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細節
REAGAN, Ronald. Five typed letters signed ("Ronald Reagan"), as Governor of California, to Richard Austin-Cooper, Sacramento, California, 17 February - 12 September 1967. Together 6 pages, 4to, Governor's Office stationery, with recipient's notations on margins and upper right corners.
"MY FATHER'S FAMILY CAME FROM COUNTY CORK IN IRELAND..." REAGAN INVESTIGATES HIS ANCESTRY WITH AN ENGLISH GENEALOGIST
Eager to trace the Anglo-Irish roots of California's governor (and future President), Richard Austin-Cooper asks Reagan's permission to investigate his lineage. "I would have no objection to your proceeding," Reagan responds on 17 February, but wonders "how much help I can be in giving you a starting place." He knows only the barest details of his family but gains important new information over the course of the correspondence: "My father's family came from County Cork in Ireland, and I believe the immigrant to this country was my grandfather, John M. Reagan, but I'm not even sure that he was born in Ireland...On my mother's side, I am equally at a loss with regard to her father..." He knows a bit more about his maternal grandmother, Mary Elsey, including the romantic tale that she may have descended from Lord Napier, only to be disowned by the family for "marrying beneath her station." On 6 June Reagan reports having received "out of a clear sky," from a second cousin, the news that his father had two sisters, both of whom died very young. The shadow of Reagan's troubled relationship with his alcoholic father is evident between the lines of this sketchy family history. Even what little he knows about paternal grandfather Michael Reagan is incorrect: he was not born in Cork, as Gov. Reagan tells Austin-Cooper, but in Ballyporeen, County Tipperary, which Reagan eventually visited as President in 1984. His knowledge--and his loyalty--is weighted decisively towards his mother's side: "My father was Catholic," he writes on 4 May, "and I assume his parents were, in fact have every feeling they were. I am not Catholic however, since my mother's family were Protestant." (5)
"MY FATHER'S FAMILY CAME FROM COUNTY CORK IN IRELAND..." REAGAN INVESTIGATES HIS ANCESTRY WITH AN ENGLISH GENEALOGIST
Eager to trace the Anglo-Irish roots of California's governor (and future President), Richard Austin-Cooper asks Reagan's permission to investigate his lineage. "I would have no objection to your proceeding," Reagan responds on 17 February, but wonders "how much help I can be in giving you a starting place." He knows only the barest details of his family but gains important new information over the course of the correspondence: "My father's family came from County Cork in Ireland, and I believe the immigrant to this country was my grandfather, John M. Reagan, but I'm not even sure that he was born in Ireland...On my mother's side, I am equally at a loss with regard to her father..." He knows a bit more about his maternal grandmother, Mary Elsey, including the romantic tale that she may have descended from Lord Napier, only to be disowned by the family for "marrying beneath her station." On 6 June Reagan reports having received "out of a clear sky," from a second cousin, the news that his father had two sisters, both of whom died very young. The shadow of Reagan's troubled relationship with his alcoholic father is evident between the lines of this sketchy family history. Even what little he knows about paternal grandfather Michael Reagan is incorrect: he was not born in Cork, as Gov. Reagan tells Austin-Cooper, but in Ballyporeen, County Tipperary, which Reagan eventually visited as President in 1984. His knowledge--and his loyalty--is weighted decisively towards his mother's side: "My father was Catholic," he writes on 4 May, "and I assume his parents were, in fact have every feeling they were. I am not Catholic however, since my mother's family were Protestant." (5)