These are my Irish Great-Grandparents: William Edward Butler and Bridget Carroll.
William was a first generation Irish-American, born in Iowa in 1866 to Tobias and Bridget. His parents immigrated from County Tipperary and spent some years in Illinois. Tobias worked on the railroads. William was born in Iowa.
Bridget immigrated to America in 1886 on the Cunard Lines, passing through Castle Gardens, NY. She was only 18 when she took the big boat ride all by herself. She brought a pair of brass candlesticks and they are sitting on my hutch. The Carrolls are supposed to have lived in County Armagh. Bridget’s father, John, was a tailor and I have his homemade scissors. I have to do better research on exactly where they lived because my grandma has left me with some conflicting information, or the Carrolls traveled between County Armagh and County Down. John Carroll married Mary Ferrigan around 1860 and the Ferrigans were supposed to have been Scots-Irish who fled Cromwell.
Here is my spunky Irish grandmother, Marjorie Josephine Butler.
Irish grandmothers make mouth-watering liverwurst sandwiches, they tell the best stories and give the best back rubs. They sew, and knit, and crochet, and tat, making clothes for all your dolls and covers for your toilet paper, your toilet lids and even your clothes hangers. They worry to their dying day that just because you didn’t end up Catholic you won’t go to Heaven someday. They teach you that even when life has got you down, you should just pour yourself a glass of Bailey’s Irish Cream and laugh about it. There is always something to laugh about. The best part of life is the moments we have with those we love.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
