I have a rather unusual surname which has aided my family's genealogy research. That, and having a distinct genetic marker particular to that region of Ireland. Once we learned the original spelling of the name in Irish (it's a mess of consonants) we found reference to the origins of the name in a history of Ireland and where it was originally used hundreds of years ago: a small parish on the coast, on a hill, overlooking the cold Atlantic Ocean.

Using GIS, I was able to find the landowner, then more search found an email address. I wrote him, told him the back story, and asked if we could visit and stand on the hill where there are the ruins of a small church. He responded within the day with permission and the offer to give us a tour.

So my siblings agreed to add this to our 10 day tour of the island tracking down important sites for our family history. I went to mass in the church where my great-great grandfather was baptized and stood in the field where his house once stood; saw the tombstones of his family.

Getting to the ancestral seat was not easy; it was far off the beaten path. Our bus driver started to get concerned the roads were getting too narrow. But I had plotted the route carefully using Google Earth and street view so often I could visualize every turn. The land owner was not able to meet us but his son was and he looked like he could be my cousin. Probably was, distantly.

The lush grass of the hill was a pasture for very happy and healthy dairy cows. We followed the stone walls to the crest of the hill and the ruins of the church. The stone baptismal font lay in a nest of briars. The weather was overcast but not raining as we looked out over the ocean. We all got allergies or something. Such a sweeping vista! To imagine a thousand years of family history began with that view was very moving; filling me with pride of all those generations surviving war and famine to wind up with us standing there, wealthier than they could ever have dreamed for their descendants. That we could fly across the ocean, stay in nice places, eat fantastic food, and have a proper pint.

We were only there for an hour but it felt like eternity.