As many of you know my aunt, Sister Mary Zacchaeus Ryan published her first book “Irish Roots” in 1980.The book detailed the genealogy of her father, T. Frank Ryan’s family. Sister Zacchaeus published a second book a few years later, “Thank God for All My Memories” That book detailed the genealogy of her mother, Margaret Brennan Ryan’s family. For nearly thirty more years, Sister Zacchaeus compiled annual updates of marriages, births and deaths and sent the information out to the interested relatives each year during the Christmas Holiday Season.
Sister’s interest in the family genealogy seemed to spread to others. That is where I come into the picture. I shared her interest in our family genealogy and enjoyed hearing the many stories that my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles shared. Sister and I spent many hours together talking. This included her preparing me to one day take over this responsibility. I am Sister Zacchaeus’s nephew Charles A. Ryan. I often refer to myself as R-2.9.11-4. This is my indexing number from the Ryan’s Genealogy. I am also referred to as G-4.9.11-4 in the Garry Genealogy, B-1.4.7-11.4 in the Brennan, S-5.4.7-11.4 in the Sheridan, H-2.4.7-11.4 in the Hickey and M-4.4.7-11.4 in the Murray. I’ll explain all that a little later.
Sister Zacchaeus books were written and published before the introduction of the personal computer. Even after the countless hours (years) she spent compiling the information for the original book, she again spent countless hours updating the information on a typewriter. “You may have to explain to the younger generations that meant re-typing the entire document whenever you added more information. “Sister eventually was gifted an Apple Computer and began her evolution of imputing the information on a computer format so that the new additional information could be continually added as marriages, births and deaths occurred. Sister had several chapters of this book already in that form and continued to update them.
When she decided it was time for me to take over the responsibility of the family genealogy, the transformation started. The first step was she used the Apple Computer (Macintosh) and I use the PC (IBM) format. I was able to acquire a software program that converted the files from her Mac to my PC. In simple terms it was like translating from French to English for a person that spoke only English. After that it was time to get the remaining chapters from the typewriter form in the original book to the current Computer (Microsoft Word) program. From there I used the updates from the last thirty years and included the updated information that she had compiled for these chapters. Next it was gathering the missing information from the network Sister Zacchaeus had established within the family and to recruit other family members to gather the information. For those of you that knew Sister Z, you can see her training in me. I not only inherited the family genealogy data from Sister Z, but she gave me numerous books, files, letters and photos. She also told me many stories about our families. Those stories will be shared on this website.
She inspired me to take this genealogy forward and make sure that future generations could see and hear where their ancestors came from. My plan was to one day publish updated versions of her books and to include not only the updated data but more stories and photos. But as the more time I spent on this I kept coming to the conclusion that any new published books would be out of date before it would even be released. I then switched my plans to the website which you are viewing today. With the information now in this format, it should be easier for future generations to update when I too am gone. I’m sure there are numerous errors and omissions and I ask that you understand that we have worked hard for more than 50 years between the two of us to attain as much correct information as possible. Please look for the tab where you can provide corrected or new information and we’ll make the changes.
When Sister Zacchaeus passed her genealogy legacy to me, I joined Ancestry.com which I have belonged to since compiling a family tree of more than 10,000 people. With the help of DNA testing, Ancestry.com and numerous other sites we have been able to trace our roots back even further.
When I was with Ss Z in Ireland in 2006 we met with the Callinan Family in Kilmilhil. They are our Hickey cousins on my Grandmother side (Margaret Brennan Ryan) They were living on Hickey land. Fintan Callinan was sister’s fourth cousin or my fourth cousin once removed. Fintan has since passed away. You can read more about this in the “My Story by Sister Zacchaeus”.
Just prior to my most recent trip to Ireland in November 2018, I finally made a connection to our Ryan cousins in Ireland for the first time. Visiting them on the very same farm that our ancestors left from was a very memorable experience. That completed a quest that Sister Zacchaeus started fifty years earlier. Please look for that full story in “Finding our Irish Cousins”.
I continue to search for cousins in Ireland in the other family branches. As we make those connections, I will share those stories on this website as well.
In the family data there is a catalog numbering system that some of you will recognize from sister’s two books. When she published her first book,”Irish Roots” about her father T. Frank Ryan’s family the book starts with his grandparents on his father’s side, John D. and Mary Bridget Ryan who immigrated from Ireland in 1849. You can read more about that under the Ryan tab. Their four children are R-1, R-2, R-3 and R-4. Their descendants simply add decimal points. I have since discovered John D. Ryan and Mary Bridget Ryan, ancestors (parents, grandparents, etc.) My challenge was do I start the numbering system all over adding more confusion? I decided to stay with the system Sister started and introduce the new-found ancestor information separately. In the other half of the same book, Irish Roots were the Garrys. This starts with my grandpa Frank Ryan’s grandparents on his mother’s side, James and Bridget Quinn Garry who also immigrated from Ireland. Under each family tab there is information about the immigration of that family.
Sister’s second book, “I thank God for all my Memories” which she released a few years later. It chronicles her mother Margaret Brennan’s family. Now this is where I typically loose a few people. In this book she started back one generation further so there are actually four families. Brennan, Sheridan, Hickey and Murray. If you are a first cousin of mine that means you will be found under all six of the families. To add just a few more tips to confuse you. Through my grandparents T. Frank and Margaret Brennan’s marriage they connected the Ryans and Garry’s to the Brennans, Sheridans, Hickeys and Murrays. But that isn’t the only way some of these families are connected. For example I am connected to the Murrays on both the Ryan and Hickey sides. If you understand all that the first time you are on your way to becoming a master genealogist!
The year prior to releasing her original book Irish Roots, Sister along with help from numerous relatives organized an event to bring the families all back to St. Patrick for a large family reunion. There were over 650 people in attendance. Each person wore a button which had your family names on it in order to easily make the connection of how you were related to the next person. Yes, I still have my button! The Reunion included families both from her father’s and mother’s side. The names included, Ryan, Garry, Brennan, Hickey, Sheridan and Murray. Local reporters wrote about the event in the newspapers. I have included a few of the articles later in the story section of this site. One relative in attendance was Archbishop John Roach. He was not only a relative but a close person friend of Sister’s. He gave the Homily at the Mass and a copy of it is included in the religious vocation tab. I think he elegantly describes the event and the impact families have on each generation.
Be sure to check on the tab for Religious Vocations. Click the "Read this!" button to read numerous articles on Archbishop John Roach. Click on the "Read this!" button for Sister Zacchaeus Ryan "My Story" she wrote about her life.
If you have read Irish Roots you will notice many of the stories, data and information are directly copied from her two books. This website is meant to be an updated version of her books and additional information we have found through our searches. The name of this website “Thank God for My Irish Roots” is a blend of those two book titles, ‘Thank God for All My Memories” and “Irish Roots”. Sister Zacchaeus granted me the license to share all the information that she gave me.
Many of the artistic illustrations in her books were contributed by Mr. Al Teoli, an artist friend of Sister’s from Evanston, Illinois. I can’t imagine not including them in this website. Please enjoy them as many are drawn from some of our ancestor’s photos!
I want to personally thank everyone for the contributions you have made to this website. I received a lot of help collecting updated information, stories and photos, words of encouragement, postage stamps and donations for the annual update mailings, etc. I hope you enjoy this website and it inspires you to share it with your family for generations to come.
“Top of the morning to you and may the rest of the day be yours!”
Charles A. Ryan
Cathal O'Riain