John E. Kenny - Related Families and Individuals

Index to Facts/Notes/Stories/Legends

"Some of what you read here is true"


Index

Dec 2002 report- John Butler and Ellen Web Ire. 1800

Dec 2002 report- Michael Kenny Tipperary Ire. 1800

Dec 2002 report- Claude Gratton of Paris France 1640

Dec 2002 report- John Hart Ire. 1790

Dec 2002 report- Cristophe Chatel of France 1640. 1800

Dec 2002 report- William Warnock , Enniskillen, Fermanagh Ire. 1770

Dec 2002 report- Pierre Gauthier-dit- Landreville, Nantes, France 1610

Dec 2002 report- Michael O'Meara from Birr Offaly and Toomevara, Tipperary Ire. 1780

Dec 2002 report- Michael Madden, Borrisokane, Tipperary Ire. 1780

Dec 2002 report- Thomas Presley Wicklow Ire. 1819

Dec 2002 report- John Shea abt 1820

Dec 2002 report- Martin Brophy abt 1800

Dec 2002 report- Thomas Brunet abt 1820

 

 

 

Early Origins of the Septs (tribes) of Ireland

Ottawa Valley History

The Irish system of choosing names for their children

Stories from the Ontario Canada Farm Years

Kenny/Phelan/Hart/Madden/Warnock Coat of Arms

Family Surnames in Irish Counties

A Tipperary school used in the 1880's

St Michaels church - Irish Kenny's helped to build it

A Tipperary farm house 1840-80's Ballygibbon

Famine recollections by an Irishman of the 1850-90's

Map of Tipperary - Where did they come from?

Comments and Suggestions

 

 

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Old Irish Naming Patterns

1st son was named after the father's father.

2nd son was named after the mother's father.

3rd son was named after the father.

4th son was named after the father's eldest brother.

1st daughter was named after the mother's mother.

2nd daughter was named after the father's mother.

3rd daughter was named after the mother

4th daughter was named after the mother's eldest sister.

Their was a convention followed in the chosing of godparents for the child. If the new parents were the oldest in their respective families, then the new fathers parents or the new mothers parents were chosen as god parents. If no parents were surviving or living in the country, then the oldest brother/sister from the fathers/mothers family was chosen. The godparents were chosen to ensure that the children were raised by direct blood relatives on either their maternal or paternal family sides.

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Kenny /Phelan/Hart/Madden/O'meara/Warnock Coat of Arms and Heraldic Information

Gauthier dit Landreville: The patronymic name Gauthier comes from a person's name of German origin "Waldhari" (Wald, from "Waldan" which means "to govern" and hari "armed"). There are different branches of the Gauthier families of Quebec, (see Gauthier association.org) but not all have left direct descendant lines. Detailed herewith are the main nine branches.

On October 24th, 1663, Helye (Joseph-Elie) Gauthier, son of Samuel Gauthier and Hilaire Gourlatier, christenized on October 11th, 1643 in Notre Dame of Celles-sur-Belle, Deux-Sevres (Poitou), France, married Marguerite Moytie, daughter of Jacques Moytie and Francoise Langevin, christenized on January 1st, 1646 in St-Barthelemy of La Rochelle, Charente-Maritime (Aunis), France and daughter of the King arrived in Nouvelle-France in 1663, and settled in the St-Famille parish on the lle-d'Orleans. Their sons Andre and Jacques carried the name. Rene Gauthier, Sir of Varennes, son of Adam-Rene Gauthier, Sir of La Varandiere and Bertrande Gourdeau, of Becon-les-Granits in Angers, Anjou, got married on June 4th, 1667, to Marie Boucher. In 1668 he was named governor of Trois Riviers. Their sons Jacques-Rene, Sir of Varennes and Pierre, Sir of Boumois and of La Verandrye carried the name. Pierre Gauthier called Sanguingoira, son of Jacques Gauthier and Marie Boucher, of Rochefort in Saintes, Saintonge, married on November 12th, 1668, to Charlotte Roussel and settled in Lachine. Their sons Jean, Joseph, Jean-Baptiste and Francois called Sanguingoira carried the name. Mathurin Gauthier called Landreville, son of Pierre Gauthier and Anne Lemaistre from Lege in Nantes, Bretagne, married toweards 1671 to Nicole Philippeau, a daughter of the King, and settled in Sainte-Therese Island. Their sons Louis, Charles, Jean and Lambert called Landreville carried the name.

