I have spent some months now trying to find the time to update some of the information on this site and to introduce some new findings.  Unfortunately, a family illness has badly hampered both my family research and my ability to keep the site as current as I would have liked.

Last summer (2016), I was fortunate to get published  my first contribution to a printed genealogical publication–  Itawamba Settlers: The Quarterly Journal of Itawamba County, Mississippi History & Genealogy.  This describes in some detail the 15-year search for my missing HOLLEY third great grandfather.  I have included the text of this article here on this site under the title HOLLEY FAMILY HISTORY.

Since last fall, I  quite unexpectedly discovered some rather remarkable new  things about my Keenan / McDonough ancestors.  They include major findings about the Pittsburgh life of my fourth great uncle  Thomas Keenan (1810-1888), and the discovery of the large Arthur Meegan family sired by descendants of Thomas McDonough’s (1750-1820) daughter Catherine (1783-1870).  Full details are in the Updates Section at the very end of the OUR IRISH ROOTS pages,  and I have appropriately updated the skeleton Family Tree of my fifth great-grandfather Thomas McDonough.