The Roach Family Crest

This is a pretty neat description of the origin of the Roach family name I just found....

Did you know Roach means "Rock"? So many perfect applications for that definition....

Don't let the long first paragraph scare you!



Origin: Irish

Non-Gaelic elements made their first appearance in Irish nomenclature after the Strongbow settlers began to arrive on Irish shores. Although the Irish already had an established a system of hereditary surnames, the Anglo-Normans also brought their own traditions with them when they arrived. The two systems were not extremely conflicting, and eventually drew upon one another. Although local surnames, such as Roach, were not entirely unknown to the Irish, this form of surname was much more popular with the Strongbownians. Local names were taken from the names of a place or a geographical feature where the person lived, held land, or was born. Originally, these place names were prefixed by de, which means from in French. This type of prefix was eventually either made a part of the surname, if the place name began with a vowel, or was eliminated entirely. The local names of these Anglo-Norman invaders first referred to places in Normandy, or more typically England, but eventually for those Strongbownians or their descendents that remained in Ireland, the local names really did begin to refer to local places or geographical features of the island. The Roach family appears to have originally lived in a rocky area or near some notable rock. The surname Roach is derived from the Old French word roche, which means rock. The surname Roach belongs to the class of topographic surnames, which were given to people who resided near physical features such as hills, streams, churches, or types of trees. The Gaelic form of the surname Roach is de Róiste.

Spelling variations include: Roche, Roach, Roache, LaRoche, LaRoach, DeLaRoach, Roack, Roch, Roiche, St.Roche, Rocheland, Rochellan and many more.

First found in county Limerick where they were granted lands by Strongbow whom they accompanied into Ireland during the Anglo-Norman invasion of 1172.

Some of the first settlers of this name or some of its variants were: William Roach settled in Virginia in 1707; Edmund, Frederick, James, John, Margaret, Mary, Michael, Patrick, Richard, Thomas and William Roach all arrived in Philadelphia between 1840 and 1870.
Motto Translated: My God is my rock.

PARTAAYYY IN SD 2007!!!!! 21 and OLDER!!!!

Projected Date: Either March 9-11 or March 16-18 (majority rules, so whichever date is voted for most!)
Restrictions: Must obtain valid 21+ id. (whether or not the picture and name are you, use your discretion)
Target Population: Roach cousins, spouses, S.O.'s or potential S.O.'s.
Plan: Party like Rock Stars with Caitlin and Colleen in their new ruled city, with lots of beach lounging time.
Where: San Diego, of course. We are your new SoCal cousins!!!!
Exceptions: Some aunts and uncles may think this sounds like a brilliant idea, and would like to join in on the fun. We vote.........................................most likely noooot gonna happen, but you may test the vote if you're feeling lucky :0)
Accommodations: Bomb-diggity, resort-style apartamentos in La Jolla. (courtesy of Colleen and Caitlin)
RSVP: BLOG

Official Date will be posted when we have sufficient responses by fellow blogging cousins or word of mouth to those cousins who aren't cool enough to blog.
-Colleen/Caitlin/Miguel-honorary non-cousin

Perpetual Roach Reunion

Hi All,
I just had an excellent phone call from Bart via some sort of computer hook-up. The connection was perfect! He sounded great, happy and has had excellent experiences, has many plans and a very busy agenda. He was getting ready to fix dinner with a group of friends! He had just gotten pick-pocketed in a busy crowded touristy congested bottle-neck by a 8yo girl who passed his wallet off to her father. He lost his wallet, bank card, driver license, ~$30US. His wallet was in his front pocket and he was even thinking it would be a spot for such a caper!!!! These felons are very good. In his youth hostel later he learned others had had the same experience in the exact same location!!! Nancy, does this remind you of the same modus operendi in Rome @ the Vatican?

Anyway, he is happy, healthy and having a good experience.

As ever,
daddio or big mike

--
John Michael G Roach, MD
GASTROENTEROLOGY
"The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory...but progress." --Joseph Joubert (1754-1824)

Happy Birthday Tommy!!!!

Two 15-Year Olds for a Week!

Just so you know, we have 2, count 'em, 2, Fifteen year olds for this week in our household!!!!

G-Ma's Fresh Coat

Last weekend, a crew of us led by Kevin and Brian Roach put in a total of approximately 100 man (and woman) hours, giving Grandma a freshie. Uncle Pat deserves extra props for being the only Oldie who was with us for the duration.

A good time was had by all, and Grandma LOVES her new paint job!

Observe:

John Michael Talbot Concert

All,

As you probably know, the Luke Roach Scholarship Fund is putting on a concert featuring John Michael Talbot, monk and guitaris extraordinaire. This concert will be a little different from his last one here, as he will be performing songs from his newest album "Monk Rock", which should be a little "friendlier" to my generation.

We would love all of your help in promoting this. We haven't sold as many tickets as we'd like yet, and we really need to get on the ball.

Here is a PDF that contains all the pertinent information. If you have any questions, please direct them to My Mother Nancy.

Thanks, and with your help we can make this a big success for Prep and for Luke's legacy.

Big Month for the Thornhills

Big Month for the Thornhills

I was checking out one of those calendars that have important dates for each month of the year and August just screamed Thornhills.

Looking at 3 birthdays (Ailis, Fiona and Sinead) and the 18th wedding anniversary for Tere and Katie made me think how lucky we are to have you all in our lives. What at loss it would have been had you two never met and deprived the community of your love, committment and those beautiful daughters...thank the Lord for Irish Bars!

Enjoy a great August,

Love,
Bill

Let's Plan Another Family Campout (a/k/a "Herding Cats!!")

My calendar this week reminded me once again that this first weekend of August is the one we set aside several years ago to stage an annual family campout. If there's some interest in getting something going for next summer, please offer your input.

I think we've gone to Mt. Ranier twice and to the Leavenworth area once. Last time we discussed it (three summers ago) we kicked around the idea of going to a campground at the Gorge near Bonneville Dam. Then Liz's family and mine headed to the East Coast instead. Without us being present, naturally no one else wanted to get together. We enjoyed lobster w/the Sullivans in Maine w/o you guys!!

The Winthrop area is gorgeous, as is the Olympic Penninsula. (Remember camping at Klalock when we were kids?) Vancouver Island has a lot to offer, as does the rest of B.C. Jacquie and I and our kids go two or three times a year to Cannon Beach where we stay in a house on the beach that belongs to friends. The setting where we stay is pretty remote (from the crowd) and is a bit of paradise and there are a number of houses closeby that could be rented although they are pretty spendy.

I suggest that we set aside a time that works for the greatest number of interested family members and then decide on a place. My gang doesn't think traveling 6-7 hours to a good spot is any big deal, provided we're going to stay for at least 3 nights!

Let's first nail down the weekends that won't work for a family campout. The things that I can think of that are on the calendar for next summer are the proposed Sullivan family reunion and the boat races.

Any weddings in the works? (If so, no need to divulge the secrets yet - we'll plan around you Joe, Colleen, Dom, Caitlin, whoever!)

Your thoughts?

Droesch's New Presidential Vehicle

Droesches, please post a jpg of your new bling bling that you bought.