Kennedy, Duignan, Heavey near Ballygar

Thank you for your thoughts.  I've been to rootsireland and paid to see those records.  Although some of the dates are in the right ball park, the locations and associated names don't fit. I also have looked carefully through the Tithe Applotment records.  Those records point very strongly to Martin Kennedy of Creehermore as my ancestor.  He is in the right location, he is the right age, and was married (I get these latter two facts from his death record in Ballyforan Church records).  One might expect that he would name a son Martin and certainly no Martin remained on the Creehermore farm.  John Kennedy took over the family farm when his father died in 1863.  This circumstantial evidence together with the fact that Martin's associations in America come from the Killeroran, Kilbegnet, and Tisrara parishes of Galway and Roscommon, have led me to believe that Martin of Creehermore was my gr.gr.gr. grandfather.  Unfortunately, I don't have the hard evidence that I would like!

best regards,

jackie Goode Hello, my mother is a Dignan from Menlough, County Galway. Her father Thomas Dignan was fro Ballygar as was his father and grandfather. There were five girls in my mothers family so that's the end of that line and he rather Thomas was the only one to have children. Thomas's brother John was Bishop of the Clonfert Diocese. Ny mother is 96 now and lives with me in ballinasloe County Galway. I hope this helps you. Please feel free to contact me if I can help further then I'd be glad to. Best regards, Jackie Goode

Hello Jackie:  Thanks for the reply.  Your mother's grandfather may have been born at about the time that my gr.gr. grandfather, Martin Kennedy, left the Ballygar/Ballyforan area (around 1845).  More likely my connection to the Dignan family is another generation earlier (in the early 1800s)?  But it is quite strong.  My gr.gr. grandfather's brother was Peter D (I believe the D was for Dignan) Kennedy.  Everyone called him "PD".  There was also a Mary Dignan on the ship to America with my gr.gr. grandmother, Ellen Rafferty.  She was the witness at Ellen and Martin's wedding and sponsor to the birth of their first child.  In addition, there was a Peter Dignan who emigrated to the Baltimore area shortly after my Kennedy's left.  He was from Galway and when he died in 1875, PD Kennedy and his wife Cecelia adopted his son (yet another Peter Dignan).  Curiously, all the daughters of Peter Dignan remained with his wife Julia and only the son was adopted by PD Kennedy.  PD and Cecelia never had children of their own and unfortunately all three (PD Kennedy, Cecelia, and young Peter Dignan) died within a couple years of each other in the late 1890s.  When PD Kennedy died he left all of his money to the widow Julia Dignan.  Oh, and there was also a John Dignan who was a baptismal sponsor of one of Philip Kennedy's children.  Philip was also from Galway and a likely cousin of Martin and PD Kennedy.  I believe him to be the son of Patrick Kennedy and Bridget Dignan.  There was also a very interesting Philip Dignan from Ballygar.  He stayed behind and eventually moved to Creehermore (where most of the Kennedy's lived.  And finally, my Martin Kennedy was very close to an Andrew Heavey from Ballygar.  Andrew's mother was (you guessed it) another Duignan, Ann Duignan.  I know it's all confusing, but you can see why I'm so interested in the Dignan family history.  I believe that my Martin Kennedy's mother was likely a Dignan.  There are some baptismal records for Ballygar that date as early as Martin's birth (about 1817-1825).  However, Martin is not in those records.  I suspect that Martin was born on the Roscommon side and was baptized in Ballyforan and those records only go as early as 1840 :(.  Again, many thanks for replying.  Let me know if you have any genealogy of the ancient Dignan's of Ballygar!

Hi John,

My Gr Gr Grandfather is the Philip Kennedy you have made ref to.  John Dignan was Philip's best man when he married Margaret Tracey in Baltimore County 1856.  Philip, Martin and Peter were all affliated with the quarry (Baltsun)  Martin may have owned a quarry of his own.  Philip had 7 children, John his oldest son and did work in the quarry, apparently pre dates Philip's marriage to Margaret Tracey.  John was born abt 1852, followed by Mary Jane, William, Joseph ( my Gr Grandfather), Julia, Thomas, Philip.   When John moved out and married Maggie, he lived next to Martin.  My Philip may have been married twice, once to an Oconner?  

Taylor, Naughton, Tracey, Daugherty, Mcdermott, Dignan,  have all surfaced in someway.

I do have a photo of Philip, and a separate photo of John the oldest,  with his daughter Maude. John was my Grandfathers uncle. There has been reference to cousins.                          

Thank you for posting 

I am not sure how I missed ths but I thought I would chime in. My father was Peter Dignan (born in 1928, New Zealand). His great grandfather was Patrick Dignan from Loughrea (born in 1814). Patrick's father was Peter as well. The family that stayed in Ireland ended up in Kilmore. We heard that one of Patrick's sisters, Bridget, married and went to the US. One of the cousins thought her husband was ? Scanlon but we aren't sure. Before she married, Bridget was the sponsor of many children in Killmore! Dad thought her family might have gone to Baltimore or Boston. He remembers seeing the name Dignan on a big sign when he was there many years ago. Just thought I would add this in!