Jean Gauthier, son of Gabriel Gauthier and Jeanne Chandauvouenne of Saintes in Saintonge, married on November 26th, 1671, to Jeanne Petit and settled in Cap-de-la-Madeleine. Their sons Jean, Jacques and Joseph carried the name. The decendants of Jean adopted the last name of Gentes in honour of their descendant Angelique Gentes. Jacques Gauthier, son of Simon Gauthier and Marie Aube of Saint-Vivien in Rouen, Normandie, married on September 11th, 1672, to Elisabeth-Ursule Denevers and settled in Lothiniere. Their sons Francois, Joseph, Augustin, Jean-Baptiste, Etienne and Jacques caried the name. Germain Gauthier called Saint-Germain, son of Germain Gauthier and Louise Vieillard of Beauber-la-Rosiere in Rouen, Normandie, married on July 19th, 1672, to Jeanne Beauchamps and settled in Repentigny. Their sons Jean, Pierre, Francois, Jacques and Pierre-Joseph called Saint-Germain, carried the name. Jean Gauthier called Larouche, son of Mathurin Gauthier and Catherine Loumeaus of Echillais de Rochefort in Saintes, Saintonge, married on June 21st, 1675 to Angelique Lefebure and settled in the lower city of Quebec. Guillaume Gauthier called Delisle, of unknown origin, married on August 21st, 1723, to Marguerite Masse and settled in the Saint-Laurent parish of Montreal.

Nowadays, their descendants are settled throughout several regions of Quebec and they use the different spellings "Gathier" and "Gautier". The Landrevilles are spread throughout the States and Canada and use various spellings "Landerville" "Landerville" "Lundeville" "Landvil"I would like to thank Gilles Gauthier <[email protected]>, member of the Gauthier Families Association, as source for this information.

 

 

 

Kenny: The name Kenny in Ireland is derived from a number of sources including the native Gaelic O'Cionnaoith (without servile work)Sept (Comment: that translation describes this retired Kenny perfectly) who were principally based in Counties Galway and Tyrone. From there the Galway Kenny's probably entered Tipperary crossing the river Shannon at Portumna to settle primarily in the northern part of Tipperary. Other descendants may derive from English or French (Normand) settlers who arrived into County Wexford. John O'Hart in his book Irish Pedigrees records that the name Kenny and Kenney is of Huguenot origin. The Huguenots were protestant refugees from France, Belgium and the Holland who fled from religious persecution under King Louis the XIV in the 1600's. The Duke of Ormond (Barony of Ormond is now Tipperary) and the Earl of Stafford under the rule of King Charles then set out to encourage the Huguenots to emigrate to Ireland during the mid 1600's. The Kenny name is among the eighty most frequently found in the country. The Butler's of Tipperary are descended from Lord Butler the former Duke of Ormond.

 

WPhelan: The names Whelan and Phelan in Ireland both derive from the O'Faolain Septs that were principally located in Counties Waterford and Kilkenny. Together these names rank among the fifty most frequently found names in the country and it is in the ancestral homeland Counties that the majority of descendants can still be found.

 

Hart: We selected for our home page the one found in "A Record of the Hart Family of Philadelphia, etc., 1735 - 1920" by Thomas Hart; Edited Privately for the Family; Philadelphia, PA; 1920. Here is a description taken from the book. The armorial bearings of this family are:

Arms-Gu (red).

A lion passant guardant Or (gold), in base a human heart argent (silver).

Crest --- A dexter cubit arm holding a flaming sword; all proper.

Motto --- "Fortiter et Fideliter" [Fortitude (or Strength) and Fidelity].

This Arms pertains only to this particular Hart family . The Arms for our family will be different still.

