Gortnaskehy

View of Keeper Hill from Kilnarath Cemetery

In the distance is Keeper Hill. Reaching the foothills would be the second part of our journey on Day 1. Our trip from the cemetery to these homes took about 15 minutes.

The foothills of Keeper Hill is where my mother's ancestors lived, notably her grandfather Batt Ryan was born and raised nearby. There were few homes in Gortnaskehy, a townland on Keeper Hill's southern border, where our families claimed as home. Some of the land was planted surrounding this cluster of homes, however, it was more wooded to the East, and much of the land south of these homes is bog land. 

It is uncertain when these families moved to Gortnaskehy, as evidence suggests they lived in northern County Limerick, near Glenstal, and earlier around Cashel, County Tipperary. The Humphreys, related through marriage, rented land near the Campbells and in Glenstal in the 1800s, and some of the Campbells, descendents of James Campbell, currently farm near Glenstal today. One of our eariest known ancestors was Hugh Kennedy. When he was born is uncertain, as some references list it as early as 1698. The chart below gives his birth year as 1736 in Glencroe townland, which was a townland next door to Gortnaskehy; and it is said that he died in 1824 in County Tipperary. Hugh's clan was generally referred to as the "mountain Kennedys." The significance of the Kennedys in our family line, is that many of the families living between Gortnaskehy and the village of Toor could claim a lineage to the Kennedy clan.

Mackey, Campbell, Kennedy, Ryan linkage

Jim Ryan, who has done extensive research on our family lines, has been able to show how our families are connected.  Initially, we began with the supposition that our connection was with the Ryans of Newport parish.  As it turns out, Jim and our family connect more recently to the Mackey surname (6th generation), specifically to Mary Mackey Campbell, granddaughter to Hugh Kennedy.

Jim writes:

"We have recently confirmed that Daniel Mackey (1731-1800) was the father of both Mary Mackey and my gggg grandfather, Richard Mackey. As there is a large overlap in our various DNA matches including the new above kits, our Kennedy connection has to be at least as far back as our common ancestor Daniel Mackey. Daniel is six generations back from Paul and seven from Terry and I. Based on the strength of matches between us, it is very hard to think that our Kennedy ancestor is further back than Daniel Mackey, so his wife has to be a Kennedy. These latest DNA kits confirm that the branch is almost certainly the Long Andrew Kennedy branch. As Long Andrew was born in 1736 then I believe that Daniel wife must have been a sister of Long Andrew's. We also know that the Mackeys and these Kennedys were living in very close proximity to one another. 

We know that the first born daughter of Bart Campbell and Mary Mackey was Catherine Campbell. As most of the Irish followed the naming convention of naming their first born daughter after the maternal grandmother, then there is every likelihood that Daniel Mackey's wife was named Catherine Kennedy. Catherine is easily the most repeated female given name throughout the generations across the wider Mackey clan. One of Long Andrew's daughter was also named Catherine. 

We know that Long Andrew's father was Hugh Kennedy who was born about 1696. Whilst we do not know where he was born, we know that, like Long Andrew Kennedy, he was buried at Templederry. We know that no matter where this branch of the Kennedys lived at this time, they still took their departed back to Templederry where their ancestral burial ground was. There are indications that Hugh Kennedy died at Glencroe in 1766. This would make Hugh Kennedy our 6x g grandfather. This would also mean that Hugh Kennedy  would be the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) for Tom Ryan, Terry and I. This MRCA is 8 generations back from each of us. Gedmatch predicts that our MRCA is only 4.7 generations back. For this reason the Kennedy connection could not be any further back and for the reasons outlined above it cannot be any generation prior to Daniel Mackey. I am comfortable that we have the correct branch of Kennedys and have them at the correct generational level. "

National Folklore Collection, 1932-1950

Ireland's Heritage was being preserved as early as 1932 with a collection of stories written by "old timers" living in the various townlands spread across Ireland.  One that is of interest to our family was written by Nancy Ryan of Gortnaskehy, who most likely was a cousin.   She describes how Cromwell influenced the history of the lands surrounding Keeper Hill, and they saw themselves as "mountain men", much in the same way that Hugh Kennedy saw his family as "mountain men."

" Cromwells visit to Ireland affected the district very much. It was at that time that this district was peopled. When the Cromwellian soldiers settled on Tipperary lands of the O'Kennedys, the O'Dwyers, the Ryans, O'Meara's and Mac Egans these families fled to the hill country between Barnane Ely and Newport, which was then inhabited for the first time and so founded the hardy race known today in Tipperary as the "Mountainy Men".
Cromwells army passed through our district. It is said in this locality that Cromwell's feet and arms fell off before he died. He was buried in Westminister Abbey in London. "  (Nancy Ryan, Gortnaskehy)

George Kinahan was the landlord for the farmers of Gortnaskehy, and the homes were clustered to support each other in their farming ventures.  Initially, we had no idea who these families were, but now know that they were close relatives of the Campbell and Ryan family.  Eventually, Mr. Kinahan, through bad farm management lost his property and it subsequently sold to a new landlord after the famine.

Map derived from the 1840-1850 Griffiths Survey

As we made our way to Gortnaskehy, we were fairly certain that we could find the homes where our ancestors lived.  We also knew that the families whom lived around the Campbells and Ryans were relatives - initially because we saw their names listed as baptismal sponsors, and later we could see connections through old church records.

After the famine, there were few habital homes left in Gortnaskey (sometimes seen as Gurnaskeha or some variant).  The name of this townland was due to a whitethorn bush that grew in the area, and while some of the foothills were condusive to farming, much of the land south of the Ryan and Campbell homes consisted of bogs.  In a census taken in the early 1900s, it was noted that "No. of houses - 5 - Three slated, one galvanised and one tiled.  People over 70- Mrs. Johanna Benton. " It was always a very rural part of Tipperary. 

Based on location, this may have been the Thomas Ryan home.  Across the road, the widow Fogarty home was located in 1840.

Behind this house would have been Henry Cummin's home. This home, among the cluster of homes, is one that has not been modified in recent years. It would have been typical of the kind of homes that our ancestors would have resided while living in Ireland.

Mary Kennedy and John Campbell homes, as referenced in the old Griffith surveys of the 1840s. 

John Campbell was Catherine Campbell Ryan's brother.  Catherine was the mother of Batt Ryan of Kimball, SD.  Most likely the home was both their parent's ancestral homes.  Secondly, It is possible that all these homes are over 200 years old.  As we learned from our visits to family homes in north Ireland, they had been renovated over the years, but in many cases, the old mud walls were erected in the 1600s.

A larger home has been built since the Griffith census was taken between 1830 and 1850.  This house may be where Henry Cummins' house was originally located.

The area was known as "Cully", a reference to Cully Castle that was located less than a few kilometers from this cluster of homes.  When Batt Ryan was asked by his grandchildren where he came from, he told them "Skul-he", and they thought he said School Hill.  For many years, our family was searching for

the elusive "School Hill", but could not find its locations.  A few years ago, we learned that the old Gaelic pronounciation of Cully was skul-he, and this is most likely what he was trying to explain to his grandchildren.  As a point of reference, it was the Campbell surname that solved the mystery of our family's origin.  While there were several Campbell families living in the north Tipperary, only one was Roman Catholic.

The following townlands have a signficance to our family.  Doonane was a small village a little north of our family's home in Gortnaskehy.  The village no longer exists, and any reference of Doonane on maps, show the Gortnaskehy homes as "the village."  The townland of Fiddane, is the townland to the east of Gortnaskehy.  In the census records, it shows that James Ryan, our gg grandfather, leased lands from George Kinahane.