52 Ancestors Week 3 - Longevity - Grandad Mike
I've often wondered how it is that some people have such long lives. Is it merely genetics or do other factors come into play? Grandad Mike came into my life when I was nine or ten. You may think that is quite odd, but in fact he was my only grandfather. My mother's father died when I was a baby; my father's father lived on the other side of the world so I never really knew him. But Grandad Mike chose us by marrying my grandmother who had been widowed quite young. Michael Patrick O'Neill was born in County Waterford, Ireland, although we didn't know he was born in 1921 for many years. He came from a poor family whom I assume subsisted on a tiny piece of land. He had an elder brother, Jack, who never married and stayed on the land. Another brother, Tom, moved to England and his sister, Sister Mary, became a nun. There were few opportunities and Michael emigrated, working in Australia and on Nauru Island, before coming to New Zealand. His field was civil const...