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24.2.2010 I am mainly busy with the analysis and synthesis stages of the project, with a view to publishing by the end of the year. It is important to document all the families in Scotland up to 1901 before the exciting release of the 1911 Scotland census in January 2011. Whilst this is going on, let me know if you are struggling to locate your Kennedy family in a Scottish census as I may be able to help.
11.2.2010 How many Kennedys fought on the British side at Trafalgar? According to TNA the answer is 26. Their 'Trafalgar Ancestors' database shows that of these, 18 were Irish natives, although this includes someone from 'Kirkoudbright, Galway, Ireland' which I suggest is a misreading of Kirkcudbright in Scotland - there are Kennedys in Galway but they don't call themselves Samuel. Other than these there is one each from England, Scotland and the United States. Of the four who don't list a place of birth, one must surely be Scottish laird Thomas Francis Kennedy, the only ranked Kennedy in the list; Andrew Kennedy had some wages paid to his wife at Dublin; Pte. Michael Kennedy will be an Irish Catholic; James Kennedy is unclear, as is Nathaniel Kennedy native of Gaston. Irish Kennedys had for centuries fought for continental armies and navies especially the French and Spanish, but I have no information yet about any Kennedys present on the 'other' side at Trafalgar.
2.1.2010 I have written up some notes about the Kennedy register of Kilmonivaig parish in Inverness-shire, including some extracts from the Gordon estate papers covering tacks and rentals at Leanachan and Brackletter.
1.1.2010 Trinity College Dublin have put the 1641 Depositions online and they contain 2 Kennedy references. One is the witness account of the famous incident when Walter Kennedy surrendered Clough castle. You need to register and log on to read the actual record although searching can be done without this. Meanwhile the National Archives of Ireland have uploaded a fully searchable version of the 1911 census so you can now search on all fields including religion - just click on 'more search options'. This includes those who invoked their legal right to not disclose their religion, as one brave Kennedy did!
23.12.09 Spent some time with the Gordon Muniments at NAS, looking at events surrounding the Lochaber Sett of 1804/5 when Angus Kennedy at Lianachanmor and Neil Kennedy of Lianachanbeg bid for renewed tacks of their farms on the Gordon estates; and transcribed all the Kennedy birth/baptism and marriage records from the Kilmonivaig parish registers. These show that the first children raised at Brackletter were in 1811, but that there were still Kennedy marriages taking place at Lianachan as late as 1849 (the last Kennedy men to run the Lianachan farm died unmarried in the 1850s). Hopefully an indepth article will follow.
29.10.09 Latest research in Edinburgh: William Kennedy merchant burgess in Edinburgh who died in 1729, James Kennedy farmer of Lochlands and Kilhenzie d. 1851; Lachlan Kennedy who died at Nairn and established a bursary for young men to study for the ministry of the Free Church of Scotland 'especially if from the parishes of Laggan or Kingussie'. The 1691 Lanarkshire hearth tax returns. Register of Inhibitions from 1780 including Daniel Kennedy gardener in Glasgow, the aforementioned James Kennedy of Lochlands and a 1791 record for Duncan Kennedy merchant in Glasgow.
11.10.09 Why should Co. Fermanagh, a county with no historical connection to the Kennedys and one of the lowest county totals for the surname, have a barony called Tirkennedy? Read one theory here.
8.10.09 Catholic baptism registers have been added to ScotlandsPeople, bringing a further 1727 (soundex off) Kennedy records into view. Three of these registers I have examined physically before - Roybridge St Margarets, Lennoxtown St Machans and Girvan Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Not surprisingly the figures are dominated by the unreformed Lochaber Kennedys and the large west coast towns penetrated by the Irish Catholics. The top five parishes are Glasgow St Andrews, Roybridge St Margarets, Greenock St Marys, Paisley St Mirins and Mingarry Our Lady of the Angels.
1.10.09 Two days of research at the London Metropolitan Archives and Society of Genealogists. Some of the resources searched; Durham hearth tax 1666; Co. Durham parishes of Whickham, Gateshead, Sunderland, South Shields, Jarrow, Stockon-on-Tees, Monkwearmouth; Durham quarter session rolls. For London, All Saints Fulham and St Patricks Soho Roman Catholic church. Highlights were an early Kennedy working as a gardener for Sir Thomas More on the Thames in 1531, and the discovery of surprisingly early Kennedys settled in rural Whickham parish near Gateshead as early as 1587. This parish was a coal-mining district, but it seems rather early for migrant involvement and none of the parish histories make mention of such. The 1666 Whickham man had 2 hearths and one of his ancestors was mugged in the parish in 1602, apparently carrying a large amount of money on him. The other interesting find was the Anglican burial of children of Lewis and Margaret Kennedy of Hammersmith in the 1760s; these had been baptised in the Catholic church but without their own burial ground the Anglican church records their demise. Also checked some entries from the Middlesex Deeds Registry for the 1740s but couldn't find any useful Kennedy entries - the lists are indexed by year and surname of vendor only and a full inspection of each entry which I didn't have time for would be needed to be sure; and Brentford and Middlesex court session books.
