Liz met with the Dutsons (Phil and Sue) and Sue's sister, Dot. Just a reminder: they are our third cousins, twice removed, through Hugh's son, John's daughter, Elizabeth, who married Hugh Armstrong.
She says:
On Wednesday, 17 July, I met Phil, Sue and Dot for lunch in the quaint Cotswold town of Bourton-on-the-Water. We ate fish and chips in The Village Restaurant. We hugged all around and had an immediate rapport. I'll be happy to give personal details on them when we meet (just not online).
They gave me a copy of two photos, Lizzie McKenna Armstrong, her husband, Hugh, and their 10 living children. They had 14 altogether. I learned that several of their children had never married. Phil gave me a detailed family group sheet.
We talked about our families, and all acknowledged that it was great to find new family. Phil took a photo of the three cousins, and after two or so hours we parted, committing to staying in touch. We'll share photos at the family meeting in September.
Friday, July 26, 2013
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Pioneer Day
Wednesday, 24 July 2013
While many of our family remembered the pioneers on the 24th of July and celebrated with a holiday, the team here in Ireland spent another full day in PRONI. In our own way, we celebrated our pioneer ancestors by looking for their loved ones.
The folks at PRONI are getting to know us, and they are super friendly. Besides the helpful staff, we've met one lady who was raised in Ireland but now lives in England. For her three-week holiday every year she comes back to Belfast and spends every day in PRONI. We are wishing that we had that kind of time, too. There are so many records to look at, so much to do, and so little time!
Maybe we mentioned this before, but we are documenting everything we've done so that people in the future will not repeat searches that have not proven fruitful. We will be putting all of this information into a spreadsheet that can be searched. The spreadsheet, in connection with the PRONI "Guide to Church Records," will be very helpful to future researchers - at least we hope it will.
Rich and Aunt Kathy spent Wednesday researching the McKennas in Fintona, and while they found a William McKenna family, there are no records that tie them to Hugh McKenna or Alice Doogan. We were hoping that William might prove to be their brother. Reed combed through the records of St. Anne's cathedral for the children of William McKenna and Mary Ritchie and will continue with that effort until he finishes the microfilm, or his eyes pop out of his head, whichever is first. Liz is researching the Singletons in the Lisburn area, and a lot of effort will be concentrated there on Thursday. Kathy finished looking through the microfilm for baptisms in the Clogher area, hoping to find Thomas McKenna's birth (no luck), reviewed the film for Newtonsaville just in case there might be anything related to McKennas there (there wasn't), and then kicked in to help Reed with finding the children of James McKenna and Catherine Doyle in the baptismal records of St. Anne's. Thus far, Kathy has found a couple of William and Mary's children but none of James and Catherine's.
We are finding the nightly conference calls with the home team to be very useful. Their added insights and encouragement are priceless. While coordinating the time differences is a challenge, it is well worth the effort, especially because it helps us to stand back and look at the big picture and helps guide in future steps.
Between PRONI and the conference call, we managed to squeeze in a quick meal at Nando's and a black taxi tour. Liz and Reed knew what we were getting into, but the rest of us thought we were going on a tour to look at the sights of Belfast. No. We learned about "the troubles." Belfast is a city where they paint their feelings on the sides of buildings, and we saw many of the city's famous murals. Much of the fighting took place on Shankhill Road, which is where the McKennas resided some of the time, and the Peace Wall was built there. While it is easy now to move between the two neighborhoods, there is still a distinct difference. Rich added insight to our tour by pointing out where the McKennas lived. Very cool.
It's back to PRONI on Thursday for a long day. It doesn't close until 8:45pm, and so we are going to take advantage of the extra hours. It's good to remember that when planning for the future.
Sent from my iPad
While many of our family remembered the pioneers on the 24th of July and celebrated with a holiday, the team here in Ireland spent another full day in PRONI. In our own way, we celebrated our pioneer ancestors by looking for their loved ones.
The folks at PRONI are getting to know us, and they are super friendly. Besides the helpful staff, we've met one lady who was raised in Ireland but now lives in England. For her three-week holiday every year she comes back to Belfast and spends every day in PRONI. We are wishing that we had that kind of time, too. There are so many records to look at, so much to do, and so little time!
