The Lundy Family — Coming Home to Ireland

The Story

A hundred-year relay.

This was never one person's search, or one generation's. It's a relay race run across four generations and three countries — each runner carrying the thread as far as the tools of their day allowed, then handing it on. We are the next runner.

1915

The clan remembers

John Lundy Sr.'s obituary already names the family as County Monaghan Irish — brothers and sisters scattered from North Dakota to Ontario. We never forgot we were Irish. We lost only the way back.

1983

The first researcher

John Henry, a Mono-Township historian, worked the Ottawa archives and reconstructed the emigration — even mailing the family the exact archive call numbers. A treasure map to our own past, forty years ago.

1994

Across the Atlantic

The family hired an Irish genealogist in County Monaghan. She pulled the 1823 tithe records and found six Lundy households in two neighboring townlands — and pointed at the wall we still face today.

2016 → today

The DNA generation

A family reunion pooled the letters, maps and memoirs; DNA finally proved the line by blood. We've gotten closer than anyone before us. The last few feet are on the ground in Ireland.

“A Tender Parent. A Companion Dear. A Faithful Friend Lieth Here.” — Joseph Lundy's headstone, 1852 · We have his grave. The trip is to find the parent of that parent.

The Trip

Nine days, one home base, the whole family.

We plant one comfortable home base in the heart of the heritage country and day-trip out like spokes on a wheel — so it never feels like a tour bus, and we're all under one roof every night. The week alternates a heritage day with an iconic Ireland day, building to a farewell feast we cook together.

Day 1Sat · Nov 28

Arrive & Gather

Land in Dublin, transfer north to the home base, claim rooms, shake off the flight. The evening welcome feast — the first meal all together, and a toast to the family that searched before us.

Day 2Sun · Nov 29

The Homeland

Into Carrickmacross and the Magheross churchyard, then out to the Mullaghcroghery and Lisdrumdurk townlands — the literal ground Joseph and Ann left in 1824. The "we finally came home" day.

Day 3Mon · Nov 30

The Paper Trail

Down to Dublin and the great record offices — the Registry of Deeds and Valuation Office, where the leases and succession books could finally name Joseph's father. Plus EPIC, the Irish emigration museum.

Day 4Tue · Dec 1

Ancient Ireland

The Boyne Valley — Newgrange, the 5,000-year passage tomb, older than the pyramids — and the Battle of the Boyne site, the very history our Ulster family carried with them to Canada.

Day 5Wed · Dec 2

Armagh

North to Armagh city, the Skelton county — the in-law line that married into ours, traceable clean back to the 1600s. A proud, lighter day: ground our name has held for 400 years.

Day 6Thu · Dec 3

Belfast — the wall-breaker

PRONI in Belfast and the Shirley estate ledgers — the records that could finally carry Joseph's father's name across the wall. Then Titanic Belfast. The genealogical heart of the trip.

Day 7Fri · Dec 4

The North Coast

The Giant's Causeway, the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, the Dark Hedges, Dunluce Castle — the wild Atlantic edge of the homeland. The most cinematic day in Ireland.

Day 8Sat · Dec 5

The Irish Table

A gentle morning, then the family cooks an authentic Irish meal together at the house — three generations in one kitchen — and the farewell feast we all made. A toast to the ancestors who couldn't come home, and to the family that finally did.

Day 9Sun · Dec 6

Departure

A last Irish breakfast, one final walk of the grounds, and home — this time knowing exactly where we're from.

One roof, the whole week. Everyone stays together at a single comfortable country home base in the Carrickmacross / Cavan–Monaghan zone — dead-center to every place that matters (the townlands ~20 min, Dublin ~1h15, Armagh ~45 min, Belfast ~1h30). The exact home depends on our final headcount — see The Cost for the options we're choosing from.

The Research

This isn't a guess. It's proven — and there's one wall left.

We didn't pick Ireland off a map. Decades of family research, modern DNA, and primary records all point to one parish, two townlands, and one specific question still waiting to be answered.

Proven by record

Joseph Lundy, born County Monaghan ~1780, left his native parish of Carrickmacross in July 1824 with his wife and ten children. His headstone survives and is legible in Ontario; the 1823 tithe book places the Lundys in Mullaghcroghery and Lisdrumdurk townlands.

Proven by blood

DNA confirms the line down to Joseph and supports his brother Francis — the colorful one, an Orange Order tavern-keeper whose crossroads still bears the name "Lundy's Corners." We are who we think we are. That part is settled.

The wall

The 1823 records list a Joseph Lundy Senior and a Joseph Junior — a father and son, right there. But the line back across that "Senior" is exactly where the paper trail goes dark. His father's name is the prize.

Where it breaks

The answer is offline and physical: the Shirley estate papers at PRONI in Belfast, the Registry of Deeds in Dublin, the Magheross parish registers, and the townland ground itself. We've booked the trip around exactly these. The trip is the research.

Every generation got closer. None reached the other side. We're going to be the ones who do.

The Cost

What it costs to come home.

about $2,200 – $2,500 per person

all-in, including airfare — the only thing each family books for itself is the flight

We've already checked flights from San Antonio, Austin, Salt Lake, Las Vegas and Oregon — they all run right around $800 a person no matter where you're starting from. Since we're spread out, everyone books their own flight to Dublin for the dates below; we arrange absolutely everything else once you're on the ground. The price lands lower the more of us come and the sooner we lock the group.

Included

8 nights lodging at the family home base
All ground transport once in Ireland
The full guided week — every site & archive
Welcome feast, the cook-together night & shared meals
The genealogy work: archives, records, the family findings
Your hosts handling all the planning & logistics

On each family

Your flight to & from Dublin (~$800/person)
Passport & travel insurance
Some lunches & the odd dinner out
Souvenirs, pub nights, personal extras

Where we'd stay

Comfortable, private, all of us together.

No bunk beds, no sharing rooms — a real home for the family. The exact place flexes with our headcount; here's the kind of thing we're choosing from.

The country homeRustic, comfortable, the whole family under one roof — our default for a close group.

Room for everyonePrivate rooms for the adults; space for the cousins and kids; a big kitchen and a long table.

Or, if we're a crowdFor a larger group, a castle stay like Cabra is on the table. More of us = more options.

It flexes with the group. We're scouting the best places right now. The more family that commits — and the sooner — the better the home and the lower the per-person cost. That's why we're gathering names first: an early "count me in" (not a deposit, not a commitment yet) lets us lock the right place for the right number of us.

The family archive

Share what you've kept

Old photos, letters, certificates, family records — anything that helps tell our story. Drop them here and they go straight into our private family archive, where they help fill the gaps in the research.

Private to the family — you'll need the family password (ask Tyler, or check the family group). Photos, PDFs, and documents welcome, up to 50 MB each.

Family password Your name

Coming home,
at last.