52 ANCESTOR CHALLENGE—WEEK 7: “LOVE”
My favorite love story in my family tree is one that I read about when first diving into my dad's side. My maiden name is "Day" and many times throughout my life I was told we were Irish. I wondered if our name was originally "O'Day" and our family fled the Great Famine. Once I grew up a little and started learning our stories for myself, I quickly discovered that it wasn't the Day family that was from Ireland. I had O'Briens in my family tree! My 2nd great-grandmother was Theresa Mable O'Brien, born in 1853 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Her parents were Henry Martin O'Brien, an Irishman, and Lydia Evelyn Houghton, born in Ireland, but of English noble descent. Theresa's mother, Lydia, had their own "love story" as well. She married what was considered below her station, even though Henry O'Brien was a very wealthy lawyer, who, himself, descended from Irish nobility. The O'Brien family moved from Ireland to Toronto...