21.9.09 I returned to Rutherglen cemetery to complete my survey from last year, bringing the total number of Kennedy gravestones there to 20. The cemeteries page has been updated.
1.9.09 From Tipperary to Louth ... The National Archives of Ireland have now finished publishing the entire 1911 census , which enables another distribution plot. Co. Tipperary still comes out top with 2470 individuals with Co. Louth at the other end of the scale with just 62. The map is not too different from the Griffiths Valuation plot from 60 years earlier. Ireland and her Kennedy population have not urbanised in the way the Scottish have.
29.8.09 Latest research trip to Edinburgh: Burgh sasines for Edinburgh 1809-1907 (20 Kennedy individuals), Confirmations and Inventories 1943 (57 Kennedys) and English probate calendars 1902-1903 (53 Kennedys in total, including the Knocknalling, Ulverston and Hammersmith branches).
27.7.09 A fabulous weekend running the Kennedy tent at the clan gathering in Edinburgh along with Susan Kennedy, with Kennedy and other guests from all around the world including Scotland, England, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland. Both the Kennedy Chief, the Marquess of Ailsa and his daughter Lady Rosemary were present. Pictured above is Lord Ailsa (right) talking to John MacArthur, chief of the MacArthurs and head gardener at Castle Kennedy (left).
A clash of dates meant that Ailsa's namesake Charles Kennedy MP of Fort William donned a Kennedy kilt for the first time in public to open the Lochaber Highland games.
22.7.09 If social networking sites are your thing, I have set up a Kennedy group on the new GenealogyWise site. Come and join us and tell us about your Kennedy ancestors.
11.7.09 It's been a while since I did any poor law records research so I spent the morning in the Glasgow archives looking at some of the more transient of the Glasgow Kennedys. The record for shortest stay so far goes to one James Kennedy from Partry, Co. Mayo who arrived here in 1913 without any money, family or work. After three weeks and suffering from pneumonia his landlord asked for him to be removed to the poorhouse. He was sent there 2 days later. After just 24 more days Glasgow obtained a warrant for his removal from Scotland and he was sent back to Ireland. Other recent arrivals I looked at were from Belfast, Derry and Templemore, Co. Tipperary. Whilst waiting for my ordered documents I browsed through some early sasines from Renfrewshire. At the end of the 18th century typically only the merchant class were involved in these transactions so it was a pleasant surprise to find a number of Kennedy entries, merchants from Greenock and Paisley. Between 1781 and 1796 there were 5 different Kennedy families recorded.
4.7.09 I finally made the pilgrimage to Badenoch, visiting Kingussie and Newtonmore. The parish of Kingussie has more historic Kennedy baptisms than any other parish in Scotland and they made up a significant portion of MacPherson of Cluny's regiment in the '45. Their names are prominent in the churchyard in Kingussie and Banchor cemetery at the foot of Glen Banchor (pictured above).
4.6.09 I will be running a stall at the Dumfries and Galloway Family History Fair at Dumfries Academy on June 27th. If you want to find out more about the Kennedy study and Kennedy DNA project, or about how the Guild of One-Name Studies can help you, please drop by and say hello.
16.5.09 Just spent two days in London, finally getting to spend a day at the library of the Society of Genealogists near the Barbican, followed by a day at the National Archives at Kew, south of the river. Although neither are particularly strong in resources on the Kennedy surname, they are both useful places to visit. On my return I was pleased to find on BBC TV last night an interview with Belfast singers Brian Kennedy and Van Morrison about how they came to share a stage together despite Brian being from Catholic West Belfast and Van from a Protestant background.
7.5.09 Congratulations to all the 14 Kennedys who took part in the Great Edinburgh Run, led home by Steven Kennedy in 42:25. They were outnumbered by 26 Kennedys who took part in the Dublin race of the series led home by Aidan Kennedy in 50:22.
