Current Research

What We are Discovering

6 March 2022 - "Getting to Know Hugh" - Zoom Call

We had our first information sharing Zoom call.  Click here to view the recordingThis call focused on three foundational source documents

 We also introduced this web site as a repository for new discoveries and invited participants to "Explore More".

April 2021

Discovery of the Samuel McKenna Family - Hugh McKenna's (1812-1880) Brother

In the 1800's, Thomas McKenna (1844-1910) wrote letters to his cousin John McKenna (1833-1904) who emigrated from Ireland in the 1860's and lived in Rio, Wisconsin.  In 1894, John responded to Thomas in a letter that relayed some key information about his family.  For example, he told us his birthday (19 December 1833).  He also told us the names of two of his sisters, Mary and Nancy.  Nancy's married name was Wilson, but this was her 2nd marriage, as her 1st husband had passed away.  We also learned that his sister Mary had died in June 1893.

In April 2021, Elaine McKenna Allred discovered a copy of the 1894 letter in a bin of family history records she had received from her parents, Gib and Almeda McKenna.   Her parents had the letter but didn't have access to records that could help them learn more about their family.  With current technology and records, however, we have been able to discover much about John's family.  We discovered John's wife and children, Mary's husband and children and both of Nancy's husbands and her children.  In addition to Mary and Nancy, John had a brother James who died in Wisconsin in 1865 and a sister Jane who married Richard McNanie in 1854 and stayed in Ireland.  

The greatest insight we gained from John's letter was that his parents names were Samuel and Nancy McKenna.  For the first time we learned that Hugh McKenna, Thomas' father, had a brother.  And when Samuel was married to his 2nd wife in Wisconsin, we learned that his and Hugh's parents names were Hugh and Sarah (Hooray!!!)

We also learned that Jane and Mary were married in Ireland before they emigrated and that they were married in the Presbyterian Meeting House in Minterburn.  The marriage records revealed that they lived in the townland of Mullintor in the Civil Parish of Aghaloo in County Tyrone.

As of February 2022, we have been able to document about 100 descendants of Samuel and Nancy McKenna in Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org (L119-GR2).

Fortunately, the Presbyterian Church records in Minterburn include Baptisms, 1829-1950; marriages, 1819-22 and 1830-1911. (MIC1P/ 26; MIC1P/460).  These records will be of key interest as we seek to understand more about Samuel's family.

It is very possible that Hugh and other family members may have also lived in Aghaloo Civil Parish in County Tyrone.  Since Hugh's family attended the Church of Ireland, the following records will also be of keen interest as we access them at Public Records of Northern Ireland (PRONI):

2013

The younger William would have been too young to be the witness at John's marriage, but the older William is a possibility. Was William McKenna John's older brother or more likely his uncle?

2011

One of the footnotes reads:  “There were 57 families of McKenna in Clogher Parish in 1860, making them by far the most numerous name. This numerical strength is upheld to-day by the fact that nicknames are essential still to distinguish one from another. Trough was  their original territory, and their name was the second-strongest in the County of Monaghan. Their large estates were lost at the Plantation, mainly to the Anketell's, Moutray's and Singletons. One of their name, the Catholic historian, Canon James Edward McKenna, M.R.I.A., in his “Parishes of Clogher” gives some account of their lineage and ramifications. The Rev. John McKenna, who was P.P. at Clogher from 1885- 1895, was a noted scholar.”

Hugh McKenna Descendancy

This 2013 Prezi presentation describes what we had discovered about Hugh and Mary McKenna and their descendants. It also poses some of the unanswered questions we are trying to solve. 

Hugh McKenna Descendancy

July 2013

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