Joseph was the 3rd son of Brigid and Kieran Tobin.
Born in 1884, he was one of 5 boys.
Joseph was a devout young man,
and felt a calling to join the Order of the Friars Minors.

This order of Franciscans has a mission to serve in the Holy Land.
" ... to serve the local church
and to look after, restore and protect the holy places of Christianity" Paul VI
A number of shrines were acquired over the course of the years:
In 1867, Servant of God Pauline Nicolay gave the Custody the shrine at Emmaus;
in 1875, the 7th Station on the Via Dolorosa was acquired;
in 1878, the shrine of Naim; in 1879, talks concluded over the shrine at Cana;
in 1880, the shrine of Bethpage was acquired;
between 1889-1950, the Franciscans acquired the right to take possession of the 5th Station,
the "Dominus Flevit", Tabgha, Capernaum, the Shepherds' Field near Bethlehem,
the Monastery of St. John the Baptist in the Desert, Mount Nebo,
the place of Jesus' baptism on the banks of the Jordan,
a small place in the immediate vicinity of the Holy Cenacle and Bethany.

This was not an easy calling for Joseph and his brother friars.
Troubles were frequent.
In 1901, bloody attacks arose partially due to tensions concerning the status quo.
On one occasion, Greek monks stoned friars
over whose right it was to sweep the square next to the stairs
that led to the so-called chapel of the Franks.
In 1920, Turks killed three priests and two friars over tensions
related to the persecution of the Armenians.

Mairead Ryan was born in 1885 in Belfast.
Her parents were hardworking and loving.
Mairead did not enjoy school and left to enrol in a secretarial school.
On completion of her course,
she got a position at the shipyards.

In 1902, Mairead married Declan Tobin,
who was working at the shipyards where she worked as a typist.
They had 5 children:
Caitlin b. 1904
Eamon b. 1906
Liam b. 1907
Fintan b. 1909
Siobhan b. 1912.

Born in 1882,
Declan Tobin was the second son of Brigid and Kieran Tobin.
Declan had a love for the sea, and for engineering,
so at 14 he set off for Belfast to work at the ship yards.
He got an apprenticeship with Harlands and Wolff, Ship Builders.
This was the company that built the Titanic
for British shipping company, the White Star Line.
In competition with Cunard, and German shipping lines,
the company decided to build bigger, not faster,
with devastating consequences.

In 1902, Declan married Belfast girl, Mairead Ryan,
who was working as a typist.
They had 5 children:
Caitlin b. 1904
Eamon b. 1906
Liam b. 1907
Fintan b. 1909
Siobhan b. 1912.

Sean was the eldest son of Brigid and Kieran Tobin.
In response to his mother's prayers and encouragement,
Sean became a Mill Hill priest.
The Saint Joseph's Missionary Society of Mill Hill
was founded in 1866 by Herbert Alfred Vaughan.

After his ordination,
Sean was sent to eastern Uganda.
A few years before his arrival,
22 Catholics and 23 Anglicans were brutally executed
killed on the orders of King Kabuka Mwanga of Buganda.
The Mill Hill priests first arrived in Uganda in 1895.

Nadia Vasiliev was born in 1900 in the USSR.
She was a talented circus performer,
specialising in acrobatics and dancing.
She fled Russia when Lenin nationalised the circus in 1919.

Nadia met Maurice Donovan
when she joined PT Barnum's Museum, Menagerie and Circus.
They married in 1923
and had 2 children:
Olga b. 1925
Vladimir b. 1926.

Maurice was the youngest child of Clare and Colm Donovan.
He was born in 1886.
His father died from consumption when Maurice was 2 years old.
Maurice's mother remarried in 1891.
The new family moved to Boston to be closer to Clare's family.

Maurice was always different from his siblings.
He had no desire for tertiary education.
Instead he loved the performance arts.
In 1900, Maurice ran away to join PT Barnum's Museum, Menagerie and Circus.
Initially he was an acrobat - tumbling, balancing and juggling.
Later he moved to the trapeze.
The flying trapeze was invented by Jules Leotard,
(Yip! He also invented the leotard!!)

