[Bann Valley] William Kennedy, of Grange/Ballymena

[Nathan Kennedy <ntk@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi folks,

I do have an update since my last email, I was able to have a descended 
of Samuel Kennedy of Desertoghill Parish/Moneydig tested, and received 
the Y-111 STR results yesterday (FTDNA # 632870). The distance is 7, my 
second closest match. With distance 7, I think it is extremely unlikely, 
though perhaps not impossible, that my distant autosomal match shared 
with my close Kennedy cousin to a remote "cousin" descended from these 
Kennedys is actually, in fact, through the Kennedy line, and skepticism 
was warranted. More likely, the male line MRCA between Samuel and 
William is still a few hundred years back. But, happily, the match is 
still close enough to be of interest for discovering and potentially 
dating new terminal SNPs to fill out the R-A1774 branch.

But on to the quest to break down my brick wall. My aunt did tell me 
that her late husband was convinced in his discovery of the link of 
William Kennedy back to Grange Corner in Antrim and Grange Baptist 
Church, though I still have no documentation. I have learned more about 
this church and obtained a book, "Grange Baptist Church, County Antrim, 
A Bicentenary History, 1811-2011", by Norman S Wilson.

Sadly, so far this book has not been encouraging. In all the stories of 
this church's 19th century history, many ministers, revivals, and so on, 
there is barely a single name of a congregant; indeed, this early 
account comes from secondary histories and sources; even the full names 
(or in a few cases, names at all) of influential early ministers are 
lacking, and their identities and origins are in many cases speculative 
or unknown altogether. At the root of the problem is a total lack of 
contemporary church records, the earliest church minute-book being from 
1895. In the subsequent chapters, I have not found evidence of the name 
Kennedy anywhere, including later membership lists.

So, I was hoping to learn more and possibly contact someone from the 
church, and while I expect I will at some point, I doubt anyone there 
has either knowledge or access to records relating to my "William 
Kennedy" associated with the church who sailed to America in the 
mid-19th century; even if I found a dozen fourth cousins, it might as 
well have been in the age of St. Patrick. Short of stumbling across 
another close family member with meticulous family history records, I'm 
not sure where to find a trail. Maybe there's a small chance PRONI would 
have something.

Nathan

On 11/23/2016 09:40 PM, Nathan Kennedy wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I am also new on this list.
>
> My second great-grandparents are William Kennedy, b. 1841, d. 7 Sep 
> 1880, and Mary Madden, born Dec 1850, died 9 Sep 1920. Both are 
> immigrants to Philadelphia from Northern Ireland, oral history says 
> County Antrim, I have not seen documentation of the county. They lived 
> in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, and were Protestants 
> (denomination unsure). William is recorded in the 1880 census as 
> working as a carpet weaver. I have a note from a cousin that says he 
> was a linen weaver. This is suggestive to me of a Bann Valley 
> connection. Mary's maiden name is also reported on a death certificate 
> as McFadden, I imagine this is less reliable and probably a 
> corruption. The 1900 census records that she immigrated in 1864. 
> William is supposed to have immigrated earlier, though I have no solid 
> documentation on when he immigrated.
>
> I have autosomal DNA matches to at least two descendants of a Bann 
> Valley immigrant family, on a segment shared with a cousin descended 
> from my William Kennedy. They are recorded as follows:
>
> 1. Samuel Kennedy, b. 1779, Ireland
> 2. Hannah Fitzgerald, b. 1779, Ireland, died 1861
> 3. Hugh Kennedy, son of Samuel[1] and Hannah[2], b. 24 Apr 1812, 
> Londonderry, d. 24 Oct 1891, Waddington, St. Lawrence County, New York.
> 4. Jane Torrens, b. 28 Apr 1814, Parish of Desertoghill, Londonderry, 
> d. 15 Mar 1901, Waddington, St. Lawrence County, New York
> 5. Hugh Torrens (or Torns/Thorus) Kennedy, son of Hugh[3] and Jane[4], 
> b. 29 May 1856, Garvagh, d. 5 Nov 1926, New Rockford, North Dakota
>
> This family is associated with the Moneydig Presbyterian Church.
>
> I have a few other genetic clues on my Kennedys but I won't get into 
> those now. I am very interested in finding any information or 
> connections for William Kennedy, or locating living direct male 
> descendants of Kennedys 1, 3, and 5 above (or their ancestors) in 
> Ireland or elsewhere who would be willing to do Y testing. Hugh Jr. 
> had many children in North Dakota and his descendants spread through 
> the west. I've located one leaf male-line descendant in California but 
> no response as of yet.
>
> I am in the Kennedy DNA Project with kit 563885. Haplogroup is R-M222 
> (waiting on more detailed results).
>
> On a maternal line, I descend from the O'Hagan family, maybe from 
> Maghera. My fourth great-grandfather Charles Hagin was born 4 Jul 
> 1790, possibly Belfast, died 4 Apr 1829, Lansing, New York. His father 
> Frank O'Hagan was killed in Belfast in the United Irishmen Rebellion 
> of 1798; Charles was pressed into British Army and sent to Canada to 
> fight in the War of 1812. He defected to the American side at Fort 
> Oswego and was wounded in the Battle of Lundy's Lane. His nephew 
> Thomas O'Hagan, became the first Baron O'Hagan and lord chancellor of 
> Ireland. Much of this information I credit to the research of a fourth 
> cousin, Roger Hagin and his wife, who live nearby.
>
> Regards,
>
> Nathan Kennedy


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