We all know that genealogy cruises have become popular of late, and TIARA’s January 2009 cruise was no exception. Following is an excerpt from an interesting article by Susan R. Pollack, published in the March 12 edition of the Dallas Morning News.
Watching the sparkling Caribbean from a balcony on the mega-cruise ship Independence of the Seas, Betty
Arnaud’s thoughts drifted back to her Irish ancestors who set out for America from Ireland in the mid-1800s.
“We were so pampered on the cruise, and there was more food than you could possibly eat,” says the San Antonio grandmother. “I couldn’t help but think of my grandfather, James FitzSimons, when he came over here – the hardships he must have had and the suffering he probably endured, and how different his journey was from mine.”
It was only natural that Arnaud’s ancestors were uppermost on her mind, given that she joined the January sailing to participate in a shipboard seminar on Irish genealogy. The cruise was organized by TIARA, The Irish Ancestral Research Association, a Massachusetts-based group that also sponsors annual heritage trips to Ireland.
For millions of Americans curious about their Irish ancestry, “roots cruising” is the newest wave in a hobby that typically combines computer searches of surnames and places of origin with old-fashioned poring over dusty pages, microfiche and reams of yellowing documents, including marriage, death, baptismal, naturalization, probate and land-valuation records, passenger lists, trade and social directories, and newspaper death notices.