Boston attraction for Kenny and Cahill families
It appears to me that a good number of men, women and children left the parish of Killeroran at the time of the Great Hunger, to go settle around Boston, as shown in the text below. There can be inconsistencies in my story, due to the way information was interpreted, and there are very certainly omissions, as I was not able to follow some family branches. I would be very glad to receive comments to possibly amend my story. I would assume that other inhabitants of the parish also decided to emigrate to the Boston area.
It all starts with information contained in the Killian and Kilronan church records. (see attachment)
From these records, one can reconstitute most, if not all, of the family of John Kenny and Margaret McDermott, with children born in the Townland of Ballinlass, Parish of Kilronan (or Killeroran) between 1805 and 1821. I have a public account on ancestry.com containing the detail of the records (Ancestors-Margaret).
KENNY John, B : ~ ../../1780
x McDERMOTT Margaret, B : ~ ../../1780
| ...KENNY/KENNEY Patrick B : 08/02/1805 Ballinlass (Killian and Kilronan) D : ? 10/03/1880 Newton (MA)
| ...x Jane B : ../../1825 IRELAND
| ...KENNY Catherine B : 09/11/1807 Ballinlass (Killian and Kilronan)
| ...KENNY Maria B : 29/03/1810 Ballinlass (Killian and Kilronan)
| ...KENNY Ellen B : ../../1814 D : 11/09/1884 Needham (MA)
| ...x CAHILL Matthias (Martimir) B : 10/05/1808 M : 28/01/1836 Ballinlass (Killian and Kilronan) D : 08/10/1859 Needham (MA) Laborer, Farmer
| ...KENNY Lawrence, B : 08/08/1816 Ballinlass (Killian and Kilronan) D : ../../1873
| ...x CAHILL Bridget, B : ~ ../../1819 M : ~ ../../1837 Possibly. Killosolan (Galway) D : ? ../../1882
| ...KENNY Maria B : 20/07/1818 Ballinlass (Killian and Kilronan)
| ...x FAHY Patrick M : 26/02/1838 Killian and Kilronan (Galway) D : ? 23/01/1882 Mountbellew
| ...KENNY Anna B : 25/11/1821 Ballaghlea? D : 11/07/1892 Needham (MA)
Many of these children and their descendants reappear in the American archives for the State of Massachusetts.
- Patrick, the older son, is married to Jane (family name unknown), lives with his wife, daughter and sister Ann in Newton, MA, at the time of the 1850 Federal Census. They have a second daughter Mary A, around 1857. I was not able to locate further documents on Patricks family.
2, 3 - The next two daughters of John Kenny and Margaret McDermott, Catherine and Mary, were born in Ballinlass in 1807 and 1810. I was not able to find any further information about them.
4 - Ellen, born in 1807, marries Matthias Cahill, of Killosolan, son of Martin Cahill, in 1836. They have four children in Ireland before heading for America. She arrives in New York on Sep 20, 1850, without her husband but with her children, except for her younger son. Some trusted family member must have brought him a bit later. The couple settles in Needham, MA and a last daughter is born there in 1852.
5 - Lawrence, born in 1816, marries around 1837 Bridget Cahill whom I assume is the brother of Matthias Cahill, seen above. I believe that Lawrence and Bridget never left Ireland, but most of their children did.
- Bridget, born in 1838, marries Patrick Monahan in Roxbury, MA, in 1863
- Ann, born in 1839, marries John Gately in Roxbury, MA, in 1857
- Ellen, born in 1840, marries Lawrence Gately, brother of John, in Roxbury in 1864
- John, born in 1843, goes to England, near Manchester, marries Margaret Mullins (birthplace unknown) in 1863. The couple raises 7 children and in 1893 decide to move to Fall River MA, then a thriving city with cotton mills.
- Catherine, born in 1847, marries Michael Connelly in Killeroran in 1868. This branch of the family remained in Ireland.
- Mary J, born around 1850, married Martin Ford in Boston in 1869.
6- Maria, born in 1818, marries Patrick Fahy in 1838. I do not know what happened to this branch of the family.
7- Anna, born in 1821, moves to the Boston area before 1850. In 1850 the Census shows her living with her older brother Patrick in Newton. She dies in 1892, single, in Needham. Needham is where her sister Ellen had lived.
This is only one family in one Townland of one Parish, and the impact must have been huge on those left behind, in this case John Kenny and Margaret McDermott, or Lawrence Kenny and Bridget Cahill.