At the circus, Maurice met Nadia Vasiliev.
They married in 1923
and had 2 children:
Olga b. 1925
Vladimir b. 1926.

Maeve Donovan was born in 1884 to Clare and Colm Donovan,
in New York, USA.
Her father died when she was 4 years old.
Maeve's mother remarried and the new family moved to Boston
to be closer to her mother's family.

Maeve was always a quiet studious child.
She inherited her parents' love of learning and has an insatiable curiosity.
Maeve studied psychology at university.
She gained a Ph.D at Sage School of Philosophy at Cornell University.
Later, she became a Professor of Philosophy at Vassar College,
and became head of the psychology department.

Maeve never married.

As I adapt and manipulate the teardrop template,
I have been thinking about how the Brennan family
and their descendants adapted to the changing circumstances of their lives.

Different climates -
dry Western Australia,
tropical French Polynesia,
icy Canada,
cold New York,
bleak London.

Different living conditions -
tenements in industrialised cities,
tents and temporary shacks in the Australian desert,
cold, poorly insulated buildings in Belfast and Dublin,
wooden and tin dwellings in New Zealand.

Different social climates -
confronting the policy of breeding out 'half-caste girls' in Western Australia,
facing prejudice against Irish Catholics in America,
a pioneer spirit and 'can-do' attitude in New Zealand,
'ownership' of women within marriage which allowed domestic violence,
issues of land ownership,
inter-marriage (religion and race),
rights of women to work and to vote,
rights and treatment of indigenous peoples,
control of populations by governments.

Death of siblings and children,
injustice and penal colonies,
the violence of world war,
closed adoptions,
the stigma of solo motherhood,
desertion and abandonment,
suicide,
gender difference,
remarriage and blended families.

Differences in diet,
health care and traditional medicines,
language and traditions,
dress,
social class,
availability of education,
modes of transport.

In each situation,
the people involved had to reflect on their foundational beliefs,
consider what needs to change,
what can be discarded and what must be retained.
They had to adapt skills they had to a different and changing environment.

Just as I have to reflect on the foundational shape (the teardrop),
consider what needs to be changed
and what can be retained
(the long narrow arms are consistent throughout).
I had to adapt the body shape to reflect the character that was emerging.

Adapting to change is easy for some.
They seek the novel and the different.
They look for and revel in challenge.
They focus on the present moment but with a heart for a different future.

For others, change is just too frightening.
Their lives need structure and routine.
They shoulder familial responsibilities.
They deal with small, incremental changes from the known.
If there are large demands for change, they crumple or withdraw.

Ella Young was the second child of John and Elaine Young.
John was known as a 'robber baron' who used unscrupulous methods to become rich.
He habitually habitually cheated and robbed investors and consumers,
and corrupt government officials in his business dealings.

Ella went to Brilliantmont, a finishing school in Switzerland.
Brilliantmont, founded in 1885, was to become an international secondary school.
On her return, she met financial whizz kid, Cameron Brennan.
The wedding of the year was held in 1910.
They had 3 children:
May b. 1911
Annabelle b. 1913
Harriet b. 1916.

Cameron was the youngest child of Clarence and Gabrielle Brennan.
His mother died giving birth to his brother, David,
who also died.
Cameron loved New York
and became quite unsettled when his father moved to Boston with his new bride, Clare.

As soon as he was old enough,
Cameron moved back to New York
and secured a position on Wall Street working in finance.
He fell in love with socialite Ella Young.
The sweethearts married in 1910.
They had 3 children:
May b. 1911
Annabelle b. 1913
Harriet b. 1916.

Cameron was devastated with the Wall Street crash on 1st October, 1929.
Faced with failure, poverty and loss of social standing,
Cameron committed suicide in 1930.