Two Owens in the Family

Hi everyone,

Sean here. When I told my family that the baby's name was Owen, my mom mentioned that her grandfather, Tim O'Connor, had a nephew named Eoin (Owen, written in the Irish way). They lived on the Blasket Islands, located off the Dingle Peninsula on the west coast of Ireland. Eoin was born in 1913 on the Great Blasket, and my mom doesn't know if he is still alive. He is my mom's mom's cousin, which I think would make him Owen's cousin thrice removed.

Note from Marisa-- I'm a visual learner so I drew out a quick diagram to show the connection:


The Blasket islands aren't inhabited anymore -- they were evacuated in 1953 -- but you can still visit them by boat, as Alex and I did together in 1999. We also have some relatives who own the only pub (Krugers) in the town on Dunquin, on the mainland just across from the Blaskets. Dunquin is actually the westernmost town in Europe.

Here is a picture my mom found of Eoin:


And, here is a picture of Owen that I just took using my fancy mac built-in camera (asleep on his mom):


It's difficult to look for family resemblance at this point. Maybe to compare we should find a donkey to take Owen's picture with....

cheers!
Sean