Patrick and Carrie Go To Ireland: Day 3: O'Donnell search hits paydirt!

As we mentioned yesterday, our historical and scenic scavenger hunt launched by our new friend Peter got sidetracked, but for an awesome reason. We were planning on trying to find Patrick's ancestral home or relatives even (like that could possibly happen) and all we really had was the name of the townland called Cashleenan where greatgrandfather John O'Donnell had left in 1889 to come to Kansas with his young bride Bridgid. I mean, Cashleenan is so small (maybe 20 residents now) that it shows up on no maps. Google gives you one hit - a school list from nearby Kilmacrennan (not too big in its own right). So, we took the amazingly gorgeous drive from Bundoran up across Donegal to Letterkenny (pretty big town) where we stopped at the visitor's center and got some great directions from Amanda, who had been prepped by our good friend Jerry O'Donnell, proprietor of our hotel in Bonduran. Keep in mind that the O'Donnell name is like the Smith of Donegal.

road to Cashleenan

By the way, our only guidance on the house itself is an amazingly grainy picture which could be of a small cottage or maybe even a skyscraper (hard to tell). We eventually found what we believed to be Cashleenan (no signs or anything like that believe me) and drove through it and literally knocked on doors of farmhouses but unfortunately after four or five found nobody home (or they were hiding inside afraid of the big american man at their door). Then, good fortune struck and we talked to a lady walking through the rain and she said there was a Daniel O'Donnell down the road and so we stopped at his house. Again, nobody home. Carrie and I took some pictures and were literally a minute from leaving Cashleenan feeling like we'd certainly gotten close, when... Daniel and his son drive up and were initially concerned with who could be blocking their driveway with the little red car. Well, next thing you know we're inside having tea and he's calling his friend Jim Nesbit who "knows it all about the O'Donnells in Cashleenan". A few minutes later, we're meeting Jim at the top of a driveway down to a home, which turns out to be THE home we're trying to find. In fact, Jim is married to Tricia (born O'Donnell) and her grandfather Bernard was John's brother. So, we're like 2nd cousins once removed or something. Anyway, it felt awesome. Well, Jim and Tricia invited us to spend the night at the O'Donnell cottage, their vacation home. They've done a ton of work to renovate the home and it is really sweet (as are they).