1981 to 2025: Tourist recalls being 'adopted' by local children on visit to Limerick

IF YOU were a child in 1981 who, along with a group of your friends, bumped into a pair of American tourists “wandering around” King John’s Castle, you might recognise this photo!

Philadelphia native Samuel Mason, 71, is making his way back to Limerick after almost 45 years, looking to find out more about his roots and revisit old memories - including the one pictured above.

Samuel previously visited the Treaty City in September 1981, aged 27, where he and his friend and cycle buddy, Leonard Busby, were “adopted” by a group of Limerick schoolchildren.

Samuel, who studied history in college, made sure that the pair stopped off at King John’s Castle on their short visit to the city.

There, they came across a troupe of local youths who were interested in “these two strange guys” from the US wandering around the castle, and “wanted to know what life was like in America”.

The pair’s visit to Limerick fell on one of the final days of their cycling tour of Ireland, before they flew home from Shannon Airport.

Samuel has many fond memories of the trip, but his stint in Limerick remains a favourite to this day.

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These memories have become even fonder to him now, as he has since discovered that he actually hails from Limerick.

His great-great-great-grandfather, also named Samuel Mason, was born in Limerick in the mid-18th century to an Irish woman and a British soldier.

His great-great-great-grandfather went on to marry a woman from Roscrea before emigrating from Ireland to the USA on May 20, 1793.

The Mason family has been based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - and have named their sons Samuel Mason - ever since.

Though many of Samuel’s ancestors kept diaries and documented their lives to an extent, he still has many unanswered questions about what their lives were like, where exactly they lived and, in particular, what happened to his ancestor, the British soldier who left the army to be with an Irish woman.

Samuel and his wife will be stopping by Limerick this September, with hopes of learning about the history of the city, finding out more about Samuel’s own family history, and maybe even reconnecting with one of the locals he met all those years ago!

“It would be kind of funny,” Samuel said.

“Out of all those kids, there's probably somebody around. So who knows? They might come forward and say, ‘Oh yeah, I remember that!’”

“It might be memorable enough to see these two strange guys coming around,” Samuel added.