Author: Pat D

Genetics.  A little bit magical.  A little bit scary.  What our ancestors gave to us and what we give to our descendants is a bit like a dish that gets passed down the family line.  It can get a little bit banged up on its journey down the family line but we think it’s beautiful regardless.  That dish belongs to us.  The stories of our ancestors belong to us too and we share them with many others who experienced similar struggles and joy along the way.

Ancestry recently released a new DNA tool that tracks our DNA to “genetic communities”— many people from an area that share similar DNA and had similar life experiences.  These life experiences often led to migration.  Migration like this became like a worn path you follow through the woods mostly because someone else had already done so ahead of you.  These patterns can give us clues as to how our ancestors ended up in Gloucester, for example.  It may not be as simple as the Potato Famine pushing the Irish across the sea.

Most of my  Irish seem to appear in the Boston/Gloucester area in the 1860s or so and this is what Ancestry has to say about their Irish migration during that time period:

The Great Famine Migration

During the Great Famine, potato blight ruined Ireland’s main source of food. Although the horrors of mass starvation were highest in the southwestern province of Munster, its people felt a deep connection to their native land and culture, and emigrated only as a last resort. If they did not die or enter the infamous workhouse, the poor opted for the short journey to England. Others with a little more money crossed the Atlantic to settle among the poor in urban areas in the United States, with New York the most common destination.

The Irish this might apply to include James Handran, Timothy Ryan, John Bentley, Martin Costello, Julia McDonough.  So far, we think our Irish hail from Galway, Meath, Sligo and Clare (all areas within this Munster region).  GMG Jimmy giggled when he saw that these regions of Ireland were suitable for hiding criminals and rebels.

Our Newfoundlanders include John Edward Handran and Mary Ann Squires.  These people often migrated to Nova Scotia (John Pierce, Phoebe Nickerson ) before settling in the Cape Ann area.  In general, the Canadians came to America a little later than our Irish and this is what Ancestry has to say about that time period for them:

Cod Decline Pushes Newfoundlanders to New England

Overfishing cod caused economic instability on the island. The promise of lucrative jobs meant some Newfoundlanders headed to New England coastal towns, particularly Boston. In America the transplants often found work as fishermen, factory workers, and servants.

And another BINGO!!! It feels darn great to have my research confirmed in this way with pretty maps and dotted lines!

My crystal ball has given me another outlet for my photography in that what you “see” through CB is a world turned upside down.  And sometimes, that’s quite beautiful in its own way.

Good Harbor Beach: you probably recognize this landscape even upside down

Kent Circle: the old red, white and blue looks great either way (not a distress call!)

One crystal ball, twin lighthouses

Goose Cove Reservoir

As beautiful as Gloucester is, it’s added value to put a new lens on to view it through different eyes.

A little walk around Rocky Neck recently showed the beauty of winter

Slim pickings for this month’s a-door-nment.  Frankly, it surprised me to find so few green shamrocks and leprechauns around town, but there’s been this matter of storm cleanup followed by storm cleanup followed by storm.  Happy St. Patrick’s Day to ye.

Parker River National Wildlife Refuge just before the recent blizzard. If you can even get in there today, I imagine it looks quite different.

Wait, I think it was supposed to be a Winter Birding Boat Trip sponsored by Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce last Sunday.  For me, it was mostly about the boats on a crisp, sunny morning on the ocean.  Captain Jay and the Seven Seas crew did a great job despite choppy conditions and I think the bird watchers were happy.  I did get this shot a a king eider:

Mostly, however, I was more interested in those things on the water with motors, nets and gear like these:

But this classic view ties the beauty of the boat and birds together in nice fashion:

The sun and blue skies pushed me out the door to explore Stage Fort Park.  I love the way the snow is still stuck to the tree trunks, all facing the same direction like soldiers standing duty.

I call this one “Sentinels”

Some other scenes from Stage Fort Park on a beautiful morning. It all just looked different somehow, fresh and new.

The heavy wet snow made for some interesting scenes yesterday.

“Weathered” is a descriptive term I would rather not be used on me, BUT for a wide variety of other aged relics, it is perfect. Weathered beauty:

Not all beautiful weathered paraphernalia is rusted iron or red, however.  I will post others in the future.  May we all weather as well as these.

I found this program in a downtown Gloucester shop.  It states: “We, the members of the Gloucester Service Chest welcome you to our entertainment, an Old Time Minstrel Show, which is given for the benefit of all our own boys in the Armed Forces.”  It was held on January 20 1944.  I was tickled to see my dad listed (“Patty Ryan” though he was generally known as Paddy) as a performer.  My childhood memories of his many performances are full of End Man/ Host duties at variety shows for various charities, so this was perfect.

He must have been only about 16 at this time and it’s gratifying to see that his End Man experiences had a long history.  Another cousin, Edna Handran, is listed on the ticket committee so it was a bonus. Some of the other names include Virginia Friend, Priscilla Cahoon, Theresa Sylvester, Buzzy McKinnon, Norman Ball and Lester Bragg.  There are others but perhaps some of you recognize these.  Presumably the ladies were members of the Junior Women’s Club at the time.

Performances included songs like My Shining Hour, My Heart Tells Me and Pistol Packin’ Mama; and, of course, Yankee Doodle Dandy. You’re humming right now, aren’t you?

Now that everyone is recovering from the recent storm, I thought these might be a good reminder that summer winds provides a different kind of beauty on the Boulevard. These are from last June:

Imagine my surprise when I visited a special nature photography exhibit at the Roberson Museum in Binghamton New York only to find a wonderful Piping Plovers photo taken on the “north shore of Massachusetts”. I felt one hundred percent certain I knew exactly which Plovers these were! Sorry the photos aren’t perfect, I only had my phone and I was pretty happy to see these and explain the story to my companion.

GMG Jimmy found this iconic Gloucester scene while I was drooling over the new digital reader at Sawyer Free Library.  Not having coffee, like I assumed! Well done Jimmy!