Irish Heritage

I believe past lives are nonsense because every time someone has a reading of a past life, they were a king, magician, lord or famous figure. My family’s past lives: horse thief, indentured servant, farmer, fireman, outlaw.

I was born to a schizophrenic 15 year old girl and her 17 year old biker boyfriend. They chose to name me Jessica Shadow McQuaid. They gave me up to my maternal grandparents when I was 18 months old, and when they gave up their parental rights to me and my grandparents officially adopted me when I was 11, my name changed to Jessica McQuaid Lowry.

I hear I suffered severe neglect and abuse as an infant but I don’t remember any of it. The scars on my arms and legs look like cigarette burns and they are the only link I have to that time. What I do remember of the McQuaids are the summers my Lowry grandparents allowed me to spend on my Grandpa Lyle McQuaid’s farm in upper Michigan. Grandpa Lyle never finished elementary school; I didn’t realize until recently that he is illiterate. He also built his home with his own hands from wood he logged, taught me to ride a cow, milk a goat, and clean a fish. He offered few words but many gentle pats and encouraging smiles. When he did speak, he spoke of Ireland and our family’s journey. He also always told me I was “brilliant” and “it doesn’t matter your parents were shite” and that he was “proud of our McQuaid heritage” and I should be, too. I am.

The McQuaid family name has existed in Ireland over centuries under many spellings including McQuade, MacQuoad, and Mac Uaid. My great-great-grandfather John McQuaid was born in County Armagh, Ireland in 1837 and sold himself into indentured servitude in Canada to save himself and his family from the Potato Famine. His descendants settled in 1930 in Onaway, Michigan in the US, and my grandpa Lyle lives there still.

The picture provided by bible records, news clippings, and government records is sparse and often conflicting, but the documentation I’ve been able to put together suggests that most of the McQuaids were hard working, honest folks who came to the US with the best of intentions. We boast a Pulitzer Prize Winner, horse thieves, indentured servants, poets, singers, ship crofters, an Archbishop, bikers, the usual family tree. All of us in the US are here because our ancestors sold themselves into indentured servitude to get us here. I used to have a lot of Liberal Guilt and after researching my lineage, I’m done with that. I also used to be ashamed to talk about my childhood, and I’m done with that too.


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