Talking with Charla...

This week I talked to my Aunt Charla "Thomas" Sparks, about the Johnston side of the family. One of our Darlene "Rouch" Crider cousins had submitted a recipe for Illinois State Fair for heirloom recipes. It talked about the Johnston side being what is called 'Black Irish,' which I had never heard of and neither had Charla or Aunt Janice "Rouch"Herrold. Aunt Janice looked it up and found three possible explanation on why they are called 'black Irish,' the first reason being that when a majority of the Irish emigrated was during the potato famine and the potato's were getting a blight that was causing the potatoes to have black spots. The second reason they might have been called 'black Irish' is because of the region that they emigrated from the people where known to have a darker completion, darker hair, and darker eyes. Aunt Janice said that the first two explanations fit the time period, and the description of our family. Which in turn made me wonder that if my father's, Angela's, and William's completion fit with that reasoning.