Maps to help find gravestones – The oldest section is up near the church and stones are listed as in Section 1 through 12. The sections in a circle are referred to OLD SECTION Lot 1 to 94. Below this area are the lettered sections running to the woods in the back of the cemetery bounded on the North by NORTH Road. There are some plots along North Road called NORTH ROAD Lot’s 1,2,…etc. In the very back of the middle section GG across the back road is the Cremation Section A (CSA).
Arrival in SC (~1791) to Marriage (1805):
Robert arrived in Charleston, South Carolina approximate Jan 1791 from County Antrim in Northern Ireland after which he moved to the Laurens District. He was about 9 years old. Unfortunately, his father died in 1794 when he was about 12 years old and thus his older brothers John and William may have been providing support to Robert’s mother Margaret[1].
Sometime between 1800 and 1805, Robert likely moved to Edgefield, SC to have met Mary prior to their marriage. Where was he living, what was he doing? Perhaps he moved along with his brother John’s family. In the early 1800s, Edgefield was referred to as a “Pandemonium”, ie a home of all devils based on the free use of whiskey or rum, card playing, profanity etc[2]. Perhaps Edgefield was an exciting place to live that drew these young Kenneys or land was plentiful. Robert was in the Edgefield District on 15 Sep 1806 when he witnessed Daniel Parker’s will and on 20 Sept 1808 when he witnessed Benjamin Ryan’s will. Robert was also in Edgefield on 18 Nov 1809 when he witnessed John Kenney and Joseph Griffin sell land to some trustees.
Robert married Mary Gallman, a native of Edgefield, SC, on 7 Nov 1805. He was 23 and she was 20 years old when they married at the Harmony Methodist Church in Edgefield, SC[3]. Ten months later their first child, Caroline S, was born on 9 Sept 1806. Unfortunately and sadly, Caroline died when she was ~ 2 weeks shy of her sixteenth birthday of unknown causes.
Robert and Mary had 10 additional children (6 girls and 4 boys – of which all of them were living in 1859 when he prepared his will. Mary had her first child at 21 and her last child at age 42! She was pregnant for a total of 8 full years of her life and had a child approximately every other year during this time. Life as a mother was certainly different than it is today!
Robert Kenney was born 8 March 1782 in Antrim County in Northern Ireland and died 6 October 1862 in Edgefield, South Carolina. He emigrated to the Charleston, South Carolina in Jan of 1790 or 1791 according to a statement he wrote in Oct 1840.
Was there an “American Wake”[5] for the family departing Antrim County? Did the villagers come to their home to dance and drink the night before the departure?
Robert arrived in the United States about the time the Bill of Rights was ratified, the first Bank of the United States was chartered (1791), and 3 years after South Carolina became ratified as the 8th state in the union (1788).
Why did his father decide to emigrate to South Carolina in the early 1790s? Emigration from Northern Ireland reached its peak in the 18th century with most being protestants and in particular, Presbyterians[1]. These Presbyterian’s seemed to be agitators who disliked the taxation on the land. Additionally, the growing population was causing the land holdings to be divided and it was harder to make a good living as a farmer. The Northern Irish had been the most outspoken in support of the colonists during their struggle with the mother country (Britian) and were among the most enthusiastic admirers of the French Revolution. While the attraction of America were many and well advertised, it’s likely the discontented were the ones willing to cut family ties and risk the Atlantic travel[2]. Hence it’s possible these were some of the the reasons for the Kenney’s leaving Northern Ireland.
The attraction of emigration to America appears to come from letters written from new settlers back home – an example is shown below[3] as well as from the ship captain’s hoping to fill their ships with paying passengers.
It’s also likely that Robert’s father descended from the Scottish who took refuge in Ulster (Northern Ireland), driven from Scotland by King James’ persecutions of the Presbyterians. These Scotch-Irish generally came from the South West parts of Scotland.
