Lets go back in time -- Michael McKenna and family back in Ireland

This posting I hope to uncover a little more about Mike Mckenna and his 2 sisters.  Since Mike and Maggie didn't immigrate to the US until 1906 they should be in the 1901.  I am not sure of the arrival of Sarah,  I guess we will see if she is in Ireland as well in the census.

Check out the http://www.nationalarchives.ie/ which is the Archives for Ireland site. I am able to see the images of the 1901 census. It is quite easy to do a search on this site. The following fields help narrow down the search a great deal; name, age at census, religion, county and parish.


I found the family with only a bit of effort. The family is living in the townland of Tullylone in the County Monaghan. Interesting thing is no parents are listed in the family.

• Parents not with children, probably passed away.
• Head of house was a single brother named - Peter McKenna. Peter was listed as a Cattle Dealer.
• Two sisters listed – Margaret and Sarah both seamstresses.
• Two brothers listed – Michael and John. both scholars
• Everyone was born in County, Monaghan, were Roman Catholics and could read and write.
• They lived in a small 3 room house. They had a Cow house, Calf house, Piggery, and Barn on their property.

Looking at the census records just a few doors down is a sixty-one year old Patrick McKenna and his wife Mary who is fifty-five years of age. Patrick is listed as a farmer. I wonder what relation they are if any relation at all. I will look into that couple at a later time.

We at least can narrow down the years Sarah immigrated since she was in the 1901 census.  We still have no idea who the parents were.  Perhaps while looking at more US records we can hunt down and discover their names and where they were from.

Where do we look now and for what?
1.  Parents names
2.  Sarah McKenna passenger records
3.  Michael, Sarah and Maggie in US Census records
4.  Did the other brothers immigrate as well and if so when?