A reunion for a local family with connections across the globe saw 21 cousins meet for the first time at Cliff House, Salcombe at the end of July.

Two years ago, Louise Murch began researching her ancestors from Salcombe and one of the first people she found was Virginia Lown née Murch, who had been born in the town. The two women met up and hit it off immediately.

“Louise turned up at our gate and said that she was my cousin,” said Virginia. “It was strange. As I crossed the yard I was watching her, and all I could think of was that I liked this person very much. I didn’t realise then that she was my cousin, related through our great-grandfathers. We hugged even before we began talking, and before long we were as close as sisters.”

Independently, Virginia had been researching her own Murch ancestors for her book Song of Salcombe. She had amassed a family tree with nearly 3,000 relatives, so it made sense for her to combine her research with Louise’s.

It didn’t take long for the idea of a Murch reunion to surface. This was down to Louise, as Virginia was by then involved in researching her Weymouth ancestors in Salcombe for a new book.

So Louise designed and setup a website – www.murchworldwide.com – with the idea of uploading stories about Murch family members she had discovered. Soon she was knee-deep in stories, and was in contact with Murches all around the world.

The website grew in size, and Louise was spending hours every day answering emails. In the process, she discovered some amazing facts about the Murch family.

There was a full-blooded Native American, barristers, artists, a Battle of Britain pilot, a black activist whose ancestors had been enslaved.

There were watch and clockmakers, builders, businessmen, a Royal Navy captain, cooks, writers, journalists, explorers and pilots. In all, Louise discovered 82,000 Murch family members across the world.

Following the first attempt at a reunion having to be postponed, on Sunday, July 30, the Murch family reunion went ahead and met up at Cliff House, Salcombe.

Very few of the Murches had met any of the others before, but they got on with each other as if they had been friends from birth.

Virginia unrolled her ten foot long family tree to show them where they fitted in and they were soon totally absorbed.

Hours later Murches reluctantly began to leave, with the phone numbers and email addresses of their newly discovered relations in their hands, and promises to keep in touch.

It was decided that another reunion should be held in 2018, with the likelihood of many more Murches attending from other parts of the world.

Every single person who attended was found to be quite closely related, and even the occasional one which Virginia had trouble in tracking down turned out, on closer examination of the tree, to be related, usually through great-grandparents.

“I started the day with two cousins,” Virginia said. “I ended it happy and exhausted with at least twenty more. And I think Louise has already started planning next year’s reunion.

“There is a lot of work to be done, and hundreds more Murches to get in touch with, but it is so well worth while. It was a day I shall always remember,” Virginia added.

If you are a Murch or know of one, visit the website www.murchworldwide.com, or search for “Murch family worldwide” on Facebook.