 |
First Irish Born Protestant Anglican of my family Tomas Ó Ceallaigh of Corvally Co Monaghan Ireland |
|||||||||||||
|
Thomas O'Kelley
or Tomas Ó Ceallaigh as his name
would have appeared when he was likely born about 1555 AD in
somewhere likely near Clones Ireland. In those days the counties didn't exist, they were just part of "Kingdoms" in Irish tradition and Earldoms in English tradition. Monaghan was part of Kingdom of Airgíalla and Co Cavan part of the Kingdom of Breifne and Meath was its own province and also of the Nine Kingdom that descend from the Irish Monarch Aedh of Slaine and Meath included Bregia the great plain that extended from Tara east to the Irish Sea, Westmeath and parts of Co Cavan and Monaghan. Co Monaghan was taken from the Earldom of Tyrone and shired in 1585 and settled by loyal English subjects by 1591. Like other Gaelic Chiefs, Thomas likely felt he had little choice but  abandoned
his Irish Catholic faith surrender what ever lands he may have
possessed and become an
Anglican Protestant allowing him to receive lands as he
appears in the Survey of County Monaghan in 1591 as "Thomas Kelly"
a name forced upon him by the English. Those were turbulent times in
Ireland when if the English didn't kill you then your neighbors
and family might. Many of the Irish went back to being
Catholic during the
Nine Years War that soon followed but I have found no records to show that
my anncestors ever returned to the Catholic faith and his son
William seem to become a devote protestant while his son
Owen O'Kelley is found in a 1614 Pardon with many other
Catholics.
Corvally
is a farm field today near the
Rosefield Farm Guest House. DNA matches and many others reasons cause me to suspect that Thomas Kelly is my ancestor. Our family tradition stories claim that Thomas O'Kelley was the first of our family to become Protestant and this Thomas Kelly is in the right place and the right time to be that person. Alethea Jane Macon claimed in her 1969 book that "Best Evidence" caused her to believe our ancestor to come from Ireland to America was Thomas O'Kelley but she fails to share her "best evidence" and I believe she based her belief on a misunderstood story handed down for 8 generations that identified Thomas O'Kelley as our first protestant Anglican Irish ancestor a man of great importance to so many of his protestant descendents so surely he would be remembers in our family folklore. Thomas O'Kelley an Irish "Gentleman" and my grandmother married in Ireland about 1560 and had the following children:
|
||||||||||||||