By the 1760s the flow of people from Ulster to the Carolinas was so great that Charleston displaced New York as the second most important port of destination of emigrant vessels. Philadelphia was #1. The Scotch-Irish passed through Charleston on their way to the NorthWest part of South Carolina – but still maintained links with Charleston for trade.[7]
Emigration of the Scotch-Irish to the Carolina’s as described in 1779 was “foreign Protestants from England and Scotland resorted to Carolina after the peace. But of all other countries none has furnished the province with so many inhabitants as Ireland. In the northern counties of that kingdom the spirit of emigration seized the people so much that husbandmen, laborers and manufacturers flocked over the Atlantic. As a result the Irish landlords began to be alarmed, and to concert ways and means for preventing the growing evil. Scarce a ship sailed for any of the plantations that was not crowded with men, women, and children. ….often crammed such numbers of them into their ships that they were in danger of being stifled during the passage, and sometimes were landed in such a starved and sickly condition, that numbers of them died before they left Charleston……Poverty and oppression will break through every natural tie and endearment, and compel men to rove abroad in search of some asylum against domestic hardship…..the SC governor and council met once a month for the purpose of granting lands and signing patents, and it is incredible what numbers of people attended those meetings in order to obtain them; so that from the time in which America was secured by the peace, Carolina made rapid progress in population, wealth, and trade” [4]
As the Scotch-Irish had settlements in Libery Spring, Laurens in 1785-90 and the Edgefield District in 1790 and the south Tyger river in 1791– it’s likely Robert’s father was emigrating to areas with people he knew or to a similar culture. [8]
If Robert landed in early 1790, we’d expect to find evidence of his family in the 1790 census. However, the only Kenney’s in South Carolina’s head of households from the first US Census in 1790 were a William Kinney of the Beaufort District and a John Kenney of the Charleston District[6]. Neither was married and John seemed to be a possible slave runner/broker. Thus, the likely immigration date is 1791.
[1] Tracing your Ancestors Northern Ireland by Ian Maxwell
[2] Aspects of Irish Social History 1750-1800 edited by W.H. Crawford and B. Trainer, 1969 , Her majestry’s stationary Office, Belfast. Introduction; Obtained from the Linen Library, Belfast.
[3] Tracing your Ancestors Northern Ireland by Ian Maxwell
[4] Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Colonies of South Carolina and Georgia by Alexander Hewatt, London 1779.
[5] Irish Family History, Marilyn Yurdan
[6] Ancestry.com search
[7] The Scots-Irish in the Carolinas by Billy Kennedy, Causeway press, Belfast 1997 from the Linen Library, Belfast, NI
[8] The Scotch-Irish or The scot in North Britain, North Ireland, and North America by Charles A. Hanna, Vol II CP Putnam, NY 1902 from the linen Library in Belfast pg 117
Robert was born in County Antrim, Northern Ireland on March 8th, 1782 and died on October 6th 1862 in Edgefield, South Carolina.
Robert arrived in Charleston, South Carolina approximate Jan 1791 from County Antrim in Northern Ireland after which he moved to the Laurens District. He was about 9 years old.
In his statement shown at left it states “I Robert Kenney was born 8th March A.D. 1782 in Ireland, County Antrim, Emigrated to S.C. Landed in Charleston 3 May Jan 1790 or 1791. Settled in Laurens District with Father Mother, three brothers and one sister. All soon dead but myself and sister. This 18 Oct A.D. 1840 signed Robert Kenny”.
Who are these other family members he writes about in his statement? The current hypothesis was generated from two different family bible records that show dates but not relationships. One bible record is entitled ” Family of Robert Kenney Senior” and the other from his suspected brother John C Kenney entitled “Kenney Family Record”
Father: John Kenney (b. 1750 Ireland, d 01 November 1794 Laurens District, SC
Mother: Margaret Kenney (b 12 Jan 1741 Ireland, d March 1814 Edgefield County, SC
Sons of John and Margaret:
Daughter of Margaret and John
Evidence for the hypothesis comes grave location and from the South Carolina 1800 Census
Margaret (b 1779) and Robert are thought to be brothers and sisters. They are buried near one another in the Harmony Methodist Church graveyard, SC and they are close in age with Margaret being 3 years older than Robert
The next clues come from the 1800 Census for South Carolina.
