Dublin, 23.9.2025: Grinning Faces and Ancestral Traces

One of many carved faces in doorways in the National Gallery of Ireland; Carlo Cambi was the artist who carved these.

(Writing on the 24th) As my previous entry notes, when we were in the National Library on the 22nd, I placed an order for three more Bessborough folders to be pulled for me on the morning of the 23rd, and on the 23rd, we returned to the library so that I could go through the folders. One of these was a set of payments to women for spinning and weaving flax for the Bessborough estate. I had known of the existence of these lists from something Jim Ryan published on his Ancestor Network website in the past. He had abstracted the names of the women paid for this work from the Bessborough papers and had noted which folder in the collection of Bessborough papers had this material.

Dublin, 22.9.2025: Old Manuscripts and Smithwick's Ale

The 22nd (I’m writing now in the 24th) was the day we’d set aside for a visit to the National Library, which is very close to The Mont, where we’re staying. I had made plans long in advance of the trip to go through the rent rolls and some of the other papers from the Bessborough estate of the Ponsonby family in County Kilkenny, from whom Ryan ancestors, in the earliest generation I can trace — John Ryan and wife Margaret Oates, both born, it seems, about 1785/1790 — rented land and for whom they perhaps did work. Using the library’s online website, I had ordered sixteen folders, eight for each of us, the maximum one can order in one day, to be pulled and waiting for me in the Manuscripts Reading Room at 9:30 A.M.

Dublin, 21.9.2025: Georgian Buildings and Psychics Sporting Red Bandanas

Today, our first full day in Dublin, dawned bright and sunny, and the sunshine held out through most of the day until intermittent showers — Irish weather — arrived in mid-afternoon. It was a gorgeous day to walk outside, so we left the hotel right after breakfast, a hearty and good breakfast in the restaurant inside The Mont Hotel, and walked to Trinity College to see the Book of the Kells.

Limerick, 19.9.2025: Piano Magic and Seafood Chowder

Friday, the 19th, was something of a rest day after the long day on the 18th. The website of Limerick’s Milk Market says that the place opens at 11 A.M. on Fridays and that there are food vendors, restaurants, and people selling this or that. But when we walked there, arriving about 11:30, the place was as dead as a doornail. There were people milling about — the area around the Milk Market seems to be a young folks’ hangout — but only a few tacky tourist-oriented shops and a bakery where we got a cup of cappuccino and a cinnamon roll. 

Limerick and Ennis, Ireland, 18.9.2025: Abbey Ruins and Beware the Bull

Thursday (the 18th) was quite a day. I’m writing now on Saturday. It was the day I’d made plans to go to the County Clare Library in Ennis to visit its Local Studies Centre. For some months, I’d been in touch with the librarian who oversees that Centre, Michael Talty. We exchanged emails back and forth as I explained to him my interest in seeing if any archival sources might have information about my Clare-rooted Linchy/Lynch/Lindsey family, whose DNA profile (among male descendants) shows that we belong to the Dalcassian families centered in Clare and related to Brian Boru. FTDNA reports to me that Brian and I share an ancestor about 650 CE.

Limerick, Ireland, 17.9.2025: Castles and Rivers and Fish and Chips

Since today (I’m writing on the evening of the 17th) was our first full day in Limerick and we’d begun to shake off a bit of the jet lag, we decided we needed to take full advantage of the pretty weather and do a meet-Limerick walking tour. To fortify ourselves, we had a hearty breakfast at the hotel restaurant, Harry’s. With our room fee, we paid an additional fee for breakfast daily. 

Limerick, Ireland, 16.9.2025: Restorative Tea and Cathedral Quiet

We arrived at Limerick on schedule about 7:30 A.M., having flown out of O’Hare in Chicago about 6 P.M. on the 15th. We’d gotten up about 3 A.M. to get to the airport around 5:30, so by the time we reached our hotel in Limerick, the Absolute, jet-lagged and starved for sleep, we did what travelers overseas are told not to do: we lay down and slept a good sleep for a number of hours. We had made arrangements ahead of time for a Limerick driver, Pat O’Connor, to pick us up at Shannon airport and drive us to Limerick.