Irish Heritage

With St. Paddy's Day coming up I thought I'd talk a little bit about my Irish heritage.  My Mother's family has a double shot of "Irishness", her maiden name was Kennedy, though unfortunately, a poor Kennedy.  I've been able to trace the family back to the early 1800's to a William Kennedy, but no further.  Family tradition says our family came from County Cork, but who knows.  Kennedy is such a common Irish name here in the States that it has been hard finding information.
The other bit of "Irishness" comes from her maternal Great Grandfather Michael Finn who was born in 1840 in Ireland, and with his father Thomas, emigrated to the States, but I don't know where or when.  He, Michael, married my Great Great Grandmother Mattie Blancet in Lafayette, Mississippi in 1875.  He died young and I don't know what happened to my Great Great Grandmother but my Great Grandmother Lizzie was raised by relatives in Arkansas and Oklahoma.
My Grandfather Richard Kennedy was very Irish looking with bright red hair and sparkling blue eyes.  And one of my Grandmother's Uncles, Ed Anderson, looked like a little Irish gnome.  My Mother had auburn hair and blue eyes and I have her blue eyes, but I don't particularly look Irish.

We traveled to Ireland in the late 90's and though I enjoyed the trip, freezing in July and all, it had no special feeling for me, not like England.  So that's the Irish side of me.