Keenan Family Ireland Pennsylvania, pt 5 of 6

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The Keenan Families of County Monaghan, Ireland, and
Allegheny County and Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania

Compiled by Sean Furniss
Revised 29 January 1999

 

57. James Clarke6 Bell (Mary5, Isabella4, James3, Thomas2, James1) He graduated from Westminster College, New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, in 1908. He completed his law degree at the University of Pittsburgh in 1911. He worked as an instructor at the University of Pittsburg and practiced law with his father. He married his college classmate, Margie Cockran, of Greenville, Pennsylvania, in September 1912.[109]

68.iMargaret Cockran7 Bell
69.iiNancy Jane Bell
70.iiiMary Clarke Bell

 

60. John Hilary6 Keenan (Edward W.5, John Barclay4, James3, Thomas2, James1) He was born 23 January 1885. He studied at St. Marys Seminary in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. He attended St. Vincent College at Beatty, Pennsylvania. He studied law in the offices of his cousin, John B. Keenan. Later he attended Dickinson Law School at Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

He was admitted to the bar in 1908. He practiced law in Westmoreland County until the outbreak of World War I. During World War I, he worked with the Selective Service program. After the war, he worked in the legal department of an insurance company in Newark, New Jersey. In 1925, he returned to Westmoreland County to practice law.

He was chairman of the Westmoreland County Democratic party in 1910 and 1911, and from 1930 to 1936. His efforts in supporting the election of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was rewarded with an appointment as United States Marshal at Pittsburgh on 1 September 1933. He was appointed manager of the State Workmen's Insurance Fund at Harrisburg. In February 1936 he was appointed Common Pleas judge for the Tenth Judicial District. In 1938, he was elected to the office for a term of ten years.

He married first Alice Foster (daughter of Henry Foster), and then was married to Anne R. Bates of Scottdale in 1921.[110]   

61. Maire6 Keenan (John Joseph5, Daniel Xavier4, Hugh3, Thomas2, James1) She was born 25 October 1922 at Monaghan, Co. Monaghan, Ireland. She was born at �The Hill� in a house on the hill opposite the hospital. John McNally was her godfather. She died on 25 July 2000 of heart failure, associated with fluid in the lungs and lung cancer, at the Western Medical Center, Santa Ana, California. She is buried with her husband at the National Cemetery in Riverside, California.[111]

At Cappagh Lodge, she and her sister Kay were educated by a governess. While living at Cappagh Lodge, Maire and her sister Catherine floated their younger brother Johnny in a basket in the Blackwater River. When asked why they did it, they said that they were playing Moses in the bullrushes.[112]

During the period from 1931 to 1935, Maire and Kay attended National School in Monaghan. From September 1935 to June 1938, they went to private school at Sion, Dominican Convent at Blackrock, Dublin. The two sisters used to go down to the wall separating the boys school from the girls school and throw notes over the wall. This behavior was deemed inappropriate by the nuns and almost lead to their being dismissed.[113] Maire received 94% in Irish, 83% in English, 91% in French, 96% in needlepoint and 92% in knitting.

From about September 1938 to June 1939, the two sisters attended the Convent of the Cross in Boscombe (located just outside of Bournemout near Southhampton), England. Maire and Kay were on the field hockey team, playing left and right wing.[114]

In the fall of 1939, they attended Sacred Heart Convent in Armagh for about about 10-15 days. The school was very strict in comparison to the other schools Maire and Kay had attended. During their brief stay they tried to mount a student insurrection against the regulations. Using the excuse of a tooth ache, Maire and Kay returned home by train. Upon arriving in Monaghan, their mother informed them that the nuns had called to inform her that the girls luggage would be on the next train and the girls were invited not to return.[115]

For the remainder of the school year, the girls attended the St. Louis convent school in Monaghan. All the classes at the school were taught in Irish which Maire and her sister did not use. Maire said she spent a lot of time reading paperback books because she never learned Irish. Both Maire and Kay spent more time out of class than in class. They felt that they may have been in class about 20 percent of the time.[116]

In the fall of 1940, she attended Ross' College (preparatory school to study for college) at Stephens Green across from St. Vincent's Hospital with her sister Kay (Catherine) and Pat McGuire (the godmother of Maire's son Sean Barry Furniss). The three of them were the first girls to be admitted to the boys school.[117]

