Suzanne’s Personal Quote and Blog for 9/13/2022

Quote

Magic happened and the ethers opened doors.

I found my family’s ancestral home and touched the walls, and walked on her floors

Such moments are worthy of any Irish tale.
Tears flowed, and we celebrated with a good ale.

The Irish cherish the joys even when they are not their own.

They understand the value of family and the power of home.

~Suzanne Wagner~

Blog

Yesterday was the grand adventure that made my trip complete.

We drove an hour away from our hotel in Donegal and made it to Creeslaugh. My family always pronounced it “Cree-slaw”. But that seemed to not be the correct pronunciation … until we got to that town. When we discovered that (in that town) that is exactly how they did pronounce it. Funny how certain things are passed down correctly.

We did not know to where to begin, so we started at the graveyard by the old church to look at gravestones for the McFadden’s, which is the maiden name of my great grandmother before she married a “Peters”.

Peters is not a common Irish name, but McFadden is very common in Creeslaugh.

I must give big compliments to our amazing driver “Sharon” for her determined nature and willingness to ask questions to anyone and everyone. She has been a godsend on this trip.

So, as we were poking around a graveyard, she was willing to talk to anyone to see if they knew the house (whose picture I had) or where the McFadden’s might be found.

One very nice Irish gentleman who came on a Sunday to speak to his dead relatives at the graveyard, suggested an area and to go to over by Doe Castle. Which was just a couple of miles down the road.

So … off we went and discovered an amazing 13^th Century fort-like castle, filled with history and perfectly located on a point where it had a grand view of a bay that fills completely when the tides come in.

We were just leaving, and we saw a small coffee shop that was selling prints and Sharon asked if we wanted to go in for a coffee and to ask if they might know anything.
We backed up the car and got out and ordered coffee and I bought a print while I told the story to the woman at the counter.

She immediately said, I will call my husband to see if he might know the house. As he was born in the area and had family that lived her for centuries also.

She did not hesitate and called him … and he was over in 5 minutes. Seems he loves American’s and such treasure hunts.

He was wonderful and said there was an area that the McFadden’s had owned for over a century, and he knew of some old houses up that hill and in the area, only a mile or so away.

We all got into our car and drove through the most narrow streets I have ever seen and came upon one old house but that did not feel right. It was close … and the area felt familiar to my bones. I knew something was right about it.
We drove (literally) a few hundred more feet and down a small hill was this old house.

The lovely man guiding us said this might be it. We got the picture and went to the next-door house to speak to anyone. But there was no one home.
So, we went down to this old house, and it was amazing to see the short doors. On close examination … the spacing of the chimneys was correct. But what cinched it was that there was an old handmade gate.
And that was the gate, exactly.
Such a gate was made over a hundred and 50 years ago and there it was … still standing, and the bricks that were on either side of the gate were also exact.
He went to the other side to take a picture in the field from the angle that the old picture was taken.
And there it was. Perfect! Not a stone out of place. Not a detail had changed.

And I couldn’t help but cry. While we could not go into the house we peaked into the windows and saw the old fireplace and the internal spaces.

The synchronicity that came together for us to find this house was its own miracle.

From the man at the graveyard to guide us to the castle. To the coffee house woman whose husband knew this land and every house upon that land. So that he could find the roads that no one else would have found and then to the house itself, still standing grand and strong from the hard work and determined nature of my ancestors.

It is amazing to find anything still standing and working a hundred and fifty years in the past.

We laughed and cried. It was a powerful moment, and I could feel the ancestors celebrating the return home of one of their offspring and family.

Then we returned that man back to his car at Doe Castle and to his wife at the coffee shop.

I ran out of the car and said, “We found my great grandmother’s house.” And I gave her a huge hug at which point she burst into tears also.

I told her that her husband was a magical man and that we could not have done it without him. And she smiled proudly at her husband.

I just love the Irish. They celebrate the joys with the fullness that .. too often … we forget.

It was so special and a marvelous adventure. One that I was not sure we could have figured out alone.

I thought the town of Creeslaugh was small, but it had (obviously) grown a lot in a hundred and fifty years.
Our guide told us that that land would have been good land in the old days. The house was built under a hill, so it was protected from the wind, it was near a water source … because there was a small pond just below the house.

But our Irish guide said that this land would have been the worst for the potato blight because of its dampness. Hence 7 out of the 8 children ended up leaving to go to America.

I could feel my heart was happy. My ancestors were celebrating above.
And now, all things in the universe are complete.

~Suzanne Wagner~