Heading East

Today we headed east to Sydney where we will take the ferry tomorrow to Newfoundland.  We drove about 4 hours on the Trans Canada Highway and stopped in Braddeck, the town where Alexander Graham Bell had a home.  He picked this place because it reminded him of Scotland.  We toured the museum which showcased his many ideas and inventions.  The picture posted is taken at the lake by the museum.  We then headed an hour or so east to Sydney to find out what our new accommodations would be.  We are staying at the University of Cape Breton, a small campus that reminds of us of a community college.  Our room has two beds and a sink and a bath down the hall.  We are getting used to this!  The rooms remind us of Space or Saunders Hall at Keuka.

The weather has been quite cool--low 60s and over cast skies.  I feel sorry for the Canadians who live here.  It is the middle of summer and the weather is more like fall.  There is lots of water and I do see an occasional beach, but no one is brave enough to swim!

Diane

We are coming to the end of week one of our four week adventure.  We now find ourselves less than 30 kilometers from the farthest eastern point on the North American landmass. To the East is several thousands miles of Atlantic Ocean. Yep, we've come a long way in just seven days!

The geography out here is beautiful, what with the heavily forested rolling hills surrounded by deep water bays, and sprinkled with rivers and lakes. There are also many farmers out here, and in some parts it looks like upstate New York.

A note from yesterday's visit to Pier 21. I was disappointed, in a small way, that the museum only covered the time period of 1908 till 1971, but that is the time that Pier 21 operated. The reason for my disappointment is that it did not pay sufficient attention to all the Irish immigrants that arrived before that time, and that is a great part of our Burke and O'Neill heritage. Our ancestors came through this part of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland in the early to  mid-1800s, as our great grandfather Kelly's and grandmother Furlong's parents did, before they were both born in St. John's, Newfoundland around 1850.

Tonight, as we prepare to board the ferry tomorrow for the long 14-hour ride to Newfoundland, I find myself wondering how these people must have felt when they got on the boats in Ireland to take them here to North America. Then, I find myself wondering how and why their children made the decision to keep moving south and west to eventually come to Chicago and the United States. Each of these generations of kin made life and family transforming decisions, which if they had not, would have had tremendous consequences on those generations of us that followed them.

How and why did they make these decisions? How did they feel? How did they deal with the deep stresses of leaving all of their loved ones for a new life far away? Did they have any idea what their decision would mean to those of us generations behind them?

In a way, I feel blessed to be one of the first Chicago Burkes, and maybe O'Neills that have the opportunity to go back to St. Johns, Newfoundland to see where our wandering Irish ancestors lived, prayed, where they were baptized, where they arrived in North America, and where they again left to keep moving on their epic journey west to the US.  I say maybe the first Chicago O'Neill because I think that there is a possibility that Uncle Bill O'Neill (my Mom's brother who served as a radio operator on a ship that sailed back and forth across the Atlantic) might have had the opportunity to stop in either Halifax, Nova Scotia or St. John's Newfoundland as his ship waited in one of these ports to become part of one of the many wartime convoys that sailed between North America and Europe.  

I think my Dad would be very happy if he knew I was making this trip, as it was his Grandmother and Grandfather who were born and baptized in St. Johns, Newfoundland. I remember when I was growing up, that my Mom and Dad would always engage in discussion of their heritage around St. Patrick's Day.  Mom, whose family came right from Ireland to New York would emphasize to us kids that we were full blooded Irish. My Dad, however, who never really disagreed with my mother, would gently tell us we were Americans first, as our grandparents on the Burke side were from Newfoundland. yes, they were from Ireland a long time ago, but they emigrated from Ireland to Newfoundland, and then eventually came from Newfoundland to the United States.

How and when did they leave Newfoundland? Did they go by boat or by train? Did they come through Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and down the East Coast, or come through Quebec. Why did they choose Chicago?

I wish that I knew more about these people!!! It's a shame that we forget our ancestors so fast. Will our great grandchildren know as little about us as we do about these people from Newfoundland? I hope they remember more about us!

Tomorrow is a special day!