"Bill" a local, and Kathy, discussing "Ryans" outside of Chasers PubTwo months ago Bill and I had the opportunity to travel to Ireland and Scotland. One of the items on my bucket list was to visit the town of Pallas Grean (also commonly spelled Pallas Green), the hometown of my Ryan ancestors. Pallas Green (and you should see the Gaelic spelling) is located in County Limerick, right on the border with County Tipperary.
Earlier in this blog (see posts dated March 29th and 30th) I posted pictures of what Pallas Green looked like in 1920 -- right after the Republic of Ireland became separated from Great Britain. Now it is a modern-day town located on a newly-paved main thoroughfare paid for partially with European Union funds. Talk to anyone who went to Ireland 10 years ago and who returned again recently and you will always here about the improved roads. Some are so recent that the GPS we rented did not acknowledge the new roads.
In the United States we describe small towns as places with one traffic light. In Ireland the traffic lights are replaced with "roundabouts". Pallas Green is such a small village that there is not even a roundabout in the town center. However, we counted three pubs at one intersection.
Records indicate that our "Ryan" married a "Dwyer" or O'Dwyer. Interestingly, the pub that is on the opposite corner from Chasers is O'Dwyers.
Here Bill asks for a "second opinion" from another local. Both assured me that if we didn't know the "nickname" of our Ryans, we would not have a very fruitful search. I had to be content with the work completed for me by a County Limerick genealogist. At least Bill could give us directions to the church and cemetery.
I put together a three-minute photoshow that contains these and pictures of the nearby church and cemetery that serves the area of Pallas Green. They are labeled. Click on this link to view: Pallas Green The church and cemetery will be discussed in the next post.
Kathy,
ReplyDeleteI was so surprised to see photos of Pallas and then my friend Willie Darcy having a drink at the Chaser. I am an O'Dwyer and I married a Ryan exactly 37 years ago today so we will celebrate our anniversary today. I have lived in old Pallas all my life and recently got involved with a reverse genealogy project called "Ireland reaching out" which is supported by the Irish government. If you haven't already heard of it you should GOOGLE "IRELAND XO". I think you will find it very interesting. Part of the project includes a "Historical Graveyard Project" which will eventually have every possible gravestone registered on line with its own GPS location.I see it as an excellent project to help all our diaspora research their roots and create their own personal family tree just like you have done.If there is anything you have forgotten to check while you were here, feel free to ask and I may be able to research it for you..Keep in touch. Best regards Connie O'Dwyer
Connie,
Deletethank you so much for posting. I made a video of some of our scenes from Pallas and sent two copies to The Chaser and asked them to give a copy to Willie. I don't know if they did. I have a link to it on one of these posts. If you send me an email, I'll send you the link to the slideshow and also what I know about my Ryans. I'd love it if you know other things. I believe that my Ryan link in Pallas was married to a Dwyer. My email address is: khreed@cinci.rr.com Looking forward to hearing from you.
Kathy Reed
OMG! We were in PallasGrean this past May 2014 to visit the grave marker of my husband's great-grandparents Martha and Michael Ryan, and their son Thomas Ryan. Their headstone is one shown in your video--You may be related to my husband? Please contact me at Kelseysmum at Live dot com. I would love to hear from you! Paula
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