Maybe we mentioned this before, but we are documenting everything we've done so that people in the future will not repeat searches that have not proven fruitful. We will be putting all of this information into a spreadsheet that can be searched. The spreadsheet, in connection with the PRONI "Guide to Church Records," will be very helpful to future researchers - at least we hope it will.
Rich and Aunt Kathy spent Wednesday researching the McKennas in Fintona, and while they found a William McKenna family, there are no records that tie them to Hugh McKenna or Alice Doogan. We were hoping that William might prove to be their brother. Reed combed through the records of St. Anne's cathedral for the children of William McKenna and Mary Ritchie and will continue with that effort until he finishes the microfilm, or his eyes pop out of his head, whichever is first. Liz is researching the Singletons in the Lisburn area, and a lot of effort will be concentrated there on Thursday. Kathy finished looking through the microfilm for baptisms in the Clogher area, hoping to find Thomas McKenna's birth (no luck), reviewed the film for Newtonsaville just in case there might be anything related to McKennas there (there wasn't), and then kicked in to help Reed with finding the children of James McKenna and Catherine Doyle in the baptismal records of St. Anne's. Thus far, Kathy has found a couple of William and Mary's children but none of James and Catherine's.
We are finding the nightly conference calls with the home team to be very useful. Their added insights and encouragement are priceless. While coordinating the time differences is a challenge, it is well worth the effort, especially because it helps us to stand back and look at the big picture and helps guide in future steps.
Between PRONI and the conference call, we managed to squeeze in a quick meal at Nando's and a black taxi tour. Liz and Reed knew what we were getting into, but the rest of us thought we were going on a tour to look at the sights of Belfast. No. We learned about "the troubles." Belfast is a city where they paint their feelings on the sides of buildings, and we saw many of the city's famous murals. Much of the fighting took place on Shankhill Road, which is where the McKennas resided some of the time, and the Peace Wall was built there. While it is easy now to move between the two neighborhoods, there is still a distinct difference. Rich added insight to our tour by pointing out where the McKennas lived. Very cool.
It's back to PRONI on Thursday for a long day. It doesn't close until 8:45pm, and so we are going to take advantage of the extra hours. It's good to remember that when planning for the future.
Sent from my iPad
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
First Day at PRONI
Tuesday, 23 July 2013
So many things to report!
1. First of all - we are exhausted! Yesterday, we were tired when we were in PRONI (Public Records Office of Northern Ireland) looking at records, but we were there for only 3-4 hours. Today, we were there just after it opened and left when it closed. They are good at kicking us out! We looked through hundreds of records, which is a great sleep aid. But we take breaks to shake sleep off and then we're back at it.
Amidst the disappointment of NOT finding things, we feel that we can celebrate a couple of finds:
a. Aunt Kathy found the baptismal record of Eleanor (Ellen) Singleton to Robert and Eleanor (Ellen) Singleton in 1830 in Tandragee.
b. Liz found a birth record of a Bob (Robert) Singleton in Mullabrack in 1810. We think that this might be our Robert Singleton; the date is about right. More checking to come.
2. To catch you up on what happened on Monday: Before we left Armagh, we visited St. Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh, the Church of Ireland one. It is the center of the Church of Ireland for all of Ireland, pretty cool, eh? In the cathedral, we saw the name of our cousin, John Ward Armstrong, listed on the same wall as St. Patrick himself. Patrick was the first bishop of Ireland in 432; John Ward Armstrong came along much laster. It is the same office, although they now call the head of the church the Archbishop and Primate.
After leaving Armagh, we headed to Loughbrickland Lake, the site of the first LDS baptism in Ireland in 1840. Beautiful swans floated across the lake but the water close to the shore was covered with lily pads. If anyone wanted to get baptized there now, they'd want to wade out quite a ways to avoid coming up covered up with green leaves.
Our next search took us to the small town of Ballyskeagh. It really WAS a search, but Rich's and Reed's GPS skills won out. In Ballyskeagh, Rich showed us the bridge where two young Irish "home missionaries" around the age of 16 stood up to a mob in the rest of 1850s. Thomas Lonsdale Allen was one of the missionaries; Brother Scott was the other. They are two of Rich's heroes, and now ours as well.
