countessian

go west, young lady

The women in my family have a history of running off to America, on the Irish side at least (no one knows anything about the Polish side.)

My great-auntie Eileen, my grandad’s half sister, married an American serviceman who took her home. She died young of a brain haemmorhage, but not before having a son who would cause quite a stir on arrival in England years later.

“He was very glamorous, I thought, wearing a black polo neck jumper and having a crew cut! He was a captain (I think) in the army and sounded very American,” says my mum, who was a teenager at the time.

I wonder what Eileen’s grandmother, Ellen, made of it? My great-great-grandmother Ellen Devereux of Mayglass, County Wexford, “went to America,” according to the photocopied notes that arrived in the mail, written all upper case by one of my zillion Irish relatives. The author didn’t give any details of her trip, except that she came “back from America with a girl called Susan.”

(The notes aren’t very specific, but the diagram makes it clear that Susan is Ellen’s daughter.)

Of course, on her return Ellen Devereux met my great-great-grandfather Joseph Benson of Newross and, as the author writes, “Joseph and Ellen’s marriage lasted 50 years. They were very happy together,” but I’m intrigued by Ellen’s American adventures. I wonder how much my own echo hers?

And what became of the mysterious U.S.-born daughter, Susan? On her arrival in Ireland, “Susan was sent north and from then on was known as Susan from The North.”

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This entry was posted on Saturday, November 10th, 2007 at 11:44 am. It is filed under documentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.