On a cold dark February night in 1880, in rural Nova Scotia, the cries of not one, not two, but five newborn babies rang through an isolated farmhouse. Born to 33-year-old Maria Murray, mother of five living children, it had been her ninth pregnancy, and of course, at the time no one could know it would be this unusual. Four of her new babies would die within the first days – perfect, but too small, too early, too cold to survive - the last three days later, but not before a photograph was taken of the only living sister with her four dead siblings. A hasty funeral was arranged, and a burial in the local cemetery, however as the local celebrity of the babies grew and rumours began that famed circus impresario P.T. Barnum had offered big money for the tiny bodies, the babies were said to have been exhumed, interred in the family basement, only to be reburied at an unknown and secret location on the family farm.
“It was then that McKay swore she would write the story of Canada’s first quints born more than 50 years before their more famous Dionne counterparts.”
More than a hundred years later, author Lori McKay’s grandmother showed her a photo of the babies and imparted the family legend that Lori’s great-great-grandmother, Elizabeth Murray, a cousin by marriage of the quintuplet’s parents, had been summoned on that bitter night to deliver all five babies, even though the local doctor got the honours. It was then that McKay swore she would write the story of Canada’s first quints born more than 50 years before their more famous Dionne counterparts. After a lifetime of preparation, McKay has now presented her thoroughly researched hunt for the lost Murray quintuplets in this book, Searching for Mayflowers: The Story of Canada’s First Quintuplets.
This is an engrossing book, and McKay instantly pulls the reader into a fascinating tapestry of related tales from Pictou County, an area of Canada and Nova Scotia rarely read about. It was here the Murray family, amongst many others, first arrived, refugees of England’s clearance of the Scottish Highlands. McKay weaves in further threads from disparate areas, making for an absorbing series of stories from the industrial/cultural history of Pictou, NS and area, to the often-shameful treatment through the ages of women healers and midwives, the evolution of the circus sideshow, and Victorian death photography. These seemingly unrelated subjects are united in this mostly forgotten birth in 1880. Through it all, McKay leads us through conversations with distant relatives, local historians, her circle of women – mother, aunts, grandmother – and tramps us through the woods, brush and bug-infested undergrowth, searching for any physical remains of the homes of both Murray families – McKay’s and Maria’s – and the grave of Elizabeth, Margaret, Jeanette, William and James Murray.
This book is both personal and riveting. At times, the reader can feel a bit voyeuristic, as if they are eavesdropping on a conversation meant for close family members, and yet can’t help wanting to hear more. It is a love letter to a grandmother who inspired and motivated her on this quest, lovingly and openly shared by McKay with her readers.
About the Author
Lori McKay holds a journalism degree and an MFA in Creative Non-fiction from the University of King's College. She worked as a magazine and newspaper editor for more than twenty years and loves writing about homes, lifestyle, history, and local mysteries. Lori lives in Dartmouth, NS, with her husband, two young adult children, a few cats, and a friendly black lab. Searching for Mayflowers: The True Story of Canada's First Quintuplets is her first book.
About the Reviewer
Heather McBriarty is an author, lecturer and Medical Radiation Technologist based in Saint John, NB. Her love of reading and books began early in life, as did her love of writing, but the discovery of old family correspondence led to her first non-fiction book, Somewhere in Flanders: Letters from the Front, and a passion for the First World War. She has delivered lectures to the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society, NB Genealogy Society, and Western Front Association (Central Ontario Branch), among others, on the war. Heather’s first novel of the “Great War”, Amid the Splintered Trees, was launched in November 2021.
Book Details
Publisher : Nimbus Publishing Limited (Oct. 15 2024)
Language : English
ISBN-10 : 1774713306
ISBN-13 : 978-1774713303