The Kennedys are descended from a tenth century Irish king named “Ceinneidi” who ruled in County Clare. By 1100 the clan had spread across the Shannon River into County Tipperary, where they rose to fame as the powerful “Lords of Ormond”. North Tipperary is the principal ancestral homeland of the Irish Kennedys.

The Kennedys prospered and multiplied in North Tipperary (also known as “Ormond”). They were the sole landowners and the undisputed masters of that country, the “Lords of Ormond”. They appear, for example as a “nation” of importance in an Ormond deed of 1336. (Their history can be read in Dermot F. Gleeson’s admirable book “The Last Lords of Ormond”)

Some of the Kennedys moved eastward from Ormond so that by 1659, when Petty’s “Census” was taken, Kennedys had settled in considerable numbers as far east as County Wexford, the homeland of the ancestors of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the first person of Gaelic-Irish ancestry to hold the office of President of the United States of America. President Kennedy’s great grandfather, Patrick Kennedy, was baptized in Wexford on October 18, 1829.

The Kennedys fought on the Catholic side during the Cromwellian invasions and religious wars of the 17^th century. Several Kennedys were officers in James II’s Irish army and fought at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. Being on the losing side meant the loss of their ruling position and the confiscation of their extensive lands. Many of the clan were outlawed and fled to France, and the remainder reduced to poverty in North Tipperary

FIRST GENERATION

Michael Kennedy (c1790-c1845) and Annie Tierney (c1790-c1845)

Church and census records trace my Kennedy ancestry to Michael Kennedy and Annie Tierney who had emigrated from North Tipperary and settled in Goulbourn Township, Ont. “Mick” Kennedy, as he was called, and his wife Annie are referred to in the Richmond marriage record of their son William:

“June 5^th 1847 – Married by me the undersigned, William Kennedy, son of Michael and of Annie Tierney of the Parish of Muddering (Modreeny), now residing in Goulbourn & Margaret Brennan, daughter of Denis Brennan and of Mary O’Taul (O’Tool) Parish of Castlecomer, the witnesses were Patt Gorman and Mary Fitzgerald.” (from the records of St. Phillip’s Church at Richmond).

So the record indicates our first Kennedys came from the parish of Cloughjordan (then called Modreeny)., Barony of Lower Ormand, County Tipperary, and settled in Goulbourn Township.

Perth newspaper records of the time indicated that a “Mick Kennedy” lived in the Ottawa area in the 1840’s. Little else is known of Mick Kennedy and Annie Tierney. Annie was probably related to the early Tierney settlers of Nepean, who had come from the same Tipperary neighborhood. It seems probable they were related to and followed John and David Kennedy, Peter Robinson settlers who arrived in the area in the early 1820’s.

The 1824 Tithe Allotment records for Ireland show a Michael Kennedy then residing that year at a townland in Modreeny called “Modreeny House”. (For visitors to Ireland wishing to find Modreeny House: “Find Borrisokane, then take the road to Cloughjordan, go over the Ballynavin Bridge, and about a mile further on, before the double T junction, on the right is Modreeny House. If you get to Modreeny village you have gone too far”).

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SECOND GENERATION

William Kennedy (1818-1903) and Margaret Brennan (1828-1898)

One written record from the Kennedy family indicates that William came to Canada with a “Mick Kennedy married to Annie Kearney”. These were William’s parents. As indicated in the above birth record from St. Phillip’s Church at Richmond, William Kennedy was the son of Michael Kennedy and Mary Tierney of Goulbourn Township, Ontario.. William’s bride Margaret Brennan apparently came to Canada with relatives, as Irish girls did not travel to Canada alone –. The records for the Catholic parish of Castlecomer shows she had a brother William Brennan born in 1814, probably William Brennan of Nepean, also born in 1814.

William Kennedy and Margaret Brennan moved from Goulbourn to South March in 1848, purchasing a farm at lot 23, concession 2. They later moved to Lot 21, concession 2. Both properties are still farmed by their descendants, the latter by Allan Kennedy.of Dunrobin.

