The McDonald, Cunningham, Cahill… story

I am the proud owner of my family genealogy binders, photos, letters and have been adding the precious family details to my online tree since the mid 1990s.

My maternal grandmother, Jane McDonald Erving’s side of the family comes from Ireland. The records predominantly show Dublin, Cork, County Meath, Kinnitty, County Offaly, and the Irish Free State is also indicated. My Irish descendants arrived in Cook County, Chicago, Illinois via landing in New York.

Ultimately, the McDonalds (and Erving’s) left Chicago for Northern California’s San Francisco Bay Area. I am a proud 4th-generation Northern Californian girl on my mother’s side! However, my sturdy Celtic blood (#1 Irish, Scottish, English, Welsh, Manx) is what I am most proud of.

Thank you, Irish American Nana Jane McDonald Erving, for passing it on to me! The stories of her loving to dance and sing with all her siblings at their home in Oak Park, Illinois, and dating a Notre Dame football player before meeting my grandfather, Robert R. Erving (future CEO of H.M. Gousha Company), who swept her off her feet, make me smile. I see myself in a number of family photos of the McDonald, Cunningham, Cahill women before me, and certainly feel the “luck of the Irish” with me forever and always!🍀🇮🇪🇺🇸