Patricia Phelan went on a trip to Switzerland, the home
country of her great-grandfather Auguste Charrot.
By Patricia Phelan
My heritage is 75 percent Irish, and for many years I’ve devoted most of my genealogical research efforts to my forebears from Ireland. It’s not for lack of interest that I haven’t hunted down my other European ancestors. In fact, as a novice genealogist I concentrated on the French-Swiss branch of my mother Mary Charrot’s family. I discovered that Mom’s paternal grandfather, Auguste Charrot (pronounced “sha-roe”), who emigrated to Brooklyn in 1880, was born in Plainpalais in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1857. My mother had inherited Auguste’s gold locket, inscribed “La Cecilienne, Geneve, 1880”; it was likely a parting gift from the local choir he sang in.
Auguste’s father was born in the hamlet of Charrot in 1822 and baptized in Compesières church. His mother hailed from nearby Perrignier, in the Haute-Savoie area of France. This couple, my great-great-grandparents, were married in the Catholic church in Bossey in 1851.
For many years, I dreamt of visiting these places, in particular Charrot, whence came my mother’s family name.
A few years ago, my dream became a reality when my Irish husband, Tom, and I traveled to Haute-Savoie and Switzerland, spending time in the villages, churches and cemeteries associated with my ancestors. The highlight for us was a visit to Charrot, where we were warmly welcomed by distant cousins, who still carry the Charrot name. It is a day I will always treasure.
Bistro owners Stephanie Barrillier and
Henry Stone of Clonegall, Co. Carlow.
Now what does any of this have to do with Ireland? Well, in Switzerland, we discovered that one of my Charrot relatives has a daughter who, like myself, is married to an Irishman. The couple, Stephanie Barrillier and Henry Stone, live in Clonegall, Co. Carlow, where they run a gem of a restaurant on Main Street. There’s a commemorative plaque on the wall outside, which reads "Patrick O'Donohoe: Principal participant in the Young Ireland rising (1848) in Ballingarry Co Tipperary, and exiled to Van Dieman's Land, Australia. Born in this house 1810 and died a pauper in Brooklyn, New York, 1854."
For the past 10 years, the bistro has earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand designation, meaning it offers "exceptional good food at moderate prices." The “Michelin Guide” praises its “flavorsome, classical cooking of local produce.”
The restaurant’s name: the Sha-Roe Bistro.
And that’s how my mother’s French-Swiss name ended up in Ireland.
Copyright c 2017 by Glanvil Enterprises, Ltd. A version of this article first appeared in the Newsletter of the Irish Family History Forum and is reprinted with its permission. You can read more about the Sha-Roe Bistro at sha-roe.ie. Patricia Phelan is a professional genealogist. She can be contacted at Glanvil3@aol.com.
