Heart Strings Pull Across An Ocean

by Grace Atherton · Published March 17, 2025 · Updated March 24, 2025

For some death brings closure, for others untold, mysteries and secrets are left in its wake.

For Linda, several items in her grandfather’s house would lead her on a journey across an ocean.

Hardly Talked

Although her grandfather and grandmother both came from large families in Ireland, they hardly talked about it. Linda knew little about the family line except for a few stories and her grandfather playing Irish jig music on an accordion.

Clues

That is until Linda received a few volumes of pictures and a notepad from her grandfather’s home after he passed that documented in detail a trip he and her aunt took to Ireland in 1987.

Idea

This information gave Linda and her husband, Victor, an idea.

Why not try to recreate this trip?

One thing stood in the way, however.

No Connection

Other than her deceased grandparents, she had no connection to her relatives in Ireland who were surnamed O’Toole.

Only Thing…

So Linda did the only thing she knew to do…

She joined several ancestry sites to research, which led to a lot of deceased relatives but only a few living ones.

Unknown

Although her family tree began filling out, her emails to several known relatives were left unanswered.

Facts

So she was left with only a few facts:

Her grandfather grew up off the coast of Ireland on the island of Inishturk.
His wife, her grandmother, was from Clonbur, Ireland.

Both grandparents immigrated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in their early 20’s.
They met at an Irish dance and were married in 1936.

Recreate

With these facts, along with the notebook and pictures, Linda and her husband Victor decided to go to Ireland. The year was 2017, exactly 30 years after her grandfather’s trip documented in the notebook.

The Picture

Their first stop after landing was in Clonbur, her grandmother’s hometown. Here they found the spot where her grandfather had taken a picture at a phone booth. In the picture there were a couple of kids. Although the phone booth was no longer there, the building looked the same.

grandfather 1987

Linda 2017

A Lady

Linda and Victor decided to recreate the picture. Unexpectedly, a lady stopped and offered to take it. They shared the story of how their grandmother was from this town. The lady listened. Then looking at the picture, the lady recognized the kids as her own who were now grown. She also realized she knew Linda’s relatives.

Adrenaline Rush

Meeting her at this moment gave Linda and Victor the location of her grandmother’s cousin’s home. Arriving there, Linda’s relatives took her to the home her grandmother grew up in.

Linda’s grandmother’s home 1987

2017

After spending the evening with relatives, Linda and Victor were excited for the next step.

Ferry

Traveling to the Roonagh Pier, they boarded the ferry boat and headed to Inishturk (where her grandfather was from). Later they would learn the boat was owned and captained by one of Linda’s relatives.

Exploring the Island

Exploring the Island, Victor came to a house with a man on its porch. “I’m an O’Toole,” Linda shouted. “I know, because you look like us,” the man, who she later learned was her cousin, replied. He then took her to meet the rest of the family.

Open

After seeing the notebook of what the Grandfather ate at their house 30 years before on his trip, the cousin’s mother started to remember and open up.

More

Here Linda learned more about her grandfather:

He had been in the military.
He had done some school on the island then moved to the mainland to finish.
It was hard to make a living on the island (either fishing or farming) and so many left for the mainland or immigrated.

***Linda’s dad second from left and Linda’s grandfather third from left.***

Grandfather’s Home

Linda learned another cousin now lived in the home where her grandfather grew up. Visiting it they enjoyed sharing family photos and talking about old times.

“Flag Planting… Moment”

To top everything off after meeting relatives they found a Memorial. It was the Tale of Tongs – which commemorates the four original families on the Island including her family. As Linda stared at the Memorial she was overwhelmed and proud to find out where her family roots were from. It was the” flag planting on the moon,” moment for her. The O’Toole spirit was alive at this memorial and Linda knew that she had reached her destination of finding her roots.

**Victor & Linda make memories with vacationers at the sacred memorial to her Irish ancestors.**

Higher Power

On the trip back to the United States Of America, both Victor and Linda knew they had been on a once in a lifetime adventure, where everything fell into place. It was most certainly the makings of a higher power.

A Pull

After the trip to recreate her grandfather’s steps, Linda found her mind wandering with a constant pull back to Ireland. To the beautiful country with such kind and welcoming people.

Unsure

Linda began to understand that there were many sacrifices both her grandmother and grandfather made to come to the United States to have a better life for future generations. She is unsure if the reason her grandparents didn’t talk of their life in the mother country was due to hardships, sadness to leave family behind or possibly a combination of both.

Can Never Take…

One thing she did realize; however, is that you can leave your home country, but you can never take the Irish out of an Irishman or Irishwoman.

A Part Of

Linda wanted to honor her deceased grandparents by getting her Irish citizenship. And so, through countless hours of research and documentation, she became a dual citizen – both in the United States where she lives and in Ireland where a part of her heart after the trip will live forever.