...This Is Almost Certainly Your Ancestral Family....1st Report

When Marina first started looking into the O'Kane/Keane side of her family, she had hired the Ulster Historical Foundation (UHF) to see what information they could find on her great great grandma, Annie O'Keane (Kane). Well, Annie still proved to be elusive, even to UHF.

I found the reports to be fascinating. A proper piece of well written genealogy correctness. (This description may not make sense....think in terms of very "formal".) The contents are very detailed, and precise. They made reference to the family data that Marina supplied, and how some of the information that was found, corresponded. However, since UHF was unable to find any kind of records for Annie, they searched for possible family relations.

From a handwritten family history by Annie's granddaughter, Elaine Glumaz (daughter of Annie's firstborn, SJ)  we learn what she was told about the family....that Annie came from a  large Roman Catholic family from Northern Ireland, and that they lived in a cottage on a large estate. Using this information, and the locations of the birth of Annie's first 3 children along with names found on those records, UHF came up with some possible family connections, hence the title....This Is Almost Certainly Your Ancestral Family. This term was used in the reports as UHF's way of saying "possible family connection" without the supporting documentation.

After reviewing their reports recently, (and after about 3 years of research that Marina and I have done on our own) a more clearer picture has emerged, and the bit of clarity that has come signals that we are headed in the right direction.

I am going to list some of UHF's possible family connections that came from the first report here and then break down the details of what we have learned about some of them in separate posts. Hopefully, what we've come up with will trigger a reaction that will lead to more family data for the O'Kanes/ Keane.

*Please note that Ballyclug Parish is not a church area but rather a district in Co. Antrim that contained certain townlands in its area. Crebilly (Craigbilly) was a townland of Ballyclug.

  The Tithes Applotment Books (TAB) contains those people that had land, owned or rented (this is a very simplistic description) who had to pay tithes to the Church of Ireland, regardless of their religious views. The UHF report states:

    "The TAB records of Ballyclug Civil Parish, 1825, do not include tenants named Kane or Keane or variant spellings with the letter K in the name. However there were three tenants named Cain in the parish as follows: 

   Andrew in Liminary townland and Bernard and James in Crebilly [also known as Craigbilly] townland. Given the forenames, this is almost certainly your ancestral family."

 The Griffith's Valuations (GV) which is a record of all properties of Ireland. The County Antrim GV was made in 1860. The report states:

"The Griffiths Valuation of Co. Antrim includes over 250 property holders named Kane and variant spellings. There were only seven property holders of the name Kane and all variants in Ballyclug civil parish among whom was: 

•        Crebilly townland, map ref no 7, James Kane, House, Offices [outbuildings] and land, comprising 33 Acres.2 Roods, 10 Perches, lessor, H. O’Hara. This is almost certainly the record of your ancestral family."

 

Pre 1858 Index and Will Calendars. Although there are no copies of the wills from the Pre 1858 index, there were two names that came up in the index for the Ballyclug parish:"Patrick Kane, 1825 and Andrew Cain, 1835, were found in the Connor Diocesan Wills Index but unfortunately no details of the will have survived."

 A will for James Kane of Craigbilly, who died in 1872, was mentioned as possible family for Annie. We know from Annie's newspaper announcement that her father was already deceased when she married in 1876 so this seems to be a fit for the most part. The confusion for us and UHF is that Annie's name is not listed in the will. A brother named James, according to family history, is not noted in the will either. We think that Annie could possibly be Jane. Her marriage announcement  names  her as the third daughter, and Jane is the third name listed, assuming the girls' names were written in birth order.

A church register with a census record for 1886-1887 was found in    PRONI MIC/1D/69/1 for a James and Jane Kane family of Crebilly Bog.  While the parents are both 40 years old, their oldest child, James, is age 24. UHF believes that James Jr's age is a mistake. After working on some other family research in the Puerto Rico, Social and Population Schedules, 1935-1936 (Ancestry.com), I realized how to configure the ages for the Kane children from the church census and that this family was also listed in the 1901 Irish census.  According to UHF: "It seems likely that James, snr, was a sibling of Annie". Marina has connected with this family through Ancestry.com.

At the end of the report, it was indicated that there was no more time available within the budget to continue the research.Within a month, Marina would have another search for information done by UHF.