Genealogy of the Kennys
[Extract from "An Investigation into the Ancestry of Bill Naughton and P.D. Kenny" by Paul Waldron who spoke at the Kenny/Naughton Autumn School in 1994.]
The earliest occurrence of P.D. Kenny's name in a written record, accessible in Ireland is in the 1911 census, where he is enumerated as a single man, the sole occupant of house number 1 in Lismagansion, parish of Aghamore, Electoral District of Kilkelly. He gives his occupation as Author, Journalist and Farmer, and his age as 48 years. Now, it is well known that ages given in the censuses of 1901 and 1911 are notoriously suspect: those for 1901 being usually rounded off to the nearest ten, and understated, except for the very young, and often overstated for the very old. In the 1911 census, the old people often added to their age, I suspect the instigation of the old age pension scheme some three years earlier had some influence on this. Of course there were many people who simply did not know their exact age, and so approximate ages in these sources cannot all be put down to abashment or a desire to get the pension at the earliest possible opportunity. I think its fair to say that P.D. gave his correct age. It is likely that a man as educated and as bright as he was would know his true age, and the precise date of his birth; certainly a single man in his late forties would have little reason to exaggerate his age either way. At any rate, this age of 48 years in 1911 gives a year of birth in 1863. The only other source I know of which gives his age is amongst the letters of administration of his will which states he died 18th July 1944 aged 82 years; this gives a year of birth of 1862. Now if we want to be trifling about it we could guess that P.D.'s date of birth was sometime between 2nd April 1862 and 18th July 1944 (work that one out for yourselves!): the 1911 census was taken on the night of 2nd April 1911, and he was then 48, so, he may have been 49 later that year, or he may have been 47 earlier in the year. If the former, then he would have been born in 1863; if the latter he would have been born in 1862, which agrees with the age at his death; anyway, such are uncertainties of dealing with ages.
So, given that he was born in 1862, or possibly early 1863, what more could be got on him? Well, straight off, a birth or baptismal record which would verify his date of birth, was out of the question. He was born in Lismagansion, a townland which has always been in the parish of Aghamore, and the surviving parochial register of baptisms only goes back to 1864, the earlier registers, dating back to the 1830s, and which would have contained his baptismal record, were purposefully destroyed amongst the papers of Fr. Eugene Coyne P.P. who died of Cholera on 21st Sept. 1866 aged 66 years. The civil registration of births did not commence until the 1st Jan. 1864, and so these registers would not contain his birth record. So, it is unlikely that a record of P.D.'s birth or baptism will be found, unless somebody had procured a baptismal certificate between that time of his birth in 1862, and the destruction of the register in 1866.
Now, the remainder of P.D.'s genealogy has been built largely upon what information his relatives have provided; and from these sources alone it was discovered that P.D.'s parents were Patrick Kenny and Mary Doyle, and that he had at least two sisters: a Mrs. Tighe and a Mrs. Duffy. A search of the civil records of marriage revealed one Judith Kenny of Lismagansion, daughter of Patrick Kenny marrying one James Tighe of Ballinacleigha, son of Thomas Tighe, on 9th Feb. 1869; in this record her age was given as 22 years, his as 27, and this gives her an approximate year of birth of 1847. No record was found of P.D.'s sister's marriage to Mr. Duffy, or of any issue to that union, but such is the case with patchy and incomplete records. A search of the Aghamore baptismal registers revealed a third sister of P.D.'s: Margaret, baptised 21st October 1866 (sponsors: Michael and Sabina Kenny); she also had a civil birth record, giving a date of birth on 11th Oct. 1866. Another sister of P.D.'s turned up amongst the papers concerning his will: this makes reference to "...Ellen Halligan a lawful sister of and who predeceased the deceased". A search of the civil registers of marriage for an Ellen Kenny marrying a Halligan proved fruitful and it was discovered that Ellen Kenny of Lismagansion, daughter of Patrick Kenny married Pat Halligan of Corhownagh, son of Thomas Halligan on 21st May 1891; her age was given as 25 years, his as 25 also, giving 1866 as her approximate year of birth. Even more interesting was the fact that this search uncovered P.D.'s first known brother: On the same day as Ellen Kenny and Pat Halligan got married her brother John, then aged 35 and Pat's sister Anne Halligan got married: It was a double match and a double wedding, something which was not very unusual in rural Ireland at the time. In 1901, the P.D. Kenny homestead in Lismagansion was occupied by his sister Mrs. Ellen Halligan, her four children and a servant called Margaret Kenny, aged 26 years (Ellen's husband Pat seems to have been away at the time). In that year two, P.D.'s brother John, his wife and their children ere living in Corhownagh, presumably on her home-place.
