Thomas Pender and Family Connections

From Des Herlihy:
I spent a couple of hours today in Liverpool with Duncan Ashcroft and his wife Sue.   Duncan is a Pender and has done a lot of research into the Penders and also the Murphys.  Our grandfather, Michael Murphy, married Mary Pender in Liverpool.  At their wedding, Da's sister, Katherine met one of Mary's brothers, Robert Pender.  They ended up getting married and had two children, Mary and James.  Us Herlihys knew Mary and Jimmy well growing up in New York.  Da's wife, Mary had another brother, Thomas.  His photograph has been in the reunion exhibition and is shown here.  This makes him our great uncle.  He was a merchant seaman for 40 years out of Liverpool.  Our connection to the Penders is therefore a strong one which would explain the regard and fondness our parents had for the Penders.  Older cousins would know Tommy Pender who would have been their age.  Duncan did not know which Pender was his father.  There was a Joseph Pender who was another of Mary's brothers so maybe that is his father.  Robert Pender's death is recorded as a maritime death in 1919 on the vessel Otaki.  His and Kate's children, Mary and Jimmy, were taken by our great grandmother, Susan Murphy, to live in Mullaghbawn while Kate worked on Cunard ships.  They joined her in New York in 1927.