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I got careless and lost all the information about my grand uncle Dan, apart from his birth registration and Census 1911 entry.

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1908/01658/1661202.pdf

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Antrim/Duncairn_Ward/Whitla/133123/

He was the first born (to John O’Neill & Mary-Ann Kelly) of 1 girl and 4 boys. His siblings were (cast in order of appearance) Elizabeth, Patrick, John & Bernard.

Dan apparently did something naughty whilst playing games with the B&Ts. He ran south of the border, never to return. He walked with a severe limp, perhaps due to their rough play.

Some other names associated with him were a Sean, André and Ainé. I believe that he lived in North Dublin (a detached bungalow, perhaps somewhere like Beaumont) and worked as a storeman for a seed & grain business. At least one of his sons once worked at the Guinness brewery, and another disappeared in South Africa.

Dan may be difficult to trace if he gave false information to avoid being recognised.

If any of Dan’s descendants see this, please do get in touch by PM to help me fill the gaps and to get to know you.

Excellent point mckha489.

On the other hand, the registers were usually transcribed from local entries. Virtually every recorded birth shows "name, her/his mark x". There was no mechanism to duplicate signatures.

If you compare literacy (as recorded on the census returns) with later birth registrations, all that I have seen for previously declared literate persons show the same... "her/his mark x".

My great grandmother and her husband were literate and fluent in English and Irish (they also spoke and wrote - badly-  in French and Italian). Their childrens' births are also recorded with an "x" signature.

Hi Aghadowey,

There is a copy of Elizabeth Ellen's baptism certificate in our family archives, plus some notes about Father Matthew O'Keefe's work administering to the ill & dying in Norfolk.

These, together with the family oral histories about Virginia, and Patrick O'Neill having followed and wooed Elizabeth Ellen Martin after seeing her pass in a carriage, all do tie firmly to the Norfolk VA side.

What's missing is the clear identity of Elizabeth Ellen's Kearney parents (there is a family rumour that there were some Kearney mulatto children with plantation slaves; Fr O'Keefe was famous for de-segregating his church, and having it burnt down as a result. The Kearney and Martin families are on record as some of the major donators to the rebuilding fund.

The Norfolk VA connection is certain.

Hello everyone.

Can someone help me to find a missing generation of the ‘Battling Kearneys’?

This may be a total ‘red-herring’ driven by the family desire to have once been ‘rich & famous’. On the other hand, there may also be a modicum of truth to it.

Here’s what we know:-

Philip Kearney (1704-1775) and Isabella Hooper (1720-?) had at least one son,
Michael Kearny, who married Elizabeth "Madam Scribblerus" Lawrence: together, they had at least 7 sons
John Kearny       (1775 – 1828)
Phillip Kearny    (1777 – 1853)
James Kearny       (1778 – 1811)
Robert Kearny   (1779 – 1853)
William Kearny    (1785 – 1788) & Francis Kearny (1785 – 1837) - Twins
Lawrence Kearny   (1789 – 1868) aka “Commodore Lawrence Kearney”

Squeeze into the Tardis and skip forward a generation.

A John Martin married a Mary Kearney (? sister Jane Kearney) on 3/3/1851 in Norfolk, Virginia.
On 26/11/1852 Elzabeth Ellen Martin (daughter of John Martin & Mary Kearney) was baptised by Fr Matthew O’Keefe in the (now) Church of St Mary of the Immaculate Conception (then known simply as St Patrick’s parish). The sponsors were Jane Kearney and Henry Dalton. It was the height of the yellow-fever epidemic in Norfolk VA. The Perth Amboy Kearneys had significant property and strong naval & military ties to Norfolk Virginia.

Let’s jump on the “Tardis” again and travel to May 9th 1876 when Elizabeth Ellen Martin had a son, Charles O’Neill, with Patrick O’Neill in Belfast, Northern Ireland. They went on to have at least another 6 children together, two of whom were infant deaths. Their last child, Stanislaus, was born on February 24th 1891 and Elizabeth Ellen died a fortnight later (Stanislaus survived a further four and a half months). Patrick remarried with a Sarah Lyttle on August 12th 1900 and they went on to have at least a further 5 children.

Family rumour has it that John Martin (Elizabeth Ellen’s apparent father) was a famous US navy captain connected with the US ship “Pensacola”. There were always stories and songs of the “good old times” in Virginia and South Carolina.

The US Navy suggest that Elizabeth Ellen Martin was a granddaughter of Commodore Lawrence Kearney. Given the dates of birth of his only known two sons, that seems improbable.

Who were Elizabeth Ellen Martin’s parents and grandparents?

When and how did she get from Norfolk VA to Northern Ireland?

What happened to her parents?

Any helpful ideas fellow RootsChatters?