The Great Ferriter Family

View Ferriter Family Gathering 2009 in a larger map O.K., What you see here is the Google Earth satellite view of the Gathering Place, with key features indicated. As noted, there is camping, nature walks, a swimming and fishing pond, a natural spring that ultimately flows into the Mississippi, plenty of parking, and a big tent for the presentations. Of course, there is much more! Pull out on the shot, and you will see, at roughly equidistant plases east and west, the Green Frog Bar, and St. Patrick's Church. We live in balance here. Read More

We all have pretty clear ideas or notions as to what our ancestors were up to during the past 150 years or so. This is true for those who stayed in Ireland as well as the immigrant families. Family stories, oral traditions, old papers and photographs all serve to support this knowledge and history, within our respective lines. But what about those who lived long ago? What was life like for the Ferriter family during the long years spent at home on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry? This is a picture much less clearly painted for most of us. There are periods wherein documentary... Read More

One can wonder about the nature of “family”. Certainly shared personal experience, bonds of love, common values and bonds of place are fundamental to any acceptable definition of what constitutes a family. This explains why certain faith communities, military units, political cadres, and even work groups can attain a strong sense of being families. Sometimes these groups displace or replace blood relationship-based families in the lives of individuals. I have written before about the unique attributes of the Ferriter Family. In this context, I am defining the family in a very broad sense – that of a group of people who share certain genetic kinship,... Read More

When this blog began, the thought was to provide a forum for individual posting of Ferriter Family histories, anecdotes, and tales that might prove meaningful or entertaining for the rest of the family to read. I’m placing this little piece into the entertainment category, although it is good history as well. Note: The essay was originally written in 1993, fifteen years ago, but already then nearly 25 years after the fact. Most of the memories remain sharp in my mind to this day, but I’m thinking that back in ’93, these same memories were just a bit clearer. In Which Young George Goes to Woodstock... Read More

The background doesn’t matter so much anymore. Let it be known that soldiers and Marines found themselves battling a nearly defeated enemy in Korea, as winter, 1950 descended upon them. As the frigid cold descended from Siberia, enormous armies of Chinese also poured into the Korean mountains, intent upon destroying all of the American Forces, be they Army or Marine Corps. On the Western side of the peninsula, the U.S 8th Army was smashed, and sent reeling southward in defeat. On the eastern side of the country, a combined force of USMC and U.S. Army infantry had closed in around a large reservoir, high in... Read More