Then, it was on our way to Belfast to check into our hotel and head to PRONI. Want to know something interesting? Our hotel, the Ibis Hotel, is located on King Street. John McKenna, one of Hugh's sons, had a shop on 70 King Street. We think we know where his shop was - it now houses a bookie shop! Liz didn't realize when she was booking our hotel how handy it is to Albert Street (where Hugh lived), Christ Church (where they attended church), Sandy Row - which leads to the last thing we did on Monday (other than have the conference call with the Home Team).
After dinner at Robinson's Restaurant (did you know bacon steaks in Ireland are the same as pork chops in the U.S.?), we took a short walk south to Hope Street, over to Sandy Row, and south on Sandy Row to the ruins of the Belfast and Ulster Brewery Company where Hugh worked as a bottler and a packer. Right around the corner (where the graffiti says to "Stay Out of Sandy Row") was Boyne Street where Hugh lived as well. We hiked a short distance north to Albert Street to the site of Hugh's homes, had pictures taken by an ex-con (he told us he'd spent 18 years in jail, but he'd been brought up proper), headed over to Galway and Killen Streets, and then back to the hotel. From Christ Church to the hotel - less than 5 minutes. John McKenna set up shop not far from his home on Albert Street.
So, there you are - all caught up! Well, mostly. Tomorrow, Liz will share her experience meeting the Dutsons and Dot in England. They are our third cousins, twice removed, and Liz reports they are wonderful!
So many things to report!
1. First of all - we are exhausted! Yesterday, we were tired when we were in PRONI (Public Records Office of Northern Ireland) looking at records, but we were there for only 3-4 hours. Today, we were there just after it opened and left when it closed. They are good at kicking us out! We looked through hundreds of records, which is a great sleep aid. But we take breaks to shake sleep off and then we're back at it.
Amidst the disappointment of NOT finding things, we feel that we can celebrate a couple of finds:
a. Aunt Kathy found the baptismal record of Eleanor (Ellen) Singleton to Robert and Eleanor (Ellen) Singleton in 1830 in Tandragee.
b. Liz found a birth record of a Bob (Robert) Singleton in Mullabrack in 1810. We think that this might be our Robert Singleton; the date is about right. More checking to come.
2. To catch you up on what happened on Monday: Before we left Armagh, we visited St. Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh, the Church of Ireland one. It is the center of the Church of Ireland for all of Ireland, pretty cool, eh? In the cathedral, we saw the name of our cousin, John Ward Armstrong, listed on the same wall as St. Patrick himself. Patrick was the first bishop of Ireland in 432; John Ward Armstrong came along much laster. It is the same office, although they now call the head of the church the Archbishop and Primate.
After leaving Armagh, we headed to Loughbrickland Lake, the site of the first LDS baptism in Ireland in 1840. Beautiful swans floated across the lake but the water close to the shore was covered with lily pads. If anyone wanted to get baptized there now, they'd want to wade out quite a ways to avoid coming up covered up with green leaves.
Our next search took us to the small town of Ballyskeagh. It really WAS a search, but Rich's and Reed's GPS skills won out. In Ballyskeagh, Rich showed us the bridge where two young Irish "home missionaries" around the age of 16 stood up to a mob in the rest of 1850s. Thomas Lonsdale Allen was one of the missionaries; Brother Scott was the other. They are two of Rich's heroes, and now ours as well.
Then, it was on our way to Belfast to check into our hotel and head to PRONI. Want to know something interesting? Our hotel, the Ibis Hotel, is located on King Street. John McKenna, one of Hugh's sons, had a shop on 70 King Street. We think we know where his shop was - it now houses a bookie shop! Liz didn't realize when she was booking our hotel how handy it is to Albert Street (where Hugh lived), Christ Church (where they attended church), Sandy Row - which leads to the last thing we did on Monday (other than have the conference call with the Home Team).
After dinner at Robinson's Restaurant (did you know bacon steaks in Ireland are the same as pork chops in the U.S.?), we took a short walk south to Hope Street, over to Sandy Row, and south on Sandy Row to the ruins of the Belfast and Ulster Brewery Company where Hugh worked as a bottler and a packer. Right around the corner (where the graffiti says to "Stay Out of Sandy Row") was Boyne Street where Hugh lived as well. We hiked a short distance north to Albert Street to the site of Hugh's homes, had pictures taken by an ex-con (he told us he'd spent 18 years in jail, but he'd been brought up proper), headed over to Galway and Killen Streets, and then back to the hotel. From Christ Church to the hotel - less than 5 minutes. John McKenna set up shop not far from his home on Albert Street.
