And now for something different!

[HRM Resident]

My aunt managed to get one of these tickets in the
early 1960s. We were all sworn to secrecy. However, it
did not matter because she did not win anything!

==============================

The Irish Sweepstakes, formally known as the Irish Hospitals’ Sweepstakes,
was a lottery established in Ireland in 1930 to raise funds for hospitals.
Its key features included:

1. Purpose: To finance medical infrastructure in Ireland.
2. Popularity: It gained international fame, especially in the United
States and the United Kingdom, where lotteries were illegal at the time.
3. Ticket Sales: Tickets were sold worldwide, often through underground
networks in countries where it was illegal.
4. Draw Process: Tickets were linked to horses running in major races,
mostly in England. Winners were drawn in a public ceremony.
5. Impact: It was a major source of funding for Ireland’s medical
facilities and one of the country’s biggest employers.
6. Controversy: Despite its philanthropic intent, the sweepstakes were
mired in controversy, including concerns about exploitation and corruption.
7. End of Operations: It ceased operations in the late 1980s, as other
forms of legalized gambling became more prevalent.

The Irish Sweepstakes played a significant role in the early 20th-century
global gambling landscape and had a lasting impact on both Irish healthcare
funding and international perceptions of gambling legality.

=============================

--
HRM Resident

[lucr...@florence.it]

It's come a long way since then with all the gambling ads on
television :(

[HRM Resident]

<lucr...@florence.it> wrote:
>
> It's come a long way since then with all the gambling ads on
> television :(
>

Yeah. 1967 and onward. It started with the Olympic
Lotto, as I recall. Governments everywhere figured out
that the Irish were onto something good.

Speaking of the Irish, one fellow I worked with who grew
in Halifax (he would be in his 80s now) swore that the
Catholics were running bingos at St Patrick’s High School
to raise money for the IRA. This illustrates how much
foolishness people can be made to believe. It is
common knowledge we ran our IRA bingos in church
basements, not in high schools! :-)

I miss reading the news about The Troubles. It,
apparently, was a fun time in places like Belfast and
Derry. Even in London.

--
HRM Resident

[lucr...@florence.it]

On Fri, 12 Jan 2024 23:22:50 -0000 (UTC), HRM Resident
<hrm...@gmail.com> wrote:

><lucr...@florence.it> wrote:
>>
>> It's come a long way since then with all the gambling ads on
>> television :(
>>
> Yeah. 1967 and onward. It started with the Olympic
>Lotto, as I recall. Governments everywhere figured out
>that the Irish were onto something good.

Yes, that led to Atlantic Lotto

>
> Speaking of the Irish, one fellow I worked with who grew
>in Halifax (he would be in his 80s now) swore that the
>Catholics were running bingos at St Patrick’s High School
>to raise money for the IRA. This illustrates how much
>foolishness people can be made to believe. It is
>common knowledge we ran our IRA bingos in church
>basements, not in high schools! :-)
>
> I miss reading the news about The Troubles. It,
>apparently, was a fun time in places like Belfast and
>Derry. Even in London.

You wouldn't miss them if you had been there! I had a cousin who was
a UK infiltrator and went to Ireland seemingly as a ship worker in
Belfast. He knew that if he was ever found out, he was a slowly dead
man.

[HRM Resident]

<lucr...@florence.it> wrote:
>
> You wouldn't miss them if you had been there! I had
> a cousin who was a UK infiltrator and went to Ireland
> seemingly as a ship worker in Belfast. He knew that if
> he was ever found out, he was a slowly dead
> man.
>

One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.
It depends on which side you are on. Who was worse,
the IRA or the UDL? Flip a coin.

In the 1980s, I was on a ship in the Arctic, and we were
damaged by a hurricane. The plan was to go into Belfast
for repairs. The Canadian government wired us with
orders not to. Instead we sailed up the Clyde to Glasgow.

Belfast was not considered safe for anyone. So we got
to listen to the people in Scotland talk funny! And to
stay away from football games when the orange and
green teams were playing because violent riots often
occurred. I think Glasgow was safer than Belfast at the
time.

--
HRM Residen

[lucr...@florence.it]

On Sat, 13 Jan 2024 13:35:11 -0000 (UTC), HRM Resident
<hrm...@gmail.com> wrote:

><lucr...@florence.it> wrote:
>>
>> You wouldn't miss them if you had been there! I had
>> a cousin who was a UK infiltrator and went to Ireland
>> seemingly as a ship worker in Belfast. He knew that if
>> he was ever found out, he was a slowly dead
>> man.
>>
> One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.
>It depends on which side you are on. Who was worse,
>the IRA or the UDL? Flip a coin.

No need, they were both at fault for wrong reasons but both made the
territory unsafe if you didn't have to be there!

