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The Cooke family homestead, sometime in the 50's. We don't know who these people are.
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I've been hearing regularly from my cousin, Ciaran Brett, in Ireland. Ciaran has made a firm connection between his family and mine which you will see in the family tree. You will remember that I found Ciaran through
Ireland Reaching Out, which I recommend to anyone doing Irish research. Ciaran wanted me to see this particular picture because it shows the homestead where his mother was born and where the family still lives. But you can see in this picture the thatch roof and the lime wash walls which was very traditional. We're not sure who the people in the picture are. Family, no doubt.
For the next picture you will need what I've constructed to show my connection to Ciaran.
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| A partial Cooke family tree |
By my reckoning, Katie and Ciaran's grandfather were first cousins, Dad and his mother were second cousins, and Ciaran and I are third cousins. Ciaran sent me a much more extensive file with all the family tree he has found. The Cookes go waaay back on this land and, more importantly, they were land owners!
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| Josie Cooke, James "Jimmy" Cooke and Bridget Coffey Cooke some time in the fifties. |
This picture shows Ciaran's mother, her uncle James and her mother Bridget. James emigrated to Philadelphia, so Ciaran suspects he was home for a visit at the time. Again you get a good look at the family home and the thatch roof. This is all part of the property I wrote about in a previous post.
If I'm understanding this correctly, this is the very same house Ciaran's brother lives in now.
You can clearly see the "bones" of the old house and wall here. I think Ciaran said they used the stone from the much older Cooke house, which is in ruins on the property, for the stone work on this house.
So nice to have these photos and a little window into my family's past.
