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‘Would you believe it, the autumnal rains have brought forth in crop more bountiful than ever those accursed marshmallows,’ complained my great grandfather to his son in 1919, ‘the docks we utterly routed but the others will apparently plague and cumber the ground for years’. Would ancestral Irish knowledge have changed his tune?
Last year, I travelled to Ireland to visit the place where my paternal ancestors came from. The Irish call it the ‘homeplace’, and my family’s homeplace is close to the village of Dunkerrin in County Offaly. It’s a stone’s throw from the Barony of Ikerrin (Uí Chairín), the ancient homelands to one of the oldest Irish families, the O’Meachair/Meagher/Maher Clan.
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When was the last time you did a jigsaw puzzle? The family archive in my spare room is the ultimate games room to me. Boxes upon boxes of various pieces waiting to be put together to create a new understanding of my family's collective history.
What Will Be looks back at people, places and travel and uncovers stories hidden in diaries, letters, and photos. It pieces together obvious clues and obscure details; reveals the personalities of people we used to know and those we could not have known; and re-tells the stories that have been forgotten or hidden. Tell me your thoughts and put a piece or two in the puzzle while you're at it.