[HRM Resident]

lucr...@florence.it writes:
>
> No need, they were both at fault for wrong reasons but both made the
> territory unsafe if you didn't have to be there!

In spite of my last name being Irish, a genealogical study indicates
I'm half French and 40% Scottish . . . with 10% "who knows what?" Mostly
I'm a Canadian. So I didn't have a horse in the Troubles race.

I do study history, and the British were pretty brutal everywhere in
the 1800s and early 1900s until their empire rotted away (as all empires
do over time.) They didn't mind executing people who were 'sub
standard' and stealing anything of value for the motherland. Again a
classic feature of all empires, not unique to the British.

Ireland was not spared. They let ~2.5 million starve during
the 1845-1850 potato famine and another 2.5 million emigrate to NA,
Australia, etc. This when there was plenty to eat for the whole country
hoarded in Belfast for the Scottish Presbyterians brought in to
'civilize' the country. A good way to try to rid the island of the
animals!

Queen Victoria donated about 250K pounds of her personal 'allowance'
money to the starving Irish - the British Parliament wouldn't give them
a penny - sort of the way the Republicans think about non-WASPs in the
rotting empire south of us. They are not 'real' people.

No wonder there was a lot of hatred - the Irish carried out many
horiffic attacks on the British (Whee! Look! There goes pieces of Uncle
Louie Mountbatten, etc.), and the British summarily executed the ones
they caught for a couple of centuries. All in the name of the same god
and multi-generational hatred and mistrust on both sides.

At least it seems to have settled down these days.

--
HRM Resident

[lucr...@florence.it]

On Sat, 13 Jan 2024 12:55:51 -0400, HRM Resident <hrm...@gmail.com>
wrote:

>lucr...@florence.it writes:
>>
>> No need, they were both at fault for wrong reasons but both made the
>> territory unsafe if you didn't have to be there!
> In spite of my last name being Irish, a genealogical study indicates
>I'm half French and 40% Scottish . . . with 10% "who knows what?" Mostly
>I'm a Canadian. So I didn't have a horse in the Troubles race.

You should not put trust in those DNA tests, didn't you see the
Marketplace where they sent samples from identical twins (without
saying so) and one came back as European and the other came back as
South American - not possible, since identical twins have identical
DNA, only people who do I think.

>
> I do study history, and the British were pretty brutal everywhere in
>the 1800s and early 1900s until their empire rotted away (as all empires
>do over time.) They didn't mind executing people who were 'sub
>standard' and stealing anything of value for the motherland. Again a
>classic feature of all empires, not unique to the British.
>
> Ireland was not spared. They let ~2.5 million starve during
>the 1845-1850 potato famine and another 2.5 million emigrate to NA,
>Australia, etc. This when there was plenty to eat for the whole country
>hoarded in Belfast for the Scottish Presbyterians brought in to
>'civilize' the country. A good way to try to rid the island of the
>animals!
>
> Queen Victoria donated about 250K pounds of her personal 'allowance'
>money to the starving Irish - the British Parliament wouldn't give them
>a penny - sort of the way the Republicans think about non-WASPs in the
>rotting empire south of us. They are not 'real' people.
>
> No wonder there was a lot of hatred - the Irish carried out many
>horiffic attacks on the British (Whee! Look! There goes pieces of Uncle
>Louie Mountbatten, etc.), and the British summarily executed the ones
>they caught for a couple of centuries. All in the name of the same god
>and multi-generational hatred and mistrust on both sides.
>
> At least it seems to have settled down these days.

I'd disagree fervently on that, politics of hate are almost identical
to the 1920/30 and look what followed. Do you not think it is
starting now with the US and UK bombing Yemen?

[HRM Resident]

<lucr...@florence.it> wrote:
>
> You should not put trust in those DNA tests, didn't you see the
> Marketplace where they sent samples from identical twins (without
> saying so) and one came back as European and the other came back as
> South American - not possible, since identical twins have identical
> DNA, only people who do I think.

I did see that. My comment was based on knowing my
linage back to my great grandparents on both sides.
The 50/40 split is because my mother was 80-90%
Scottish dating back to the ship Hector now tied up
in Pictou as a museum ship.

My father was 3/4 French. So little Irish in me! I never
took any DNA test. As I said, I reckon I am all Canadian.

>> At least it seems to have settled down these days.
>
> I'd disagree fervently on that, politics of hate are almost identical
> to the 1920/30 and look what followed. Do you not think it is
> starting now with the US and UK bombing Yemen?
>

I was referring to the situation in Ireland. The Middle
East is a tinderbox. So is much of Europe because they
are electing populist, nationalist governments. There is
nothing we can do about it. It is like 1913 and 1938
Europe.

