My Great-Grandparents
Patrick Kelly (1840 - 1894) &
Bridget Kelly (ne Butler)
Overall, my family's story reflects a blend of personal and historical struggles, with members leaving lasting legacies in Ireland and abroad and my great-grandfather was no different. Born to Thomas Kelly and Mary Gaffney in 1840, just before the Great Famine, my great grandfather grew up in the Abbeyleix area. His family resided in what is believed to be the original family homestead at Knapton Cross until some of his siblings emmigrated to America and others to marry. A carpenter by trade, Patrick married my great grand-mother Bridget Butler in Abbeyleix Catholic Church on February 26, 1865. Bridget, was the daughter of John Butler, a farmer of Ballymullen. The lease for the Butler farm was later transferred into Patrick’s name after the death of John Butler, with a condition to improve the property which he did by building built a a stone house wth a slated roof which still stands to this day on the land.
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In the latter half of the 19th century, the Irish who complied with English ways lived in harmony, contingent on paying rent to absentee landlords, for others The Land League emerged challenging this injustice and gaining widespread support despite government suppression. The bad harvests in the late 1870s exacerbated tensions, leading to the Land League's illegalisation and arrests of its leaders, including Charles Parnell and Michael Davitt. In the Laois area, landlords were predominantly Protestant, but this didn't spare Protestant tenants from similar treatment.
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Patrick, facing rent arrears and excluded from the benefits of the March 1881 Land Act, joined the Abbeyleix branch of the Land League at the age of forty. Sadly he was caught in the act of putting up the Charles Stewart Parnell Land League boycotting poster and he was to pay a heavy price. On Friday night, January 20, 1882 at 11:30 p.m., he was arrested. Bail was refused at the hearing and he along with two others arrested that night and they were taken to Maryborough Jail. Trial was set for March 13, 1882 and sentencing announced the following day which was reported in the Leinster Express, Saturday, March 18, 1882 edition, as follows:
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"Patrick Kelly and John Norris, who were on the previous day convinced of posting threatening notices, were put forward to receive sentence. His Lordship addressing the prisoners, said – Patrick Kelly and John Norris you have been convicted of posting the threatening notice which I have now before me. It is one of the worst character that could possibly have been devised. I can only consider it as a solicitation to injure if not to murder some one of many of the thirty-five individuals whose names are specified as traitors to the country, to be treated as Talbot was treated. When a case like that comes before me, I am obliged, not for the punishment of the offenders, but to deter others from following such courses, to impose exemplary punishment, and I would be wanting in my duty if I did not impose a heavy sentence on each of you – I can find no distinction between the two. The sentence of the court is that you be severally detained in penal servitude for five years.Mr. Charles Corcoran, solicitor – In the case of Kelly, my Lord, he is a road contractor, and the County Treasurer will issue his cheques today, and I would ask your Lordship to order that Kelly be kept in court until he signs the receipt. His Lordship granted the request. His Lordship also ordered that a small sum of money found in the prisoner Norris’s possession should be handed to a man named John Ryan, to whom Norris wished it to be given."
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The authorities prioritised appeasing the sensitivities of landlords over considering the plight of my great grandmother and their young family, leading to their victimisation for years to come.
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On March 17, 1882, Patrick Kelly became "Convict A436" in Mountjoy Prison where he was to spend the next 5 years. Bridget, visited him in prison, her loyalty, her resilience and and their strong bond never wavered despite personal tragedies that followed his sentencing, including the death of their newborn child and the families eviction from their home but still his deep-seated principles were evident in his actions and statements, such as refusing early release on the condition of erecting a gallows. Patrick's sacrifice would have been in vain if Bridget succumbed to paying the exorbitant rent demanded by the landlord, her steadfastness not only demonstrated her personal integrity but also her unwavering commitment to her husband's cause.
