“If I don’t write these memories down they will be lost forever. If I do write these memories down they will last forever.”
Since taking early retirement a number of years ago, I am now in a good position to devote the time and effort required to actively involve myself in a number of hobbies that I had been interested for a long time prior to taking retirement. For example, I have always been interested in genealogy and in particular the history of my family. In connection with this, I produced a book in 2002, about the history of my own life, and the Lawlor family which was put together using many black and white pictures obtained from the Local History Library in Manchester. These pictures were cut and pasted into a standard photograph album with descriptions of the various addresses we had lived at in both Ireland and England.
I loaned the book out to my brothers and sisters and the feedback I got was very favorable. In this first edition I focused mainly on my own life and wrote about how I had been born In Virginia, Co Cavan, and about how us as a family had to leave Ireland, like many thousands of other Irish people, because of the harsh economic and social conditions existing at that time.
The success of the book has prompted me to produce this website, in which it is my intention to include a broader history of the Lawlor family and our ancestry. In so doing, it is my wish that this website will serve to build a bridge between all family members so that we can understand, honour and respect our family history and heritage use this knowledge to bond together rather than existing as scattered pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. I also hope it will enhance the feeling of belonging and esteem of our current and future generations.
Not everyone is able to leave money, jewellery or land as an inheritance for their children. Everyone though, can leave the most precious commodity of all - family treasures made of words, memories and pictures.
I loaned the book out to my brothers and sisters and the feedback I got was very favorable. In this first edition I focused mainly on my own life and wrote about how I had been born In Virginia, Co Cavan, and about how us as a family had to leave Ireland, like many thousands of other Irish people, because of the harsh economic and social conditions existing at that time.
The success of the book has prompted me to produce this website, in which it is my intention to include a broader history of the Lawlor family and our ancestry. In so doing, it is my wish that this website will serve to build a bridge between all family members so that we can understand, honour and respect our family history and heritage use this knowledge to bond together rather than existing as scattered pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. I also hope it will enhance the feeling of belonging and esteem of our current and future generations.
Not everyone is able to leave money, jewellery or land as an inheritance for their children. Everyone though, can leave the most precious commodity of all - family treasures made of words, memories and pictures.