If you feel like I do, summer is speeding past faster than you every imagined that it could. It has been over a month since I issued the Small-leaved Shamrock summer reading challenge. We now have only ten days left to do our reading before the carnival!Just to refresh your memory, here are the details: Ireland has a long tradition of literature, both in the Irish and English languages. In fact, af...

At the start of the new year I enjoyed taking a look back at Schuylkill County and my Cowhey ancestors one-hundred years ago in the year 1908.Working back to one-hundred years before that date, none of my family had arrived yet in Pennsylvania, but an important event occurred there that would eventually draw them to the area and impact the rest of their lives.1808 was the year that anthracite coal...

If you have Irish surnames in your family tree and are interested in your heritage, there is one 20th-century Irishman's work that you absolutely must know about. Although born in England, Edward MacLysaght (1887-1986) eventually came to Ireland where he developed a deep love for his Irish heritage. Eventually elected to the Senate of the Irish Free State, elected to the Royal Irish Academy, and ap...

Once more war's alarm is heard - the Government is shaken to its foundation, and now General Scott is called upon to save the Capital. Will the men of the North arise? Will they come to protect the nation? Yes, they spring forward to the fray and the veteran chieftain knows that thousands are rushing to his aid. The flower of the country are speeding to the front - but the first to meet his sight,...

Ireland has a long tradition of literature, both in the Irish and English languages. In fact, after Greek and Latin, the Irish language itself has the oldest literature in Europe. The land is known for both its ancient bards and its more modern poetry and epic works of fiction. Today there are also innumerable non-fiction books touching on subjects related to Irish history and culture.In the hope t...