 

Madden: This sept is a branch of Ui Maine (Hy Many) living in that part of galway which lies beside the Shannon and extending over that river into Offaly. Their Chief was the recognized lord of that area in early times and after the occupation of Connacht by the Anglo Normans. In the heyday of land lordism and prior to the Lord acts the Madden estates which were located pricinpally in Mayo, Leitrim and Fermanagh comprised some 25,000 acres. Source: Irish Familes, Edward McLysaght

O'meara or O'mara: In Irish the name is O'Meadhra and both spellings given above are used as the english anglized form, Omeara being slightly more common than Omara. The O'meara's are now and have always been County Tipperary people. They belong by origin to the north of that County. The center of their territory being Toomevara a place name that embodies their surname - Tuaim ui mheadhra in Irish. Dermod O'meara was a physician , poet and author of the first medical work printed in Dublin (1619). His sons Edmund O'meara (d 1680) was another medical author; Barry O'meara (1786-1836) was also a surgeon and famous for his association with Napoleon at St Helena. Also of Tipperary stock were Kathleen O'meara (1839-1888) - grand daughter of Barry, who wrote many novels and biographies. Count Thomas O'Meara (1750- 1819), Baron William O'meara (1764-1818) and Colonel Daniel O'meara (b 1764) all of whom led distinguished careers in the Irish Brigades in France: Source Irish Familes, Edward McLysaght (coat of arms not yet found)

 

Warnock: The family name Warnock was first found in Ayrshire and the family is believed to be descended from the Strathclyde Britons. This ancient founding race of the North were a mixture of Gaeli/Celts whose origional territories ranged from Lancashire in the South, northward to the south bank of the River Clyde in Scotland. For more information about the Celts http://sunsite.unc.edu/gaelic/celts.html follow this link. Some of the border clans settled in Northern Ireland, transferred between 1650 and 1700 with grants of land provided they "undertook" to remain Protestant. They became known as the "Undertakers". Many became proudly Irish. In Ireland, they settled in Counties Tyrone Down, where there was fifteen families of Warnock were recorded. Indeed, according to the HISTORY OF THE WARNOCK FAMILY by the Irish Ancestry Guild in Ireland. 'The Warnock families of Ireland are of Scottish descent, like numerous other families in Northern Ireland'. They place the first use of the name 'in the county or shire of Inverness in the central area of Scotland through the middle of which runs Loch Ness and the Caledonian Canal, which connects the Firth of Lorne with the Firth of Moray on the other side of Scotland.' at around 1200AD. They apparently were of the ruling classes and built castles in Inverness.

The Warnocks were a sept of the Scottish clan Graham. The big clans would have families that although not related to them by blood would allie themselves for protection and all the benefits of clan life. This means that we are entitled to wear a tartan, but there is no Warnock tartan. According to the official books we can wear the Graham of Menteith tartan. Interestingly that branch of the Grahams had their anchient seat at the lake of Menteith, which is the only Lake in Scotland. (All others of course being lochs) They aparently gave their name to the parish of Gaitgillmakkilwernock in Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland. The family was more properly known as the MacIlvernocks. Around the 13th century the Scottish MacIlvernocks shortened their name to Warnock, for some of them via MacWarnock. I dare anyone to add the Mac now- what do you think? Some of them also would change their name to Graham and back again from father to son. Miss-spellings abound and so their are many versions of the name. The origin of the Warnock Surname is to be found in the name of on an Irish saint - St Mhearnog. Mhearnog was born into an illustrious Irish family about 550 AD. The genealogy of Mhearnog is as follows: Feidlimid born Scotia near the end of the fifth century into Ulster royal clan and married Eithne of Lienster royal clan. Their three children were Columba, Iogen and Cuimne. Columba (521-597) we know as St. Columba or St Columncille of Iona fame. Columba was trained as a priest. He founded monasteries at Derry 546 and Durrow 556 amongst others. A legend has it that a Synod in 561 he was condemned for his part in a dispute over the possession of a copy of a Gospel which resulted in many deaths at the battle of Cooldrevne. From 563 Columba lived in exile on Iona founding a monastic community with twelve monks. He was the first Abbot of Iona and he died and is buried on Iona.

Columba's sister Cuimne born about 520 AD married Decuil and they had four children: Mhearnog born about 550 AD, Cascene, Meldal and Bran.

