Mary Berry

It is fairly common for a family to trace itself back to one recent ancestor, often someone who defines the family's ethnic background inaccurately.  In my family it was Grandma Mary. She was my mother's grandmother, not mine, but as a small child, I knew her. 

Mary was my granddaughter's great-great-great grandmother.  

Mary (Berry) Strickland's parents were born in County Westmeath. They found work in Scotland, where Mary was born. At 16 Mary came over on the boat, married Vet (Sylvester Streeter Strickland), raised children in DesMoines and ended up in Compton, California, which she called "the armpit of the universe."

Mary smoked a clay pipe. She drank coffee. She stood about five feet tall. Once my father asked her why Irish-American men were often quite large. "We left the runts at home," she told him.