19.4.09 The Kennedy study is finally in print - and on the front page! My article 'A One-Name Study from the Scottish Gàidhealtachd' is in the April edition of the Journal of One-Name Studies and my photograph of the Free Church at Crossbost on Lewis graces the front cover.
11.3.09 Second research trip to Aberdeen has been completed, mostly book research in the city library on the Kennedys of Kermuck, hereditary Constables of Aberdeen, plus a survey of Trinity cemetery north of the city centre.
2.2.09 At the moment I am busy writing an article about the project for the April issue of the Journal of One-Name Studies - this article will be exclusive to the Journal and so won't appear on the web site. After that there is much to do to bring the project to some sort of culmination for presentation at the Kennedy clan gathering tent in July in Edinburgh, where I will be organising the tent and showing visitors what research is being done into the Kennedy surname. Again, some of the material will be exclusive to the event! Meanwhile the project database is well over 80,000 Kennedy individuals and much more material is rapidly becoming available from a variety of sources. I am particularly looking forward to a major contribution from other members of the Guild running 'Marriage Challenges' in some key locations in England, such as West Derby and Toxteth.
.7.1.09 According to George Black's 'Surnames of Scotland', the Kennedys arrived in Moray in the early 1500s. Read my article discussing this theory.
5.1.09 There are several Kennedys performing at the 2009 Celtic Connections festival. Of course Màiri Anna NicUalraig is appearing several times and I have a ticket to see her band Na Seòid on January 20th; on January 18th she appears as part of 'Hallaig - A celebration of Somhairle MacGill-Eain'. She is also introducting several live radio broadcasts from the festival although the Radio Scotland show on January 27th is sold out. But that's not all. Irish musician Nuala Kennedy will be appearing at the Ceòl's Craic on January 24th. Ross Kennedy is part of 'A 12 hour celebration of 250 Burns songs' on January 24th. Last but not least, on January 28th you can see Wilma Kennedy at 'Bothy Ballads, Muckle Sangs and Orain Mora'.
30.12.08 British Kennedy WW1 service records are now available online at Ancestry; there are 1358 Kennedy records shown including my own grandfather John Harris Kennedy who was in the Royal Engineers and posted to France in 1915. There is also an Angus Kennedy whose address was given as Saltoun Street Glasgow which I can see from my window. This appears to be the son of Angus Kennedy from Rannoch and Marion Lamb Irvine. There are even Kennedys from Nenagh shown, like the Roman Catholic Francis Kennedy who had previously been in the 3rd Leinster Regiment and was now joining the Lancashire Fusilliers.
29.12.08 Over a mince pie I have produced a summary overview of all the Kennedy and variant entries in the Scottish parochial register system.
22.12.08 The National Archives of Ireland have released the next batch of 1911 census data covering counties Antrim, Down and Kerry. This gives us almost four thousand further records headed by Antrim (2027) then Down (986) and Kerry (982). There are a small number of spelling variants (Kenedy, Kinnedy, Kennady, Kendy, Kenndy, Kenneddy and McKennedy although some of these are transcription errors which I have reported. There are no O'Kennedys to add to the 3 already shown from Dublin.
19.12.08 I have written up my notes on my investigations into 17th century Kennedy sources.
9.12.08 It's Perthshire week at the project so this week I am concentrating all my time and effort on the county. Added so far are the Perthshire Sherriff Court Kennedy records 1800-1900, Kennedy records from the Breadalbane Fencibles in the 1790s and a major effort to trawl through early 17th century records for the Menzies estates which covers both Rannoch and Appin of Dull. The early results are very exciting and build on the very meagre entries from the 1691 hearth tax; I can now confirm Kennedys at multiple locations all along the north shore of Loch Rannoch in 1695, some 40 years prior to commencement of the surviving parish register. Their distribution stretches from Camusericht in the west to Leargan in the east. Even better, one Kennedy family head is using a patronymic as well, a great rarity in the project. Other surname patterns are equally interesting; apart from the inevitable Menzies, the McGrigors are probably the most numerous, although many are still using other aliases too. In the 17th century Camerons are less common and McDonalds quite a rare sight. Much more later, although there is some hard work ahead to unravel the patronymics and reconstruct the families.
The tomb of
the Very Revd. Canon William O'Kennedy, a native of Nenagh and staunch Irish Republican, buried at St Marys Church Nenagh. A trip report for my recent trip to Dublin, Nenagh and Limerick has been added to the Articles page.