So, to recap: We find Patrick Kenny and Mary Doyle to have had at least six children, two sons and four daughters, who were born from the late 1840s, through the 50s and into the 1860s: Judith, born c.1847; John born c.1856; Mary who married Duffy; Ellen, probably born late 1850s; P.D. born 1862; Margaret born 1866.
P.D.'s mother Mary Doyle died 30th Jan. 1898 aged 70 years, giving her an approximate year of birth of 1828, which would be in keeping with the span of almost 20 years from c.1847 to 1866 when her children were born. Her death registration, which names the informant as Ellen Halligan, Lismagansion, daughter, gives her marital status as married, as opposed to widowed, so it must be presumed that Patrick was still alive in 1898, but he was not in Lismagansion in 1901, and no record of death has been located for him between those years.
Now that P.D.'s immediate family have been tentatively established, what more can be found of his extended family and earlier ancestors? Well, there is one Primary source well known to all local historians and genealogists which I haven't yet mentioned - The General Valuation of Rateable Property in Ireland, otherwise popularly known as Griffith's Valuation. This source covers the entire country, and for this part of County Mayo dates from 1856. It lists all (in reality a very small minority of cottiers and herds are not listed) landholders in every townland at that time, as well as the landlord's name, the acreage and a brief description of the tenement, the valuation of the land and the buildings thereon. The entry for Lismagansion lists nine landholders, eight of them resident in the townland, of which six bore the surname KENNY: Andrew, John, Patrick (senior), Bartholomew, Patrick (junior) and Thomas (senior). Now, we know already that P.D.'s parents were having children through the late 1840s and 50s, and so, more than likely had a house and land holding of their own; we know P.D.' s father was Patrick Kenny, so he must be listed amongst the above six. The problem is, there are two Patrick Kenny's given: senior and junior. In solving this, it is amazing to think that P.D.'s will, made some 80 years after the General Valuation, goes some way to giving an answer. In this latter source, dating from the 1940s, his lands in Lismagansion are given a valuation of £3 - 5s - 0d, and his acreage as 18 acres and 3 perches. This matches perfectly with the holding of Patrick Kenny (junior) of the General Valuation in 1856 (the slight discrepancy in the acreage arises from changes made to the townland boundary in the later nineteenth century). In order to establish the correctness of the above assumption, I consulted the Land Valuation revision books, which are a continuation, if you like, of the Griffith's Valuation up to the present day. Now, I had been pleasantly surprised before with the amount of extra information these gave on the individuals listed in the printed General Valuation; and in particular with the fact that distinctions between people of similar names in a townland were often edited before printing. In this case, the manuscript General Valuation for Lismagansion turned up trumps: In the original valuation books Patrick Kenny senior is called Patrick Kenny (Andrew), and Patrick junior is called Patrick Kenny (Tom). So, from this we know that P.D.'s father was originally distinguished by the epithet Tom, presumably his father's name. As it happens, there was a Thomas Kenny (senior) in the next holding to P.D.'s father; this Thomas Kenny died 3rd Dec. 1877 aged 96 years, his land holding was then succeeded to by James and Thomas Kenny, and then in 1893 by James Kenny alone. This James was roughly contemporary with P.D.'s father Patrick, and they may have been brothers, and, along with the other Thomas, may have been sons of Thomas senior.
Patrick Kenny's name remained on the land valuation records until 1911 when it was replaced by P.D.'s own. In 1883 the occupier's name had been changed to Tom, but this seems to have been an error on the valuator's part, as Patrick (Tom) appears again as the occupier until 1911.
What about this group of Kenny families in Lismagansion and what of the earlier
history of this townland that might through some light on the earlier history
of the families resident here? Well, without doubt, they were all related, but
the records, where they exist, are not explicit enough to help establish their
exact familial connections, and so we are largely dependent on oral family history,
naming patterns, baptismal sponsors, marriage witnesses, and land holding details
to make tentative guesses.
In the Valuation Office tenure books the following note appears: "Lismagansion,
the property of Charles Costello, Esq. Galway. This townland was let in 1826
to the present (1840) tenants for a term of 21 years at a yearly rent of £68-5s".
