The Kingdom of Kerry

"Welcome to the Kingdom!" wrote our relative. "There are two Kingdoms in the world--the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Kerry!!" And what a time to be visiting the Kingdom! As John said, "Anyone can come to Ireland and see the green, but not everyone gets to see the white." Look what we woke up to on Sunday in Killarney. Falling flakes and snow-capped mountains. Followed by steady rain and gusty winds all day.

Yes, we are in Ireland, not Switzerland.

No matter, we had sights to see and relatives to meet. We started the day with Mass at St. Mary's Cathedral, where there were beautiful stained glass windows.

After Mass, we met our relative Batt Daly. Batt and his lovely wife Nellie were highly recommended to us by many of our relatives in Illinois who had had the good fortune to travel to Ireland and meet them.

Batt and John are both descended from Mary Daly and Peter Sullivan, who married in County Kerry in 1832. After being told they could no longer rent the farm where they had worked, Peter and Mary quickly decided to go to America, where Mary's sister had gone. Below is the house with the moss-covered roof that Peter and Mary and their seven children left. It was raining cats and dogs so we couldn't go down for a closer view.

Peter and Mary and their seven children sailed on the Ashburton from Liverpool, England to New York. According to two shipboard accounts, rough weather at sea one day nearly caused the ship to capsize several times. Poor Mary, the mom, spent most of the journey seasick, while the children thought it was a great adventure and were sorry when the ship arrived in New York. This last bit could mean that the Sullivan family didn't travel in steerage as described on the Dunbrody. Or it could be the kind of story a parent or grandparent makes up for a child.

The Sullivan family eventually made their way to Macomb, Illinois where they bought a farm. Their second son, Peter, (we learned today about the Irish tradition of naming the first son after the paternal grandfather and the second son after the father) married Mary Murray. Their sixth child was Edward Ambrose Sullivan who married Alta Arnold on April 12, 1912, 104 years ago tomorrow. They had one daughter, Mary Alta Sullivan, who is the mom of John.

John and Batt Daly figuring it all out.

Batt took us to an ancient cemetery where lots of Daly relatives are buried. The ruins date from the 11th century. John asked Batt how things in Ireland now are compared to when he was young. "They have a better life now, but we were more content in the old days," he said. Everyone wants everything immediately he said.

He also showed us the sites of the Killarney area, including the Gap of Dunloe, pictured below.

Photo by Luke Carroll

Then he took us to his home where we met his wife Nellie and we had a lovely tea she prepared--our first in Ireland--complete with scones and an apple tart. All delicious. Batt and Nellie reminisced about how our relative Sr. Pat Sullivan, who I talked about in the Glendalough post, showed up at their door one day with three other sisters, and what fun she was.

Nellie and Luke

After tea, Batt took us to the home of his daughter Nora, her husband Michael and their four beautiful children. We said our good byes and thank yous to Batt for driving us around on one of the rainiest April days he had ever seen.. 

We had homemade pizza with Nora and Michael and their children and chatted for hours about everything. When supper was over the children, made chocolate chip cookies. They were amazingly good!

The kids had so much fun together! It was wonderful to get to know Michael and Nora, who are continuing the tradition of Irish hospitality that runs in their family. We are so grateful that we got to meet them.

While we were at Nora and Michael's, John's phone rang and guess who it was? Sr. Pat! It was such a coincidence because we don't talk to her very often. But she keeps popping up in Ireland! She was passing through Peoria and wanted to stop for a visit. She couldn't believe where we were, and we couldn't believe it was her on the phone.

We're so humbled and thankful for all the family connections we've made in Ireland!

Next up: The Ring of Kerry