2.12.08 The excellent BBC Scotland series 'History of Scotland' finally got around to mentioning the Kennedys last night, in the episode on the Lords of the Isles. But not the moment where the Lord of the Isles had to seek pardon from the great Bishop James Kennedy, the effective ruler of Scotland during the minority of James III. No it was Walter Kennedy, the Irish speaking poet from Galloway, the star of 'The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy', who was called upon to help contrast the wild Gaelic speaking people whose time was past, with the English speaking southerners who represented the future of Scotland.
28.11.08 Breakthrough on the Kennedys of Campsie, the final missing member Alexander Kennedy is finally after several years work proven to be the man who died at Mossley in 1940, apparently having played first division football for Falkirk and Preston football clubs. He is buried in Mossley cemetery. Known sons were Alexander and Gordon Kennedy and there are several new Kennedys including a Clifford Kennedy to be investigated. If anyone has any information about this group please get in touch. The mourners included two siblings, Miss Margaret Kennedy who ran a shop in Glossop and died there in 1943 and Mrs David Coubrough (Catherine Kennedy) who died in Stalybridge in 1957.
26.11.08 Just returned from a week long research trip to Dublin, Nenagh and Limerick city. Two days were spent at the GRO office in Dublin studying early civil birth marriage and death registrations - a staggering 553 Kennedy births were recorded in the first year of civil registration, 1864! - and the National Library of Ireland. At Nenagh I surveyed two small cemeteries and visited the local library and Nenagh castle, former home of the Butler overlords and the O'Kennedys. In Limerick I surveyed the large Mount St Laurence cemetery in Blackboy Road.
14.11.08 Visited Manchester central library where I studied parish registers for Ashton-under-Lyne, Stalybridge and the RC parish of St Josephs Goulden St (Manchester), the latter in particular yielding many Kennedys. From what I have seen so far, most Kennedy marriages in this area didn't take place in Anglican churches, unsurprisingly in view of the Irish influence. I managed to find the marriage of Alexander Kennedy to Alice Green in Stalybridge in 1920, witnessed by his brother Gordon and plan to write this branch up shortly. Alexander was a calico engraver's polisher. Earlier in the week I was at Jordanhill college archives looking at some Kennedy teacher training records for the period 1910-1937.
7.11.08 Added a map of Irish 19th century distribution to the Distribution page.
2.11.08 A very busy week started with a day at New Register House finishing the transcription of 1902 births and reconstructing
the Kennedy families of Kingussie who once formed the biggest concentration of Kennedys in Britain, some 8% of the population, significantly higher than
Maybole or Liverpool. Then it was a mad dash to Liverpool to visit the Record Office
and here a talk from the manager about their resources, and very
briefly meet the local Guild members of the area manning a stall at the Liverpool family history fair. Meanwhile I am also
busy working on preparations for the Kennedy clan tent at the big Gathering of the Clans next summer in Edinburgh.
24.10.08 Spent a morning at the National Archives, transcribing 3 wills from 1930 and reviewing the parish register for the Roman Catholic parish of Girvan, which covered the area around Girvan, Maybole and Kirkoswald. There is only one Kennedy in this register, a Margaret Kennedy who was a native of Girvan and married Hugh McGarry from Co. Down. There are no Kennedy baptisms. The church and its register date from 1850, and became the Church of the Sacred Heart, Girvan.
17.10.08 Stop press: Lyle Kennedy of Bonnybridge was a medal winner at the Gaelic Mod 2008 yesterday. He sang in front of the TV cameras introduced as Lyle Ceanadach, introduced by the lovely Màiri Anna NicUalraig.
15.10.08 Another trip to Carlisle RO to study the parish register for Stapleton. This small rural parish has sufficient numbers
of Kennedys to make Longtown registration district the biggest concentration of Kennedys in England. In one day I transcribed 46 Kennedy marriages, 86 burials
and 187 baptisms. Intriguingly the lands were once owned by the de Carricks! The Kennedys are present, working the land, from as soon as the parish registers
open in the early 1700s. Earlier I visited Summerlee Ironworks museum at Coatbridge
, newly refurbished, to see where so many mostly Irish immigrant
Kennedys worked in the 1800s, and surveyed the mostly Catholic Coatbridge Coltswood cemetery.
8.10.08 ScotlandsPeople are now offering digitised entries from the Lord Lyon Public Register of Arms, after which you can view the records for a rather pricey £10. However if all you want to see is the entry for the chief of the Kennedys, the Marquis of Ailsa, I transcribed it some time ago and it won't cost you a penny! Apart from this entry there are 11 other Kennedys including Clowburn, Auchtyfardle, Underwood and the Fergusson Kennedys.
