Celebrating Our Family’s Irish Roots on Saint Patrick’s Day
Our daughters truly have the luck of the Irish in their blood. On Saint Patrick’s Day, my husband and I celebrate the birthdays of two of our ancestors. We also celebrate our Irish roots on both sides of our family with traditional Irish food and drink.
Celebrating our family’s Irish roots on Saint Patrick’s Day
Hilda’s Birthday and My Irish Roots
Every Saint Patrick’s Day, my mother loved to remind me that it was her maternal grandmother’s birthday. My great-grandmother, Hilda Ballard Grubbs, passed away in 1976, the year my mother graduated from college.
Although I never knew my great-grandmother, I display her china cabinet and hand-written cookbook in our home. Hilda was born in 1897 in Sealy, Texas. She had a rich Texas heritage tracing back to her ancestor, Tillman Carter Fort. He settled in neighboring San Felipe, the birthplace of Anglo-American Settlement in Texas, in 1837.
Ironically, it was Hilda’s husband, my great-grandfather James Harry Grubbs, who could trace his lineage to Ireland. His ancestors include the founder of Covington, Kentucky, Thomas Kennedy. Thomas’ Scotch-Irish Presbyterian father Thomas Kennedy, Sr., was born in Northern Ireland in 1703.
“Harry,” who was born in Kentucky in 1890, traveled with his family to Texas when he was a boy. Sadly, his mother died en route. His father was a blacksmith. By age 13 or 14, he was working as a “flunkie” at the railroad station in Sealy. There, he got into trouble with the railroad inspector and caught a train to Kansas City. Over the next two years, he traveled with a circus, joined the Davis gang in Northern Arkansas, was bit by a poisonous snake, and lived with a Native American tribe, who saved his life after the snake bite. After ending up back in Sealy-San Felipe, he whisked Hilda away from school one day to get married in San Antonio. The rest is history.
Note: My Allen, McCorkle and McGee ancestors on my maternal grandfather’s side may be Scotch-Irish, as well.
Joe’s Birthday and My Husband’s Irish Roots
Saint Patrick’s Day also happens to be my husband’s maternal grandfather’s birthday. His March 17th birthdate is so appropriate for this loving and generous man with Irish Catholic roots. Affectionately called “Joe” by his grandchildren, my husband’s grandfather was born in New Jersey. But he wisely moved his wife, Catherine, and five daughters to Texas as fast as he could! Joe traces his lineage to Ireland through his maternal grandmother, Sarah Rattigan, born in 1865, and, on his father’s side, to his great-great-grandfather Thomas Gannon. Catherine has Irish roots as well, tracing her paternal lineage to her great-grandfather, William Maguire of Ireland.
Unfortunately, my great-grandparents passed away before I was born. It is such a blessing that my husband’s maternal grandmother is still in great health. I am thankful that our daughters were also able to spend time with his grandfather before he died.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day from our family to yours!
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
Old Irish Blessing
A version of this post was originally published March 17, 2013.
