Web site: http://www.pond.com/~finance/cat.htm
My name is Catherine Stuart (nee Schaaf), and I know very little about my family, but what I do have seems to be a good starting place.
My earliest known ancestor is Lawrence Byrne, of Rathdanghan, Co. Wicklow. I presume he was born there, or somewhere near by. I have no idea what the year was. He married a woman whose last name was Kenny (or -ey) and had at least three children - Michael, the eldest male (the lands were always handed from a Lawrence to a Michael to a Lawrence etc.) Ella, my great grandmother, and another son whose name I don't know. Michael was supposed to inherit, but either didn't want to farm, and went to Australia to farm sheep, or was exiled to Australia for whatever reason, more than likely Nationalist activities.
Ella, born in 1900, was sent to America with a group of nuns in 1915, because her father knew something was going to happen in the country. She went to Devil's Lake in Nevada or one of the Dakotas, and after deciding that the convent wasn't for her married a Spencer who had emigrated from Liverpool England. Sometime she moved to New yorkand had several children. The other son was supposed to move to Australia and join his brother,so he sold the farm, went to Dublin and somehow lost the money. No one knows how. So he returned to the farm and worked as a hired hand for the rest of his days.
I don't know of anyone farther back than that. If anyone could give any helpful information I would be grateful, and if this little bit helps anyone at all, then I will be happy.