The Legend of St Patrick on White Island

The Legend of St Patrick on White Island

The climactic scene in Cloak and Mirrors, the 6th book in the Black Swamp Mysteries Series, takes place along the Lough Erne in Northern Ireland. There are actually two lakes, the Upper Lough and the larger Lower Lough and in between is the beautiful and picturesque...
O’Doherty’s Rebellion

O’Doherty’s Rebellion

O’Doherty’s Rebellion took place in Ulster, Ireland in 1608. Chances are you’ve never heard of it but if you are of Scot-Irish descent, this was a significant event in your ancestor’s life. In the decades before O’Doherty’s Rebellion, Queen Elizabeth I sent English...
The Journey of the Scots-Irish

The Journey of the Scots-Irish

The odyssey into my family’s history has taken me to unexpected places, and anyone of Scot-Irish (or Scotch-Irish or Scots-Irish) descent likely has ancestors that traveled a similar path. Scotland is only twenty miles or so across the Irish Sea from Ireland and...
Behind the Bloody Hand

Behind the Bloody Hand

 While visiting my ancestral home in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, it is impossible to escape the images of the bloody hand. It appears in various forms, sometimes with lions, a fish, a crown or a knight’s helmet. It can be found on the side of buildings, on flags,...