Bridget . . . Edmund . . . Catherine . . . William

Edmund and Bridget Catherine and William
My great grandparents.

I have found certain facts about my maternal great-grandparents but I want to know more. They left their homeland of Ireland, knowing they would probably never return, to travel to America to begin a new life. What did they expect? Were they afraid? Was what they found what they expected? There are many answers I will never know, but I've begun to dig deeper in my research . . . . a process I have labeled genmoir - a combination of genealogy and memoir. I need the facts, dates and places, but I also want to find the story.

This week, I learned that Edmund worked at Parkhill Manufacturing Company. I found a picture of the mill, sitting along the edge of a river in Fitchburg, where he labored to support his wife, Bridget, and six children. Several advertisements and copies of old photographs helped me begin to put together pieces of his story beyond birth, marriage, and death dates.

Each piece that I collect fuels my desire to find another . . . to get to know Bridget, Edmund, Catherine and William just a bit better.