‘So excited’ - Minnesota branch of Kilkenny family set for bumper reunion this week

With an official twinning between our namesake town, Kilkenny, Minnesota in its 13th year and direct flights from Ireland to Minneapolis-St Paul beginning in 2019, connections with the state known as the land of 10,000 lakes have been growing steadily over the past few decades.

This strengthening of ties extends to family connections as well, as ease of access to census information and genealogy allows long-separated clans to retrace the footsteps of their ancestors.

The extent of immigration patterns between Kilkenny and Minnesota and the discovery of lost relatives is exemplified by the story of the Walsh family; natives of Minneapolis whose forefathers travelled from Cranrue outside Paulstown to put down roots thousands of miles away in the American Uppermidwest.

The Walshes have only in recent years become aware of the Kilkenny branch of their family and 15 of its members from Minnesota are travelling to Ireland this week to reunite its members on both sides of the Atlantic.

Dr David Walsh, an award winning psychologist, best-selling author and international speaker, knew that all four of his grandparents had emigrated from Ireland but didn’t have any solid information about their identities.

READ NEXT: Over 100 people attend meeting on proposed windfarm in Kilkenny - Kilkenny Live

“I knew that my grandparents on my father’s side came from Kilkenny, so my daughter and I went into the genealogy office and I said I’d like to see if I could track down any relatives I still have here,” David recalls.

“They asked my surname and I said ‘Walsh’. Then asked if I had any more information, I didn’t and they wished me good luck because there’s probably a thousand Walshes in Kilkenny,” he adds.

After some more unsuccessful attempts to uncover his Kilkenny heritage, David encountered a stroke of good fortune when his brother-in-law Brian, who had developed expertise in genealogy, agreed to perform in-depth research on the Walsh family in Ireland.

He compiled a 100 page document complete with birth and marriage certificates along with photos to finally reveal the identities of the family.

“It’s just absolutely amazing and so based on his research, I was able to track down to my great-great grandfather with the documentation and Brian said that he thought I still had a number of cousins who live in County Kilkenny,” David says.

Armed with this new information, David travelled to Kilkenny on a trip that also included his wife Monica, sister Joan, and Brian to find the ancestral farm and living relatives. 

Having located some family graves at the Church of the Assumption in Paulstown, they were able to meet Liam Walsh of Cranrue, and after some family photos were produced, they were able to convince him that they were indeed relatives from thousands of miles away.

Just as much as the Minnesota section had been unaware of who their family in Ireland were, the same was true for the Kilkenny side, who didn’t know what had happened to their grandfather’s brother, past the fact that he had emigrated to the US in the late 19th century.

David’s sister Joan sadly passed away in 2014, but another trip with his brothers Kevin and Phillip, was taken in 2024 where even more previously unknown family members were discovered, travelling from across the country to meet the visitors for the first time.

“Unbeknownst to us, they spread the word out to other cousins that we didn’t even know we had,” David reflects. 

“We walked in and there were over 40 Walshes; children of second cousins once and twice removed, little babies and people who had literally come from all over Ireland. One of them had driven down that morning from Belfast and it was just a wonderful experience.”

Though David’s children have been interested in the links with Ireland, he says it’s his grandchildren who have been the ones to really push the increasing of the connections further between the next generations.

After some sustained cajoling, the discussions around another trip moved from nebulous to more concrete, with firm plans being made for 15 Walshes to travel from Minneapolis to Kilkenny.

“Everybody took assignments, investigated airfare, car rentals and lodging. My job was to communicate with the cousins that I knew in Kilkenny. They all responded so positively that it all came together and it's going to happen this week,” David outlines.

They plan to visit the family farm before a reunion with around 60 people expected to share introductions and stories, many for the first time.

“Our adult kids and our grandkids are just so excited to meet cousins that they only know now by name and photos. We’re really excited and looking forward to it,” David concludes.

TAP HERE FOR MORE LOCAL NEWS