Found a bombshell about my Irish heritage.

[greatauntoftriplets]

4. That's a wonderful discovery!

How nice that your relatives in Ireland had been looking for family members all those years. You grgrgreatgrandfather sounds like quite a character. There is a woman ancestor on my mother's (non-Irish) side of the family who seems to have married and remarried awfully quickly. This was 200 or so years ago, so there is no one alive who can answer any questions.

We have no idea how Mayo got into the mix since it's pretty distant from Wexford.

The distant cousin who did all the research lives in the town where the family settled, which is only about 40 miles away from where I am. She found some great information, although there is likely lots more in Wexford -- that is, if the records still exist. I am pretty certain that we must have relatives back in Ireland, because a cousin who went with my grgreatgrandfather apparently hit it big and returned home and bought three farms.

How the rest of the family ended up in the Chicago area is still a mystery.

I hope that you make some further discoveries.