Irish origins

My Irish ancestral eyes are smiling, for in the course of launching my Irish West Coast goldfields 1868 era novel The Mock Funeral, I have been checking out my Irish ancestors. The results are on show at my launch tomorrow at the Kapiti College canteen at 4pm, in the Irish National Feis weekend there. While this may be merely personal history, it has some interesting wider public value. For instance, seeing for the first time the paybook of the drummer boy born in Ennis, County Clare, at my Paekakariki cousin Audrey's house, I realised why the Scots and Irish were so closely tied in my family and in our society. This lad of 12 or so was my great-grandfather, his father serving in the area, for there was no other work for a poor man in Scotland but to join the British army. The lad was bought out of the army for a harsh 20 pounds redemption and they came to New Zealand, where the father soon died and the 16-year-old became a baker, then mayor of Auckland. But wait, as Suzanne would say, there's more. He was the first mayor in chains to sire a child and his councillors in 1886 sang him a ditty. He responded with a 22-line variation on 'To Be or Not to Be' and then sang back to them. All this came from the newspapers via an Auckland cousin Bryan, aged 79, whom I will meet soon for first time. Between Audrey, Bryan and my father, and the prompting of this novel of the first major Irish impact on New Zealand, I discover the major impact of Irish on me -- I am half-Irish,not the quarter previously thought. This weekend there are genealogical seminars also at Kapiti, with Fair Go's Kevin Milne among those taking part. Who knows what folk will discover? It is truly exciting to discover a rich ancestral landscape. It does need elbow grease, and I am fortunate to have three major contributors and now I have joined their dots and invite you if you are in the area to come celebrate with a glass and a chat. Slainthe!