Peter Patrick McKenna born in Draperstown 17.6.1866

Richard,

Here’s Peter’s birth in Straw, in 1866. His father was a scutcher. That’s a trade in the process of growing and making linen. The parents weren’t married. (No maiden name is given on the birth certificate). Straw is a small village just outside Draperstown, on the way to Plumbridge.

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1866/03533/2300579.pdf.

I had a look at the Valuation records for Straw for c 1866 but didn’t see Peter McKenna listed, so either he didn’t reside there too long or his house was of too low a value to be listed. No McKenna in Straw in the 1901 census.

I note you say that you think Peter’s parents came from Co. Monaghan. It’s certainly possible. Do you have a document that gives that information?  There were plenty of McKenna households in Ballynascreen parish in the 1831 census, and I’d have expected him to perhaps have come from that parish or nearby. However the parish records only start in 1846, so there probably is no record of his parents baptisms.

I had a look for Peter McKenna senior’s death around Draperstown but it’s a very common name and no easy way of identifying any one definitively. Several died in Magherafelt Workhouse so it’s difficult to work out where they came from or who their family were.

I couldn’t see a marriage for Peter McKenna and Theresa Callaghan in Ireland. Perhaps they met in the US?

I looked for Teresa’s birth but there’s no birth in Ireland on 7th January 1869. (There was only 1 Teresa Callaghan born that year and she had different parents). I couldn’t find Teresa’s parents marriage either.