I have never been to Ireland and I have never met any of my ancestors who lived there. History and heritage are both very important to my family though, so when I was born my parents wanted to make sure I didn’t forget that I am Scottish, Irish, and English so they named me Fiona Flora Leeds.  Heritage is family and family is where you come from and who you are. It is not necessarily just the people who are biologically or legally related to you though, but the also community you live in. Many people need to leave their communities to start a life in another place for one reason or another. Thankfully, I don’t need to emigrate, because I already live in a safe, free country; but that is because someone else before me moved here looking for a place with opportunities.

My great-great-grandparents, parents of my great-grandmother and name sake Flora, came to the United States in the early 1900’s from Ireland. Flora’s parents had lived in Ireland all their lives, but when they started to have children they realized that they wanted their children to have more opportunities for education and prosperity. They got on a boat with many other Irish families and sailed to New York. When they first got to America, life was very hard. They had a vision however of what they wanted their children to have and so they pushed through and sent all of their children to school. My great-great-grandparents sacrificed for their children to have a good education. One of the daughters became a nurse, another went to music school and Flora married a successful business man right out of high school. While my great-great-grandparents worked as hard as they could for their children to have good and free lives in America, they made sure that the girls did not forget where they had come from and all of the family that they had left behind in Ireland and their traditions.

When my great-great -grandparents were still in Ireland, their community reached far out to included extended family, church members, etc., but when they moved to America, they had their own family to focus on because they were barely scraping by. Several generations later, here I am, living in a safe and secure family that provides  the opportunity for me to branch out and connect and build relationships with a larger community. In a way, the best way for me to honor those who came before me is to work to make my community a great place for everyone.
Nearly every time that I meet someone new and I tell them my name, they say, “You must be Irish!” and every time I laugh and say yes. I am glad to be able to use the determination and spunk that must certainly come from my Irish and Scottish ancestors to engage with and work in my community.