RetiredGuy

What part of “any person” does Justice Roberts not understand ?

Posted on June 26, 2015June 26, 2015 by Jack

Today the Supreme Court ruled by a 5-to-4 vote that the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage. In his dissent Justice Roberts suggested that there was nothing relevant in the Constitution. How about the 14th Amendment?

Amendment XIV
Section 1.

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

What part of “any person” does Justice Roberts not understand? I know Justice Scalia has trouble with concepts such as “all persons” or “any person” but I thought Justice Roberts was better.

#TheNewTen and #NewerDollars

Posted on June 23, 2015September 9, 2015 by Jack

I just got back from Ireland and Northern Ireland and I see one of the discussions in the U.S. involves replacing Alexander Hamilton on the ten dollar bill with a woman (see #TheNewTen on twitter). And there are several woman candidates but we haven’t settled on one yet.

Well, I don’t think the ten dollar bill is the right place for at least 2 reasons. I also don’t see a clear reason to pick one of the suggested women over the other suggestions for this honor.

First to the ten. Alexander Hamilton was one of the Founding Fathers. He never became president but is very important. He probably had more to do with getting the country off on a sound financial footing than anyone else. For this reason, it seems that keeping him on a bill is appropriate.

If we are to free-up a bill to honor a woman, I’d suggest the twenty dollar bill is more suitable. Continue reading “#TheNewTen and #NewerDollars”

John Greer in Folsom Prison

Posted on June 15, 2015May 23, 2015 by Jack

As mentioned before I’ve been filling in some details on collateral relatives in hopes I’ll find something that gives me some insight or additional direction on my more direct line. More specifically, I’ve been looking at the John Greer and Julia Mary Hopkins family of New York City.

I’ve previously written about two sons Charles John Greer and Horace A. Greer.

Now I add a third son with legal trouble, John J. Greer. I do not know what the J is for. It seems very probable that this is the same John J. Greer that was in Folsom Prison (Folsom, CA) in the 1940s. Second degree burglary put Greer in Folsom. His prior record included prison stays for theft and counterfeiting in New York, Connecticut, Atlanta (GA), and Lewisburg (PA).

If this sounds familiar to anyone, I’d be eager to hear and glad to share any information.

Irish Surname Variation

Posted on June 12, 2015May 23, 2015 by Jack

Here are a few helpful links I’ve found on Irish surname variation.

Irish Surname Variation – General Information

Surname Changes & Variations from About.com
Irish Surname Distortions
The Distortion of Irish Surnames

Matthew Greer, son of John

Posted on June 8, 2015June 26, 2015 by Jack

This is about Matthew Greer. But there are 3 people in my family tree named Matthew Greer and so I specified above that he was the son of John Greer.

This Matthew Greer lived at home, first with his parent and then his widowed mother. In the last record I found on him, he was living with his mother in the 1925 New York census. Then the trail went cold. I could not find him in subsequent census records or in any type of record. Continue reading “Matthew Greer, son of John”

Help with Irish research

Posted on June 5, 2015May 28, 2015 by Jack

These tips will point you in the direction of some good resources. In your case, some may be helpful and some not so helpful.

1. Maybe someone has already done a good bit of work on your family but you don’t know it. Perhaps a third or fourth cousin you don’t know. Or there might be some people searching the same surname who are not closely related but may have some advice. One way to check that out is my surname page (not ready yet) . Another option is to use Google or some other search engine to find the names that interest you. Be creative in your search terms!

2. There are also mailing lists where you get emails on a topic which could be a surname or an interest such as Irish genealogy or even as local as Co Limerick genealogy. Maillists work by sending a copy of each message to posted to all subscribers. Some lists are very small and some are large. Continue reading “Help with Irish research”

The Forgotten Room

Posted on May 28, 2015May 29, 2015 by Jack

The Forgotten Room: A Novel by Lincoln Child was an enjoyable book.

The opening chapter got my attention. Then I thought the next part was just interesting enough to keep me turn pages. Since I read this on my Kindle Fire, I kept touching the screen to advance to the next page. This would be about 20% of the book or about 60 pages since the hardback is a bit over 300 pages. Continue reading “The Forgotten Room”

The Burning of Cork

Posted on May 22, 2015May 28, 2015 by jack

1920 was a bad year for Cork. Well, a bad year for Ireland. But this is about what happened in Cork.