In the spring of 1941 she went to physical therapy school at Trinity College but did not like it. She had a complete human skeleton which she used for her studies and entertainment. She would hide the skeleton under Pat McGuire's bed to scare her. For a time there was a fellow border, at the boarding house at 40 Upper Leason Street in Dublin, who was known by them as "the bachelor." He apparently did not enjoy their pranks. After finding a potato shaped ankle bone on his plate one night, he left for other lodgings.[118]

In late 1941, Maire was hired by the Grand Central Hotel in Belfast as a trainee. She went to work at the Mayfair Hotel in London in the summer of 1943 and worked there until Christmas of 1945.[119]

During the 1950's she worked as a volunteer with both boy and girl scout groups, and as a volunteer in hospitals. She received an Associate of Arts degree in Nutrition and a certification in Hotel Management from Orange Coast College in 1978. In June of 1981, she graduated with honors from California State University at Fullerton with a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting.[120] During the 1980's and 1990's she worked as a tax accountant and office manager for H & R Block in Orange County, California.

She was married at Fort Knox, Kentucky, USA, to Clinton Chollet Furniss, Jr. He was born 8 March 1913 at New York City, New York, USA; died 3 May 1984 at Glendale, California, USA; buried at Riverside National Cemetery, Riverside, California.[121]

They met in the summer of 1942 while his military unit was assigned to Killeagh Castle, Northern Ireland, prior to the unit's assignment to North Africa. "When the troops were leaving from there for war assignments there was a farewell dinner with the quote 'till we eat again.' Maire Furniss (Keenan) recalls they had lobster.[122]

He served in the US Army in North Africa, Italy and Germany during World War II. He worked at the Neurenberg War Trials after World War II. After retiring from the military as a major, he worked as a purchasing agent for various school districts and the City of Santa Ana. (See Furniss and Furness Families of Portsmouth and Durham, New Hampshire for additional information about the Furniss families.)

+71.iMichael7 Furniss
+72.iiSean Barry Furniss
+73.iiiKathleen Lynda Furniss
+74.ivMaureen Ruth Furniss

  

62. Catherine6 (Kay, Kitty) Keenan (John Joseph5, Daniel Xavier4, Hugh3, Thomas2, James1) She was born at Monaghan, Ireland. Her godmother was Annie (McNally) McLoughlin.[123]

Kay's school records were almost identical to her sister Maire. A couple of additional notes of interest add to the previous information. Kay enjoyed gymnastics and while attending the Convent of the Cross in Boscombe, she participated in the rope climbing competitions. In the spring of 1941, Kay attended Alexander College where she studied "Domestic Science," what would also be known today as home economics.[124]

One of the memories which Kay remembered strongly related to a ping pong tournament. After having taken first place in the tournament in Monaghan, she went with five others to challenge a team in Northern Ireland. She arrived pretty "puffed up." After playing the number one player from the other team and losing 21 -1, she left humiliated. She said it taught her never to be number one.[125]

At the farewell dinner for the American troops at Killeagh Castle, "Kitty Keenan was up on a `blind date' with a friend of Bill Furniss & she recalls trying to keep off the chill of the large castle by tearing up & burning newspapers. The blind date was Lt. Richard D. Englehart who was later taken as a P.O.W. [prisoner of war] & detained in Stalag 1495 Lager in Germany. He managed to escape. After he returned to the U.S. he had Christmas cards printed outlining the routes he had taken on his escape. He sent one to Kitty - but it was lost long ago.[126]

In the later part of 1941, Kitty worked at the Hibernian Hotel in Dublin, Ireland. Kitty Keenan worked in Northern Ireland (Belfast and Bangor) during the latter years of World War II. When a captured U-Boat was on display in Belfast, she lined up to tour it and managed to steal a tin of bread as a souvenir. When she later opened it, she discovered the bread was coarse, black and unpleasant. She recalled thinking how difficult it must have been for the crews to have to eat such rations, while in an "iron coffin." When she was working in Bangor, she lived in converted quarters in Bangor Castle. The castle is now a museum with a restaurant.[127]

In 1987, while seeking out a new dentist in Vancouver, she found herself being cared for by a Dr. MacEntee, the son of her old dentist in Monaghan.[128]  

She was married at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to Terrance (Terry) Insley Kaye. At her wedding she wore a gown of white nylon satin with a full-length embroidered veil held by a coronet of orange blossoms. She carried lilies and pink rosebuds. Wilfred Gladstone, her cousin, gave her away.[129]

Terry was born in 21 April 1922 at New Westminster, British Columbia. His parents were Thomas (Tommy) Kaye (born in Dingle, Ireland, died in Vancouver in the 1950's) and Thelma Insley (born in New Wesminster, British Columbia, died in Alberta while on vacation in 1973). Terry died in July 1976 at Vancouver and is buried at Vancouver, British Columbia.[130]

