CONTACT

Well, I've been hearing from some distant cousins and am learning more about my extended Brennan family.  A few contacted  me by email in response to the blog, and a few emailed or phoned me after I sent them letters. 

I had been somewhat reluctant to send letters to those family members who were only names on the family tree, thinking they might not want to make a connection, or wanting me to mind my own business, so to speak.  But since all I had were addresses (no phone numbers, no email addresses)  and because I really wanted to complete as much as possible of the family tree and find out more about the lives of my distant cousins, I went ahead and took some chances.

And besides learning the names of more people, I have made some very valuable connections with people I wish I had known all my life.  While I can't complain about the fact that we moved away from the family when I was ten years old (who can complain about moving the California with its wonderful weather and great opportunities?) I do regret not having more contact with some of these family members. 

Yes, family can be a double-edged sword.  Sometimes there are fights, grudges, and misunderstandings, and sometimes people become separated and never reuinited, and I have a hunch that such things happened in this Irish family.  I don't know for sure, of course, but I know families pretty well (having been a family therapist for 30 years) and I suspect some of the separations between branches of the family are the result of hard feelings.  Other separations may be because some families felt they had nothing in common with other families, while still other separations may be because families moved away.  That's what happened with my small branch of the family, and that's what happened with the oldest daughter of Ned and Mary Brennan.  Her name was Mary Ann Brennan and she moved to New Jersey with her husband Tom Ryan and their children, and her branch has been the most difficult to track down. Right now, the search is in the hands of the researchers at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. I hope to hear from them soon.

I have no illusions that everyone of the Brennan descendants will reunite as one big happy family, but I would like to see everyone's name and perhaps a few details of their lives included in this book. 
So I'm forging ahead in my quest to reach out to as many people as I can.  I still have a few letters to send out, and my dream is to include every descendant of Ned and Mary Brennan in this book. 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.