my passion for family history

Below is the foreword to my other work in progress - the Mulry family history book. This book will be published some time in the near future, with hopes that it will be a treasured keepsake for those in the Mulry family. The foreword includes my reasons for pursuing family history.

When I began my journey into family history nearly ten years ago, I must have thought it would be a rather quick one; either that, or impossible. Little did I know that my family had been sitting on a gold mine of rich stories of people whose beliefs and experiences shaped what our family has become today. My grandparents’ house held family photo albums, Bibles and letters over one hundred years old – something I never knew. But as I took the time to sit down with them and listen to their stories, my respect for them grew, into something akin to awe. Perhaps what I found so fascinating was just how much we were alike. I’d always liked history, but seeing it come to life through the eyes of my ancestors was something entirely different. Family history makes you feel like you really are apart of this world, a thread in the fabric of humanity. Each of my lines means something special to me, but the Mulry line, for some reason, has remained a focus of my study. Perhaps it’s my interest in Ireland. Perhaps it’s because they were the first to come to Indianapolis, and here we remain. But whatever the reason, I think it is because I relate to them the most. And even through the years, our Mulry line has remained a tight knit family group. If you find a Mulry anywhere in the Indianapolis area, chances are they are a part of our family. This line has born politicians, teachers, railroad men, soldiers, projectionists and farmers. But no matter the profession, it has produced families, and it all started with a humble Irish blacksmith who set up shop in downtown Indianapolis and raised his family in the Fountain Square neighborhood. As I’ve never been able to trace his family any further back, I decided to compile a history of his descendants. After all, he did come to America looking for a better life, hoping for one for his children. Here I offer a humble analysis of how his descendants have fulfilled his hopes.

                                                                        

          I dedicate this history to the memory of my grandmother, Jacqueline Mulry Lutz, who was taken from us in a car accident when I was only seven. Everyone has always told me that she was the “family historian.” This history is also an attempt to pick up where she left off, if such a thing is possible, and to honor her and her family in doing so.