James Murray

An Dáréag Aspal

Mary Carrier

My name is Mary Carrier and I’m from Newburyport Massachusetts. My father, James Murray was born in 1893 in Derrydonell, County Galway. In 1914 he joined The Volunteers and he served under Liam Mellows and trained with the rest of the Athenry Regiment. During The Rising he was in Moyode Castle and they were waiting for the word on when they were going to move out.

Liam Mellows sent my father and another fellow up to Dublin by train. My father worked for the railroad and had gone up and down many times delivering messages and getting messages from Dublin. When he got to Dublin, he rode a bike to the tobacco shop, to meet with Tomas Clark. I guess that is where they used to exchange messages leading up to this time. At that time the word came to Moyode that they were not going to rise and Fr. Fahy came to Moyode and told them that they should disperse, go home across the fields, so that they wouldn’t be picked up by the soldiers, who were now advancing, but my father was already in Dublin, so he got arrested and he was marched to Kilmainham. In Kilmainham he was tried by General Maxwell and I guess his sentence was to go to England. While in Kilmainham he’d been in the cell next to Éamon de Valera and when the executions were taking place, de Valera asked my father if they could say the Rosary together and he was reciting the Rosary and my father was answering to it and they went back and forth between their cells and finished the entire Rosary for the men who will die.

Whenever he mentioned the trouble, he always said that when he was in Kilmainham, he was very close to de Valera and though oft, they had met very many times the years after, when de Valera would come to New York, because his cousin, who he was raised with in Limerick, lived very close to us. My father met him there and met him in Ireland and of course in 1966 they met up again at the 50th anniversary.

My father got a pension for his time in fighting and also he left that pension in Ireland because he felt it was given to spend in Ireland so he and my mother made many trips back over the years.

While he was in goal, also he had a letter from Larry Lardiner who was his Commandant, because his twelve year old sister had appendicitis and she went into Galway hosptal for an operation and she died as a result of that. After that he was sent over to Wormwood Scrubs in England and then also though he spent a short time in Lewis prison and from there he went to Wales.

After the fighting he was in the 1922 Civil War that took place and after that he was also imprisoned in The Curragh.

He emigrated to New York in 1926. He married my mother there and had six children and he instilled in all of us children the love for Ireland and in the culture of Ireland and made sure we were all exposed to it. In NewYork they used to have an Easter breakfast every Easter Sunday and the veterans of the I.R.A. would march up the concourse in The Bronx and they would have Mass and they would all meet at a hotel for breakfast and when ever somebody would come to visit, my father would always go to it, the event. I remember when Seán T. O’Kelly was over, he got an invitation to go to an event they were having.

He tried to keep in touch with many of the men  actually from around the Galway area, who he had served with and it was funny, if he saw a death in the paper of someone, I always remember, he would come home from work and we didn’t have a car ’cause we lived in the city and he’d look and say ” Oh, I was in goal with that fellow, I’ve got to go to that” and he’d take two or three trains maybe, form The Bronx to some place, Staten Island, Brooklyn, just to go to the funeral, because to show respect to the the men who he served with. Yes so over the years he kept in touch with the…I know Seán T. O’Reilly, who fought in Dublin, they were good friends. He used to get together with him, in fact when he died, Seán T. O’Kelly, who was on two canes, came to his wake and brought an Irish flag to drape the coffin. Then they had the bagpipes going.

My father passed away on Feruary 9th, 1988 and it was his wish to be buried in Ireland. So he was flown to Shannon and he was met there by a military regiment and he is buried in Killimor, County Galway and on that day the schoolchildren were let out to watch the procession of his funeral out to the cemetery, and as I said it was always his desire to back and he is there now, so he is at peace. We all enjoy coming over, his children and grandchildren


Is mise Mary Carrier as Newburyport, Massachusetts. I nDoire Uí Dhónaill, Contae na Gaillimhe a rugadh m’athair, James Murray, sa bhliain 1893. Chuaigh sé isteach sna hÓglaigh sa bhliain 1914 agus bhí sé faoi cheannas Liam Uí Mhaoilíosa. Rinne sé traenáil leis an gcuid eile de Reisimint Bhaile Átha an Rí. Le linn an Éirí Amach, bhí sé i gCaisleán Mhaigh Fhód agus iad ag fanacht go gcloisfidís cén uair a bhí siad le himeacht as sin.

Chuir Liam Ó Maoilíosa m’athair agus fear eile go Baile Átha Cliath ar an traein. Bhíodh m’athair ag obair ar an mbóthar iarainn agus bhí sé suas agus anuas go minic le teachtaireachtaí agus ag bailiú teachtaireachtaí as Baile Átha Cliath. Nuair a tháinig sé chomh fada le Baile Átha Cliath, chuaigh sé ar rothar go dtí an siopa tobac ag castáil le Tomás Ó Cléirigh. Is dócha gur ansin a bhíodh teachtaireachtaí á dtabhairt dá chéile acu anuas go dtí an t-am sin. Tháinig scéala go Maigh Fhód an t-am sin nach raibh siad ag dul ag éirí amach agus tháinig an tAthair Ó Fathaigh go Maigh Fhód agus dúirt sé gur cheart dóibh scaipeadh, dul abhaile trasna na ngarraithe ionas nach mbéarfadh na saighdiúirí orthu a bhí ag teannadh leo. Bhí m’athair i mBaile Átha Cliath faoin am sin agus gabhadh é agus máirseáladh go Cill Mhaighneann é. Chuir an Ginearál Maxwell ar a thriail i gCill Mhaighneann é agus glacaim leis gurb é pianbhreith a gearradh air é a chur anonn go Sasana. Nuair a bhí sé i gCill Mhaighneann, bhí sé i gcillín i mbéal an dorais ag cillín Éamoin de Valera agus nuair a bhí na fir á gcur chun báis, d’iarr de Valera ar m’athair an Paidrín a rá in éineacht leis agus bhí sé ag rá an Phaidrín agus m’athair á fhreagairt agus iad anonn agus anall leis idir an dá chillín agus dúirt siad an Paidrín ar fad do na fir a gheobhadh bás.

