EDITORIAL: There is something essentially human about looking for your ancestors

There is something essentially human about looking for your ancestors.

We have all met many tourists looking for where their family hailed from. And indeed witnessed the joy of finding the house (now probably a bookies) where their great, great grandfather grew up.

But it doesn’t seem to matter where in the world the Irish travel, their children’s children always come home.

Some, of course, never left. Maybe they stayed, raised families and now those loved ones are archiving their history.

This week in both the Tipperary Star and The Nationalist we have stories of people looking for or back to those who came before them.

And celebrating the achievements of those still here. This week we can read about Pam Skeltor and her two books on her ancestors in Ballingarry.

The Sammon family organise an exhibition for the late Donal Sammon in honour of his 100th birthday and his stunning photography.

And next week, we will have a special on Bridie Kennedy from Thurles celebrating her 100th birthday surrounded by her family and friends. Her family describes her life from her birth in 1924 to now as they honour her 100th year.

In Thurles notes, a request comes all the way from Australia for information on a Ryan family from Upperchurch in the 1800s.

Because family is what it’s all about.

It doesn’t matter how many years pass or how much the times change, people still need to connect to their roots.

It makes you wonder about the people who have left before the formation of the independent state to places like the US or even to Britain since.

Did they know that their families would feel a pull toward Ireland?

Perhaps they were the ones who instilled it in them through stories, song and tradition.

Did they have the same yearning to document their family history and create a starting point for their children in their search?
Ireland still has lots of problems, like rising costs of living, homelessness or poor healthcare.

And people are still leaving for better lives elsewhere.

But their children will come home, we know that.

We wonder what they will find and write about when they do in the years to come.