William Kennedy and Margaret Brennan had nine children:

i. Michael³ Kennedy, born February 29, 1848 in March, Ontario; died July 11, 1918 in March twp, Ontario.

ii. Dennis Kennedy, born May 24, 1848 in March, Ontario; died November 01, 1938 in Quyon, Quebec.

iii. John Kennedy, born May 04, 1851 in March, Ontario; died November 11, 1936 in Quyon, Quebec.

iv. Mary Ann Kennedy, born 1855 in March twp, Ontario, died in Quyon, Que.

v. William Kennedy, born 1856 in March, Ontario; died 1929 in Saginau, Mich., U.S..

vi. Hanna(Nora) Kennedy, born April 10, 1858 in March, Ontario; died October 17, 1938 in Torbolton twp.

vii. Patrick Kennedy, born 1860 in March, Ontario; died December 11, 1948 in March twp, Ontario.

viii. Margaret Kennedy, born July 11, 1863 in March, Ont; died December 20, 1956 in Quyon, Que.

ix. Elizabeth (Liza) Kennedy, born March 31, 1864 in March, Ontario; died 1944 in March, Ont.

Five children of William and Margaret married five Muldoons, all grandchildren of Pat Muldoon Sr., the first Muldoon settler:

-Dennis Kennedy married Elizabeth Jane Muldoon, daughter of Pat Muldoon Jr.;

--Mary Ann Kennedy married John James Muldoon, son of Pat Muldoon Jr.;

--Elizabeth Kennedy married Richard Muldoon, son of Pat MuldoonJr.;

--Margaret Kennedy married Thomas Edward Muldoon, son of Pat Muldoon Jr.;

--Hanna Kennedy married Thomas Muldoon, son of Richard Muldoon (brother of Pat Jr).

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THIRD GENERATION

My great grandmother was Mary Ann Kennedy, who married John James Muldoon.

OTHER EARLY KENNEDYS

The first Kennedys arriving in Ottawa were brothers John, David and Timothy who came from Tipperary with the first Peter Robinson settlers of 1821, settling in Huntley and Pakenham. The Kennedys that followed shortly after were from the same Tipperary neighbourhood, emigrating in a pattern historians call “chain migration”. My ancestor “Mick” Kennedy was apparently amongst these.

Mick’s son William Kennedy of March township should not be confused with another William Kennedy who came from Terryglass, Tipperary in 1832 and settled in Nepean, where he and my ancestor Pat Muldoon (also from Terryglass) co purchased property. The relationship of this earlier William to my ancestors “Mick” and William is not known. This earlier (Nepean) William had a brother John who settled close to the earlier John Kennedy in Huntley township.

My ancestor William Kennedy’s neighbour in March Township was Pat Kennedy. Pat and his wife Margaret Carroll emigrated from Tipperary with several children in the late 1840’s. The relationship of Pat to the other Kennedys is not known.

According to oral history passed on by my Kennedy ancestors, my ancestor William Kennedy had a brother Michael (Mick) who married Norah Hogan at Eganville on August 31, 1861, and settled in Gratton Township. Michael and Norah had 9 children, with many descendants still in the Eganville area today. Although no documentation could be found to support this oral history, the naming patterns of William’s and Michael’s children would indicate that this oral history is probably correct. (See “Founding Fathers of Gratton and Wilderforce, by Bennett)

Another well known Kennedy line is descended from Patrick Kennedy and Margaret Carroll, who settled beside my ancestor William in March Township. Patrick and Margaret had emigrated from Rathcablin, near Birr Junction, North Tipperary, with several children in the late 1840’s. According to oral history in the Kennedy family, Patrick and William were not closely related.

It appears likely that the various earlier Kennedys followed the first Kennedy to the Ottawa area in a pattern of “chain migration”. All came from the same Tipperary neighbourhood to settle in the same Ottawa area. We Kennedy descendants may owe much to Peter Robinson for bringing the first Kennedys from Tipperary to Canada.

Our Kennedys may have come also because they knew the Tierneys who had settled in Nepean , and also came from the same Tipperary neighborhood. Mick Kennedy’s wife was a Mary Tierney.

Although the descendants of Mick Kennedy and Mary Tierney are greatly dispersed today, many still reside in the Ottawa Valley. They include many Kennedys, Muldoons, and Robinsons.

Mary Ann Kennedy, the daughter of William Kennedy and Margaret Brennan, married my grgrgrandfather John James Muldoon

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KENNEDY Descendants