Daniel Kennedy b. 1832 in Little Bray

[Pacific NW Robin]

My gg grandfather Daniel Kennedy was born in 1832 in Little Bray, Ireland. The county is given as Dublin. I understand that Little Bray is right across the Dargle River from Bray, Wicklow County. Little Bray is never listed though so I'm wondering if I should look for records in Bray, Wicklow Co.. I think that nowadays Little Bray is considered part of Bray & therefore in Wicklow, is that correct?

[Pacific NW Robin]

Daniel Kennedy, born in 1832 in Little Bray, Dublin Co., Ireland, was my gg grandfather. He immigrated alone to the US in 1851 as a teenager. After living in Philadelphia he went to the gold fields of California in 1853 & then to Sitka Alaska in 1871 where he married & had 5 sons, John, Daniel, James Francis, Edward, & George. His mother's name was O'Connell & his parents never left Ireland. I would like to find out more about my gg grandfather Daniel Kennedy's parents & siblings in Ireland through birth certificates or baptismal records & to connect with relatives.

Moderatore's Note: duplicate topics merged

[shanew147]

As you've seen Little Bray is technically in Co. Dublin, and Bray itself is in Co. Wicklow. For many records , especially this early, the records would fall under Bray... so Co. Wicklow.

As far as I know there was no Catholic Church in Little Bray until the 1860s, so all the earlier registrations are in Bray town. The RC parish is Bray and the baptism and marriage records from from 1792 are available in the National Library on microfilm P.9371.  The same film includes baptisms from Bray, Little Bray, Shankill, Old Connaught and Shanganagh, the later four all in Co. Dublin.

Later records for Little Bray (marriages from 1866, baptisms from 1891) are included on a separate film -  P.9372

Many of the RC Baptisms for Co. Wicklow (and possibly early records for Little Bray) are available on the IFHF pay-website.

Church of Ireland events for people living in Little Bray could be recorded in either Bray or nearby Shankill (Co. Dublin). These are available in the Representative Church Library in Rathfarnham in Dublin.

do you know anything about Daniel's father ? (e.g. name & occupation from marriage cert ).


Shane

[garstonite]

Hiya Robin
there is a Submitted record for Daniel Kennedy b 4th July 1832 in Bray Common , Ireland on www.familysearch.org.uk
he evidently died in 1922....is this your Daniel ?
allan

[shanew147]

Daniel Kennedy, born in 1832 in Little Bray, Dublin Co., Ireland, was my gg grandfather........to find out more about my gg grandfather Daniel Kennedy's parents & siblings in Ireland through birth certificates or baptismal records & to connect with relatives.

Civil registration started in Ireland in 1864 so you will have to rely on Church records rather than civil certs.

The townland of Bray common mentioned by garstonite is shown on the historic OSI map of the area, and is just  to the west of Little Bray - see : Bray Common, Little Bray  (select the Historic or Historic BW option)


Shane

[Pacific NW Robin]

Thank you so much for all your help, it's greatly appreciated. Yes, that is my gg grandfather in the LDS records except that he died in 1913 I think. I don't know his parent's first names, that's one of the things I'd like to find out. I don't know his father's profession either but I do know that Daniel Kennedy went to sea in 1843 when he was 11 years old as a cabin boy. Don't know what ship. Maybe his father worked at a shipyard? I'm guessing there was one near Bray. The reason I have what information I do have is because my grandmother (since passed away), Frances Kennedy, wrote it down in a journal. She lived near her grandfather Daniel in Alaska & remembered visiting him often.

[shanew147]

There seem to be a number of Kennedy families in the area during a slightly later timeframe on Griffiths' Valuation (a Land Taxation survey of 1850s/60s) - including a William Kennedy who is a  tennent of my gg-grandfather just to the south of Bray. link to Griffiths Valuation

The next step would be possibly be to try to establish the Kennedy's family religion.. (i.e Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland etc...)  so that you can investigate the correct type of church records.

Since there are a number of Kennedy families in later years, you could find several possible matches.. so it could be difficult to prove a connection without further details ..can you not get details on Daniel's parents from his marriage or other certs ?

There was (and still is) a small harbour in Bray, but never any major ship building that I know of.


Shane

[Pacific NW Robin]

So far I haven't found a document with Daniel's parent's first names on it. His religion was Roman Catholic. I was thinking to look for church records in Bray, I guess there wouldn't be any in Little Bray.

[shanew147]

I had a look at the index on the IFHF website (link mentioned earlier) - at there are three Daniel Kennedy baptisms listed in their Co. Wicklow RC records around the right time. Two in 1832 and one in 1833. None of these are in the parish of Bray, which is where I would usually expect to find a baptism from Little Bray at this time.

One of these is in 1832 is in the RC parish of Kingston - which is to the south  of the county near to Rathdrum. The other two are in the parish of Kilquade which is the parish just to the south of Bray town.

The closest Co. Dublin parishes would possibly be Glasthule, but RC  records older that the 1860s for this parish do not survive. Another possibility, but not that close, could be Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire) - where the IFHF lists another possible Baptism in 1832. Some of the other nearby Co. Dublin parishes such as Ballybrack do not have any surviving record from that time.



Shane