They had 11 children – 9 before his jail sentence, the 10th some five months after his arrest and the youngest, Fanny, after his release from prison. Two of their children, Philip and Patrick, died while their father was imprisoned and two more, Sarah and Elizabeth, after his release- Sarah after some four months and Elizabeth after just three years.
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Michael, my grand-father, was their 5th born child, he joined them on the 5th October 1873.
My Grandparents
Michael Kelly (1873 - 1944) &
Brigid Kelly (ne Phelan)
My grandfather Michael married my grandmother Bridget Phelan on October 27, 1896 and moved to live at Kildellig in 1912 where he reared a family talented in sport, music, and Irish culture (see image of the Kelly family at this home in the image background)
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Principled and passionate in his commitment to the causes which he espoused, formidable and determined in opposition, Michael Kelly was the third and youngest son of Land Leaguer Patrick Kelly to survive and grow to manhood. He and his younger sister Fanny were to form what was often described as a formidable; alliance, revered and respected by friend and foe alike. To the nationalist population of course, he was the son of the great local Land League hero, Patrick Kelly. A fact he himself expressed great significance to, particularly the fact that he had been present with his father at a Land League Convention in Portlaoise in 1881, where he was to shake the hand of Charles Stewart Parnell.
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On October 17, 1896, at 23 years of age, Michael married my grandmother, Brigid Phelan, just 17 at the time, a very beautiful daughter of William Phelan from Shanahoe. William was employed at the local District Hospital in Abbeyleix. Brigid’s mother, my great grandmother had died shortly after childbirth and so Bridgid was reared in the convent close to where her father worked. She was by all accounts a lady of refined elegance and was credited with having brought a very beautiful singing voice to the family, a talent inherited by many of her children.
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Michael began his career as a monitor at the North School in Abbeyleix before following his fathers footsteps into carpentry and joinery too. However, it was his role as Clerk of Works and later as an Engineer that gained him widespread recognition. Despite facing rejection from the Board due to suspicions surrounding his radical background and being the son of a convicted felon, Michael persisted and participated in multiple interviews. Eventually, public outcry forced the Board to ratify his appointment, acknowledging the injustice of their initial rejection. In his role, Michael was responsible for the design and supervision of a varies of projects such as the repair and improvement of the Board’s public buildings, sanitary installations, and public water supply, right down to the local parish pump. He was also primarily responsible for the implementation of a major policy initiative adopted by the Council, whereby a total of five hundred cottages were built.
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Summary: Michael Kelly, despite having only a bicycle as his means of transportation, managed to oversee the construction of cottages scattered across a vast area, implementing innovative methods to ensure quality control. He also navigated political challenges, such as confronting a brick factory over substandard materials and challenging the construction plans proposed by his Parish Priest for a graveyard wall in Abbeyleix. After almost thirty years of distinguished service, Michael retired from the Laois County Council, leaving behind a legacy of fine projects that stand as a tribute to his dedication and expertise.
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In the early days of marriage, Michael secured what was described as a secondary lease from an intermediate landlord on plot No.s 28-30 Upper Main Street, Abbeyleix. Here, all of his children, with the exception of my father, their youngest son Chris, were born before the family’s move to Kildellig. After his oldest brother Tom’s departure to England to join the Jesuits, second oldest brother John’s emigration to America and his great building experience to those who were to follow him.
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Michael and Brigit were blessed with 8 children:
Patrick (Paddy), was born December 13, 1897 and, after moving to Dublin in the late 1920’s, lived at No. 8 Talbot Street in Dublin.
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William (Bill), born September 30, 1900, was involved in the struggle for freedom. He was to inherit the family home and farm at Kildellig and marry Anne (Nancy) Rafter.
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Brigid (Bert), born January 25, 1903, was to become a very distinguished nurse and midwife before marrying Michael Campbell and building a small hotel empire in Dublin.
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Thomas (Tom), born November 28, 1904, was to join Paddy in Dublin where they started building in Kilbarrack. He married Catherine Loughman and ultimately returned to reside at Kilcoke, Co. Laois.
