Who Am I?

I was born in the heart of a small rural village in the mid-1950s — Granagh, County Limerick, nestled deep in Ireland’s ‘Golden Vale.’  Our home was a thatched cottage, across from the church, next door to the priest’s house, with the school just a stone’s throw away.  Behind us, Knockfierna rose against the sky, while the Glasha River flowed quietly under the bridge below the priest’s house.  My grandmother ran the village post office and a little grocery shop, both part of our house.

It was a simpler time, safe and familiar.  As children, we wandered the fields and roadways without a care, held only by one rule: ‘Be home by the time the church bell rings’ — a sound that carried for miles.

Our summers stretched from May to September, when sunshine was almost guaranteed.  We spent our days exploring — walking the river for miles, climbing Knockfierna, playing by the holy cross, peering into the Fairy Cave, and wondering about the distant Giant’s Grave.  We found out when I was about 11 that Knockfierna is actually an extinct volcano.

While my early years at school were a bit daunting, by the time I was 9 it was quite a good space.  Our headmaster loved literature, and we had our own library press, frequently filled with new books by the County Library system.  A mobile library visited fortnightly, fueling our love of books long before TV reached the parish.

I spent hours alone in the fields of Granagh, Ballinruane, and Cappanihane, lying among cowslips and primroses, watching clouds drift by, and hunting for fairies in the hedgerows.  I searched for “magic bottles” — where that idea came from, I’ve no idea, but the sense of magic, wonder, and something unseen in the air has stayed with me all my life.

We grew up on stories from parents and grandparents — tales of fairies, the púca, the banshee, and ghosts from real local encounters.  Listening quietly, we absorbed far more than we were meant to.  Some of those stories later became clues in tracing my family roots — 100% indigenous Irish.

At school, we learned not just the usual subjects but also algebra and geometry, baking and knitting — quite a good balance!

I was blessed to grow up in a strong, close-knit community — and often wonder how life might have unfolded had I stayed.  But life happens while we’re dreaming of the future.

The world my grandchildren inherit is different — technology and screens have replaced the simple joys of our childhood.  Still, I like to believe pockets of that magic remain in places like Granagh, Cappanihane. and the surrounding rural parishes.

And so, I  will begin with two lineages of my family saga set in Bruree — the Shanahan and Meehan clans.

Everyone Has a Story Worth Telling

Quantum physics teaches us that what is once connected, can never truly be separated. I believe the same is true of families. We carry the hopes, skills, and even the struggles of those who came before us — passed down, generation after generation.

What if the things we battle aren’t fully ours but inherited? And what if, by healing, we stop them passing on? This is why I tell our story — because it matters.

My Family Stories

The stories of members of my various family bloodlines, along with their branches of the tree are here Ancestral Lines 

You can also search by name in the SEARCH box.

Why This Website? – The Journey Begins

I started researching my family history before 2012 and was quickly overwhelmed by the sheer volume of documents I found.  Printing everything was pointless — I’d drown in paperwork.  And writing every ancestor’s life story?  That would take more than one lifetime.  I had to ask myself: How much of my life do I spend writing about someone else’s?

A Legacy Worth Preserving

Still, after just a few months of researching, I was hooked, and all those people I had never heard of before had experienced so much in their lives, I just felt it would be such a waste if nobody remembered them.  On top of that I was feeling that all my work would be a waste of time if it was to be lost when I’m gone.  While not many people close to me were interested in my great discoveries – great to me anyway –  my youngest grandchildren love hearing family stories, and maybe they will continue to have an interest in their history.  Having decided I needed to preserve my findings – the next question was how.

Why Not Ancestry.com?

Leaving someone my Ancestry.com account isn’t the answer — it’s just profiles and documents.  Navigating it takes time, knowledge, and patience few people have today.  Everyone wants simple, clear stories — not endless digging.

Building the Solution

Where do people go for answers now?  Online.  So, I decided to build my own website.  I even took a six-month full-time web design course.  But five months in, I found out that creating the kind of site I wanted would cost thousands and require skills far beyond the course — especially in back-end development.

The Result – 2024

Eight years later, this website is the solution I created.  It is the best way I know of to collate, link and cross-reference a huge amount of data and documents.  What looks simple on the surface is much more behind the scenes — a system designed as much for managing my work as sharing it.

What This Website Does For Me (apart from the obvious) :

• A Safe Place for Stories – A secure space for my family’s stories, accessible anytime.
• Draft Storage – Protects unfinished work until I or someone else is ready to complete it.
• Photo Archive – Stores precious family photos safely, letting me decide what, when, and with whom to share.
• Research Repository – Keeps every clue linked to the right person or place, so I never lose track of important finds or thoughts. No more losing links or forgotten insights.
• Access Control – I can choose to keep parts private or open them to family.
• Legacy Continuation – Future generations can pick up where I left off and continue the story.
• Security & Backup – The site is backed up on my computer, safe from deletion or control by third parties like Ancestry.com.

In short, this site is my way of preserving our family history — securely, accessibly, and under my control — for anyone who comes after me.

THE DASH
– a poem by Linda Ellis

I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend.

He referred to the dates on the tombstone from the beginning… to the end.

He noted that first came the date of birth and spoke of the following date with tears, but he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time they spent alive on earth and now only those who loved them know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own, the cars… the house… the cash. What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard; are there things you’d like to change? For you never know how much time is left that still can be rearranged.

To be less quick to anger and show appreciation more and love the people in our lives like we’ve never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect and more often wear a smile… remembering that this special dash might only last a little while.

So when your eulogy is being read, with your life’s actions to rehash, would you be proud of the things they say about how you lived your dash?

MAP – click on the map to go to John Grenham website – great source.