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Sherlock's Genealogical Adventures

Follow Sherlock on his adventures into genealogical mysteries.

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I'm Polish, but Today We Can All Be Irish

Poland Traditions & Interest

Tim Firkowski

Tuesday, 17 March 2015

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HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY! My father was born in Poland and I have Polish ancestry, but today I am going to be Irish. Given the fact that it is St. Patrick's Day, I thought i would share a story about my discovery of a real 4 leaf clover when I was a child. I grew up in the farm country of Wisconsin in a home that was surrounded by the fields of farmland crops. My siblings and I spent lots of time playing outside as there were no gaming systems or computers at that time. I was playing in the front lawn and saw this small patch of clover and began looking closely at it.

I discovered a 4 leaf clover! WOW did I feel lucky! I kept looking in the patch just for fun and found another 4 leaf clover, and then another.... This was really exciting so I ran inside to tell my mother, my siblings followed me out to the little patch of clover to see. I showed them what I found and found even more 4 leaf clovers as I was showing off my prize patch. My siblings all wanted to look too, but that was my patch and they had to get their own.

I continued a very careful search through my little patch and actually made discovery of not only more 4 leaf clovers, but 5, 6, 7 & 8 leaf clovers. Now I am not sure if this is a freak of nature or if it had anything to do with the fact that we did not live far from a nuclear power plant, but I was holding some strange specimens.

OK, OK you are all thinking I am telling a tall tale right? NOT! and believe it or not - to this day, I CAN PROVE IT! Yes, I was a smart little boy and took those multi-leafed clovers and put them in a book. For all these years they have rested gently between the pages of a little book on coins. I was collecting coins at the time. I still have that little book and the pages are full of specimens collected those many years ago. I know that some of the clovers that had more leaves on them have fell off over time, but I am sure with a microscope the remains could verify the clovers with high leaf count. I had looked for that patch of magic clover every year after, but it never again found another multi leaved clover. It was without a doubt lucky in that year alone.

You would think that owning so many of these lucky items I should be a billionaire about now, but alas that has not come to pass. Maybe all those other types of clover are not as lucky and the luck gets canceled out. If you ever stop by, ask me to show them to you, but don't ask me to have one. Maybe I should take some them out and put them on eBay? Maybe that is how I am to make my billions?

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About the author

Tim Firkowski

I have been doing genealogy research since 2002 & have worked full time as a Professional Genealogist since 2008. I specialize in Polish and American-Canadian Genealogy. As a member of APG, I was the 2010/2011 President of the New England Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists (NEAPG). I have Certificates of Completion for studies in "Foundations of Forensic Genealogy" and "Advanced Forensic Genealogy Techniques". I have been a volunteer librarian at the local Family History Center, and a genealogy research consultant at “Ask the Expert” Ancestry Road Shows. I have traveled to Poland numerous times & researched in churches and archives. At conferences and special events, you may find me dressed up in my Sherlock Holmes outfit, or my Kujawy (the folk costume from the region in Poland where my ancestors came from).