Hello friends,

Well, here we are in the midst of Autumn and there are still a couple more weeks left to view the foliage in New England. All of the country fairs have come and gone, and those who participated in the showing of produce, canning, and baking can hang up their blue ribbons and best of show awards. My sister, Andi, and I have several ribbons for pickling and baking, which we submitted to country fairs at local old home day celebrations. My favorite one was for a white chocolate and raspberry wedding cake. It was not an Irish cake but it was heavenly.

Speaking of raspberries, I have added an Irish Raspberry Vanilla Cake which I found on the internet. I have also added a recipe for Raisin-Apple Scones which was sent to me by Margaret Johnson from her newest cookbook "Tea & Crumpets". This recipe came from Claridge's Hotel in London, while others in Margaret's book come from other famous tearooms, hotel dining rooms, French patisseries and confectioners.

Raisin-Apple Scones	Irish Raspberry Vanilla Cake

I received a submission from a man named Colin from Indianapolis, Indiana. He was asking if I knew the town where Ruth's Castle is located. He said that it is a tumbled down ruin known as Ruth's Castle near the town where his ancestors came from. I searched but could find no information about it at all. If anyone out there knows the location, I would love for you to please send it to me, so I can forward it on to him.

What's going on with the continued genealogy search? On Terry's search for Reynolds ancestors, we don't have anything definite yet, but there are a couple of possibilities. We found a Hugh Reynolds and his wife, Mary Costello Reynolds, that could possibly be great grandfather Bernard's parents. They are the right age, from the right area, and they had a son Bernard, but we don't have enough information to confirm it. Also, we found a military record for a Bernard Reynolds, age 19, from Co. Leitrim, who enlisted in The Royal Irish Constabulary in 1860. The age is a few years off from what we know to be his birth date and there were other Bernard Reynolds' living in Co. Leitrim in the same period; however, we still don't have enough information for confirmation.

On my Casey genealogy, again, we have no proof, but a couple of possibilities. Great-great grandfather, Michael Casey, husband to Mary Ann, and father of Anna, doesn't appear to have ever lived in the USA. I can find no record of him anywhere. I suppose that he might have passed away at a young age or he and Mary Ann could have split up, she moving to Vermont with the children, and he staying in Canada. I found a death record of Michael Casey, single, right age group, born in Ireland in 1827, who died in Ontario in 1904. Could it be him? Then there's Michael Casey, Mary Ann's son, who disappeared after the 1870 Census. I found a Michael Casey, in the right age group, born in Canada, resided in Vermont, who enlisted in the Clinton County New York Regiment of the U.S. Army. Two months later, he deserted, and probably fled to Canada. My sister, Andi, told me that my father mentioned something about a horse thief in the family long ago, so maybe that was him. Haha. Again, not enough information. I am hoping to find out where in Ireland my Casey's originated, so I will keep trying.

Another exciting piece of the Casey puzzle was found a couple of weeks ago. Ancestry.com sends hints and links to other people looking for the same family. I found a link from a young woman from Arizona who had attached my Michael Casey and Mary Ann Denning to her family tree. I emailed her and told her a little bit about my relationship to the two of them, and asked if she was a member of the same family. She wrote back right away and said that she was. After corresponding a couple of times, we figured out that we are second cousins, twice removed. My great grandmother, Anna Casey Willett, had three children, Clara, Charles and Jeremiah. My family descends from Jeremiah Willett, and her family descends from Clara Willett Killary. Clara and Henry Killary had a son, Francis, who had a son, Richard, who had a son, Patrick, who had a daughter, Lisa. Lisa is our distant cousin, which I thought was awesome. Small world!

The time for our trip to Ireland is getting closer; only two and one-half months left. We are really getting excited about it and can't wait. I will make a couple of recipes for Thanksgiving and for Christmas to add to the November and December newsletters. Then, I will take January off and resume in February. Thank you so much for your continued interest and support for LittleShamrocks.com.

Sláinte,
Tyna