I know I've been neglecting this blog of late and the thought of it nags at me from time to time. But that's how it is with amateur genealogists. We attend to the research in spurts, depending on the other demands of life. Of late, I've been working on "old people" stuff - preparing for my husband's retirement by changing phone, internet, and television contracts, figuring out if we can go from two cars to one, etc. Have also been volunteering at a new hospital in town and planning our next European vacation, though that won't be for another year. And since we'll be going to France and Belgium, I'm brushing up on my French with Rosetta Stone.
We've planned an October, 2014, Viking River Cruise in the south of France, and we've scheduled time in Paris, Normandy, and Versailles. Since my husband and I will both be retired by then, we want to stay as long as we can (as long as the money holds out) and so we'll be stretching out the trip to the Alsace Lorraine region of France and specifically the town of Nancy, where a distant Brennan cousin, Ralph Brennan, died defending a bridge and thus saving the town from the Germans during World War II. He is buried in a nearby cemetery, and there is a memorial to him and his company at the bridge. I'm told by another cousin that we will be welcomed with great enthusiasm there, for the Brennan name is held in high esteem because of Ralph.
From there, we will make a brief foray into Southwestern Germany, to a small town called Losheim am See, where my mother's Schulien relatives are from.
After that, we'll head up to Belgium, and the small village of Turpange, in the Luxembourg region, where my mother's Mueller relatives are from. Then we'll head up to Bruges and Brussels, before heading home.
Our 2012 vacation was, in part, an attempt to connect with my father's Irish heritage. This trip will be mostly an attempt to connect with my mother's ancestry, that is after we enjoy all the culture, history, and wine that France has to offer.
In the meantime, in addition to brushing up on my French, I'll be returning to my research into my family, checking out any new information in the Ancestry databases, and writing to a cemetery in New Jersey to see if I can find any records on a branch of the Brennan family that moved to Jersey City in the early part of the last century. This would be Tom and Mary Ann (Brennan) Ryan and their children. So far, I have been able to learn very little about them, other than the scant information in census records. Of the six children of Ned Brennan and Mary Fahey (my immigrant great, great grandparents), Mary Ann's family is the only one that remains a mystery.
Stay tuned. Hopefully, I'll be reporting more often.
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