PH Murray&Willie Reed graves.JPG

Tue, 08/17/2021 - 01:32

Angela Niles has given me permission to upload some photographs of her family graves in St. Michael's Cemetery. This photo shows the grave of her father, Wilfred Reed and of her great aunt Lucretia Murray with her husband, Patrick Murray.  

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Jill, thank you for uploading this photo. Your help is really appreciated.  I wanted to point out that Patrick and Lucretia Murray are not my grandparents.  Lucretia was my father's aunt as she was sister to Amaro John Reed, his father.  Their parents were Robert Reed and Anna Maria Diaz.

Amaro and Maria Rita Reed are buried in another grave along with their eldest son Robert Cyril Reed. My father could not be buried with his parents as his brother Bobby passed away in 1969, less than seven years prior.  Consequently, my father was buried in the Murray family grave instead, in 1971.

I apologize for any confusion I caused with the photos I sent to you!

Tom, I was really surprised and pleased to see your post identifying the grave of your great grandparents.  I always wondered why we were never in touch with relatives from the Murray side of the family.  The information I have about Lucretia and Patrick Murray and their children came from research done by Jill Fell whose grandfather, C.E. Warren, built many of the houses on Broadwood Road where The Murrays and the Reed family lived.

The infomation I had in the past on the Reed family was sketchy, but thanks to Jill's research and information shared by other sources, I've learned so much more about the family.  There have been several comments posted in the Gwulo website under Margaret Annie Bond (my father's grand aunt) and Robert Cyril Reed, my father's eldest brother, that you might like to read. There is little information about Robert Reed and his wife Anna Maria Diaz, my great grandparents, and I am hoping you might have some input on them.  I understand Robert Reed came from Scotland or was a descendant.  I also heard from my cousin that there was a Jack (John?) Reed who left Scotland for China but I have no information on him.

In a brief summary, Robert Reed and Anna Maria Diaz (her parents were Rodrigues and Faustina Rosario) married on May 2, 1861.  They had a Daughter, Lucretia, and a son, Amaro John (my grandfather).  When Robert Reed died in 1873, Anna Maria married Charles Bond, a French Canadian, in 1875 and they had a daughter, Margaret Anne Bond.  She was half aunt to Lucretia and Amaro. 

Lucretia married Patrick Murray in 1887, and they had five daughters and one son.  Amaro married Maria Rita da Silva in 1902, and they had seven sons, four of whom died fighting in the war.  Two of the brothers were prisoners of war, and my father, the third son, was chosen to stay behind to care for their mother and the three wives and one daughter (my cousin) during the war years.  

I was in touch with Maria "Cissy" Gonella for years after she and her husband Jan Huysman retired to Belgium where he was from.  I knew her well from our Hong Kong days and her close association with Margaret Bond (Aunty Maggie as we called her).  Cissy's parents were Grace Thereze Murray and Ugo Gonella.  I don't know the year they were married.  I believe Ugo was the bestman at Lucretia and Patrick Murray's son's wedding. Some years back, Cissy arranged to have the family graves for Murray/Reed, Gonella and Margaret Bond repaired and restored, and sent me photos showing how the graves looked before and after restoration.  Both Cissy and Jan passed away several years ago in Belgium.  

I hope the above explains the relationship between our families.  I regret that the photo of the Murray/Reed grave did not clearly show the names inscribed on both sides that were difficult to decipher. Do you know who else was buried in that grave?  I wanted to point out that directly behind this grave is the Gonella family grave, where Cissy's mother Grace Thereze is buried.  

Tom, I hope to hear more from you.  I live in Kirkland, Washington, and have friends and relatives in Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia.