Mullavilly in 1910

November 2007

Mr Bill Emerson of the USA was kind enough to send the Rector the following transcript of a letter by Mr John Dermott of Ohio, who had visited Mullavilly in 1899, and who later encouraged his nieces, Georgia, Belle and Dora Kinney, to visit in 1910. The pictures were taken by these ladies.

Letter written by John Dermott January 7, 1910
from Webb City, MO
to Georgia, Belle and Dora Kinney
prior to their trip to Co. Armagh, Ireland

Dear Miss Georgie, Dora & Belle,

. . . well you are going to Europe. It will be a fine trip for you and you will never regret it; will learn more than a term at school and will be better for your health. The program you have mapped out will be more extensive than I took [in 1899], but I fully expected to make another trip, and will if my health gets better.

. . . It will not take you long to tour Ireland. It is so small and you can do it alone. Belfast is the most important city in north part. Here they make the fine Irish linen and finest of lace. You should go from here to the Grand Causeway on the North Sea where huge square rocks are filed up one upon the other as if done by the hand of man; from there you pass through Londonderry with its vast walls and historic memory. After visiting some other cities we came back to Belfast for that is the best way to get to Portadown – 4 miles by rail. . . .You are only 4 miles from [that part of the county] where all your ancestors was [sic] born and here is Mullevilley Church where they all worshiped and was [sic] baptized, for nearly all Protestant infants were baptized into the Church of England; they were buried here. . . . if there was not room they opened the graves of the father, mother or other relatives after so many years and put them in the same grave to br repeated after a time as is the custom.

From here it is 3 miles to Tanderagee; this is a small place but it is where Lord Manchester has his castle and calls his home. He owns all the land in this Parish and all pay rents to his agents, but he is bankrupt all the same . . . the grounds are beautiful.

You should not fail to attend Mullavilley Church services one Sunday as the only cousin I have there by name of Dermott. He and his girls sing in the choir when I was there [in 1899]. In this neighborhood our ancestors who came to America were nearly all born – The wrights, the Goffs, the kinneys, Dermotts and Emersons – all intermarried. Your grandmother Jenney Kinney was a daughter of Jenny and William Goff [Gaugh], and her [sic] and my grandmother on by mother’s side were sisters. She married John Kinney, a brother of your great grandfather; their mainen name was Wright. Some of the Wrights and Goffs are still living there, but I did not meet any of the Kinneys. If you would see Jane Emerson or Ed Wright [in Belmont Co., OH] they could give you more information than I can, for they were older when they left there – 50 years ago.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Yours sincerely

John Dermott

Mr Emerson writes:

As to my research interest in Emerson, I can be a bit more descriptive of the facts as I know them. My great-grandfather was JOHN EMERSON, who was born there on May 30, 1820; his brother, WILLIAM, was two years older, born March 12, 1818. I have ship passage records that indicate their arrival in America June 1, 1840. William had immigrated to America two years before, but had returned to his homeland to settle the estate of his father (unknown by me). Then he returned, bringing his brother with him for permanent entry. We know they were of the Anglican faith. There is also evidence from records in Ohio, where the family settled, their were three sisters who emigrated: Margaret, Mary Jane, and Mary. There was extensive intermarriage in Ohio betweeen the Emersons and the Dermotts, Goffs, Wrights, Kinneys and Davises. Their family ties are strengthened by the fact that they were farmers and lived in the same township in Belmont Co., Ohio.