Mary
Tinneny was the daughter of Mary Tinneny of Goladuff. She was born about
1867 and raised on Goladuff. According
to her grand daughter Lucy Murray Sherwood, Mary spent some
time in America. Lucy was told
that even in her later years Mary had an American accent.
On January 8, 1895, Mary
married Patrick Murray of Derrykenny, County Fermanagh. They were married
at Saint Mary's Church in Newtownbutler. The marriage was performed by the
Reverend W. O'Conner and was witnessed by Daniel Fitzpatrick, and Kate
Reilly. Patrick was four years younger than Mary. He was the son of John
Murray of Derrykenny who was a farmer.
After their marriage Mary
and Patrick lived in the home of Patrick's widow mother, Anne Murray, at
Derrykenny. The Census of Ireland for 1901 showed Mary and Patrick along
with three of their children living in the home with Patrick’s mother and
his 26-year-old brother John.
Photo: Partial 1901 Census of Ireland Form showing Mary and
Patrick and their children and Patrick’s brother John and his mother
living in his mother’s house in Derrykenny, Newtownbutler, Co Fermanagh,
Ireland. Provided by R. J. Tinneny.
At the time of the census,
Mary was described as 34 years old and as being able to read and to write.
Her husband Patrick was listed as 30 years old and as able to read and write.
Patrick's occupation was listed as farmer's son while his brother John's
occupation was noted as carpenter. Three children of Mary and Patrick were
also listed in the 1901 census. They were Maryanne age 5, Bridget age 3 and
Kate age 1. Mary and Patrick also had at four other children after 1901.
They were John, Andrew, Paddy and Margaret.
Mary seated with her son John’s wife Mary Reynolds
Murray (L) and her son Patrick’s wife Mary Kathleen “Molly”
Reilly (R) at the Murray homeplace Derrykenny. Courtesy of Lucy
(Murray) Sherwood.
Mary's husband Patrick died
on May 23, 1926. He was buried in the Murray plot in the yard of Saint
Mary's Catholic Church in Newtownbutler. Mary’s granddaughter Lucy remembered when her father
Patrick brought his mother Mary to live with him and the family. Mary had
to leave the family home at Derrykenny for a time and Patrick went and
picked her up in the snow and took her in at his home.
During that
stay Lucy recalled that her grandmother Mary was a big woman with white hair
and that she was lovely. Lucy was 4 or 5 at the time, and recalled how it
was winter because there was loads of snow when her granny came to live with
them. She recalled how Mary had made ice cream for the children out of the
snow. They collected snow in 'pongers' (tin mugs) and Mary added sugar and
milk to it. In 2002 while recalling the story Lucy said, “and would you
believe I can still taste it.” The only other memory that Lucy had of Mary
was standing at the graveside when Mary was buried.
Dick
Fitzpatrick of Wattlebridge told me that old Mary was a singer of sorrowful
songs at the local wakes and that on one occasion. She was singing her
songs and the local people had some to drink at the wake and began singing
other songs and dancing in the lane outside the house where the body was
being waked. One of the neighbors told Cannon Thomas O’ Doherty at Saint
Mary’s (the local Catholic Church in Newtownbutler. The cannon got a horse
and cart and armed with a black thorn cane went out to the house and
confronted the merry-makers in the lane and in the house. Several of the
neighbors who were celebrating told Cannon O’ Doherty that the deceased was
a good parishioner and was a fun loving man who would have wanted the
friends, family and neighbors to celebrate. The cannon said, “Indeed, I
can’t object to that since I knew the man well. And, if you can’t fight
them then join them.” The Cannon is said to have joined in the
merry-making and the wake and was later put into a cart and taken back to
Saint Mary’s Rectory.
Old Mary's daughter in law,
Mary Reynolds Murray, the wife of her son John, said that Mary and her got
along well. She said that her mother in law didn't talked about her
relatives but she did tell her that she was related to Alice Tinneny (Big
Alice of Goladuff). She also said that old Mary had blue eyes and white
curly hair that she always wore pulled up on top of her head. Family
members said that there was a saying about old Mary "If she fancied
something you might as well give it to her or it would be broken." The
younger Mary also said that, in addition to raising her own children, her
mother in law had also raised Paddy Reilly's son until the father remarried.
Mary McGuinness McGarvey,
the great-granddaughter of "Big John" Tinneny of Goladuff, remembered seeing
Mary Tinneny Murray, who lived near her while Mary McGarvey was growing up.
At the time she didn't know that Mary Murray was a Tinneny. She recalled
that Mary was an extremely good-looking woman, that she had tight curls and
wore one gold earring. Of course Mary Murray was an old lady by the time
that Mary McGarvey saw her as a child. 
In 1996 Mary Reynolds
Murray spoke affectionately of her mother in law Mary to Susanna Tinneny of
Quivvy, Belturbet. She said her mother in law "was never afraid of
anything" and recounted an example of this with the following story. The
elder Mary "had a trunk in front of the fireplace in her bedroom and one day
a rat came in and sat on top of the truck. With out any fear Mary got up
went to the truck and caught the rat with her bare hands and disposed of
it." Mary was quiet even in her final years. Her daughter in law, Mary,
remembered how "each Friday, Mary, would tackle the ass and cart and go to
town for her pension and bring home much needed shopping until close to the
time of her death."
Some of her son John's
children, who lived with her up to the time of her death said that they
called Mary "Granny Cricket" because she frequently commented about their
being crickets behind the fire in the fireplace. Thus explaining the
crackling noise made by the fire.