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Frances (Fan), born October 28, 1906, was to become an All-Ireland champion fiddle player before dying of pneumonia on March 26, 1934.
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John, born April 14, 1909, was to be the highly artistic member of the family. He moved to Dublin in the 1930’s and returned to his beloved Kildellig almost at the end of his life.
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Philip, born December 27, 1911, aptly described at his funeral mass as “the man with the colourful turn of phrase,” moved to Dublin in the 1930’s. He married Chrissie Bowe and resided at Glasnevin before moving, late in life, to Stillorgan in South Dublin.
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and my father, Christopher (Chris), born December 24, 1914,w as the only child born after the move to Kildellig. He also moved to Dublin in the 1930s. He married my mother Mary Cooney and returned to live at Clonmore, Co.Laois in the 1940s.
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My Parents
Chris Kelly 1914 - &
Mary Kelly (ne Cooney)
My father, Christopher (Christ) Kelly, was born on December 24, 1914 in Kildellig with 6 elder siblings who he grew up be very close to. He attended Knockaroe and later Aghaboe National School, 'a school with a great reputation for teaming.
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He was exposed to a lot of different experiences at a young as with their home busy with farming, politics, music, sport and the building trade, which gave him a broad set of values, interests and skills.
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At 17 years of age, he went to Dublin to work with his father and brothers, building houses in Kilbarrack. His sisters Fan and Bert looked after them there (until Fan died of pneumonia at the age of 27)
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It was while he was in Dublin when a long distance friendship developed between my parents and it was on the 24th November 1940 that he marreid my wonderful mother Mary Cooney who grew up in a neighbouring farm in Kildellig. Dad was 25 and Mam 20 . They moved to a small farm in Clonmore, Errill, Portlaoise which was owned by my mother's uncle, Tom Maher. Dad continued his work and business in Dublin, mixing his life between the city and the country while Mam stayed at home raring me and my 7 brothers Tom, Mike, Phil, Christy, Liam, John and Gerard. I was between Mick and Phil in age.
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Our family grew as 8 daughters-in-law joined us and twenty-one grandchildren followed!.
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He worked hard and sold Dublin property to buy land. Owning land was very important to Christ. He always said, "You would never go hungry if you own a few acres." He bought 35 acres in Knockaroe, outside Borris-in-Ossory and another 60 acres at Newtown, Timoney, near their home place in Clonmore. Drystock farming was carried out on both farms-"Why milk the cows when the calves can do it for you?"​ In 1953, Dad returned home and began building locally but by Autumn of 1960 it became clear his health was deteriorating and he was diagnosed as having Multiple Sclerosis. Tom, Mick, Phil and I carried on the business, which was later to become C. Kelly and Sons.​
For the next twenty years Daddy battled with his illness and concentrated his energy on his farm. He developed an acceptance of his illness, which allowed him to get the most out of his life.​ He loved reading, and his love of music sustained him well, he was a skilled tin whistle player - he is remembered well for the times when he would lie back in his chair with his eyes closed whistling a favourite tune, at peace with the world.
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My wife, our kids & their kids!
It was the night before New Years Eve, 30th Dec 1967 when I first met Maureen. My brothers and I had a band called The Black Knights and we had been hired by her family for an event at the Greishem Hotel. Once our performance was over I spotted an empty seat beside her and so I walked over and asked "can I sit beside you?" I was 26 years old and Maureen only 19. We marreid on the 9th August 1969
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We were blessed with 4 childen, Emma, Simon, Christopher and John. I truely believe they selected Maureen and I as their parents and I often thank them for doing so (not that they all agree with my theory!!).
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What started as two, is now 23 with our wonderful in-laws and grand-children.
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We are a very close an supportive family, there for each other in sickness and in health, in good times and in harder times. Together we get through everything in life, putting our health and happiness above all else.
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