Rising up for a reunion

A suggestion by a relative who had travelled from England to Kildare for the funeral of a much-loved aunt last year had unexpected and very exciting repercussions for the offspring of a branch of the Murray family that left Belmullet, Co Mayo, for county Meath, in the 1940s.

As a result, 130 cousins attended a fantastic reunion at the Leixlip House Hotel this year. A family tree of the 300 or so descendants going all the way back to 1799 was completed in time for the event together with a 24-page booklet containing a brief family history and fond memories of those who made the journey from Mayo to Meath, a migration recorded on the front page of the Meath Chronicle on 3rd April 1943.
The celebrations commenced with the launch of the Murray/Mills history booklet which was presented to the youngest member of the clan, two-week old, Daniel John Durkan, Moynalvey, by the eldest cousin in attendance at the event, Mary Dempsey who had travelled from the USA.
The reunion itself was a marvelous occasion and included many family photos taken in front of the six-metre long Murray family tree scroll. There followed several very moving reminiscences by the children and grandchildren of those who left, related by Nancy Meredith, Mary Dempsey, Paddy Murray, Georgina Catchpowle and Mary Murray, The formalities concluded with a rousing rendition of ‘The Boys of the County Mayo’.
“I really had no idea things would snowball like this” said Martin Molloy from Birmingham, whose mother, Nancy, was the youngest of six children who left the township of Derreens in Belmullet under the Land Resettlement Programme in 1943 with their parents, Ned and Mary Murray.
“Although there is already plenty of contact between many of us cousins it is rare for us all to get together under one roof except, sadly, for funerals and I just thought it would be a good idea for us to meet up on a happier occasion. The suggestion quickly took hold with cousins travelling not only from across Ireland but another 30 from England and the USA.”
“In anticipation of the event, three other cousins, Nancy Meredith, based in Dublin, Michael Durkan from the Rath in Co Meath and Seamus Murray from Drogheda got cracking on the family tree and a booklet about our grandparents which led to an interesting discovery.”
Michael Durkan, whose mother Mary-Kate Murray was the eldest of the six Murray children, explained: “It was a thrill to find that our grandparents, Ned and Mary, actually got married in Belmullet on 29th April 1916; the day Patrick Pearse surrendered to General Lowe in Dublin, bringing the Easter Rising to a close and from that union 100 years ago there are now nearly 300 descendants. We are now very much committed to ensure their story and that of the wider Murray and Mills families is preserved for future generations.”
Nancy Meredith added: “We are all very excited about the launch of what is ‘volume one’ of our family history of the Murray and Mills family. Although it was put together in a matter of weeks it still has a real professional feel thanks to the huge contribution of Anne-Marie Lavan, the group marketing director of Bauer Media (which publishes Grazia magazine amongst others), a granddaughter of Ned and Mary and of course another of our first cousins.”
She concluded: “I am really hopeful that our reunion event and this booklet will really enthuse all of our family and our second cousins and that we will be able to follow this with the launch of a major publication soon and hopefully back where it all started, in Belmullet.”