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So…. Never felt much of a connection to St Patrick’s Day. Until this year. As far as I knew my maternal ancestors were exclusively English and my paternal ancestors were German (Yes, unlike my avatar here I’m pretty white).

Two years ago I even wrote a couple of posts (post one and post two) about my Mormon heritage, specifically about my great grandmother Evelyn Nessie Eleanor Rudd. She was the first convert to Mormonism in England.

Then, this last year a few siblings and cousins did that DNA testing and they all found Irish in their blood. Everyone was left scratching their heads. One cousin confessed to me in private that her research leads her to believe that our great grandmother, Evelyn Nessie Eleanor Rudd was an Irish prostitute in England.

Her detailed explanation of the facts and reasoning seem sound. She even believes it might go back a couple of generations. Prostitution might run in the family.

Several generations had held onto their maternal surname, a common marker of prostitution. She had several children out of wedlock. She lived in an area known for such sordid activities. Once she did eventually marry she was never accepted among the local town folk because… well that was always blamed on her eventual conversion to Mormonism, but it must have run deeper than that because it seemed to pre-date the conversion. It also further explains her deep attraction to Mormonism and the doctrine of forgiveness. That must have been deeply comforting to her. It’s also ironic how little she would be accepted in today’s Mormon culture of Pharisaical fanaticism.

Suddenly I’m all about the Irish!

We can’t all be royalty ya know!