some info. that it gave me really cleared up old questions and rumors. Everyone should give it a try. Thanks