Re: Mary Ann McHenry - Ballycastle Ireland
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In reply to:
Re: Mary Ann McHenry - Ballycastle Ireland
David Boylan 11/05/05
Hi David!How wonderful to read your info for Mary Ann! I've been doing research on my husband's family, and find the stories I come across so interesting, even though they don't fit the connections that I need.
I liked your descriptions of what Mary Ann would see in the area.We visited Northern Ireland 2 years ago, in mid September. My father-in-law was born in Lisbreen, raised in Ballymena, and his parents are buried in the churchyard at Glenravel, the church having been destroyed in the 70s.
The reminder of Rathlain is stirring, the Causeway is not to be missed, since the changes in the weather are affecting it. I grew up on the shores of the southern tip of Lake Michigan in the States, with the sounds of the seasons and the roar of the winter winds and summer splashing waves. However, there is nothing to match the strength of the environment of the area in which you live.
Michael McDonnell was a cattle-dealer married to Mary McMullan. After Mary died, from heartbreak over the loss of her daughter, and the oldest child, Alexander, was lost at sea, the rest of the children came singly and together to the States, including my father-in-law, Edmund. Michael returned in the early 1900s, because he wanted to lie in peace with Mary in Glenravel.
I didn't know Edmund, who served in the trenches in World War 1, and died when his fifth child, my husband, was only ten months old.
It's incredible to become so immersed in family history that you feel you really know all these people and start to understand them. I wish you the best, and hope you are well.Sincerely, Betty McDonnell