Mommy, hungry!: The Family Tree

Gommie has long been very interested in our family history, gathering family photos and bits of lore, though leaving much of the archival work of birth, death, and marriage dates to my Uncle T and others. ?Years ago, she gave me a binder full of her evidence as well as a chart of our family members. ?I studied it then, mainly intrigued by the Confederate ancestor who reportedly fired the first shots at the battle of Vicksburg (and his son who penned his own memoirs as The Littlest Rebel), the Texas blockade runner during the Civil War, and such. ?My Aunt Sis, on my dad's side, had always said we were Welsh and Scottish, but I only just found the proof in Gommie's notebook--but we're not Welsh (that it records), we're Irish! ?My paternal grandmother has an ancestor, Alexander Mebane, who lived in Ireland from 1716 to 1793; eventually my Irish ancestors made it to Tennessee and then Louisiana. ?I never knew we were a little bit Irish! ?Now I'm doubly excited about St. Patrick's Day and soda bread, colcannon, and the like. ?Turn on Riverdance!
My paternal grandfather's mother descended from Scottish stock, which I've known for a few years and we've celebrated at Scottish festivals and watching Brave. ?Her relative, John Hay, was in Scotland, but in 1644 traveled to Virginia. ?Family lore has long said we were related to a man executed for the murder of Mary, Queen of Scots's husband, Lord Darnley. ?Lo! and behold, a John Hay was tried and executed with others for the plot. ?A hundred or so years earlier than my ancestor traveled to the colonies. ?Is our John Hay a descendant of the executed man? ?I'm still looking into that as best I can. ?But until I prove otherwise, I'm going to say yes! ?I mean, who can pass up an ancestor who worked for Mary, Queen of Scots, and once was sent as an emissary to Queen Elizabeth I? ?Coincidentally (and if I understand this correctly), before he was executed, John Hay was commendator (lay abbot) of Balmerino, a Cistercian monastery--and his descendant, my aunt's cousin, is even now a Trappist monk in France!

One last story has also recently come to us. ?My maternal grandfather had a best friend with whom he fought side-by-side in WWII (through North Africa, up through Italy, and into Germany, I believe), Tom Brady, after whom my uncle was named. ?Apparently, Tom Brady's descendants recently told us that my grandfather's unit is the one that captured and briefly held young Nazi Joseph Ratzinger, who was later released on the understanding that he had been forced to join. ?Of course, that young man eventually became the current Pope Benedict XVI.

Two big mysteries remain: ?are we Welsh? ?and who are the ancestors of my paternal grandfather, about whose father (who abandoned his first wife and numerous kids to start a second family in the same town, leaving his never-divorced wife to start a boarding house in the early 20th century) we know absolutely nothing.

Thanks, Gommie, for keeping the family history!

Source: http://mommyhungry.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-family-tree.html

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