Dave Kearney, celebrating and learning Irish heritage on St. Patrick’s Day and every day
For over 20 years, Dave Kearney has studied the genealogy of his family. He began the work with his father William. William would visit the Bradford library and the Smethport courthouse to find any documentation he could on the Kearney ancestors.
The Kearneys found that their ancestors originally moved to Canada from Ireland before migrating to Bradford. People often think most Irish immigrants came to North
America as a result of the Irish potato famine from 1840-1850 but Kearney says that twice as many migrated to Canada before the famine.
As both Canada and
Ireland were a part of the British Empire, there were no naturalization papers required to move between them.
As he assisted with and continued his father’s work, Kearney found the genealogical center, run at the time by the Mormons in the Kane Chapel to be, “a gold mine” of information. The Mormon church owns the world’s largest collection of genealogical material.
Through the center, Kearney was able to borrow microfilms stored in their vault in Utah which contains more than 2 million microfilm rolls. Kearney was able to find all of the records from the Catholic church, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, in Hastings, Ontario. He learned that his third great grandmother had settled there with her children after moving from Ireland upon the death of her husband.
Kearney wanted to know exactly where his family was from in Ireland but was only able to find that they were from Tipperary County. He wrote a letter to every single Catholic par
ish in the county to see if any of the parishes had records. He received a response from a priest in Newport who found Kearney’s family in his records.
A few years later, in 2003, Kearney had a chance to meet the parish priest in person on a nine-day trip he took to Ireland with his brother Bill and niece Maggie to celebrate her high school graduation.
Kearney was thrilled at the chance to “walk the ground” where his ancestors had. They planned each day as it came and would ask their host each night for a recommendation for the next Bed and Breakfast.
Upon wrapping up his Irish heritage research, Kearney proceeded to trace his mother’s English family. He went as far back as his ninth great grandparents. He discovered he is a distant relative of John Adams and John Quincy Adams. At least seven ancestors were revolutionary war soldiers. He is also a descendant of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins. The couple arrived in America on the Mayflower. They had 13 children, making them the couple with the most descendants that came to America on the Mayflower.
With the rate that genealogical paths grow (they double with every generation) Kearney says it is not unusual to find famous distant relatives.
For anyone interested in getting started with genealogical research, Kearney recommends speaking to your oldest family members to write down as much oral history as possible. Libraries, the internet, and courthouse records are great resources. Kearney has found old obituaries to be a tremendous source of information. They are historically filled with an incredible and almost shocking amount of detail from specifics on the manner of death to current friends, enemies, and drama of the deceased.
A good family tree maker program is also a must for Kearney. It keeps things organized and can even be used to print out family trees. He printed one out once that wrapped the whole way around a room.
While his genealogical research has slowed down and Kearney has picked up other hobbies including watercolor, he still makes sure to record current information including deaths and births, to pass on to future generations.
Kearney’s research has indicated that his wife Ann is not Irish (she doesn’t believe him) but they both still love to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. They decorate the house, wear green, and enjoy a traditional meal of beef brisket. This year, through what Ann describes as, “the luck of the Irish,” they were able to spend the holiday with Kearney’s 92 year old mother, Ruth.