Experience of a Lifetime
This was the most thrilling adventure that I have ever had. Sean Quinn made this possible through his diligent research and the critical visit to my ancestral townland in preparation for my tour.
We spent the first day on the Historical County Meath Tour. Sean is so animated and full of information and really packs a lot into one day. We began in the year 3200 BC and ended during the Famine and covered so many historical events in between, important to Ireland’s history. This tour actually set the stage for my family’s story.
The second day was my Ancestral Townland Experience. With only the marriage registry of my 2x great grandparents, Sean’s investigation led him to two possible locations. Sean had visited these prior to my arrival, and I believe this to be the reason behind his success. Not only was he able to locate the sites of the Tansey and Connaughten homes, but Sean knocked on neighbors’ doors and gathered more information. The ancestors of the family that own the Tansey land today were actually their neighbors in the early 1800s. In the week since Sean first met them and my visit, the family had talked to a friend who knew about the Tanseys. My family story literally began to unfold before our eyes when this friend came to meet us. He still lives on his ancestral family land and told us that the Tanseys were millers. They had a mill on church land, but later moved the mill closer to their home. This information helped Sean solve the mystery as to who “Miller” was on the marriage registry; it was the Tansey occupation and not the surname! We were able to see the ruins of the original mill and visit the church where my 2x g-grandparents were married. We climbed fences and trudged through muck to see the beautiful Connaughton home site. It was an incredible day!
On the third day, we did a self-drive tour that Sean created for us in great detail. This took us to “Ground Zero” for Tanseys, dating back to the 1600s. At times, Sean was on the phone, directing us as we navigated the country roads. Sean had given me some boots and climbed rock walls, jumped fences and trudged through muck with us, showing us the way to ruins.
Finally, Sean was able to link Tansey to the name “Head of Sept” which means the lineage to the arrivals of the Celts 500 BC. This whole experience far exceeded anything that I could have imagined, and I will be forever grateful to Sean and Aisling for all that they did.
Comments
Ann Tansey was a dream client to get all off the information we cannot recommend a County Meath Tour enough this gives the History of 9000 years completely. Ann started with this tour and when she did her family history we were able to find the exact locations of her family homes in Roscommon and Galway area. We brought the Family back to the Time of the Celts the name meaning is Sept and it was the Tuathe De Dana who introduced the clan system to Ireland in the period 500 BC to 500 AD.
Ann saw the Old Mill her Family once ran in the 1700s and took a stone from it.
Ann was adventurous with trying to find the only 6 families registered in the mid 1600s but fast realised that having coordinates just doesn’t matter in Ireland when you are lost in a Townland but a call to Seán at the office fixed that and we were able to talk her trough this little adventure .Ann said “ Just as well I had taken the Tours the previous two days or they would have been Lost in Ireland for ever not a bad thing” said Ann.
