I agree that my email was a bit rambling. I have been told by a Keeley who is helping us in Ireland that no way did these people move around. I would think that they would go where they could find shelter and food. Yes the Kealy sisters are Mary Ann, Bridget, and Julia. Were there more children, maybe males, no one has heard of any other name. Mary Ann went directly to Canada about 1856. Julia went to Massachusetts about 1853. Family lore is Bridget also went to MA to be a maid. BUT. . . We looked in Kilkenny because Frederick Ireland, William's son by his first marriage, gave Kilkenny as his birthplace on a border crossing form after working in the US and crossing into Canada. We started with Fred and worked backwards. Fred's birth in 1875 is not registered in Kilkenny but we know his mother, Elizabeth Mary Stephens', death is registered 3 days after what we know as Fred's birth. His sister, Emily Frances, is registered in Kilkenny in 1874 to William and Eliza. We know Emily and Fred are siblings and are the right people. When Emily and Fred came to the US about 1887 they did not live with William but went to Canada and lived with their aunt Julia who had moved there from MA in 1872. We know Fred and Emily were educated in the US as a ship's doctor and a private nurse. They go back and forth across the border visiting in CT or working in the US. We have the death registration for William Ireland in Norwalk CT in 1930. His parents are Thomas Ireland and Bridget Kealy. A Thomas Ireland married a Bridget Kealy in 1843 in St. Canice's, Barnchurch, Kilkenny. A William was born in 1847 in Kilkenny according to the Kilkenny Rothe site in Cruffsgrange, Barnchurch, Kilkenny to a Thomas and Bridget. Is this the correct Thomas and Bridget? It seems so. A Thomas Ireland died in Kilkenny in 1881. A Bridget died I think in 1878. There is no Julia or Mary Ann in Kilkenny. Patrick Kealy/Keeley married to a Mary Ann is listed on Julia's marriage reg. as her parents. On Bridget's marriage reg her father is listed as Patrick Kealy and no mother is noted. I can find no Patrick with a Mary or Mary Ann with or without having these three daughters. Family lore is very strong for John Roe and Mary Ann Kealy having their family in Wicklow. On one marriage reg for one of their children it gives Wexford as his birthplace. It is known that these children didn't know when they were born or where and the census reporting that they give in Canada is all over the place, often giving a year long after they arrived in Canada. Some of this is fudging to be younger or older when they wed, but Enniskerry, Cty Wicklow is the only place that any descendent ever heard them say. So that brought me to the question of why would Bridget have been a servant in Kilkenny? if John Roe and Mary Ann are not also there and there is no Julia either. Thomas seems to be connected to a Richard Ireland from Tipperary based upon Richard's sons being connected to William in Connecticut. Richard's wife is Catherine Cole and the Coles are from Tipperary. A further link is to William's second marriage this time in the US to a Bessie Cole from Tipperary. It can be guessed that Thomas and Samuel, Richard's sons also in Norwalk CT where William lived, fixed him up with a Cole cousin who most likely was sent for to marry William. Yes, it is very twisted at every point. So. . . . you say that these people did move around. So John Roe could have had one son in Wexford and the rest of the kids in Wicklow? Bridget could be from anywhere and ends up in Kilkenny and marries Thomas Ireland who could have been from Tipperary? Thomas was listed as a plumber (what plumbing was there then?) and a sexton. Maybe that is why they married in the Catholic church-he worked there. I have never found a good match for Bridget, a maid, in MA at any time. Yes, John Roe had a Crown Land Grant. We have seen the land books and he got a patent but we can't find any Land Grant info at all. So I have someone telling me that these people didn't move around. If so why is Bridget in Kilkenny and Julia and Mary Ann not. Could Mary Ann have been a servant in Wicklow and met John who was from who knows where? Obviously the Roes had enough money to pay passage for 2 parents and 7 children. John Roe had enough money to get a CLG. They had enough money to get to Renfrew Cty. in Ontario. The male children seem to be uneducated but the girls seem to be more literate. The boys had to work the farm and clear the land and they would have been too old for school in Ontario anyway. Yes, this is all musing. Three weeks ago we had not seen the border crossing card nor had I gotten the death reg info for William. Only two months ago did Julia's marriage reg appear on LDS site. I feel as if I am a duck out of water because I can't grasp what Ireland was like then and how did this intact Roe family get to Canada? Bonnie in California Message: 3 Date: Wed, 4 May 2011 16:37:47 +1000 From: "Cara_Links" <cara_links@bigpond.com> Subject: Re: [IRL-WICKLOW] I need some thoughts. . . To: <irl-wicklow@rootsweb.com> Message-ID: <52BF5270EDB04CB78EF11ED51FC681E7@Madden> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original You say Snip* > We have found a record in Kilkenny that Thomas Ireland married Bridget > Kealy and the record is in the Catholic Church. *Snap But have you proven that this is your Bridget Kealy-? Bonnie you also stated they received a land grant have you the document that gave them that land grant that alone would say from where the Roe family came from in Ireland. ANd here is where I become totally confused in your in depth mail Who are the Kealy sisters ? Are they Bridget Julia Mary Ann and it appears you believe they stayed behind in Ireland I am typing up information on marriages between the two religions but my fingers are not as fast as years past. And the Irish can be found in any COunty they did not all stay home at the family homestead they moved around like will o the wisps. I cant answer the question why the father on one lad lived in Kilkenny and was a plumber, no doubt he was there because there was work there, you have to realise that this is a terrible era and time in Ireland you are researching, where work, food and money was scarce so there would be movements between all counties. Sorry about not understanding your mail cleary. I am trying Cara ------------------------------ To contact the IRL-WICKLOW list administrator, send an email to IRL-WICKLOW-admin@rootsweb.com. 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