Terry and his brother attended Vancouver College, a noted Catholic College which was run by the Christian Brothers of Ireland. During the second World War, Terry enlisted in the Canadian Army and served in the medical corps with the Canadian forces in Europe. After the war he returned to Canada where he took a job with the Canadian Post Office, a position he held until his death.[131]

He had one brother Danny Kaye. Danny served in the Canadian Air Force as a bomber pilot. He was married in 1948 to Doreen, who he met while he was stationed near Yorkshire, England during WW II while he was serving in the Canadian Air Force. They lived in Ottawa, Canada. They had three children - Diana, Edward and Michael.[132]

Kay and Terry adopted two children.

75.iRosaleen8 Kaye
+76.iiAileen Kaye

 


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References


[109] Fenwick Y. Hedley, Old and New Westmoreland, Vol. III, p. 58.

[110] Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, p. 107-108, entry for Edward W. Keenan; Lewis Clark Walkinshaw, Annals of Southwestern Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 194-), p. 297, entry for Judge J. Hilary Keenan, seen at the Carnegie Library, Pittsburgh, PA; New U. S. Marshall Loves A Fight, Pittsburg Press, 17 Sept. 1933, Society Section, p. 10, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, 4338 Bigelow Boulevard, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, copy in possession of writer.

[111] Irish Passport C 20552 for Maire Keenan, issued 11 February 1946; Irish Passport E 47814 for Mrs. Clinton Furniss, issued May 1956, both passports list date and place of birth, both passports in possession of writer; Oral interview with Maire Keenan on 7 November 1988, notes in possession of writer; Tape of discussion between Maire Keenan and Catherine Keenan 6 December 1988.

[112] Oral interview with Maire Keenan on 7 November 1988, notes in possession of writer.

[113] Tape of discussion between Maire Keenan and Catherine Keenan 6 December 1988.

[114] Tape of discussion between Maire Keenan and Catherine Keenan 6 December 1988.

[115] Tape of discussion between Maire Keenan and Catherine Keenan 6 December 1988.

[116] Tape of discussion between Maire Keenan and Catherine Keenan 6 December 1988.

[117] Oral interview with Maire Keenan on 7 November 1988, notes in possession of writer.

[118] Tape of discussion between Maire Keenan and Catherine Keenan 6 December 1988.

[119] Tape of discussion between Maire Keenan and Catherine Keenan 6 December 1988; Oral interview with Maire Keenan on 7 November 1988, notes in possession of writer.

[120] Oral interview with Maire Keenan on 7 November 1988, notes in possession of writer.

[121] Birth Certificate for Clinton Chollet Furniss Jr., 8 Mar. 1913, Certificate and Record of Birth 14425, Bureau of Vital Records, Department of Health, New York, NY, copy in possession of writer; Notice of death for Clinton C. "Bill" Furniss, copy in possession of writer.

[122] Tape of discussion between Maire Keenan and Catherine Keenan 6 December 1988, tape in possession of writer; Notes of Kay Kaye (Keenan), in possession of writer.

[123] Family Group Sheet for Terrance Insley Kaye and Catherine Keenan, in possession of writer; Tape of discussion between Maire Keenan and Catherine Keenan 6 December 1988.

[124] Tape of discussion between Maire Keenan and Catherine Keenan 6 December 1988.

[125] Tape of discussion between Maire Keenan and Catherine Keenan 6 December 1988.

[126] Kay Kaye, notes of Sept. 1993, original in possession of writer.

[127] Tape of discussion between Maire Keenan and Catherine Keenan, 6 December 1988, tape in possession of writer; Kay Kaye, notes of Sept. 1993, original in possession of writer.

[128] Tape of discussion between Maire Keenan and Catherine Keenan, 6 December 1988, tape in possession of writer.

[129] Wedding announcement (unknown paper Vancouver, B.C., Canada) no date, in possession of writer.

[130] Catherine Kaye to Martha and Barry Furniss, letter of 9 September 1988, in possession of writer.

[131] Catherine Kaye to Martha and Barry Furniss, letter of 9 September 1988, in possession of writer.

[132] Catherine Kaye to Martha and Barry Furniss, letter of 9 September 1988, in possession of writer.

[133] Birth Certificate for John Keenan, Certified copy of entry no. 26 in the Register Book of Births, No. U 1132/10, copy obtained by John Edward Keenan in possession of writer.


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