Family History

Chapter 1: Family
It was 1988 and Maria's school asked children to bring in old family photos.

"Grandpa? I must ask you something, do you have any family photos? It's for school." She asked him.

Mikey stood up.

"I thought you would never ask." Mikey said.

Mikey got up from his chair.

"In my room Maria." He said.

Maria entered the room.

"Okay, We'll start with my parents, My dad was Irish and my mom was English, so you are half Japanese, quarter Irish and quarter English." He told her.

He showed them a photo of them.

"This photo was taken in July 16, 1924, their wedding day." Mikey said.

She was then shown a photo of two men and a woman holding a baby.

The two men wore navy blue coats, buttoned shirts, trousers while the woman wore a ivory white hat with red flowers on it.

The two men held a smile.

"This was your great-great-uncles, Ailin and Liam and great-great grandma Caohmie, this was them in 1905, Ailin was 18 and Liam 17, their older sister was 27, She was 42 when Ailin died, and 44 when Liam died, They were in the IRA." He said.

And he noticed the girl's expression.

"Not that IRA, my dear girl." He said in an assuring voice.

He then showed her a very old photograph of a Confederate soldier and a woman.

"This was Saoirse and Joseph McNamara." He said.

”I need both sides.” She said

He showed them a picture of him and Ichiro together, Ichiro looked very thin.

”Ichiro and me are at least 19 in 1945, Ichiro allowed me to keep his family photos safe, if you are wondering why he is so thin, He didn’t get enough food and didn’t have regular meals, so it would be days until he’d eaten.” He said.

He then showed her a picture of Ichiro’s deceased sister and himself.

”Sachiko was 15 and Ichiro was 18 when this was taken, so, 1944, He was sick at the time.” He explained.

Then he showed her a picture of Kenta Tachimi, her great-grandfather, aged 18.

The 18-year old Kenta wore western clothing, he was with a woman.

He resembled his son Ichiro alot.

”This was your great-grandpa in 1921, aged 18 and that was your great-grandma, aged 17.”

He then showed him another photo, it was Ichiro at the beach, he looked much healthier than the previous photo.

”Ichiro was 16 when this was taken, so, maybe 1940, this was before Pearl Harbor.” He said.

He showed him a photo of Joseph and an older man in a similar uniform to Joseph.

”That’s Michael, Joseph, Mia and Saoirse’s dad.” He said

Michael had a sterm expression on his face, despite this, he was not ugly, not even the slightest, he had a rather handsome face, he was shorter than his son though.

”Do you know how tall he was?” Maria asked.

”If my grandmother was to be believed, he was 5’4, Poor nutrition affected his growth, he was a refugee from the Irish potato famine, He was described as having feminine-looking hips due to his.” Mikey said.

Then he showed her an old locket.

”Your 4x great grandma had this locket, Aofie took this photo.” She said.

He opened up the locket, it showed a photo of Michael, his brown eyes gazing at the camera.

”He didn’t speak English too well, He was from the Gaeltacht, Mia never renounced her Confederate father, no, don’t get me wrong, She wasn’t a racist bigot, She didn’t like the KKK, She was always a daddy’s girl, This passed down through her family, when I die, your father will have this locket and when he dies, You will be the one to inherit it.” He said.