Irish Palatine Special Interest Group
To assist Irish Palatines in learning about their genealogy and connecting with other Irish Palatines
Ontario Genealogical Society
Bally Organ in the green hills *
As we gathered in the beautiful green rolling hills where our ancestors settled 300 years ago, there was a clear sense of coming home. For many of us this was amplified by greeting cousins and friends whom we met 5 years ago in the Palatinate or by remembering previous visits to Rathkeale.
Quickly we met new friends and more cousins. Truly, a joyous celebration was beginning.
* All photos by Bob Fizzell
Carolyn Heald Christy Switzer Billie Martin
There were many highlights in this celebration, and I will try to share a few with you. Probably the
most meaningful for the participants were when we walked in the footsteps of our ancestors and sat
in their churches. These two aspects were brought together in the dedication of a memorial stone at
the site of the Killeheen Preaching House. With the Reverend Dudley Levistone Cooney officiating,
we heard a brief history of the Methodist preaching house and school that stood along Killeheen
Lane and served our ancestors. The newly cleared ground and the beautiful memorial brought out
not just our tour group, but many other people from the vicinity who shared in the Palatine
experience.
Following the ceremony, we walked down the Lane as the original settlers must have done, passing
farms of Teskeys who have farmed this land for 300 years.
We attended services at the Embury-Heck Methodist Church in Ballingrane the first Sunday and at
the Rathkeale Church of Ireland on the second Sunday. The cemeteries of these churches hold
many of our ancestors and provide both genealogical information and a sense of connectedness. At
the Ballingrane service, we were treated to lunch by the congregation and many Palatines who came
from miles away to meet us. For me, it was a chance to meet three cousins whom I had not known
previously.
Embury Heck Memorial MethodistChurch
Rathkeale Church of Ireland
This celebration was produced by the
Irish Palatine Center, Rathkeale, Ireland as one in its on-going series of activities for Irish Palatines.