Ireland was fighting the British for its independence and the fighting in Cork was intense. The Burning of Cork by Gerry White and Brendan O’Shea is a rather detailed account of that fighting. Continue reading “The Burning of Cork”

Shipwreck off Ireland 1822

Posted on May 16, 2015May 16, 2015 by jack

Before getting to the shipwreck off Ireland, let me tell you where I read about it. After all the shipwreck is old news and there’s no rush in getting to the story.

I live just outside West Chester, PA and I signed up for emails from a downtown West Chester business association. Even retired guys try to keep up with what is happening locally. Continue reading “Shipwreck off Ireland 1822”

Wolfe Tone in America

Posted on May 12, 2015May 12, 2015 by jack

Theobald Wolfe Tone, better known as Wolfe Tone, was co-founder of the United Irishmen and an Irish revolutionary of the late 18th century.

At first this political movement attempted to unite the both the Protestants and Catholics of Ireland and sought reform to the parliament to give the all Irishmen more rights. After several years the leaders of the United Irishmen realized reform was impossible and sought revolution to gain independence for Ireland. Continue reading “Wolfe Tone in America”

War on Science

Posted on May 11, 2015May 11, 2015 by Jack

There seems to be a war on science. I am a scientist so my bias is to believe something is probable when most reputable scientists in the relevant field say it is true.

Sure, science gets is wrong once every now and then but not very often. Science is a self-correcting process and mistakes are normally discovered pretty quickly. I suppose a betting man would lose a lot of money by betting against something that most scientists agree with. Continue reading “War on Science”

My Irish genealogy website

Posted on May 7, 2015May 12, 2015 by Jack

I am continuing the update of my Irish genealogy website.

The site serves as the County Limerick pages for IrelandGenWeb. In addition, I have a good place to read or post genealogical queries on the name Reidy and its variants. Also some good information of the REIDY, RIEDY, REEDY, READY, etc name.

The site has lots of links and resources for those of us with family from County Limerick.

I had a good bit of information on Irish Genealogy and I expect it will all be there shortly. Right now I have almost everything on the Reidy name moved, a most of what I have on County Limerick, and some general Irish genealogy information.

And it is all free to use.

The Conservatarian Manifesto reviewed

Posted on May 5, 2015 by Jack

I’ve spent a good amount of time the past few weeks reading this book, thinking, re-reading, and re-thinking my ideas about politics. Although far from being a believer in the right-wing of American politics, I thought this was a very good book.

The Conservatarian Manifesto: Libertarians, Conservatives, and the Fight for the Right’s Future by Charles C.W. Cooke presents his beliefs that neither conservatives nor libertarians have a coherent solution to good governing. Continue reading “The Conservatarian Manifesto reviewed”

Major update of my website

Posted on April 27, 2015 by Jack

I’m pretty busy these days updating my website.

The site is a work in progress as I’ve recent changed from HTML to WordPress. In the long-term I think this will be an improvement. I will be able to do more things and hope to improve the site as I learn. But right now my major task is trying to move all the content from my old site.

It is taking longer than expected. And it is also more work than I expected. But I guess that is the price of progress. A good bit of what I had has been moved over but much is still left to be done.

I had a good bit of information on Irish Genealogy and I expect it will all be there shortly. Right now I have almost everything on the Reidy name moved, a good bit on County Limerick, and relatively little on general Irish information and Irish surnames.

What part of “any person” does Justice Roberts not understand ?

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#TheNewTen and #NewerDollars

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John Greer in Folsom Prison

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Irish Surname Variation

Irish Surname Variation – General Information

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Matthew Greer, son of John

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Help with Irish research

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The Forgotten Room

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The Burning of Cork

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Shipwreck off Ireland 1822

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Wolfe Tone in America

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War on Science

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My Irish genealogy website

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The Conservatarian Manifesto reviewed

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Major update of my website

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Irish Surname Variation – General Information

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