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!
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