Am ar bith ar luaigh sé an trioblóid, deireadh sé i gcónaí go raibh sé an-mhór le de Valera nuair a bhí sé i gCill Mhaighneann agus ba mhinic le castáil lena chéile i rith na mblianta ina dhiaidh sin, nuair a thagadh de Valera go Nua-Eabhrac mar bhí an col ceathrar ar tógadh in éineacht leis é i Luimneach ina chónaí an-chóngarach dúinn. Casadh le m’athair ansin é agus casadh in Éirinn air é agus ar ndóigh casadh ar a chéile arís iad sa bhliain 1966 don chomóradh leathchéad bliain.

Tugadh pinsean do m’athair mar gheall ar an tréimhse a chaith sé ag troid agus d’fhág sé an pinsean sin in Éirinn mar shíl sé gur lena chaitheamh in Éirinn a tugadh é agus rinne sé féin agus mo mháthair an turas ar ais go minic le himeacht na mblianta.

Nuair a bhí sé i bpríosún, tháinig litir chuige ó Larry Lardiner, an Ceannasaí a bhí air, mar gheall gur tháinig aipindicíteas ar a dheirfiúr a bhí dhá bhliain déag, gur tugadh chuig an ospidéal i nGaillimh í lena cur faoi scian agus gur cailleadh í dá bharr. Cuireadh anonn go Wormwood Scrubs i Sasana é agus ansin, cé gur chaith sé tamall gearr i bpríosún i Lewis, chuaigh sé go dtí an Bhreatain Bheag.

Tar éis na troda, bhí sé i gCogadh na gCarad 1922 agus cuireadh i bpríosún ar an gCurach é ina dhiaidh sin freisin.

Rinne sé imirce go Nua-Eabhrac sa bhliain 1926. Phós sé mo mháthair anseo agus bhí seisear clainne orthu. Chothaigh sé gean ar Éirinn agus ar chultúr na hÉireann i ngach duine againn agus chinntigh sé go raibh cleachtadh againn ar fad air. Bhíodh bricfeasta na Cásca acu Domhnach Cásca i Nua-Eabhrac agus dhéanadh seansaighdiúirí an I.R.A. máirseáil suas an tslí dála sa Bronx agus théidís ag an Aifreann. Thagaidís uilig le chéile in óstán le haghaidh an bhricfeasta agus am ar bith a mbíodh duine abhus ar cuairt, théadh m’athair i gcónaí chuig an ócáid. Is cuimhin liom an t-am a raibh Seán T. Ó Ceallaigh anseo, fuair sé cuireadh chuig ócáid a bhí ar siúl.

Dhéanadh sé iarracht aithne a choinneáil ar chuid mhór de na fir go deimhin as ceantar na Gaillimhe a ndearna sé seirbhís leo agus b’aisteach an rud é, dá bhfeicfeadh sé fógra báis dhuine ar an bpáipéar, is cuimhin liom go dtagadh sé abhaile ón obair agus ní raibh aon charr againn mar gheall go raibh muid istigh sa chathair agus bhreathnaíodh sé agus deireadh sé ” Oh, I was in goal with that fellow, I’ve got to go to that” agus théadh sé ar dhá thraein nó trí cinn b’fhéidir as The Bronx go háit éigin, Staten Island, Brooklyn, ar an tsochraid, le hómós a léiriú do na fir ar throid sé in éineacht leo. Cinnte, ar feadh blianta fada, choinnigh sé…. Tá a fhios agam go raibh sé féin agus Seán T. O’Reilly, a throid i mBaile Átha Cliath, ina gcairde maithe. Thagaidís le chéile. Go deimhin, nuair a cailleadh é, tháinig Seán T. Ó Ceallaigh, a bhí ar dhá mhaide siúil, ar an tórramh agus thug sé bratach na hÉireann leis le cur ar an gcónra. Agus bhí an phíb á casadh.

Cailleadh m’athair an 9ú lá de mhí Feabhra 1988 agus theastaigh uaidh go gcuirfí in Éirinn é. Tugadh ar an aer go dtí Aerfort na Sionna é agus mar a raibh reisimint airm roimhe. Tá sé curtha i gCill Íomair, Contae na Gaillimhe agus an lá ar cuireadh é ligeadh gasúir na scoile amach ag breathnú ar an tsochraid ag dul chun na reilige agus mar a deirim, ba mhian leis riamh filleadh go hÉirinn agus is ann atá sé agus tá suaimhneas aige. Is breá linn uilig a theacht anall, a chlann agus clann a chlainne.

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