Collen came to Dunkerrin looking for more details about her great grandfather John Maher(1819-1908) born in Myrtlegrove, Dunkerrin, County Offaly. His parents were Charles Maher & Jane Murphy. He was married to Margaret Casey (1822-1851) in 1843, eight years later she sadly died. They had two children Jane (1844-1908) & Charles (1847-1934)
That same year John went on to marry Hannah Farrell (1829-1909) on the 28th of August in Dunkerrin, County Offaly. and they both sailed from Plymouth in November arriving in Melbourne early Jan 1852.. They had 9 children who were all born in Australia. Margaret, Thomas, William, Mary Ann, Eliza, Catherine, John, Teresa, Timothy and Thomas.
Collen's great-grandfather was their youngest child. After completing the meet and greet request, Collen was paired with Dunkerrin native, Seamus Doherty and he began helping Collen with her research prior to arrival. Locating an old map of Ballydonagh, they began searching for the Mahers.
Following the visit, Colleen wrote in to say;
We had a wonderful catchup. Seamus was so generous with his time. We went to the church at Moneygill, met distant cousins, and saw the house our family lived in. Far more than I could ever have imagined. Thank you for helping to arrange this.