--
HRM Resident

[axemen99]

DNA can be used in many other ways. With DNA test and ancestry, you may
find some unknown relatives from ship Hector. Project for elderly.

My wife is Irish/Swiss. She was able to trace back to related European
immigrants to Truro NS, Chester NS, Aspy Bay NS and Montague PEI. All
before the forming of Canada.

She is also related to a black guy in California, probably a cousin who
ran away years ago.

[Mike Spencer]

HRM Resident <hrm...@gmail.com> writes:

> My comment was based on knowing my linage back to my great
> grandparents on both sides.

The Spencer name traces back to the court of William the Conqueror
along a very respectable line down, on the one hand, to Princess
Diana's family and, on the other, to the 3rd and 4th Dukes of
Marlborough. (There were a couple of bad apples in the reign of Edward
II.)

But as far as tracing back my own family, it kinda peters out before
my grandfather who was alleged to have run away from home at an early
age because the family was too poor for feed all the kids. I never
learned how he went from poverty-stricken run-away to prosperous
dealer in pianos, musical instruments and talking machines by late
middle age.

I always thought, though, that it was too bad it wasn't my branch of
the family the got Blenheim. Nice digs.

--
Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada

[Mike Spencer]

HRM Resident <hrm...@gmail.com> writes:

> My comment was based on knowing my linage back to my great
> grandparents on both sides.

[Mike Spencer]

Sorry for double post. I got a "denied server" message, reposted,
got same and gave up. Then found that both had gone through.

[axemen99]

Yes, nice digs. Most of the time, it is the stories from grandparents,
aunts or uncle that matter. Once you have that, and combine with those
with DNA tests and gossips from ancestry, you can trace back to the
older generations. Your family would love to keep those stories.

I was told, from an aunt, that my son is a descendant of Governor
Bradford of Massachusetts, who arrived here on Mayflower from England.
We were able to trace that back 12 generations, with names, that he is
indeed a descendant of of the Mayflower.
https://themayflowersociety.org/passenger-profiles/

[Mike Spencer]

axemen99 <axem...@gmail.com> writes:

> I was told, from an aunt, that my son is a descendant of Governor
> Bradford of Massachusetts, who arrived here on Mayflower from England.
> We were able to trace that back 12 generations, with names, that he is
> indeed a descendant of of the Mayflower.
> https://themayflowersociety.org/passenger-profiles/

Hello, Cuz. :-)

My maternal grandmother's maiden name was Bradford, putting her father
in the Bradford line. My mother and grandmother were keen on the
Mayflower connection which they felt had been in some way
established. But there was never any paper work that I ever saw or
heard of.

One treasured family possession that I still have is "Bradford's
'History of Plimoth Plantation', from the original manuscript", 1898.
It has a lot of indecipherable handwritten notes on the flyleaf that may
relate to efforts by Texas Bradfords to connect to Plimoth ones.

[lucr...@florence.it]

On 14 Jan 2024 19:30:18 -0400, Mike Spencer

I hope you're not wanting us to bow and curtsey - my knees can no
longer accomodate such actions :-ş

[axemen99]

Hi Cuz!

The ancestry trace is mostly via the cooperative efforts. Others have
posted their family trees on web sites (paid or free). By combining
your notes with theirs, you would have fun to create your own family tree.

My son's maternal grandmother's maiden name was Weston. The claim was
thru this relationship, tracing back to Governor Bradford.

[HRM Resident]

lucr...@florence.it writes:
>
> I hope you're not wanting us to bow and curtsey - my knees can no

> longer accomodate such actions :-þ
I think most of us left here would have a problem with a curtsey! :-)

--
HRM Resident

[axemen99]

On 1/13/2024 4:47 PM, lucr...@florence.it wrote:
> You should not put trust in those DNA tests, didn't you see the
> Marketplace where they sent samples from identical twins (without
> saying so) and one came back as European and the other came back as
> South American - not possible, since identical twins have identical
> DNA, only people who do I think.

23andMe DNA test reunited him with his 27-year-old daughter...
https://www.wcvb.com/article/oklahoma-sentinel-dna-test-father-daughter-reunited/46384218

[Mike Spencer]

lucr...@florence.it writes:

> I hope you're not wanting us to bow and curtsey - my knees can no
> longer accomodate such actions :-ş

Nah, nah. For the Nth son, many times removed, of a colonial governor
or even of the Duke of Marlborough, your status as Italian nobility
absolves you of any duty to curtsy or bow. You just, yew know, sweep
in and wait for others to do that. If "sweeping in" itself has become
a bit onerous with age, a some voluminous skirts should help generate
the desired effect.

[lucr...@florence.it]

On 15 Jan 2024 18:27:47 -0400, Mike Spencer

Lol, that gave me a nice laugh for the evening.