RETURN TO OHIO

It had been 37 years since I was last in lima, Ohio, the place of my parents' birth as well as mine.  All of my ancestors from the last several generations lived in Ohio, and many immigrated directly there from either Ireland or Germany or Belgium.  The last time I was in Lima, my aunts Marcie and Kay were still alive and well, and my Brennan grandparents were thriving.  Now, they are all gone, along with my uncles Al and Bill, and my cousins Mark, Steve, and Greg. So it was a different Lima to which I returned.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

My trip actually began on Saturday, May 18, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where I visited my 3rd cousin on my dad's side of the family, Kathy Brennan.  I've only known Kathy for a few years, having heard about her from my parents who met her several years before they died.  I had never actually met her, however, but as we share many interests, are both Brennans, and love Ireland, I was anxious to spend some time with her.  We only had one day together, but it was a great one - sharing stories and pictures, dreaming about returning to Ireland, and having a wonderful tour of Ann Arbor.  We ate at Zingerman's famous deli, and walked around the Arboretum, where a large peony garden (800 plants) was just getting ready to bloom.  How I wished we could have seen it just two weeks later. 

I was also thrilled to see all the lilacs in bloom, and when I looked down, I saw carpets of Lilies of the Valley.

Here's a picture of me and Kathy and my husband, Tony in front of the peony garden.

It was a wonderful visit, but a short one, because the next day we were headed to Toledo for a reunion with my Mueller cousins at the home of my Schulien cousin, Tim (all on my mom's side of the family). Tim had prepared a wonderful German meal for us and showed us around his beautiful home, full of antiques and family memorabilia.  We shared stories and pictures while we waited for Pat and Fran to arrive and when they did, we had more catching up to do. 

Tim is my second cousin, and he shares my interest in genealogy, as does my first cousin, Jim, who will appear in a later blog. (Tim is also a great cook and musician.) Pat, on the left, and Fran, standing behind me, are sisters, the two daughters of my uncle Al Mueller.  Fran is named after my mother.  It was great to see all of them. And just behind Tim is the wedding portrait of our great grandparents, Joseph and Mary Schulien, or as everyone called them, "Mawmaw" and "Pawpaw."

We stayed at a 125 year old Victorian inn in Toledo, thanks to my cousin Tim who works there. 

The next day, Tim, Tony and I headed for Bowling Green University to do some genealogy research.  BGU has the records from the Catholic Churches at Delphos, Landeck, and Lima, where most of my relatives lived at one time.  We hunched over the microfilm reader for hours, and found many interesting records, including all the baptismal records of the children of Ned and Mary Brennan, my immigrant great great grandparents. Dinner that evening was at a Lebanese restaurant - yum!

The next morning, after breakfast with Tim, we were off to our final destination: Lima.  We arrived around noon at my aunt Sheila's house, visited for a time, and then left to check in at our hotel.  Later that evening Sheila, her husband Joe, Tony and I went to dinner at Milano's, a favorite of my parents whenever they visited Lima.

The next two days would be spent with my cousin Jim, doing genealogy research, then the final three days with my Brennan relatives.  I'll write about that, and offer some final thoughts about the trip, in the coming days.