THE IRISH SIDE

Several years ago, I wrote about some of my Danish ancestors. My dad’s mother was Irish, and her family is interesting, too.

My second great-grandmother, Margaret Lyons, was born in Skibbereen, Cork, Ireland in 1843. She arrived in the US in 1853 when she was nine-years-old with her parents, Timothy Lyons and Catherine Lane. Both were from County Cork, Ireland. (I have traced their families farther back, but I will write about those who came to this country.)

In 1861, She married Edward Eamon (or Joseph—records differ) Connolly, born in 1834 in Carrickmacross, Monaghan, Ireland. He was twenty-seven, and she was eighteen.

Their daughter, Catherine (Kit or Kate) Connolly, born in 1862 in Danville, Illinois, was my great-grandmother.

She married Thomas Anthony McNamara, born in 1860 in Streator, Illinois in 1881 in LaSalle County, Illinois. She was nineteen-years-old and he was twenty-one. I have no photos of Thomas.

They had seven children, of whom my grandmother, Margaret Imelda, was number five. She was born in Streator, Illinois in 1897.

In 1915, when Margaret was eighteen-years-old, she married Henry Ramsbottom Lund in Utah. He was twenty-nine. (I think my brother resembled the photo below.)

Their marriage was a bit of a problem because he came from a Utah Mormon pioneer family, and Margaret’s family was Catholic. Grandpa once told me he had a shotgun wedding. “Her brother came after me with a shotgun!”

They moved to Nevada, where my dad, Henry LaRay Lund, was born in Ely in 1916.

Grandpa grew up on a cattle ranch in Spring City, Utah. He was also a blacksmith and a talented cabinetmaker. During the Great Depression, he was never out of work. (He worked in the smithy behind his house until about two years before he died.)

Grandpa’s older brother homesteaded in Alberta, Canada. He had a large ranch. So, Grandpa packed up his family and moved there.

While living on the ranch, my two aunts, Rose Imelda and Mary Evelyn, were born.

The family moved again, this time to California to join several of Grandpa’s siblings.

When Dad was six, Rose was three, and Mary Evelyn was eighteen months, their mother died. (I was told the photo above was taken after their mother passed away, and she was added.)

The children were sent to live with Grandpa’s older sister, Sarah Edith. She had raised Grandpa and several of his siblings after his own mother passed away when he was nine-years-old. (She had given birth to thirteen children.)

When Rose was old enough to go to school, the girls moved in with their McNamara aunts in Alhambra, California. Dad lived with Aunt Edith in Riverside, CA, and Grandpa lived in Hawthorne, CA. They didn’t see him often.

When Dad was fourteen and ready to start high school, he returned to live with his dad. When Rose entered high school, Dad brought the girls home. He saw to it that both finished high school.

Dad married my mother, Vera Mary Methven, in 1942. He was twenty-eight, and she was twenty-four.

Dad was serving in the US Army in WWII at the time. Until the end of 1945, they were apart.

Dad returned home, and in 1946, I was born. In 1949, my brother, Ronald Travis Lund joined the family.

We moved to a brand-new house in Alhambra, California in November of 1948, just months before Ron was born.

Dad died in 1954. I was seven. Ron was four.

When Ron passed away in August of 2020, we found an outline for a book about an idealized childhood among his things. Larry and I decided to complete the book. Since we all grew up in the same neighborhood, the memories in the book include both of ours as well as my brother’s. The book, Dominic Drive, was published in January of 2021.

I wrote about more than my Irish roots, but they led to my being where I am today.

Are you interested in your own genealogy? I have done extensive researched on mine and Larry’s. We have found many surprises along the way.