[4qd-bannvalley] Regarding: Gilmore, Kennedy, Giffin families

[4qd-bannvalley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Freda Noble)]

One of my maternal ancestral families is a Kennedy family (sometimes
spelled Cannady, Kenedy).  They appear in Massachusetts in the
1730s.  According to several references, there was a migration of
Ulster Scots from northern Ireland at that time; and at least, five
ships of immigrants arrived in Boston.  Among these was probably my
Thomas Kennedy.  I would like to correspond with anyone who
researches or has information about these families.  Below is some of
the data I have collected.  I would like to confirm whether the David
Gilmore, who lived with the Giffin family in Spencer, Mass., was
David Gilmore, the son of the Giffin father's wife in Antrim County.
I would also like to confirm if the John Gilmore and David Gilmore,
who were among the first settlers of Murrayfield, Mass., were related
to the David Gilmore who lived in Spencer.  Any help will be greatly
appreciated.  Ted Noble, Gualala, Ca

Thomas Kennedy married Jane (Janet) Gilmore in Bridgewater,
Massachusetts, near Boston, in 1735.  He eventually migrated to
western Massachusetts, settling in "New Glasgow," later called
Blandford, Massachusetts.  The last record of Thomas is the 1790 tax
valuation.  The family was Protestant.

Research uncovered two of Thomas and Jane Kennedy's children, Thomas
and Hannah, living with  family, comprising Robert David and Isabel
Giffin.  These people were two brothers and a sister who migrated to
Spencer, Massachusetts.  David was born in the parish of
"Bellowilling:" (the spelling used in the Giffin Will), County
Antrim, in 1686.  Isabel was born there in 1695, and Robert, in
16??.  They were hard-working and acquired property in Spencer, but
none of them married.  All three died within a space of seven months,
between December, 1769, and July, 1770.

(In one reference I found that a Protestant family named Giffen has
been located in Antrim since the seventeenth century.  There is good
reason, according to the researcher, to believe that all the families
who spelled their name Giffin" or "Giffen" belong ed to this Antrim
family.

David Giffin deeded his property to his brother Robert and his sister
Isabel. Robert bequeathed to his "cousin" David Gilmore, then living
with him, "a comfortable support for life from the income of his real
estate,:" which he gave, half to Thomas Kenady (or Cannady), son of
Thomas Kenady, of Murrrayfield, hampshire County, Massachusetts, and
half to Robert giffin, son of his brother John Giffin, late of county
Antrim, Ireland.  (John remained in County Antrim when David, Robert
and Isabel migrated.)

As noted above, Thomas Kennedy, Sr., father of the Thomas and Hannah
who lived with the Giffens in Spencer, Mass., resided in Murrayfield,
Mass., near Blandford.  He was one of the very early settlers there
along with William Kennedy, John Gilmore and David Gilmore.  This was
sometime in the 1740s before Hampshire County was created.
Murrayfield was not incorporated as a town until Oct. 31, 1765.
Today the town of Murrayfield is comprised of the towns of Chester
and Huntington.  (Source: Taverns and Turnpikes of Blandford,
1733-1833, by Sumner Gilbert Wood, 1908.)

It is quite probable that the mother of the Robert Giffen mentioned
above was a Gilmore, since Robert referred to David Gilmore as his
"cousin."  Also, it is probable that Thomas Kennedy, Sr.'s wife,
Janet Gilmore, was a member of the same Gilmore family, since so much
of the Giffen estates were bequeathed to Thomas Kennedy, Jr., and
Hannah, his sister.

It is possible that the John and David Gilmore who settled with
Thomas Kennedy, Sr., in Murrayfield wer also close members of the
same Gilmore family.

Recent  research at the LDS Library provided the following additional
data: In the "Roll of Protestant householders, 1740, of the parish of
Balleywillan, County Derry Portion," (the parish overlapped both
Antrim and Derry) appear the names James Gilmore and DAvid Gilmore.
records also show a John Gilmore born in Balleywillan in 1719, and
also, in 1737.  A John Gilmore executed a will there in 1749.
(Source: "The Kirk of Balleywillan since the Scottish Settlement" by
Julia E. Mullin, 1924.