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Chapter Three - Going Back in the Prendergast Family Line
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After we attended the "Accony School Reunion" which was the focus of our 2009 holiday in Ireland, it seemed like a good idea to look for more family records---especially since we were not having much luck finding those records in Ireland on earlier holidays. So, a microfiche was ordered from the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormon) Library on Grange Avenue in Hales Corners, Wisconsin, that contained baptismal records for Kilgeever Parish. It also seemed like a good idea to copy all the Kilgeever records and share them with the people we had met in Ireland to thank them for their hospitality.
Accony School (St. Patrick National School)
So, over the following summer the records were transposed onto a computer spreadsheet. At that time, John, the webmaster for the now discontinued "Accony School Reunion" website, was glad to take me up on my offer to share them, and all the data was posted on their website.
This was the Roman Catholic baptismal records for Kilgeever Parish on the films "926224," "127912," and "0926220." The 3,400+ records cover the time period from 1850 through 1922 with some gaps within any given year and a major, 12-year gap from 1882 through 1893. Since then, the "Accony School Reunion" website has been shut down.
Now, almost all Irish church records are available online at the National Library of Ireland website (www.nli.ie) for free. The Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) has recently put almost all of their records online to do family research for free. They are online at www.familysearch.org .
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Photos from the 2009 Accony School Reunion
"Accony School Reunion" Mass
Selling Commemorative Books
The Reunion's Evening Dinner
Dancing the Night Away
By coincidence, Charmaine in England, whose husband is related to the Accony School Reunion webmaster, John, emailed to ask some genealogy questions about her husband's ancestors who came from Kilgeever Parish. Charmaine was also kind enough to share her online family tree.
After her husband, Austin, along with John, took the same "Family Finder - autosomal DNA test" as I had taken in 2017 that looks for your common male and female ancestors for five generations back, it turned out we are third cousins, once removed.
The email exchange on the next page discusses the connection to and the interconnected relationships of many families from Kilgeever Parish.
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My email to Charmaine and John:
"I hope I am accurate in my understanding of the email from 'Family Tree DNA - Family Finder Matches' that I received today. The 'Family Finder-Matches' appears to indicate that we are related as 2nd, 3rd, or 4th cousins.... I assume these matches pertain to the DNA testing my wife, Sue, and I did last December which supposedly was a broad 'Family Tree DNA' test of both male and female ancestors for five generations back.
When I trace my ancestral line from my family research with a major focus on the family tree information from Charmaine's website on MyHeritage, along with Nancy Bond's material on Ancestry.com, I come up with the following line that selectively links:
- Robert "Bob" O'Keane... [me]
- Robert's father is James J. O'Keane... [my father]
- James J.'s father is James... [my grandfather]
- James' mother is Catherine Prendergast of Accony... [my great-grandmother]
- Catherine's mother is Bridget Lyons... [my great-great-grandmother]
- Bridget's mother is Ann MacHale... [my great-great-great-grandmother]
- Ann's father is John McHale... [my great-great-great-great-grandfather]
- John's father is Myler MacKeal... [my great-great-great-great-great grandfather]
I hope this is accurate, since I would be very proud to be related by DNA to the McHale lines and by marriage to the Bartlett/Barfoot line."
Charmaine's email response:
"You are indeed right in your analysis, Bob. However, with the complexities of family history, you are related to MacHale and McDonnell lineage, who as you will see was also a descendant of John MacHale and Cecelia O'Toole.
As it also happens, though, his grandmother Catherine 'Katie' McHale was a Scott and this is a more direct route.
my McHale...
his father is Richard 'Dick' McHale... [parent]
Dick's mother is Catherine 'Katie' Scott... [grandparent]
Katie's mother is Sarah 'Leany' Prendergast... [great-grandparent]
Sarah's father is James Prendergast... [great-great-grandparent]
James' mother is Bridget Lyons... [great-great-great-grandparent]
Bridget's mother is Ann MacHale... [great-great-great-great-grandparent]
Ann's father is John McHale... [great-great-great-great-great-grandparent]
John's father is Myler MacKeal... [great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparent]
To summerise, Bob, this makes you our 3rd cousin 1x removed! Phew, hard to keep track sometimes amongst the complexities of all the information. Thank you for laying it out so clearly. It was an immense help in drawing out information together by using your format. We too are very proud to be related both by blood as well as by marriage."
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The following write-up shows some of the family connections and also goes on to show connections back to the 1300's that were in Charmaine's family tree. The listing also gives you a short-form list of the children and grandchildren of Great-grandparents Mathew and Catherine (Prendergast) O'Keane/Keane.
Here is One of Your Ancestral Lines
(and Why You Should Sometimes Feel Like Royalty)
1. If you are descended from the O'Keane family line that includes:
The children of Richard O'Keane & Mary Ann (Daly) O'Keane:
- Lucy (O'Keane) Burg & Francis Burg
- Ambrose O'Keane
- Mathew O'Keane & Mary (Burg) O'Keane
- Mary Ellen O'Keane (aka: Sister Mary Cornelia)
The children of Mary Jane (O'Keane) Cosgrove Prendergast & Thomas Cosgrove & then James Prendergast:
- Catharine Cosgrove
- Thomas Cosgrove Jr.
