Dennis O'Neil of Farrell said his wife Annette and two daughters, 11-year-old Caitlyn and 10-year-old Coleen, will take today off from work and school.

They'll lunch together with friends and family, later bowing their heads before a traditional Irish meal of corned beef and cabbage.

The O'Neils are among many Irish families in Mercer County who will spend today -- St. Patrick's Day -- celebrating their family history.

The Irish who live in Mercer County embody a rich history that traces back for generations. Fred Hoffman of Sharon said his wife Judy is also of Irish descent. The Hoffmans also plan to celebrate today with the authentic feast of corned beef and cabbage.

Hoffman, a principal in Sharon, said his family visited Ireland in 1997 during the week of St. Patrick's Day. Mrs. Hoffman, who works at the Shenango Valley Library, did research before taking the trip to Ireland and was able to track down her genealogy to one county.

"We went to a couple of places looking for ancestral roots," Hoffman said.

The O'Neils say they, too, know a great deal about their Irish origins. They believe it's important to teach their children about it as well. Coleen and Caitlyn both attend St. Joseph's School in Sharon, where they had to do a history project on their family.

The project gives students the opportunity to show and tell about their particular heritage, O'Neil said. Students can chow down and tell items pertaining to their lineage and can dress up in clothing particular to what their ancestors might have worn.

Coleen said her ancestors reached the shores of the United States between 1830 and 1840. "It was before the Statue of Liberty arrived," she said.

Their descendants migrated through Clarion County, up through Oil City and to the Shenango Valley, she said.

William Philson, executive director of the Mercer County Historical Society, said Irish immigrants were among the first to settle in Mercer County. Many came to the area early on as farmers, canal diggers and some became businessmen.

The first Catholics to live in Sharon are said to have been Henry and William Crosthwaite, natives of Ireland, who came in 1851, he said.

Philson recently wrote a speech about the contributions the Irish have made to Mercer County, which he presented at St. Michael's Church in Greenville to the Greenville Chapter of the American Business Women's Association.

For a myriad of reasons, many Irish moved to Mercer County during the Great Potato Famine during the 1840s, with thoughts of returning back to Ireland, he said. Many joined the Civil War to learn military tactics for the purpose of taking them back to Ireland to fight the British.

Philson said Mercer County responded to the Irish potato famine in two ways.

A meeting was held at the courthouse on Friday March 5, 1847, during which resolutions were passed and committees were appointed to generate aid for the starving people of Ireland.

A Mercer County family with Irish roots also sent thousands of bushels of the Neshannock potato to Ireland to try to end the famine. These spuds became known as the Neshannock and the Mercer County potatoes, among other names. A state historical marker for these potatoes sits south of Mercer on U.S. Route 19.

For many years, Catholic families, largely Green Irish, settled individually or in groups around Mercer County. Some of the earliest settlers of Mercer County were Catholic Irish. These families formed the first parish in Mercer County, known as All Saints, located between Mercer and Greenville. It was considered to be one of the most influential Catholic churches in western Pennsylvania and also became known in the early 1900s as the Catholic or Irish Settlement.