Today my cousin Joe and I and his wife Mary spent some time trying to make sense of the stories we heard as children and young adults. After Joe and I drove up to Old Kilcully cemetery on the north side of Cork City to search for Denis O’Flynn’s grave. I have a copy of his interment registry that states that he was buried there on 2 November 1947 and that his son Edmund was the sponsor of the registry. Here is proof that we were there but we weren’t able to find his grave:

Despite looking for over an hour in the rain, we couldn’t find the grave of Denis O’Flynn but we found these Flynn/O’Flynn graves:

Michael Flynn and Mary O’Flynn — but unfortunately no direct relationship that we could detect.

One of the amazing discoveries today was that Joe’s dad, Terence (Terry) O’Flynn was born on 23 October 1920 — now for my family, that will be a memorable date, as it is the same date that my grandparents (John Flynn and Mary Cahill) were married in Rathcormac. So what’s the big deal — well Terry was John’s half brother — so while John’s father Denis wasn’t invited to the wedding in Rathcormac — Jack and Molly eloped — apparently he would have been able to make it as Denis was busy in Cork helping his wife give birth to his second son, Terry, from his second family.

A busy man indeed that Denis O’Flynn was — and very prolific — nearly 20 children.

The second discovery of the day was at Terry’s tomb at St. Michael’s cemetery in Blackrock, Cork City. As my family and my friends know, on my official signature block I usually sign my matters Terence (Terry) Flynn — because I was once taught by a female Terry Flynn at Syracuse University, so it was a way to differentiate myself.

So as I stood at the grave of Terry O’Flynn I couldn’t help but see a similarity — see if you can find it:

So let’s confirm a few facts to remind ourselves that Joe O’Flynn and I are related:

1. We both have our father’s names
2. Joe’s dad was born on the same day that my grandparents were married
3. Terry and I use the same Terence (Terry) — even though I never met him.

Here are pictures of Chrissy and Terry in the 1970s and on their wedding date in 1944 in Birmingham England — of yes, the same year as my parents were married!

One last comparison, Terry was my grandfather’s half brother and was 25 years younger — can you see the similarities in the two?

It’s been a great couple of days with Joe and his wife Mary and his mam Chrissy and his sister Kathleen. Here is a picture for dinner tonight — Joe’s favourite, Chinese.

Tomorrow it’s off to Rathcormac to spend sometime with the Hoskin/Cahill clans exploring the Cahill family from Ballybrowney.