Patrick Keane (1830-1919), benefactor extraordinaire

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murf
Posts: 365
Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:58 am
Location: Qld Australia

Patrick Keane (1830-1919), benefactor extraordinaire

Post by murf » Sun Jul 14, 2019 3:26 am

Just came across this will published in full in the Freeman's Journal Sydney, Thursday 11 March 1920.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/arti ... outh+Wales

I rather expected to find an obituary to match such an extraordinary spreading of wealth, but located only the following:
Mr. Patrick Keane.
On Thursday, the 14th inst., Patrick Keane passed peacefully away, at his residence,
Poictiers Street, Deniliquin, N.S.W., aged 89 years. He had been in failing health for
a number of years, and was the last surviving member of a family of 13 children of
Francis and Ann Keane, of Kilnamona, County Clare, Ireland.
The remains were interred in the Catholic portion of the Deniliquin Cemetery,
Monsignor Treacy reading the last prayers at the graveside. — R.I.P.
The Catholic Press (Sydney, NSW : 1895 - 1942) Thursday 28 August 1919 p 43

Sduddy
Posts: 1827
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:07 am

Re: Patrick Keane (1830-1919), benefactor extraordinaire

Post by Sduddy » Sun Jul 14, 2019 10:57 am

Hi Murf

Patrick Keane is mentioned in this “Keane of Kilnamona” site: http://homepage.eircom.net/~keanet/index.html
Click on the Australian branch (19th- 20th century) and you will see his headstone, plus the marble plaque that he requested in his will. According to that site, it is believed that all of the 13 children of Francis and Anne emigrated, but the mention, in the will, of Ellen McNamara of Ballysheen, 6 mile Bridge, Co. Clare, made me think that one, at least, may have remained in Co. Clare. The Kilnamona baptisms start at 1850, so there is no record of the baptisms of the 13 children of Francis Keane and Anne Shannon.
Looking at the Sixmilebridge baptisms, I saw an Ellen McMahon who is married to Patrick McNamara, Ballysheen. Here are some of the baptisms for that couple: (1) Mary, baptised 24.11.1871; (2) John, baptised 04.10.1873; (3) Francis, baptised 02.11.1875 (sponsors: Michael McMahon, Clugga, Bridget McMahon, Mount Cashel); and Patrick, baptised 09.04.1880. The first of these, Mary born Nov. 1871, was their first child. The civil records show that Ellen McMahon married Patrick McNamara on 03.02.1871, in Sixmilebridge chapel. Patrick, from Ballysheen, is aged 30, a Farmer, son of John McNamara. Ellen, Ballycar, is aged 23, daughter of Francis McMahon; witnesses: Michael Kenny, Anne Crowe.
Ellen is a widow aged 51 in the 1901 census (Ballysheen More; Rossroe DED). Her daughter, also Ellen, married Michael Carmody* in 1919, and he is the informant at the registration of Ellen’s death in 1929 (at age 80).
However, I think Patrick, who made the will in Australia, was related, not to Ellen, but to Ellen’s husband, Patrick McNamara. His father was John McNamara, Ballysheen, and, looking at the Sixmilebridge baptisms, 1840-1864, I see that a John Mac/McNamara and Mary Kean/Kane, Rosroe, had a son, James, baptised on 16.12.1856; a daughter, Bridget, on 01.04.1859; a son, Michael, on 09.06.1844. It may be that the baptism of Patrick McNamara, Ballysheen/Rosroe, went unrecorded. If the age he gives at his marriage in 1871 is correct, he was born in 1841.

If I am right in thinking that Mary Kean, wife of John McNamara, Rosroe, is a sister of Patrick in Australia, then Patrick McNamara, Ballysheen, is his nephew. I haven't succeeded in finding a record of his death (it was before 1901).

*23 July 1919: Michael Carmody, Carron, Clare; occupation: R.I.C., son of Cornelius Carmody, Farmer, married Ellen McNamara, spinster, Ballysheen, Sixmilebridge, daughter of Patrick McNamara, Farmer, at St. Joseph’s, Limerick; witnesses: Daniel Doherty, Carron, Kilnaboy, Clare, and Annie McNamara, Ballysheen.

Sheila

murf
Posts: 365
Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:58 am
Location: Qld Australia

Re: Patrick Keane (1830-1919), benefactor extraordinaire

Post by murf » Mon Jul 15, 2019 11:28 pm

This shipping record shows that Patrick Keane(34), policeman, arrived in Sydney on 18 Dec 1865 on board the Star of Brunswick which had departed Liverpool on 6 Sep 1865.
http://indexes.records.nsw.gov.au/ebook ... .jpg&No=15
The deposit for his passage was paid by his brother Denis. I haven't located a shipping record for him.
Patrick's nephew Michael Keane, of Maine, USA was seeking his Australian uncles in 1905:
MISSING FRIENDS.
KEANE.- Mr Michael Keane, Eastport,, Maine, U.S.A., Is anxious to learn
whereabouts of his uncles, DENIS and PATRICK KEANE, who left Kilnamona
Co. Clare, with a Mr. Austin Slattery about 1847. Further Information at
CATHOLIC PRESS Office
The Catholic Press (Sydney, NSW : 1895 - 1942) Thursday 22 June 1905

There is a shipping record showing a certain Augustine Slattery with wife Eliza and three children arriving on board the Emily in 1850.
http://indexes.records.nsw.gov.au/ebook ... 7.jpg&No=3
The stated Native Place of Kilmanahan could be a poor interpretation of Kilnamona.
What interests me about this record is that also on board the Emily was James Lyons with his wife and daughter who are thought to have originated from Ballyduffmore, Inagh, which is adjacent to Ballyasheeha, Kilnamona, birthplace of the Keanes.
This James Lyons was uncle of my g grandfather James Lyons who emigrated from Kilnamona in 1856 with his sister and two Lyons cousins. My g grandfather James settled initially near Goulburn, but over the next 25 years as his family grew, he drifted westward, following the wave of European settlers into the inland, and eventually found a permanent home in Narrandera, which is not far (in Australian terms) from Deniliquin.

The following may also be a relation of Patrick Keane:
Keane. — Thomas Keane, who left Ireland for Australia in 1885, and contracted plague, in
1900, at Sydney, is sought for by his brother, John Keane, Derula, Kilnamona, County
Clare, Ireland.
Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931) Thursday 29 August 1907

There is a Thomas Keane in Griffiths Valuation in the townland of Derula(Derroolagh) which is adjacent to Ballyasheeha.
Incidentally, there is no point in trying to find Griffiths Valuation data for Derroolagh on the Clare Library site, because for some reason unbeknowns to me, Derroolagh and its inhabitants are missing from the Library's GV indexes.
And a reminder also that the NAI Tithe Applotment records for Kilnamona Parish are to be found in County Cork rather than Co Clare! :?

Denis Keane settled at Coopernook, near Taree, on the NSW mid north coast, where he died in 1912.
IN MEMORIAM.
KEANE. — Of your charity pray for the soul of Denis Keane, who departed this life on
November 25th, in the M.M.D. Hospital, Taree, fortified by the rites of Holy
Church, in the 82nd year of his age. A native of Kilnamoira,[sic] Co. Clare, Ireland,
leaving a sorrowing wife, six sons, and three daughters to mourn their loss. Lord
Jesus have mercy on his soul.
Freeman's Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1932) Thursday 19 December 1912

His probate notice appeared in The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 17 December 1912 p 2

This exercise all started when I did a search for Kilnamona on Trove. I signposted the Patrick Keane Will on this forum as an item of general interest, but the more I dig into the Keane story, the more parallels I find to my own Kilnamona connection.

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