- Richard Prendergast & Margaret (Quaid) Prendergast
- Kathryn "Katie" (Prendergast) Whipp and Edward Whipp
- Mary Jane "Mayme" (Prendergast) Clark & Edward Clark
- Agnes Prendergast (aka: Sister Mary Columba)
- Rose Prendergast (aka: Sister Mary Mario)
The children of Terence O'Keane & Catherine (Comer) O'Keane:
- Josephine O'Keane
- Helen Grace (O'Keane) Carney & Harold J. Carney
- Paul O'Keane
The children of James O'Keane & Anna (Kiley) O'Keane:
- Kathryn "Katie" (O'Keane) Sheehan & John Sheehan
- Viola O'Keane
- Ellen "Nellie" (O'Keane) Whelan & Joseph Whelan
- Florence (O'Keane) Whelan & Everett Whelan
- James O'Keane & Ruth (Reis) O'Keane
- Francis O'Keane & Irma (Loew) O'Keane
- John O'Keane & Antoinette "Tootie" (Olinger) O'Keane
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The children of Anne (O'Keane) Flynn & Edward Flynn
- Joseph Edward Flynn & Leone (Ripple) Flynn
- William Patrick Flynn & Ann (Busch) Flynn
- Walter Thomas Flynn & Catherine (Claffey) Flynn
- George Raymond Flynn
- Mary Jane (Flynn) Boelk & Walter Boelk
- Kathryn "Katie" (Flynn) Walsh & John Walsh
- Eugene Flynn
- Francis Flynn
The children of Catherine (O'Keane) Flynn & Michael Flynn:
- Agnes Flynn
- Ann "Annie" (Flynn) Clark & John Clark
- Michael Flynn Jr. & Ella (Gauger) Glynn
- George Francis Flynn & Mary (Mathews) Flynn
- James Flynn & Lillian (Bucholz) Flynn
- Mark Flynn
- Ralph Flynn
- Frances Flynn
- Austin Flynn
- Rose Flynn
- Mary Ellen "Mae" (Flynn) Gavigan & John Gavigan
- Loretta (Flynn) McCartan & Edward McCartan
- Richard Flynn & Dorothy (Freisch) Flynn
- Marion (Flynn) Weiss & George Weiss
- Genevieve (Flynn) Markey & Frank Markey
- Jerome Flynn
- John E. Flynn
The children of Elizabeth "Eliza" (O'Keane) Fleming & Charles Fleming:
- James Marquette Fleming & Victoria (Degenefe) Fleming
- Daniel Sarto Fleming & Dorothy (Birkholtz) Fleming
- Paul Edward Fleming & Jean (Fons) Fleming
- Mary Frances Fleming
- Martha Agnes (Fleming) Whiting & Charles Whiting
- Catherine Blanche (Fleming) Fisler & Fred Fisler
- Ann Marie Fleming
- John Joseph "Joe" Fleming
- Michael Matthew "Mike" Fleming
- Charles Sylvester Fleming
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2. Then one set of grandparents for these children in the section above is:
- Mathew William O'Keane/Keane
- Catherine (Prendergast) O'Keane/Keane
3. Now, going farther back on Catherine (Prendergast) O'Keane/Keane's line:
- Catherine Prendergast's parents are Richard Prendergast & Bridget (Lyons) Prendergast
- Bridget Lyons parents are Redmond Lyons & Ann (MacHale) Lyons
- Ann McHales parents are John MacHale & Cecelia (O'Toole) MacHale
- John MacHale's parents are Myler MacKeal & Anne (Moffet) MacKeal
- Ann Moffet's parents are Walter Moffet & Marjory (Stevenson) Moffet
- Walter Moffet's parents are John Moffet & Janet Baird (Dobbie) Moffet
- John Moffet's parents are Patrick Moffet & Janet Torrans Moffet
- Patrick Moffet's parents are James Moffet & Janet Laidyly (Cadgeley) Moffet
- James Moffet's parents are Thomas Moffet & Isobell (Gairdin) Moffet
- Thomas Moffet's parents are Francis Moffat & Mary ___ Moffat
- Francis Moffat's parents are James Moffat & Lady Margaret (Douglas) Moffat, Countess Bothwell
- Lady Margaret Douglas' (Countess Bothwell's) parents are William Douglas & Lady Margaret (Gordon) Douglas*
- William Douglas' parents are James Douglas & Christian (Montgomerie) Douglas
- James Douglas' parents are William Douglas & Elizabeth (Gordon) Douglas
- Elizabeth Gordon's parents are John Gordon & Elizabeth (Linsey) Gordon
- John Gordon's parents are ___ Gordon & Joan (Stewart) Gordon
- Joan Stewart's parents are King James I of Scotland (James Stewart) (1394-1437) & Joan (Beaufort) Stewart (1406-1445)
Note: King James I of Scotland (Stewart) should not be confused with his descendant, James VI of Scotland (1603-1625), who became James I of England of the Stuart line.
P.S.: Heraldry & peerage probably don't go back and forth across paternal & maternal lines like this---nonetheless, congratulations on your "sort of" royal status!
*P.P.S.: Want to add another "twist" to the tale? "Google" a relative of Lady Margaret Douglas, namely, "Lady Janet Douglas," and learn all about another distant relative---"The Grey Lady of Glamis Castle." (Verifiable with the Lyons-Giles family tree on Ancestry.com; author Mary Lyons.)
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