Happy Birthday Joanie

This is my cousin Joan with my mother. Joanie lurks (wave at Joan). She and mother are more closely related than she and I. They are practically first cousins. Huh? Okay, this gets a little complicated so pay close attention. Joanie's dad and my mother's father were first cousins. Joan's dad was 54 when she was born - hence the huge age gap (Joan is the same age as my brother Howard). Anyway, Joan's father's name was James and my grandfather's name was John (this is important - so I don't have to keep saying her father, my grandfather, etc.). James' mother was Margaret O'Connell Hanlon and his father was James Hanlon. Margaret had a brother named Thomas O'Connell - who, coincidently was John's father. James Hanlon had a sister named Ellen Hanlon O'Connell who was John' s mother. Confused now? Brother and sister James and Ellen Hanlon married brother and sister Margaret and Thomas O'Connell. In the world of biology, this would have made James and John (the aforementioned father of Joan and father of my mother) more like brothers than first cousins. So if you follow that line of thinking, that makes mom and Joan more like first cousins than first cousins once removed. Are we thoroughly confused now? Good - I like to keep you that way so that you won't notice that I'm not actually the Queen of this blog. Joanie and I found each other through genealogy research - her's. I'm not that diligent. She was looking for the Hanlon's with no idea that her grandmother and my gr-grandfather (O'Connell's) were brother and sister too. It has sure made the research a lot easier since she is now researching all of my Irish line without me having to lift a finger (waving more frantically at Joan and including kisses this time). It is really a kind of tragic story - my grandfather John O'Connell was Irish Catholic. He fell in love with my grandmother Daisy who was not only Protestant but of more Scottish ancestry than anything else. Recipe for disinheritance right there - and he was ostracized from most of the family. The Hanlon's never spoke to him again, while only his siblings kept in contact on the O'Connell side. Part of that could be because grandma's sister Golda married grandpa's brother Frank - but she converted - and no, this was Iowa, not Arkansas. (Hi Tori!) Joan grew up just a couple streets over from us in Iowa. In fact, had she not gone to Catholic schools, she and Howard would have been in the same grade. Every winter Drake University would ice down their football practice field for the neighborhood kids to skate on. This was only a little over a block away from us. We spent a lot of time there, as did Joan. How many times had we passed each other on the rink with absolutely no idea who each other was? That's really sad. And it made Joan mad. Anyway, we're close now and I love her dearly. So here's a shout-out birthday wish to my very confused cousin Joan Hanlon. I love you sweetie. And be careful on your drive back from Colorado.

Okay, now that you've gotten a very confusing family history - have a great rest of Memorial Day Weekend.