Hughes & Traynor Family From Kellystown, Meath
Want to establishment contact with Hughes / Traynor Families in the Rathkenny / Grangegeeth - Montnewtown-Slanearea,
Between 1827 and 1832the Hughes and Traynor familiesfrom Kellystown, Montnewtown, Meath emigrated to St Lawrence County, up state New York,Father, Many of theirGrangegeeth and Rathkenny neighborsalso emigrated. Matthew Hughes (1771), mother, Bridget Traynor,(1765), children Michael. James, Patrick, John, Margaret, Julia, and Thomas. They were all baptized in Rathkenny and Grangegeeth parish and lived in Kellystown. Their new American locationwas the original American Frontier and Irishwere separated and isolated from most of therest of America by the Adrondacks Mountains. The Irish were not welcomedin many of the developedareas of America. Since the new Irish immigrants could not speak, read or write theEnglish language they all lived together and spoke and livedtheir old Celtic livestyles. They farmed their new properties, established their churches, intermarried andraised their familieswithin their own communities. When my GGGgrandfather died in 1853 he could not write andsigned his will with a "X".
Matthew Hughes and family never forgot their home land. When Matthewdied in 1853 he left $600($18,000 today) to the poor and destitute in Kellystown. These immigrantsnamedtheirfirst Catholic Church,St Mary's(GrangegeethChurch was St Mary's),andnamed their roads Irish Rd, Ireland Rd andIrish Settlement Road, Hughes Road for their Irish homeland.When the original St Mary's church burnt down in the 1840's, they built new churchesin the adjacentnewly established villages all named St Mary's. All these churches arewithin 10 miles of the original church site. Today the adjacent villages of Waddington, Potsdam, Ogdenberg. and Canton all have a St Mary's churchand many St Mary's Cemeteries.
Some of the original Hughes - Traynor family members still live in the original settlement area but most are now spread all over the USA and the world. The manySt Mary's Cemeteries are now thehometo the original immigrants and the road names are still there. Mygeneration is trying to reestablish contact withour Ireland Families..
If you could help or pass on my requestto peoplewho my be interested in exploring where theirpossible relatives.please contact. Bill Hughes, hughes.w@comcast.net. I will be visiting Meath and Louth in September 2016.
Bill Hughes
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