After nearly 5 years of research, two years of writing, and several months of editing and designing, the book recording the history and genealogy of my father's Brennan family finally arrived from the printer. I have been busy in the past week sending out copies to those members of the family who ordered it. I still have some extra copies, so if anyone from the family reads this and would like to order a copy, they cost $48, plus $5 shipping cost. For an extra $3 I will add a CD of all the pictures in the book, plus many not in the book. Some of these pictures go back to the late 1800s.
This is the third family history book I have written and published. The first two were histories and genealogies of my husband's family: his father's Croatian family and his mother's Swiss and English families (complete with 3 ancestors who came over on the Mayflower). Each book has involved thousands of hours of research and writing, all of which keeps this retired woman out of trouble. And as I write each book, I believe I get better at it. This current volume is, I believe, the best of all. It is comprised of over 220 pages recording the names and occupations of nearly every descendant, both living and deceased, of my thoroughly Irish great great grandparents, Ned Brennan and Mary Fahey who came to Ohio in 1861. It also includes a chapter on the history of Ireland, and a chapter on the state of Ohio, focusing on the city of Lima, where many of Ned and Mary's descendants were born.
I truly love doing this research and writing the books. Each one is a labor of love, and each one teaches me something. I write a history of the countries from which the ancestors came in each book, and that is an education in itself. I learned about Switzerland and the Mayflower in writing my mother-in-law's history, and about Croatia in writing my father-in-law's history. For the Brennan book, I learned so many things about Ireland I never knew. Now, I am nearing completion on my paternal grandmother's family history and I am learning about the history of England and Wales, as so many of her ancestors came from there.
But I learn so much more than names, dates, and history. I learn about the everyday lives of people, their joys and tragedies, their struggles and triumphs. I gain a larger picture of how we humans are all connected in one way or another and I learn that we are not that different from each other. It highlights for me the frailty of the human race, but also the courage. And, sadly, it reminds me of what a short time we spend on this planet. For that reason, it makes me more determined to leave something of value behind, and to practice acts of kindness towards those who surround me.
