Happy St. Patrick's Day -- Yes, I am Irish

I may be a mutt as far as my ancestral origins, but the Irish far outweighs the others. My Irish blood is on on my maternal side. I know that some of my Irish lines may turn out to have some English -- but I need that trip to Ireland to work on that.

My maternal grandfather, Maurice Michael Hanley (100% Irish), was born 1893 in Winona, Minnesota to Michael Hanley and Johanna Welch. Michael was born in Ireland (county history says Tipperary) around 1840, came to Hamilton, Ontario,Canada in the 1840s where his parents supposedly died. He and his brother Martin ended up in Winona, Minnesota. There is supposed to be a sister Mary, but I have not found evidence of her to date.

Grandpa Mike's (Maurice Michael) mother was Johanna Walsh, born 1859 in County Kerry (Welch/Walsh, Fitzgerald and Bowler). Johanna followed several other family members to Winona County. Others were in Boston. I have a picture of the old family homestead in Kerry (Catholic parish of Ballyferriter) that was in the family until recently. That was a treasured gift from cousins who were born and raised in Ireland. Johanna Walsh was Michael Hanley's second wife. His first wife was Margaret Carney/Kearney who died in 1888 in Winona.

Some of the Walsh/Welch's remained in Winona but after Michael died in 1905 in Winona, his widow Johanna eventually moved to St. Paul with her children to be with other relatives. Maurice Michael met and married my Grandmother Gertrude Catherine Cook. Grandma Gert's father was John Thomas Cook and her mother was Violet Dow/Daoust (born 1875 in Montreal to a French-Canadian father and a mother who had English, German, and Irish blood.)

The Cooks are from the civil parish of Dromcolliher, Catholic parish Drumcollagher, County Limerick, Ireland where some children of James Cook and Mary Green were baptized. Their son Andrew, born 1842, came to Faribault, Minnesota. Andrew was followed by my great great grandfather, James Cook (born 1837) and wife Catherine (Kate) Moriarity. James and Catherine settled in Faribault with Kate's mother Ellen (Nellie). Eventually James and Kate and children moved to St. Paul. My great grandaunt used to tell us about connections to County Cork.

The bottom line is that I am almost 1/2 Irish. My youngest three grandchildren add a large dose of Irish blood from their Dad. Dougherty is just a bit Irish!