It must be Friday as I have lost all of my senses and have tagged myself for a meme. Yes, just nine days removed from publishing Death To The Meme Movement, an article skewering the very same topic, I have done an about face and have tagged myself.

Flags of the GlobeLet it be known to all of the world that Matt Keegan has irretrievably lost it.

A Heritage Meme

This meme is a bit different, one that focuses on my heritage. For the record: I am an American and fully subscribe to “E Pluribus Unum” or “Out of Many, One” when describing myself. I believe diversity comes naturally and I am not some sort of hyphenated American. That being said, here is what I know about my heritage:

Emigrating Eire

My father’s side of the family — Keegan — is Irish with perhaps a wee bit of Scottish thrown in. My grandparents were raised in County Armagh, which is now part of what is known as Northern Ireland (or Ulster). Back in the early 1890s when they immigrated to the US, all 26 Irish counties were under British control. Grandmother Keegan, who was 21 when she sailed for New York in 1897, was unmarried and her maiden name was Hughes. She met up with relatives who were already living in Brooklyn, NY. Her ship, City of Rome, had caught fire before arriving safely in New York. Talk about a warm welcome, sheesh!

Grandfather Keegan was about the same age as his future wife when he emigrated to the US by way of Canada. We know he was in Toronto for a while before he ended up in New York. Supposedly, Teresa Hughes and Thomas Keegan did not know each other when they lived in Armagh, but they met in New York and were married about one year later (Factoid: Irish immigrants met up and stuck with their native townspeople in overcrowded New York). They had eleven children with my father, Joseph, being one of the younger ones in the family.

Britain And Her Rebel Colonies

My mother’s side of the family — Green — is English. Her parents were from New York and Pennsylvania; we trace the first Greens, Buntings, Pyles and Moores arriving in colonial America in 1700. My mother’s parents were Quakers (my father, Roman Catholic) and I know that Charlotte Bunting and Sheldon Green were married in New York in 1921. They had six children with my mother, Patricia, as the oldest.

Although the family tree is not as clearly laid out on my father’s side, we have traced my mother’s family all the way back to 1215 in London. Buffalo Bill (William Cody) is on our family tree as is one of the signatories to the U.S. Consitution. Unfortunately, I don’t have a copy of the family tree with me so his name escapes me. It could be Robert Morris from Pennsylvania, but I cannot be certain about that. Jonathan Sheldon, my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather was an indentured servant when he arrived in America in the 1700s. After his servantship was over, he was given a freedom suit and allowed to seek employment elsewhere. His suit is the only one that is still in existence and it can be seen hanging on display at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC.

A Marriage Made In Manhattan

Patricia Green and Joseph Keegan met at work and were married in 1946 on their lunch hour. Promptly, their boss (who happened to be my father’s brother) had my mother resign. In those days you could not work with your spouse at the same company and it was the duty of every woman to quit. My parents were married in a civil ceremony, but later had their marriage blessed in the rectory by a priest. Mom refused to become a Catholic, but that didn’t seem to bother my father — they had nine children (I am the sixth, the second of three boys).

Life Couldn’t Be Finer Here In Carolina

2007 finds me living in North Carolina with my wife (of Eastern and Southern European heritage with some Irish blood too). Our children came to us by way of Guatemala, so we’re doing our part to hold up the “pluribus” and “unum” part of that famous Latin statement. We aren’t “Catholic” or “Protestant” but we are very much followers of Jesus Christ, so just call us Christians. We prefer to read the Bible and determine how we should live as God leads, not as man opines.

Your World And Welcome To It

So, that’s it — a little bit about me and where I came from. I was inspired to write this particular meme as I have been discovering that so many of my readers live in lands far removed from the US. The Phillipines, Ireland, United Kingdom, Germany, Turkey, Singapore, India, Australia, Venezuala, Romania, Canada, Tanzania, and Iran are just a few of the countries represented. Indeed, during this year alone I have recorded visitors from 136 nations so please accept this meme as me saying, “Welcome, World!”

Go Tag Yourself!

I am not tagging anyone for this meme, however if you feel inspired to write about your heritage then please add your comments and link back to your article for some well deserved link love.