The Great Ferriter Family

I am a retired U.S. Navy Captain, naval aviator form the P-3 community. My final tour in the Navy was as the Naval Attache to Mexico. This tour was a superb way to end a 30 plus year career, very interesting and much fun. My dad, John, was also a career naval officer, destroyers, who retired in 1967. Both my mom and dad were born in Washington, DC, as were their three children. My older sister, Julie Morgan, lives in the DC area. I am cousin (second or third, once or twice removed, or something) with other "bloggers" on this site, noteably George Ferriter, coordinator... Read More

My plan at the beginning of the year was to post something based upon my personal experiences. Meanwhile, my ongoing efforts to identify the locations of family members and to contact them in advance of the All Ferriter Family Gathering in 2009 has had a collateral effect: I am also discovering all sorts of interesting data about other Ferriters, no longer with us, but noteworthy none the less. Over the past quarter century or so, a phenomena called “Extreme Sports” has swept the nation. We have hot-dog skiing, snowboarding, freestyle rock climbing, sky diving, motocross, bungee-jumping, skateboarding, Brazilian Ju-Jitsu, and many other activities and events.... Read More

It is Christmas Evening, and feeling somewhat reflective, I am writing. Over the past month or so, I have written a couple of historical notes, and will so again. My next backward-looking piece will be about myself, but not now. Right now, I am writing in thanksgiving for all I have and have had. The Birth of the Son steers us all back to light, and in this world, this Holiday marks the advent of longer days, and a return to warmth, sunshine, spring and summer. Remember this now, and always. O.K., one more thing. About us Ferriters. I have a sense that every Ferriter... Read More

For the past few months, I have been surfing the internet and canvassing the family for images of Ferriter faces. My motivation has in part been a desire to put together a “Face Board” collage or poster for everyone’s enjoyment during FFG2009. Also in part has been a life-long fascination with what people in our family look like. Haven’t you ever wondered what Piarais Feiritear looked like? Or Sybil Lynch? How that original “le Furetur” warrior soldier who traveled in the van of Strongbow’s army might have appeared? Or what our immigrant forebears looked like? Somehow, looking at our individual and collective faces from the... Read More

I am writing somewhat early of a holiday weekend morning, and if a certain fuzziness or haze extends into this essay, that must be the cause. I wish to write about our collective family, in the extended sense. By result of English predations, we have a family with what seems to be an identifiable common root. Not only are we identifiably one family by virtue of our surname, but the genealogy suggests that we extend from an identifiable ancestor, or few ancestors. By virtue of a sustained familial oral tradition, we have maintained a certain sense of identity with that common ancestor, and this has... Read More