When I began researching family history, my husband and his sister repeated what they'd heard from their father about Irish ancestors: "they came from County Cork."

After several false starts I learned how common - and often mistaken - these words were. The phrase doesn't necessarily mean the ancestors lived in County Cork. More likely they departed from the busy port at Cobh/Queenstown.

Of the six million who left Ireland for America, Canada and Australia after 1815, nearly half departed from Cobh. The seaport village on the Cork Harbour had several Irish names until 1750 when it came to be called "Cobh" (the Cove of Cork). Cobh is pronounced cove in Ireland. In 1849 Queen Victoria visited Ireland, and in her honor, Cobh was renamed Queenstown. This remained the port's name until 1921 when authorities of the Irish Free State renamed it Cobh. Cobh was a major point of departure for many Irish during the famine years. The first steam-powered ship to cross the Atlantic departed from Cobh in 1838 and cut the journey from 50 days to 18. Later in the 19th century, Irish from the north and east often travelled to Liverpool, where they boarded ships bound for New York via Queenstown. In both situations, the last view the emigrants had of their beloved Ireland was the coast of County Cork. Consequently, "they came from Cork."

None of my husband's ancestors ever lived in County Cork although it seems likely they emigrated from Cobh/Queenstown.