Mhearnog is listed amongst the Saints of Ireland and his Feast Day is 23 December. It is worth remembering that during the fifth and sixth centuries the entire Christian Church was Catholic and it is much later that religious fragmentation took place.

The Warnock Surname is derived as follows: Mac Mhearnog = son of Mhearnog Mac Giolla Mhearnog = son of the servants or followers of Mhearnog >From the above source we get variants as follows: M'Gillavearnoge and M'Varnocke, MacWarnock, Warnock , Warnick and Warnack. Even more complicating is that some Warnocks changed their name to Grahame. Mhearnog also spelt Mhearnoc apparently pronouced WHAR-NOCK means the man who lived on the hill.

In view of the fact that our surname has its derivation in an Irish saint it seems logical that Ireland is the home country of our forebears. Certainly Warnock is a surname of long standing in Scotland arising as a surname around 1200 AD . In 1430 Warnocks were thought to have moved to Ireland as gallowglasses or paid retainers to the O'Neills who used them as soldiers to ward off invaders either from within Ireland or from foreign soil. The O"Neills held tracts of land in both Antrim and Down (near Bangor). These Warnocks held land around Bangor and some have been mentioned in Irish poetry for their feats in battle namely Caoman Mac Mearnog, Comgall Mearnog and Feargal Mac Mearnog. It seems that with the "Flight of the Earls" when the O'Neills were defeated in 1607 that Warnocks also were part of this movement which is also known as "The Wild Geese". Many of the "Wild Geese" served in the armies of France, Spain, Germany and Poland. During the 18th century Irish Brigades were a feature of European armies. The Irish Ancestry Guild indicates that the following Warnocks served: 1661 Don Sebastian Warnock in the Spanish Netherlands 1703 Major Seamus Warnock in the French army 1740 Colonel Charles Warnock in the army of the Emperor of Austria 1861-1865 Captain Michael Warnock and Colonel Thomas Warnock of the 88th N Y Volunteers in General Thomas Francis Meagher's Irish Brigade in USA

During the Ulster Plantation still other Warnocks came from Ireland so it seems that we will have to sift through yet another layer of Warnocks in Ireland.

In 1649 Oliver Cromwell also was responsible for the execution of Matthew Warnock, Arthur Warnock, Sean Warnock and Brendon Warnock. The religion of these four is not known. They could have been either Catholic or Presbyterian as both religions suffered persecution under Cromwell.

 source: http://kings-church.org/intro.htm

 

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Stories from the Farm Years

"What was it like living on the farm in winters the early 1900's?"

That was the question I asked my Aunt Amy (my 85 year old family historian). "Each evening the kids had to make sure that the wood box was filled to the top before bed. They would then go to bed (boys in one room and the girls in the other). Amy said that her older sister Irene as the night got progressively colder , would get up in the middle of the night and start to put on some her clothes that she was going to wear to school the next day. If it was an extremely cold night , then Irene would wake the next day to find herself completely dressed in her school clothes. When they would come down stairs in the morning, their father, Michael, or one of the boys would have started the fire in the cook stove. Often the girls would descend in the morning to find stove going and the oven door would be open and filled with a pile of wood that was drying. The water in the pans in the sink would have frozen during the night." Bear in mind that families of 9,10, 12 and greater all stayed in a typical farmhouse of a storey and 1/2 with 3 small bedrooms. The entire house was about the size of a 20 by 20 two story garden home of today with no basement except for maybe dug root cellar.

"Epedemics, and winters"

The records for the early pioneer years tell of hardships that we can only imagine. The winter of 1868 when the snows piled up as high as the roof tops. The farmers had to dig tunnels to go to the barns. There are pictures in the Osgoode Museum of a wagon going down a country road with the snow banks forming 10' walls on the sides. Then there was the small pox of 1860, cholera in 1880 and the influenza bout of 1918 which decimated rural farm families.It was not unusual during these epedemics to to have 3 or 4 children die in a month period. The records at Cumberland Historical society record such an event in December 1860 to a related Madden family.

