Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Like many Americans of Irish descent, our family is interested in our Irish heritage and making connections with family in Ireland. Today, St. Patrick’s Day seemed the perfect time to share with you the story of our search for family in Ireland. My brother Jack Mylott has worked on researching our family tree for years and was able to determine that our family on our father’s side, surname Mylott, came from the Islandeady area of County Mayo.
In 2013 John and I rented an apartment in the historic and delightful Coastguard Station on the Lower Sky Road outside Clifden, County Galway. Most days, John and I would head out to explore the magnificent west coast of Ireland, driving around Counties Galway and Mayo.
On one of our outings John and I came across the Mylotte’s Shop in Carna Village, County Galway where I asked if perhaps, we could be related. The ladies in the shop advised probably not but that I might contact another woman named Mylotte who lives in The Neale, a town in County Mayo. We figured that we would visit The Neale to see if we could make contact with the Mylottes before we left for home.
In the meantime, Jack, his wife Liz and children Michelle, John and Thomas were able to join us in Ireland for a week. The sign below was spotted on the N5 roadway near Islandeady on one of our road trips with Jack and family.
Jack suggested that we stop in the Islandeady Graveyard where we found Mylott, Moylotte and Moylette graves. The next day we visited the Catholic Church in The Neale and left a message for our Mylotte contact. It seemed that we were getting closer to our family roots.
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to connect with Mrs. Mylotte until the day before we left Ireland to return home. She was sure that we weren’t related as her husband’s branch of the Mylottes never emigrated from the area. She also said that since we were from Islandeady that we might want to contact Joseph Moylette from Derrycourane, Islandeady who had renovated and was managing an historic and educational traditional stone Irish cottage … Jack’s Old Cottage in Islandeady.
Well, that came as quite a surprise as we had come full circle back to Jack’s Old Cottage in our search for family!
Once John and I were back home in Florida we shared this information with Jack and he followed up by contacting Joe Moylette of Jack’s Old Cottage. Jack told Joe that we might be related and that if he would like to meet, they could compare notes about our family trees.
On a future trip to Ireland Jack did just that and he and Joe discovered that we are related by way of our three-times great grandfather Edward Mylott. My family are descendants of Edward Mylott and his first wife Ann Staunton Mylott and Joe’s side of the family is descended from Edward and his second wife Mary McNeely Mylott. However, it wasn’t until Jack and Joe met that Joe learned that Mary was Edward’s second wife. Ann and her infant child had died during the Irish famine years.
After learning of the family connection and of Edward’s first wife Ann, Joe worked on updating the family headstone to reflect the information about Edward, Ann and Mary thereby filling in a missing piece of family history.
Since the discovery of our relations in Derrycourane, Islandeady our family has had the great pleasure of spending many a wonderful visit in the company of our newfound Moylette cousins. My brother Bob Mylott and his wife Linda met the family on a trip to Ireland and Joe and his wife Irene were able to join us in Florida for Jack’s daughter’s wedding a few years back.
On our trips to Ireland, we usually join the family for Sunday Mass at St. Patrick’s Church in Islandeady and if their schedules permit, we often meet the rest of the family for dinner and/or tea later in the day.
There is so much more to share about my delightful cousins and I will do so in my next blog post where you will learn more about Jack’s Old Cottage and get to meet Joe, Irene, John, Mary, Seamus, Christina, Niamh, Liam, Laimonas, Brendan, Emer, Sheila, Raymond, Sharon, Ted, Aoife and Geraldine among others.
My cousin Ray Moylette is a former Irish, European and World Amateur Boxing Champion and now a professional boxer. You can see him in action when he returns to the ring in Brussels on March 20. It can be seen at this site.
Thank you, Jack, for your enthusiastic work in researching our family roots in Ireland and for giving us the opportunity to form many wonderful friendships with our cousins the Moylettes.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all and may you have the same good fortune in finding your family roots as did we.
Next up … more about Islandeady, the Moylettes and the professional boxer, actress and musician in the family.
Congratulations on another terrific trip to Ireland, Teresa, and for inviting us along to shake the branches of your family tree, illustrated with great photos! It was fun seeing the sign for Joe’s Cottage and then seeing Joe AND the inside of the cottage! I enjoyed coming with you on the Mylott Family quest! A satisfying tale indeed and beautifully told! I look forward to subsequent posts in which we’ll meet more family members. ALSO, I would love to know what’s served for Sunday Dinner and Tea! Maybe you can bring readers in for a meal (virtual, of course)–reading makes some of us hungry, you know!
I hope you’ll soon be able to travel in real time and share your trips with us!
Till then—write on!
Susan – Many thanks for your lovely and kind comments on the blog post. The Moylettes are a wonderful and talented family. My cousin Ray Moylette, the professional boxer, won his match in Brussels yesterday – a marvelous victory on his return to the ring. Many more Moylettes to meet and your idea of a virtual meal with the family is a great suggestion, thanks. Stay tuned for more Moylettes, delicious Sunday dinners and Tea! Teresa
I mean to say “Jack’s” Cottage–apologies to you and jack for misquoting!
Susan – It may be formally named “Jack’s Old Cottage” but since Joe Moylette and his lovely wife Irene manage the cottage I think that “Joe’s Cottage” isn’t far off the mark! I will give a bit of the history of Jack’s Old Cottage in a future blog post. Warm regards, Teresa
Mi è piaciuto molto il tuo post che parla della ricerca dei tuoi parenti in Irlanda. Spero di tornare in Irlanda prima o poi. Sono stata solo a Dublino. (I really enjoyed your post about finding your relatives in Ireland. I hope to return to Ireland sooner or later. I’ve only been to Dublin.) https://www.facebook.com/Francesca-Pratellesi-Painting-Tuscany-738884206218538/
Cara Francesca – Grazie per il tuo gentile commento sul mio recente post. Spero che tu vada in Irlanda il prima possibile. E dato che siamo amiche e tu sei la mia insegnante di lingua italiana forse possiamo andarci insieme un giorno! Con affetto, Teresa (Dear Francesca – Thanks for your kind comment on my recent post. Since we are friends and you are my Italian language teacher maybe we can go together one day! With affection, Teresa)
Hello Teresa, enjoying reading about your trips. I apparently am a cousin to you as Edward/Ned Mylott and Anne Staunton are my 2x Great-grandparents. I didn’t have this information until your family shared it with our other mutual cousin Tom.
My parents were both born near Newport Mayo and immigrated to San Francisco in 1950. Maureen
Maureen – Thank you for making a comment on my blog post! How wonderful it is to be able to make connections this way. Genealogy is fascinating, isn’t it? I hope that we can meet up one day on County Mayo. Warm regards, Teresa