MY O'Malley's

 

I always knew this would be my last entry for my Ireland blog-something about MY O'Malley's.  In my never-ending search for identity, I turn first and last to my father, whose last name I bear- Charles Gerald O'Malley.  He never went by that name, though Charles Gerald O'Malley (Jerry, or big Jer) gave that same name to his son, Charles Gerald O'Malley (Jerry, or little Jer)).  And his son gave the same name to his son, Charles Gerald O'Malley (CG).  My dad had a license plate celebrating that fact, "CGO3".  He was very proud of that. 

 

My father was named after his father, Charles O'Malley (Charlie?).  I don't know what he went by because we never met him.  My search for my Irish roots begins with him.  Though my dad would have been mildly interested in finding info on his Irish ancestry, he would have much preferred learning something about his biological father.  In his drunken stupor, he often mumble, Why did he leave me?  Why did he never want to meet me? He spent much energy and resource trying to find him but failed to uncover any facts.  My father's abandonment by both of his parents was one of the most significant factors behind his alcoholism. 

This is what I know about Charles Furlong O'Malley;  He came from a respected Irish Catholic family in Omaha Nebraska, son of John J. O'Malley and Mable K. Furlong. From rumors, I don't think the family approved of his soon-to-be bride, Janet McFarland.  Aunt Roberta liked "Charlie" and had some type of relationship with him but Janet, her sister, was more attractive.  It's funny because as I look at the pictures on Ancestry supposedly of Janet, I think they mistakenly put Roberta's picture instead.  I'll have to correct that. 

Janet was a looker.  As a teen, she spent time in a school for wayward girls, so I know she was a little "wild fanny" as my dad would say, and had a problem following rules. She married Charlie and gave birth to 2 children, my father and his sister, Sally.  Around this time Janet met her very handsome, soon to be 2nd husband, Jimmy James, se left Charlie and ran off to honeymoon in Mexico with Jimmy and left both of her children in an orphanage.  She and Jimmy came back for Sally but left my father in the orphanage.  Her parents, Roy Oscar McFarland and Quinnie Grace Iden picked my father up from the orphanage and raised him in their home in Long Beach, California.  

 Through the years, my father had contact with his biological mother but never his dad.  I imagine Charlie felt rejected and abandoned as well.  Perhaps he was the one who put them in the orphanage because he didn't know what to do.  Charlie went back to live with his parents.  From census records, he was living with his parents back in Omaha, Nebraska in the 1950 as a divorced man, though his name is crossed off.  Rumor has it that he left the army prematurely and was hiding in Mexico.  When I say "rumor" I'm talking about some very loose and inebriated conversations between my father and his aunt Roberta passed down by word of mouth and sometimes tape-recorded for posterity.  

Another tidbit of info came from John O'Malley's obituary listing Charles as a survivor working as a salesman in Dallas Texas 1958.  He is not listed in his mother's obituary in 1973, so she may have outlived him.   We found a picture posted in Ancestry that may be Charles Furlong O'Malley but it could be an error. That's all I know about him.  Lots of questions.  No answers.

Dead end.  Is there ever such a thing?  Really?  It sure seems that way.  Being Memorial Day and all, I should be visiting my father's grave in Long Beach.  There he rests. If he's tracking visitors, it might give him yet another reason to turn to drink.  But it's not because I don't love him or don't remember him, or respect him.  I DO!  I just know he's not there.  

His bones are there.  But HE is not there. I know my father's spirit is alive and well.  I know the spirit world is right here on earth but I can't see it.  I know that he has met his father, Charles Furlong O'Malley.  I know he had the conversation and now understands his father's heart.  He has the answers to his life-long questions.   It has been an alternate route, but the dead-end O'Malley line has been connected somehow, somewhere.   O'Malley is a great name. I love my name. I went to the epicenter of the O'Malley name, so much so, that when I went into a gift shop for a little heritage pin, there was only one left so I could not buy more for all my living O'Malley relatives. 

 Shortly after I purchased my plane ticket to Ireland, I bought another ticket to California for our 4th of July annual family reunion around the pool in my brother's backyard.   Here I will sit with my MY O'Malley's- my mother, Sandy O'Malley, my siblings, Kathy O'Malley, and Jerry O'Malley along with their children and grandchildren. 

Though I filled 2 small research notebooks full of names of possible Irish relatives bearing my surname, the most important and beloved O'Malley's for me live in Southern California. The O'Malley motto is "Powerful by Sea and Land".  I'm even going to live up to that name as my brother shares his new retirement past time of wind-surfing. Grace O'Malley would be proud of our personal sailing!  This is MY Irish clan that IS powerful, in a wonderful sunny promised land of California, living by the sea.  My heritage forever.