At the onset of 2021, I received my ancestry.com DNA kit back, and aside from finding out that I’m Ashkenazi Jewish, I found out I’m also Scots-Irish. I began doing a lot of research and one of my uncles already had an Ancestry family tree mapped out, so I had some help in my work. On the Jewish side of my family, I found out my great grandfather was a Rabbi Pinchas in Pennsylvania, who was rather well known, on my Irish side, that’s a bit…more.

I poured through countless historical documents, tracing family lineages and branches back century after century into the past until I made some startling discoveries. On one side of my family tree, between my uncle, me, and even government officials in Ireland, were able to trace my familial lineage back to the high kings of Tara in Ireland. While this was very cool unto itself, there was still more to come.

My family through distant relatives still cared for the castle there and had a claim staked therein and I was entitled as a direct descendant, to be proclaimed a lord/laird. I was issued a patens of nobility and a hand writ award of arms to the land of Ardmore in Ireland, through the local government and associated bodies. I am with the Macgregor clan through my Cook Lineage and Quinn clan via the Tupper side. 

I now carry a card in my wallet indicating my lordship in Ardmore, which I found out is a very small fishing village, important to Christianity in Ireland (though I’m a Jew). So I am proud of both my Jewish side, as well as my noble Irish side and wear the title of lord of Ardmore with honor.