Re: How about Kenealey in SanFransisco
-
In reply to:
How about Kenealey in SanFransisco
William Kenealey 11/29/03
I think that there is a strong possibility that your spelling is simply a variant of my relatives spelling Kennelly. Kennelly's have been in SF area since about 1848 and came to California on a wagon train from Canada along with my ancestors Crowley's, Sullivan's and Murphy's. Each of these families was in SF area as early as 1828. I have great grandparents named Sullivan (twice) and Murphy - Sullivans and Murphy side of family were in lumbering in Canada and N. California. My Dad grew up, in fact, in Scotia, California. Kennelly's came from Cork to Peterboro, Canada in 1824 along with 900 other Cork families who were resettled by the British government in the wilderness of the region. They had to first lumber out the area since there was no natural farmland to cultivate. A number of these close families and relative who had other family members go straight from Canada to California in the 1820's recruited their relative to move to California for the Gold Rush and moved by wagon train - I have old records of the wagon train and the rescue of the train trapped in the Donners Pass. My grandmother's twin sisters in fact married twin Kennelly boys in SF. Martin Kennelly owned a sporting good store for many years in downtown SF near the Sheraton Plaza. Our original Crowley Family home was on Rincon Street just a block or so from where the hotel is now located. Rincon is where most of the "Captains Homes" were located up on the hill with a view of the harbor. I have a photo of the home. These homes were torn down at some point. Kennelly's live right near this area also. Many of todays gen researchers in SF area get stuck due to lost records in fires and etc. Many early SF residents like our family and the Kennellys did not initially come to the US and were not citizens of the US but came through Canada. I have found that when you get stuck it is often because you are looking in the US when the early records were of the Reepublic of California or Mexico or Canada - not the US Record - so you need to track them differently back to Ireland. There are a number of Kennellys still in SF area and in Napa Valley. Does this help or sound at all familiar. It seem likely also that your relative was a captain in the fire department given the local political power of the Irish clans in SF. My gr, gr, uncle was the first police chief of SF Patrick Crowley. This was pretty common that families that were interrelated dominated these jobs. Also the policeman protected the various family businesses in SF. Simply good business to protect what they had built.
More Replies:
-
Re: How about Kenealey in SanFransisco
William Kennaley 5/12/04