As the family record information lists John Kenney dying in the Laurens District in 1794, the two entries that were of interest were for John (son) and Margaret Kinney (mother) both as heads of households.
The key to this census is provided in the table below for the first 10 numbers with guesses as to whom would fit the age categories with “X”s.
|
Ages of Free White Males |
Ages of Free While Females |
|||||||||
|
0-10 |
10-16 |
16-26 |
26-45 |
45+ |
0-10 |
10-16 |
16-26 |
26-45 |
45+ |
|
| Kinney, John |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
| Kinney, Margaret |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| Samuel age 15 |
X |
|||||||||
| Robert age 18 |
X |
|||||||||
| Margaret Jr age 21 |
X |
|||||||||
| Margaret Sr age 59 |
X |
|||||||||
| William A. age 29 ?? | ||||||||||
As John C was 23 in 1800, he could’ve been married and living with his wife and young child. Support from this comes for other Kenney family bible records, provided to me by Nelma Bryson. Her records indicate that a John Kenney and his wife Rachel were married 15 September 1799 and had a child William born in 1800. This matches the 1800 census information for John Kinney in the Laurens District. Both Kenney bible records have the same year of birth for John C Kenney but differ in their dates of death by 10 years and one month.
Margaret Kinney Senior in both Kenney bible/family records have her born in 1741 yet differ in her death date by 3 years, ie 1811 or 1814. Either way she may show up in the 1810 Census but wasn’t found in the Edgefield census of 1810, Robert Kenney, did show up in the 1810 census, was living in Edgefield with his wife and children and possibly one brother (Samuel or William Adams).
In addition, land records indicate that a John Kenney witnessed Robert’s first purchase of land in Edgefield, SC
There is a John Kenney also showing up in the 1810 Edgefield Census with 7 males, 1 female along with himself and an assumed wife. This may or may not be John C who had 7 known children in 1810.
family crest irish
Our first US ancestor, Robert Kenney, arrived from County Antrim around 1790/1 but from where did our family originate? Family lore has that we’re Scotch-Irish suggesting the origin actually came from Scotland via Ireland.
The surname Kenney is of Old Gaelic origin, found in Scotland and Ireland, and is the Anglicized form of the Gaelic “O Cionnaoith”, composed of the Gaelic prefix “O”, male descendant of, and the personal name “Coinneach”, an Old Irish personal name borne by a 6th Century monk and saint who gave his name to the town of Kilkenny, “Church of Coinneach”. The name in Scotland, may, in some instances, be the Anglicized form of the Gaelic personal name “Cionaodha”, perhaps composed of “cion”, respect, affection, and “Aodh”, the pagan god of fire. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to “develop” often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling (1,2).
Presbyterians in the Northern part of Ireland represented the Scotch or Scotch-Irish (3) and our later Kenney’s were Presbyterians. Church affiliation in Northern Ireland was very characteristic of race and nationality since the beginning of the 17th century (3). The Scots represented 38% of population in Antrim in the late 1800s. The name Scotch-Irish refers to Scottish people who came and lived in Ireland not Scottish people who inter-married with Irish people (3). “These Scottish people in Ireland to-day exhibit all the distinctive racial characteristics of their Scottish forefathers; and have none of the peculiar qualities… to the offspring of mixed marriages between Irish Protestants and Roman Catholics” (3). Thus the Ulster Scots are of unmixed Scottish blood (3)
Hence while Robert Kenney emigrated from Ireland, his ancestry was possibly and most likely Scottish.
(1) Read more: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Kenney
(2) http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gkbopp/KINNEY/Research/Variations/variations.htm
(3) The Scotch-Irish by Charles A Hanna, Vol 1, GP Putnam’s Sons New York 1902. pg 159-161
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