John++Varela

__Stories from the Paternal Side of My Family__ My great-great grandfather, Alejandro Varela, was born in Madrid, Spain. He immigrated to America in 1857, and joined the 39th Regiment, also known as the Garibaldi Guards, in New York City in 1861. He was discharged from the Guards for rheumatism on June 19, 1861 after about 3 months of service. He lived in Washington, D.C. afterwards, where the 39th Regiment had been stationed before he was discharged.
 * __My Family's Immigration Story__**

James Birney, my great-great-great-great grandfather, ran away from home at age 16 and took a ship from Dublin to Philadelphia in September 1767. The day he arrived in Philadelphia, he was employed in a dry-goods store. In 1788, he moved to Danville, KY and opened his own store. He married Martha Reed in 1790, but her parents disapproved of the marriage, so they eloped for some time. Nonetheless, Birney remained successful and opened a second branch of his store and eventually owned an estate called Woodlawn in Danville (I do not know whether he purchased it or had it built). __Stories from the Maternal Side of My Family__ Anne Ellen Morrison came to America when she was 13 years old in the 1870s. Each sibling of the Morrison family went to America individually and would make enough money to pay for the next sibling's passage. Anne was the last sibling to come, and her sister was supposed to find her when she arrived at Portland, MA (which is where her family was living). Unfortunately, her s ister did not show up when Anne arrived, and she was forced to walk to her sister's home. A detail my grandmother is always eager to share about Anne Morrison's story is that she stopped to rest on the steps of the Church of the Sacred Heart, and there may have asked for advice from the priests at the church (but that detail is not certain). Later she met Cullman Joseph McDonough (who was not related to her in any way, despite his last name) and married him at age 18. Other Members of My Family Abraham Preble, another member of my family, came to Scituate, MA from England in the 1637, but little is known about why he came and what his life in America was like. Thomas Dunn came to Virginia from Northern Ireland in 1620, and I could not find any information about him either. __Bibliography__ __39th Infantry Regiment Monument at Gettysburg.__ 27 March 2006 New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center. 8 May 2009 []. __39th New York State Volunteers "Garibaldi Guards" 4th D Company "The Spanish Company"__. 5 May 2009. [|__http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/civil-war-cubans/garibaldi-guard.htm.]

Morrison, Dolores. Personal interview. 29 April 2009.