My Very Irish Ancestor – He Had Two Names?

Genealogy, History
[caption id="attachment_26733" align="alignright" width="480"] Fall River, Massachusetts (Winter 1896)[/caption]My last name is Summers. However, our ancestors spelled it Sommers. Dad changed it when he enlisted in the Army. Earlier, he signed his social security application with an "o" not a "u". His father spelled it John Sommers. His father was John Sommers as well. Or, was it William Keefe? You see, my Irish great-grandfather had an alias; he had two names. Why? And how did I learn of his alias? My Irish Ancestor: the Scenario Nothing else provides the pleasure of playing detective as researching the family tree! I began the journey in the 1980s. It didn't take long for me to "locate" my father's father's father, an Irish ancestor. He was born in Fall River, Massachusetts on the 29th…
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My Connection to the Royal House of Stewart

Genealogy
What is the Royal House of Stewart? The Encyclopedia Britannica teaches us that the Royal House of Stewart was a family of Scotland, later in England, that dates back to 1371, ending with the death of Henry, Cardinal Duke of York, in 1807. Now I am not British—nor am I directly related to the House of Stewart. I was born in New Jersey of quite ordinary (if interesting) roots. So how can I claim there is a connection between myself and the House of Stewart? The Author’s Mother I am an avid enthusiast of genealogy, the pursuit of the family tree. I have been heavily involved in climbing that tree for nearly twenty years. One branch of the Ayres family, my tie-in (through my mother) with the Stewart name, involves…
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