"The Harse"

I can remember a day when Percy and I were going to drive to Orleans on the tractor with the oil tank on the trailer to pump out oil from a residential house in Orleans. This was the time that everyone was converting from oil to natural gas due to high oil prices. Percy and I would gather the oil, bring it up to the farm, store it in tanks so that it could be used for winter heating fuel. It was a miserable, cold, rainy, fall day. No matter how many layers of clothes that you had on you knew it wouldn't be enough to stop that lovely, tractor ride wind from slowly freezing you right down to your gonads. Before we started out and we were in the horse stable getting the equipment ready, that's when Percy dispensed one of his historical ( I'll learn ya) lessons. When they (Percy and his brothers) used to cut ice in the winter with the horses or when they had to take a cutter ride they would always make up an "Harse". To make an Harse you took a potato sack and filled it a third full with straw (not hay- no insulation effect) and tie the top. This you sat on while on your Journey. That's when I asked my stupid question. Why did you call it an Harse? As he turned away I knew I had taken the bait ; for he half smiled and as he walked away he said "cause it keeps your arse hole warm".

Missing the obvious seemed to help me remember my lessons.

"The Milking"

Amy says that when they were growing up on the farm there was a division of labour. The men worked the fields, repaired machinery and mended fencing. The girls were required to assist with all the house work, baby sit the omnipresent children and do the twice daily milking. Irene ,the oldest girl, never did any milking until one day Percy and Ernie literally carried her to the barn and placed her on a stool. They showed her how to pull teats and watched as she tried. The cow slowly turned at the amatuerish touch, raised her hind leg, stepping in the pail, spilling the little bit of hard won milk and putting and end to Irenes career as milk maid. Turning to her brothers she annouced that was it; she had enough to do taking care of the babies in the house and stormed out. Amy said that her father (Michael) always insisted on milking the cows before supper. This effectively eliminated the girls from playing ball with there brothers.

Amy's quote "The damn cows could've waited until after supper". (It was a man's world back then)

"Lorneys Wake"

Frank McCourt writes in his novel entitled Angela's Ashes states that the Irish have no reverance for death. Death is irrelevant It's the wake thats important. When my father died the wake was held at Lorne Kelly's Funeral Parlour. Lorne Kelly was a close personal friend of my Father's. If my dad had alive and attending he would have said "It was a grand affair". Due to the fact that my father,Lorne Kenny, was being waked at Lorne Kelly's, Lorne Kelly, the owner of the funeral parlour, received a few mis-addressed wreaths expressing condolences on his recent death. The staff of the funeral home took great pleasure in bringing all the floral tributes to Lorne Kelly's office to show how well people thought of him. During the second night of the wake when most of the Dad's family and friends were in attendance, Lorne Kelly came over to me to ask if we could keep the noise down as our typical irish wake was disturbing the other non irish corpses/wakes across the hall. I looked at him, half smiled , but bit my tongue to stop from from blurting out "But Lorne, there dead aren't they"

From somewhere else I know Dad smiled at my black Irish humour.

"Recycling - A practice that was part of Farming"

I know all persons of my fathers generation would wonder what the big deal is about Recycling. Farm people did this out of necessity. Every thing was used at least twice, from strings on the hay bales to nails. I remember one occasion when the Macaroni company was tearing down there radio shed in the River fields and Percy negotiated a deal with them to get the old lumber. Getting the lumber made sense but once the lumber was collected he had us drive out all the nails and collect them into kegs. He then assigned anybody that could wield a hammer the job of straighting out every nail into the three kegs. This was to be done when you had nothing better to do (no chores) or it was raining. My cousins and I humoured the boss (Percy) for a while but by the end of the summer and with the job half done a goodly number of the crooked nails found there way to a nice big hole in the garden.

Early evidence of group decision making skills and prioritizing

 

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Comments and Suggestions

The purpose of this Web project is to make this family information widely available to the many people involved in gathering family information. A second objective is to have family members review this information and to send me updates to the information and copies of any pictures for inclusion in this web site. A third objective is to build an online list of addresses of people who are willing to serve as family history contacts in Canada and in the States. If you have any information or ideas on how to make this all come together. Please send me mail telling me what you think about this page/project and how I might improve it. I truly welcome all input

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