From Kodiak, Alaska to Killybegs, County Donegal, Ireland

Editor’s Note: I asked Joe where in Ireland he began his research. Joe explains that, with the whole country to choose from, he did not head for any ancestral place at all. Searching the internet for information about different locales, he came across a website for Killybegs in County Donegal, which claimed to be Ireland’s premier fishing port. He spells the name for me and explains that it derives from the small stone beehive cells of a monastic order. Having just spent five years in Kodiak, Alaska, one of America’s premier fishing ports at nearly the same latitude, he thought it would be fun to compare the two.

Transcript

Speakers: WJB — William J. Bowe; JH — Joseph Hart. Transcribed from the recording; punctuation added and obvious mis-hearings corrected.

JH: So your question was?

WJB: Yeah, so where in Ireland—

JH: Okay.

WJB: —did you begin your research into that part of your ancestry?

JH: Well, the serendipity was that I didn’t go to any particular place where my heritage was, because I had the whole country to choose from. And so I started just looking on the internet for information about different locales, and I came across this website for Killybegs in County Donegal that claimed to be the premier fishing port for Ireland.

WJB: Yeah. And what’s the town?

JH: Killybegs.

WJB: Okay, can you spell it for me?

JH: Yes. K-I-L-L-Y-B-E-G-S.

WJB: Okay.

JH: And Killybegs means small cells. Apparently in this area around Killybegs, there was a monastic order, and they would build these stone little beehive structures that were small cells, and somebody could actually spend some time or live in this little hut. And so that was the origin of the name. Killy can refer to a church. Beg means small, so it was small hut or small church or whatever. So I thought, well, I just spent five years living in Kodiak, Alaska, which is one of the premier fishing ports for the United States, and it’s nearly the same latitude as Killybegs in Ireland. And so I thought, well, that would be pretty cool to go from recently living in Kodiak, Alaska to Killybegs, County Donegal, just to compare the fishing ports. Does that answer—