I am trying to find where my great great grandfather, John McKenna, and his wife Margaret (Wilson) lived when they were n America in the 19th century. One of their daughters Jane McKenna was born somewhere in the US around 1861 (as shown on her place of birth on the 1901 and 1911 censuses). John and Margaret were married in Minterburn Presbyterian Church in Tyrone on Christmas Day 1852. One clue might be that a witness at their wedding was a George Bell, and a George Bell from Tyrone appears on the 1860 census for Chatham, Savannah, Georgia with his wife Susan, both borin 1822. There is no John or Margaret McKenna listed on the Savannah census, although their is a McKenna family. John, Margaret and Jane were all back in Ireland by 1864 when another daughter, Mary Ann is shown as born. Tantalisingly, although there is no John McKenna on the 1861 census there IS a Private John McKenna who enlists in the 22nd Batt Georgia Heavy Artillery Company C in May 1862, just after Fort Pulaski fell into Unon Hands and began a blockade of Savannah. The 22nd Battalion was raised in Savannah and locally recruited. He deserted in June 1863 and was not found. If that was the same man he could have been back in Ireland the following year for the birth of his daughter, although how he would have got out of wartime Georgia with a wife and young child would be problematic. However, that is conjecture. I was hoping to learn if anyone knew of George and Susan Bell and if they hailed from the Aughnacloy/Caledon area of Tyrone - Aghaloo or Carnteel parishes.