.7.10.08 I've produced a distribution map of Kennedy birth registrations in England for the period 1837-1901. The top 10 registration districts are all in the industrial north of the country, reflecting known migration patterns of the Irish and Scottish. The highest placed district outside this area was London Kensington in 15th place. It is difficult to prove the origin of every Kennedy in England (the population was already well established before the first census which listed their country of birth) but the likelihood is that most of them are of Irish as opposed to Scottish origin. But in the area around Whitehaven most of the Irish born Kennedys were from Co. Antrim and Co. Down and so of more distant Scottish origin. They came there initially to work at the Whitehaven port, and later to work at the iron and coal mines.
25.9.08 Visited Carlisle Record Office mainly to view parish registers for Whitehaven registration district, one of the top Kennedy areas in England (ranking 4th highest registration district for the Kennedy surname in the 1881 census).
19.9.08 BBC Alba, Scotland's new Gaelic TV channel, has opened with presenter Màiri Anna NicUalraig (Mary Ann Kennedy in the lowland tongue) speaking to the nation in Gaelic. What a glorious moment!
16.9.08 Visited East Dunbartonshire Archives in Kirkintilloch to study the Campsie parish pauper rolls.
14.9.08 Made my first research trip to Stirling Council Archives where I surveyed Kennedy records for Drymen parish; and analysed some Catholic marriage records for naming patterns.
9.9.08 Want to see 45 Kennedys running in Glasgow?
8.9.08 Results have been published of yesterday's Great Scottish Run in Glasgow. Star once again was Shettleston Harriers' Scott Kennedy who ran a superb 45th place in the half marathon in 1:15:37, followed by Graeme Kennedy 1:22:07, Grant Kennedy 1:36:02, Matt Kennedy 1:39:44, Donald Kennedy 1:42:46, Gerry Kennedy 1:45:15, Linda Kennedy 1:47:26, David Kennedy 1:47:30, Campbell Kennedy 1:49:56, Nick Kennedy 1:50:52, Thomas Kennedy 1:55:47, Trudy Kennedy 1:56:31, Tracy Kennedy 1:57:07, Lesley Kennedy 1:58:08, Sybil Kennedy 1:59:13, Sheila Kennedy 2:04:25, Laura Kennedy 2:05:15, Rosie Kennedy 2:11:17, Scott Charles Kennedy 2:16:37, Suzanne Kennedy 2:17:14, Paula Kennedy 2:19:50, and Sally Kennedy 2:58:13. In the 10km race which ran earlier, finishers were Robert Kennedy 44:52, Iain Kennedy 45:17, John Kennedy 47:29, Colin Kennedy 48:50, Mark Kennedy 49:26, Craig Kennedy 49:59, Trudy Kennedy 50:33, Paul Kennedy 50:43, Glenn Kennedy 53:11, Alan Kennedy 53:14, Arthur Kennedy 53:59, Roslyn Kennedy 54:24, Dawn Kennedy 54:59, Gillian Kennedy 56:32, Audrey Kennedy 58:33, Pamela Kennedy 66:39, Shona Kennedy 67:30, Barbara Kennedy 72:06, Alison Kennedy 74:35, Kathleen Kennedy 74:46, Karen Kennedy 75:18, Dawn Kennedy 90:37 and Rowena Kennedy 104:50. Well done to all! Hope to see you again next year.
3.9.08 The death has been announced of Deborah (Birkbeck) Kennedy, of the Doonholm branch in Ayr, at the age of 90. The family were originally Highlanders from the parish of Logierait in Perthshire but gradually moved south, building a major timber business before becoming land-owners at Doonholm just outside Ayr.
1.9.08 There are now 49 (as of 1.9.08) Kennedy clan members entered in the Great Scottish Run. I have finished transcribing all the 1886 Kennedy birth records (168 in total), surveyed Inveresk cemetery in Musselburgh, the town where my parents spent their early married life, and written up an article about the Kennedy role in the massacre of Glencoe.
Inveresk church, Musselburgh
9.8.2008 The new Kennedy study website is launched!
2.8.08 Scottish singer Fiona Kennedy will be appearing in concert at Glamis Castle on Saturday August 9th. Celtic football player John Kennedy, off for some time with an injury, has been loaned to Norwich AC. Meanwhile across the water Professor Michael Kennedy of UCD has been promoting his new book 'Guarding neutral Ireland'.
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