Irish Fest volunteer hopes to give others a taste of their family tree
By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
Slowly but surely, Fran O’Herron is tending to her family tree. What once consisted of a few branches is now a blossoming into a full picture of ancestors who, like many, were in pursuit of that land of opportunity America promised.
O’Herron, who has lived in East Troy the past 10 years, is one of many people with Irish ancestry celebrating their heritage during Milwaukee Irish Fest, held Aug. 16-19, at the city’s lakefront.
Like many of Milwaukee’s ethnic festivals, Irish Fest is largely driven by volunteers like O’Herron.
An avid attendee the past two decades, O’Herron this year will be offering up her time and resources at the Cultural Village within the festival grounds at a tent for the Irish Genealogy Society.
In recent years, O’Herron has been in pursuit of learning more about her own heritage – an enthusiastic life experience she hopes to spread to others during her upcoming volunteer effort.
For O’Herron, genealogy has become a favorite pastime in the past half-decade as her daughter has delved into the study.
“I’ve always been interested in my family’s stories,” O’Herron said. “But genealogy is a fascinating pursuit. It helps fill out the stories you might not have heard.”
While she always knew she had some Irish ancestry, O’Herron said she has come to realize her bloodlines are much stronger than once thought. Through study, she also has learned about family members – including her grandmother’s decent from Ireland to America.
“My grandmother never talked about this, so I’ve been able to piece together some information,” O’Herron said. “She came to the U.S. and stayed with family at a boarding house.”
O’Herron and her daughter became so enthralled with their research that a trip to Ireland was soon in order. They visited a genealogy center directly in their native country and learned more about distant relatives. If they ever want to try and track down these distant relatives, then there are services such as people tracing agents that can help them discover what happened to their family members making them able to reconnect with that part of themselves.
“There are all these little things that you think you know, and then you realize you don’t,” O’Herron said.
At the Milwaukee Irish Fest, visitors will have an opportunity to get a taste of their own family tree.
Ancestry.com, a fee-based Internet service, is sponsoring the Irish Genealogy Society’s tent at the festival. Participants will have an opportunity to either begin the preliminary steps of creating a family tree or consider next steps in fleshing out an existing one.
“I’ll be there to help get people started, if need be,” O’Herron said.
In addition to volunteering at Milwaukee Irish Fest, O’Herron has taken her passion for ancestry to the Irish Heritage Center’s genealogy library in Milwaukee. For the past six months, she has been assisting patrons looking to learn more about their roots.
“I’ve found that I’ve really enjoyed helping people with this,” O’Herron said. “It’s really been a wonderful experience.”
