Ern, how did this feel when you met Robin? Was there a strange sense of family or was it just like meeting any other like-named person?

I felt a strange sense when I went to Ballymagauran (ancestral home to the McGovern family). Although my family is 4 generations removed from when my great-great-grandfather left the area, there was a strange sense of belonging.

When I stopped at the Mucky Duck pub in Ballymagauran, I had a chance to converse with the publican. He asked if I were a McGovern because of my looks. I told him that I was but did not know my GGGrandfather's name or where he was from (I since have learned this information). He pointed out several parts of my appearance (which I share with my father, uncles and brothers) which he felt was characteristic of the McGoverns in the area.

When I returned to the states, some of my friends were rather cynical about this, pointing out that it was probably good business for the publican to "see some family resemblence" in Americans stopping by...after all, what Americans would stop by Ballymagauran but McGoverns...but I still felt a connection.