Three John Kennellys in a Row

A previous post discussed the life of my 2GG Harriet Kennelly (1835-1906), who was born in St. Clair County, Michigan, but moved to Clermont County, Ohio at a very early age and lived there the remainder of her life. (See the post here.)

Dad wondered, though, about a John Kennelly he found in New York State who might have had a connection:

A John Kennelly, born 1768, died 1829, is listed as a drummer in a New York regiment of the Continental Army …(())

Harriet’s father, grandfather, and great grandfather were all named John Kennelly:

Father – John Kennelly (1796-1836)
Grandfather – John Kennelly (1768-1828)
Great grandfather – John Kennelly (? – abt 1777)

Let’s refer to them as John I, II, and III, starting with the earliest John.

There are two main sources for our understanding of this family. One is a family Bible, pages of which have been posted online.(()) The second is a local history of Saratoga County, New York, published in 1899.(())

We’re now somewhat familiar with John’s origins, especially the Revolutionary War exploits of his father and grandfather, but we don’t know a lick about Maria, other than the fact that the family Bible says she was born 1 Feb 1803 in Chatham Township, Connecticut.(())

It appears John left his family in upstate New York and moved west to the Michigan frontier as a young man. He couldn’t have moved with his parents because they remained in New York state. John’s father, John Kennelly Sr., resided in Northampton, Montgomery, New York in 1820(()) on the shores of the Great Sacandaga Lake and died there in 1828.(()) I have wondered if John enlisted in the Army and ended up in St. Clair County, Michigan because he was posted to Fort Gratiot. The War of 1812 began when John was 16, so he could have served in the war sometime during 1812-1815, probably in upstate New York, and then decided to remain a soldier. Fort Gratiot was originally built on Lake Huron in 1814, so the timing fits. Also, the fort was abandoned by the soldiers in 1822. Since 1822 coincides with John’s marriage to Maria Chapman, I have wondered if it’s more than coincidence. Possibly Maria was living in the area because her father was a soldier too. However, I

Given her young age, we would assume that Maria traveled to Michigan with her parents, but I have never found any evidence of the Chapman name in St. Clair County in the early 19th century. So it’s a mystery how John and Maria met or why they moved to what was still unsettled territory. I have wondered if they met in upstate New York because Maria’s family had moved west from Connecticut, and John and Maria left on their own and eloped in Michigan. That’s just speculation though.

named John Kennelly) served as a drummer boy in Hazen’s Regiment for over six years during the Revolutionary War, and her great grandfather (again, John Kennelly) was shot and killed in the War – and previously had escaped from Indians after three days of captivity. The Kennellys were from upstate New York near the southern edge of the Adirondack Mountains and likely were Irish or Scots-Irish.

Thus, the Kennellys are a branch of my tree that remain largely mysterious. I have not been able to identify the original immigrant, so we don’t know the circumstances of where and when the line entered the New World. It is likely Irish in origin nonetheless.(())