KENNY family: Fermanagh to Gatineau, Quebec, Canada in1830.

[donkenny]

My Kenny family was native to Co. Fermanagh. They immigrated to Gatineau, Quebec, Canada in 1830, where they settled in Aylmer and Chelsea. They were very Wesleyan-Methodist. All (except Alice) married in Canada.
                        No Irish townland or parish is known.
Mother: Alice, b. ca.1779
Father: nothing known (it doesn't appear that he made it to Canada)
Son: Robert, b. 1808
Son: Ralph, b. 1810
Son: John, b. ca. 1821
Daughter: Letitia, b. 1818
                         Other family members, if any, unknown.

I would like to identify Alice’s husband, and any other family members. Their townland or parish is also of great interest. Anything prior to 1830 would be wonderful.

I am also going the DNA route and have found two “cousins”. We believe we are related, but more substantial information is needed.

Thank you for your consideration of this message.

[fermanaghroots]

I'm not familiar with the surname Kenny at all.  Seems to be rare-ish surname and there are only 10 people listed with Kenny surname in the Fermanagh telephone book. 

Id start by looking in the following areas AGHALURCHER, AGHAVEA, KINAWLEY, MAGHERACROSS, ROSSORRY, DERRYBRUSK.

Have you tried the searching the passenger logs?

[donkenny]

KDDA:

Thank you for the advice.
The name is rare and I had hoped that this would be to my advantage, but no luck so far.
I have researched some St. Lawrence River passenger records, but no luck. Their records are lacking in detail anyway. Not like the ocean vessels. I'll focus on passenger lists for ca. 1830.
I'm sure the family came from Fermanagh as this county is inscribed on three of their cemetery stones.

[Garvary]

Hi, the name in Fermanagh and in Ireland is not that rare.  There were Kenny's from Brookeborough in the mid 19th century that were Methodists. Some of their relatives will probably be found in the Aghavea Church of Ireland Parish records (and perhaps some in the Aghalurcher Parish records). The family are recorded in the Brookeborough/Lisnaskea area from at least the 1780's.
The Kenny families in this area were under the Brooke landlords. There are many records in the Public Records Office in Belfast that will have information about them.
The Kenny's I am aware of are of Thomas and William Kenny in the 'Knocks' townland (between Brookborough and Lisnaskea in the late 18th century. They were brothers.
Hope that helps.

[donkenny]

Garvary:
A Big Thank You for this very valuable information. We now have some direction to take, something previously unavailable. I'll get back to this chat forum as soon as we can line up our little bits of info with yours. Very much appreciated!

[NEILKE]

hi all my surname is kenny my kennys came over to north shields sometime in the 1850s and were catholics and i think they were from the south part of ireland.
neil

[Garvary]

Hi, did a little more searching around for you Donles. I think I may have your relatives.
There is Thomas and Alice Kenny with a baptism record (not sure if it is Ahgavea or Aghalurcher) in September 1817 for Letty (pet name for Letitia). The baptism record stated that they lived in the townland of Tattinbar, around Brookeborough, Co Fermanagh. I haven't seen any other records for the other children you mentioned.
There was at least one other Kenny family, George & Margaret living in Tattinbar at the same time having children also. The family were probably tenant farmers like the other Kenny families in the area.

[Garvary]

One further mote. If you go onto Google maps and put in Rosslea, Co Fermanagh you will clearly see Tattinbar shown a little south/west of it. It is a country area, an irish townland. I originally thought it was nearer Brookeborough or Lisnaskea but obviously not. It is very close to the border with the Rep. of Ireland. The parishes of Aghavea and Aghalurcher generally cover this area (not sure of parish boundaries).

[donkenny]

Hi Neil:
Your Kenny’s may have left at the end of the Great Famine of 1845 – 1852. My understanding is that Irish Catholics were very poorly treated, within a system that was bad for nearly everyone.
My take is that, yes, there would be mostly Catholic Kenny’s in the south part of Ireland, many more Kenny’s than would be found in Northern Ireland.
Here in Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec, there are few with the surname Kenny. In the Ottawa, Ontario area, there is a well documented Catholic Kenny family from Ireland (John Emmett Kenny has the internet site), and another group of Anglican Kenny’s. Our Kenny’s were the third group, Wesleyan-Methodist, and across the Ottawa River in Quebec.
Thank you.
Don.