By Jerome Lusa
On Sunday, March 16, descendants of both branches of Robert T. Callahan’s family gathered at Patricia Greika’s home in Stafford for a long-overdue reunion. Robert had two families: one in Stafford until his first wife, Mary Mullins Callahan, died, and then, a couple of years later, he started another in Medford, MA, with Ellen O’Meara Callahan. The descendants of each branch had lost track of the other for 100 years!
Robert’s first wife, Mary, died in 187,8 shortly after the birth of their 3rd child., Robert Jr. For reasons lost to history, Robert left his first two children, Timothy and Catherine (grandmother to Patricia and Jerome the elder), with their maternal grandparents, the Mullins family of Stafford. After Mary’s death, Robert went to live in Boston, where he eventually remarried and had 10 children with Ellen O’Meara. The two families of Robert T Callahan were in touch as late as 1917 when Timothy, who was living with his father by then, and Josephine Callahan visited their sister, Mrs. Catherine Callahan Murray, in Stafford Springs. But by the 1930s, both families had forgotten about each other.
Fast forward to 2024, and one of Catherine Callahan Murray’s great-grandsons figured out that her father had not disappeared but had moved to Boston and had another family. DNA matches confirmed that the Rogers sisters from Boston were half-cousins of Catherine’s Stafford descendants. Soon enough, phone numbers and addresses were exchanged, and the two branches of Robert T Callahan’s family arranged a reunion where they exchanged family stories over quiche, fruit, and bottled water. A good time was had by all.