Kearney – Perth Amboy & Norfolk Virginia 1720-1852 – Belfast 1875

[elmer64]

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?

[aghadowey]

There was at least one child born before Charles-
Catherine O'Neill (12 Nov.1874 at 57 Hanna St.-10 Aug.1875)
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1874/03129/2147345.pdf
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1875/020616/7233342.pdf

[aghadowey]

I've found 10 children of Patrick O'Neill & Elizabeth Martin born Belfast between 1874-1891.

I've found several other couples with the same names in various parts of the U.S. Why do you think the Belfast ones are connected to the Kearneys?

[elmer64]

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.

[aghadowey]

One thing I noticed was that Elizabeth O'Neill doesn't ever seem to have a middle name in Belfast records.
Do the names of her children give any clues? I suspect both Catherines were named after the Catherine O'Neill who was informant at Elizabeth's birth (possibly Patrick O'Neill's mother).
I haven't found a marriage for Patrick & Elizabeth in Ireland- have you search for it in U.S.?

[mckha489]

Deleted, realise you had already answered that question.

[elmer64]

Hi again Aghadowey,

First, well spotted for Catherine 1874, thank you! It is complicated when some are registered as Antrim, others as Belfast.

I now have 8 children:-

1874 Catherine (your discovery)
1876 Charles 1876
1877 Elizabeth
  a potential gap for a couple of births
1880 Annie
  a potential gap for another birth
1882 Catherine
  a potential gap for another birth
1884 John
  a potential gap for a couple of births
1887 Sarah
  a potential gap for a couple of births
1891 Stanislaus

You have found two more?

In the 1911 census Patrick only referred to his children with Sarah Lyttle (5 born, 3 living).

Lennon Wylie show a Catherine O'Neill (widow) at 57 New Dock Street in 1880 & 1890; the street did not seem to exist in 1868.

Patrick O'Neill's second marriage (to Sarah Lyttle) 12/8/1900 records his father as Charles O'Neill (deceased). We have not yet found a parental Charles+Catherine connection. There seems to be a Bernard somewhere in the mix. However you very rightly suggest Catherine as the potential mother-in-law to Elizabeth Ellen.

We also find no trace of Patrick & Elizabeth's marriage in Ireland. Family tales say Patrick saw her with her family in a carriage on a dockside, then followed on foot for days until he could meet her (it was never clear where that may have happened). There is also a 'yarn' about her dressing as a man to board ship and run away with him. That all sounds far too dramatic to be true; who knows? He has never been recorded as a sailor.

So far, with only rudimentary skills, I have looked, but not found their marriage in the US. Norfolk was chaos at that time due to the epidemic and records were not consistently maintained (they're also very difficult to access and to read). In all events, the Kearneys had properties everywhere, and a marriage may have occurred well outside Norfolk. Wise people tried to flee the yellow-fever epidemic, many were repulsed elsewhere, but the very wealthy probably got by. They still do!

Many, many thanks for your time, thought, and suggestions.

[mckha489]

It does seem odd to me that a woman from a wealthy family could only sign with her mark.
(Although I have only looked at the two certs for Catherine 1874).

[elmer64]

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.