Carrigallen and Irish Luck

After leaving the second ditch, I decided to listen to my GPS and entered Carrigallen in County Leitrim, which I believe is the home of my 2nd great-grandfather, Peter O'Rourke (1810-1874). Once again, I find a pub and decide it's time to get off the road and enjoy lunch. I order chicken and chips (fries) and yes, a small ice cold Guinness.

​

A customer asks where I'm from and what I'm doing in

Carrigallen. I explain my ancestry search.  He nods and 

goes outside as I begin to eat my lunch.  The man returns about 5 minutes later and asks,  "Are you ready?".  Ready?  Ready for what?  I still have most of the beer in my glass!! He says he's going to give me directions to someone who will help me find the O'Rourke's.  I quickly grab what I can of my lunch, drink another gulp and follow him outside. 

​

We walk over to a picnic table and he begins to sketch a map into the wood (right).  I  have no idea what he is talking about and it shows on my face.  "Never mind", he says, "just follow me." Ah...okay and I scramble for my car.

​

I follow him to the football field (we call it soccer) and standing there is another man with his truck running. "Ah, you must be the American gal looking for the O'Rourke's", he says. I admit that I am and he smiles and offers his truck door, 'Hop in!'.  Now...please understand...I would not hop into any vehicle with anyone I don't know, not anywhere, not anytime.  For some unknown reason (maybe the Guinness) I jumped right in like a lost puppy on a country road.

​

Off we go, over the hills, down the vales and around the corners for 10-15 minutes. I am so lost but not concerned.  This man is so good natured (I know, so was serial killer, Ted Bundy). My driver looked over my research page and said I needed to be in Corglass, that's Carrigallen Parish. I wonder to myself, why wouldn't  Carrigallen Parish be in Carrigallen Village?   We stop at a little church and meet a lovely woman tending her husband's grave.   Mrs. O'Rourke!                      

​

The parish cemetery is full of O'Rourke's.  "Look across the road", they said.  It was a beautiful meadow with a valley just beyond.  "That's Corglass.  It's where your people are from".

                                                                                      

Never would I have found this little Parish or the valley my ancestors once called home. It took trust, a wee bit of Guinness and blessed Irish Luck.

​

I'll tell you another story about finding the Byrne's (another Irish branch of the family) in southern

Ireland later.  It also involves some trust, more Guinness, and the Irish Luck!

​

So while I planned my trip with such precision, every step carefully thought out, even creating spreadsheets, maps and driving distances, it certainly did not include being sick on the plane, falling down stairs, going to the ER, getting crutches, and have not ONE but TWO car

incidents in less than two hours, and my ever present psychotic GPS.

​

That evening, I put away my detailed plans, timetables,   etc., and decided that somehow it would all be taken care of.  I would do what I now do best . . . go with the flow!                            

​