So, there you are - all caught up! Well, mostly. Tomorrow, Liz will share her experience meeting the Dutsons and Dot in England. They are our third cousins, twice removed, and Liz reports they are wonderful!
Monday, July 22, 2013
Landing Day
Our trip thus far has been filled with small miracles. We know that prayers are being said and answered, and we appreciate all of our family - we can feel your support.
On Saturday, we left Salt Lake a little over an hour late because of mechanical problems. With just 90 minutes scheduled between flights at JFK, we were very worried about making the connection. What are the odds, though, that we would land at Gate 67 and depart from Gate 68? We got off the plane, and immediately boarded the next one. Small miracle.
Sunday was exhausting but absolutely amazing. Rich said that if we wrote everything we did, you wouldn't believe us. It was incredible. Here are a few highlights:
1. We went to church - twice. The first meeting was at a Catholic service in Newry where John Taylor preached the gospel in 1840. The second meeting was in Mullabrack at a Church of Ireland low church meeting, a lot less pomp. Mullabrack was where Robert Singleton lived, and we talked to someone at church who was a Singleton. Lewis, that's his name, is going to talk to his aunt, and we will be going back to talk to her. We also talked to the rector ( who gave an excellent sermon, by the way), and he showed us their records. We can go back anytime, and he will let such spend as much time as we need to look at the tecords. We did take some pictures of some Singleton entries in a book from the late 1700s. Small miracles.
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2. We met Colin and Rosaleen Kerr at church as well, and Colin invited us to look at a map he had of the area at his home, named Mullabrack House because it was built in the 1820s as the rectory church. There us only one word to describe it- wow! The map was cool. But what was so incredible was that they took us on a tour of their home. There is a basement, into which we just peeked; a main floor with a drawing room, a living room, a dining room, a HUGE kitchen, and various other rooms; a second floor with four large bedrooms, all with dressing rooms attached; and a third floor with six bedrooms - where the servants lived and where the nursery was located, back in the day. New friends. Another small miracle.
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| Aerial view from 1968 |
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Our third research trip to Ireland is about to begin. The team of five will set out July 20th and return the 30th. Members of the team going to Ireland are Liz Allred, Kathy Chipman McKenna, Rich McKenna, Reed McKenna, and Kathy McConkie. Preparations have been in the works since the last team returned in June 2011. Records from the previous trip have been scanned. Names and vital information have been extracted. We stepped up with more intensive and specific preparation and training during the early months of this year. Our understanding of Hugh McKenna's life in County Tyrone, before moving to Belfast, has been expanded. Our most important goal for the trip is to identify his direct-line ancestors (parents, grand-parents, etc.). We believe that this is the trip to make the breakthrough. Secondarily, we will also identify as many of his family members as possible, including siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. We will join in the Clann McKenna Twelfth International Rally in County Monaghan and make contacts with extended family. We hope to share our web site with them. This Rally is part of The Gathering happening all over Ireland. We will also investigate getting headstone(s) on some of our family's unmarked graves in Belfast cemeteries. We will post to this blog daily on our trip. We are excited to be on our way.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Finding Aunt Ellen
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| Rich and Wendy enjoying Central Park, across the river from Newark |
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| Marriage record from County Tyrone Ireland |
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| 1866 emigration record for Joseph, Ellen, Joseph, Letitia and George |
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| 1867 Death record for Letitia - she died of croup |
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| Marriage record for Elizabeth showing Ellen's maiden name is McKenna |
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| Death record for Joseph Glass showing his father is Andrew |
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| Burnet Street School was built in 1869 Joseph Glass was the janitor here for over 30 years |
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| Burnet Street School is currently used for Kindergarten thru 8th grade. |
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| Salvio is a 7th grader at Burnet Street School |
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| Ellen died in 1921 at Overbrook, the Essex County Hospital for the Insane which held over 3,000 patients. |
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| The hospital was shut down in 2007. It was reported that over 10,000 patients died here. |
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| Ellen would have faced difficult living conditions. |
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
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