Page 202 - WDT MAGAZINE IRELAND ISSUE WINTER 2018

This is the point where hiring a certified genealo-
gist paid off big time. Through his research Vincent
uncovered a great deal about my Irish roots. By sifting
through Irish records he discovered that Ned and
Bridget Swift had eight children after returning to
Ireland, giving them nine altogether. Only six of them
survived. He also hit the jackpot by discovering a
fourth cousin, Josephine, and arranging a visit. Jose-
phine worked as a teacher and was a busy mother of
three small children, so it was most gracious of her to
receive us.
When my great-grandfather returned to County
Tyrone from America he resided at his father’s farm
in Drumharvey and listed his occupation as a cobbler,
one of numerous professions he claimed in his itiner-
ant life. I knew little of my great-grandfather, but Ned
Swift was reputed to be a restless and cantankerous
fellow. I noticed through my grandmother’s Irish birth
record that Ned signed the form with an “X,” meaning
he could probably neither read nor write.
We arrived at the old Swift family farm and pulled
up the driveway to a recently built house. Josephine
greeted us with her two toddlers and three-month-
old son. She invited us in and showed us a picture
of the old house that stood when my grandmother
lived there. The structure had deteriorated so much it
was beyond restoring, Josephine said, and they had
erected a new home.
Her two older children, both preschoolers, were
fascinated by their newly found American relatives.
Shocked speechless, in fact. The true surprise, how-
ever, was that Josephine’s baby looked like my late
father – so much so that my wife remarked on it.
There had been very little contact between the
American and Irish branches of the Swift family since
my great-grandfather left the island more than 120
years before. Two generations had gone by with only

This monument in the Church
of the Sacred Heart cemetery
in Irvinestown marks graves of
relatives whom the author’s great-
grandfather left in 1891.

202 WDT MAGAZINE WINTER 2018