By Ronan Casey
Is there someone living in Mullingar at present who can trace his or her relations in the town back at least a century, and who had a relative, perhaps a granny, a mother, or aunt named Eliza, Lizzie or Elizabeth Ryan, before she married?
If you have Ryan family links or know of anyone with Ryan links, please read on – because you could be worth almost €700,000! But only if you can prove you are the missing family link…
Finders International, an English company that traces missing heirs to unclaimed inheritances and features on the BBC series Heir Hunters, is seeking the Westmeath relatives of a London woman who it says may be entitled to her estate, worth an estimated €692,000.
They are searching for the relatives of the late Kathleen Hilda Ryan, who died in Greenwich, London in 2013 at the age of 81.
Kathleen died intestate, meaning she passed away without heirs or children, or without making a valid will.
She had inherited the estate from her late sister, Joan, who was her only sibling after their brother, John, died as a child. While the family on Kathleen’s mother’s side were from London’s East End, her father, John Ryan, was born in Mullingar in 1887, to a father who had served in the British Army in Ireland and India.
Her Irish grandparents had three children: Mary, who died the year she was born, William, who died a bachelor in 1950, and Eliza, better known as Lizzie.
The heir hunters (or probate genealogists) company Finders have been unable to find a marriage or death certificate for Lizzie, which would offer clues to further family members. If there are any descendants out there, they are entitled to a share of Kathleen’s fortune.
Daniel Curran, the managing director of Finders International and a presenter of Heir Hunters on the BBC asked for help. “If anyone knows anything about her, there is money waiting to be claimed. We might be able to piece it together with your help.”
AUSTIN FRIARS STREET
Topic has traced the family via the 1901 Census to No. 24 Austin Friars Street, a long demolished building which featured a shop on the ground floor and a number of residences above. The house has been demolished over 45 years, torn down to make way for a Quinnsworth development.
The Census records a number of names at No. 24: John and Bridget Ryan as well as Lizzie Ryan, William Ryan and John Ryan, Kathleen’s father. Also listed at the address is a Charles Euston, a James Mack, a Herbert Reardon, a Michael Keneghan and a James Dalton.
Very little is known of the building, but two of the longest-established traders on Austin Friars street, James Buckley of Buckley’s SuperValu and Dennis McDermott of McDermott’s both have their theories.
James, who grew up at No. 12 Austin Friars St, next door to what is now the former Texas store, vividly recalls the row of long-since demolished houses and buildings stretching up to McCurtain Street. There was no entrance to what is now Buckley’s SuperValu and No. 24 was located exactly at the curve of the Austin Friars Hotel. Beside it was C&C Motors and gates into what was Hickey’s field.
Mr Buckley remembered names such as the Newmans at No’s 14, Bazzer Newman at No. 16, the Deerings at No. 18 and No. 20, Jimmy Moran at No. 22 but not the Ryans at No. 24. “There were Tighes and, later, Condrons there before it was demolished,” he recalls.
Dennis McDermott joked that he will be researching the McDermott family tree in the hope of locating a Ryan! He thinks there should be some relations left in the area.
Billy Cleary from Mullingar recalls a Ryan’s pub trading in that immediate area at one point, which may offer further clues.
So, if you think you are a Ryan of Mullingar origins, and had a mother or an aunt whose maiden name was Eliza or Lizzie Ryan, then it’s quite possible you could be in line to inherit the tidy sum of €700,000. If you have a link, contact the Topic Newsroom today on 044 9348868.