The memorial of this lease should be pursued in the Registry of Deeds, if one
exists. On the first edition O.S. map, dating to 1838, it is apparent there
were about seven or eight houses here. As regards the distribution of the surname
Kenny in the general location, the following can be said (remember the records
I had access to concern only the southern half of County Mayo and so, I know
nothing of the country around Swinford, and further north). In South Mayo the
surname Kenny occurs in the parishes around Ballinrobe and between Castlebar
and Westport, and into Louisburgh. There is a notable concentration of the surname
in the parishes of Aghamore, Kilmovee, Annagh and Bekan. Aghamore parish had,
by far, the greatest number of families of the name in the townlands of Boleyboy,
Cartron North, Cappagh; Carrownedan; Coogue South, Kilgarriff; Falleighter;
and the greatest concentration in the townlands of Lismagansion, Meeltrane,
Cloonnahulty and Tawnagh. After Lismagansion, the biggest group of Kenny families
was in Athan But in the townland of Falleighter. One source has said that this
group of Kennys, at least, came from Larganboy, near Ballyhaunis. No Kennys
are listed in the Tithe Applotments for Lismagansion, and so the earliest Kennys
we know of are those listed in The General Valuation: Andrew, John, Patrick
(Andrew or senior), Bartholomew, Patrick (Tom or senior) and Thomas (senior).
As I've said before, Any assumed connections between these can not be verified for want of written records. Andrew appears to have died c.1860, and he was succeeded by Thomas Kenny (Andrew), who was married to Judith . In 1876 this holding appears to have been divided between Mrs. Judith Kenny and one Francis Kenny, her contemporary and possibly a brother of Thomas Kenny (Andrew). Judith's daughter Margaret married Michael Egan from Derrygay and they succeeded to her portion; Francis was married to Bridget Costello and had, amongst other children, a son John Kenny who married Bridget Kelly of Cleragh, Kiltimagh. John Kenny disappears from the record in 1861, presumably dying in 1860 and his holding went to one John MacLoughlin, eventually one Mary MacLoughlin from this holding married Michael Conboy, and their family was here in 1911. Patrick Kenny (Andrew or senior) may have been a son of the Andrew, above, but this is unlikely as they were contemporary. His holding was succeeded to by John Flannery and Michael Carney. It is possible he was the father of Andrew Kenny who married Honor Feerick of Addergoole. Bartholomew Kenny died 5th July 1870 aged 72 years, and was succeeded by Patrick Kenny (Bartley), obviously his son. This Patrick was born about 1836, married Mary Brennan who died in 1900 and in 1911 was living with his daughter Bridget and her husband William Henry. Bartholomew had at least two other sons: Bartley who married Mary Groarke of Acres, Mountaincommon, and they lived there; and Michael who married Mary Murtagh in Canbrack.
By 1901 there were twelve houses in Lismagansion, occupied by three Kenny families and at least two by families descended from earlier Kenny families. It appears that the other families in Lismagansion either married in or moved-in in the last decades of the nineteenth century. By 1911 there were eleven occupied houses in Lismagansion, of which three were occupied by Kenny families (including P.D.), and another two containing an elderly Kenny relative.
In conclusion, we have P.D. Kenny, a son of Patrick Kenny, (most probably) son of Thomas Kenny, possibly the Thomas who was born c.1781 and died in 1877 aged 96 years. This Thomas was probably one of the lessees of 1826, along with Bartholomew Kenny (c.1798-1870) and Andrew Kenny (born c.1795/1800).
Of P.D.'s mother little is known for sure, and practically nothing about her immediate family. She was Mary Doyle, and she may have belonged to one of the Doyle families in Raith, though there were Doyle families elsewhere in the parish of Aghamore. This could be a subject of further study.
An aside: The name "Dermot" is interesting, and it came as a surprise to me that the D in P.D. stood for it. I don't think I would be alone in having thought that the D stood for "Doyle", his mother's surname. Anyway, I've never come across any reference to any "Dermot" from the last century or the early years of this century. However, the name Darby, which is interchangeable with Dermot was found amongst the Kenny clan in the last century, indeed there was a Darby Kenny, a carpenter, living in Main St. Ballyhaunis up to the early 1900s.
Any additional information on P.D.'s family would be appreciated, so a fuller
and more complete account can be prepared for next year's autumn school.