A Celebration
A happy group of Trainers celebrated in Media, Pennsylvania on April 15th 2023. The 35 or so descendants of David Treanor, the first of their line to come to America, gathered to unveil a plaque at his grave site which is located at Providence Friends Meeting House. David was buried there following his death in 1831.
“We wanted to ensure that anyone who might want to visit David’s grave, for ancestral or historical research purposes, could more easily find it,” says Bill Trainer of Canandaigua, New York. He organized the event with Ted Trainer of Kennebunk, Maine, along with John Newlin Trainer of Glen Mills, Pennsylvania and Melissa Trainer Holmes of Moorestown, New Jersey.
“We saw this event as an opportunity for our family line to come together to remember ‘Lil Davey’ as he was sometimes known, but also to renew our family ties and share stories,” says Ted Trainer. “It was a warm and rewarding experience we’ll all long remember.”
Before unveiling the gravesite plaque, Bill, Ted, John and Melissa each had remarks and remembrances to share with the assembled group, which was warmly welcomed inside the Providence Friends Meeting house, a Quaker church David joined not long after his arrival in America with the Hinksons, a Quaker family who brought him from Ireland in 1764. Ted told the group about David’s familial ties to County Monaghan, Ireland; John Newlin Trainer explained the family records that can be found in nearby Swarthmore College; and Melissa Trainer Holmes shared the family tree which shows her connection to the larger Trainer family through David Trainer II, Lil Davey’s second son.
Many in the group were interviewed by Noel Murphy a documentarian and writer from Monaghan who is developing a series of audio stories about the Treinfhir Clann worldwide. “I had some wonderful conversations with the Trainers in Media. They add to what is already a rich and interesting family story,” Murphy says.
Anyone in the Treinfhir Clann who wishes to visit David Treanor’s grave in Media should contact Meg Barney, Providence Friends Meeting clerk. She can be reached at 610-566-1308.
