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The
Keenans of Eastern Australia |
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Eastern Australia means the States of New
South Wales, Victoria and Queensland
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- Henry John
Keenan and Nancy Jane Keenan (nee Gamble)
The young couple who left Glenone,
County Derry, Northern Ireland, in December 1863 and travelled to Australia to
start a new life, first in Maryborough, Queensland, and later in Batlow,
New South Wales. These pages show details of birth, marriage,
children and death; and also information about the parents and siblings
of Henry John and Nancy Jane. [NOTE: Nancy Jane Keenan was known in
Australia as Anne (or Ann) Jane Keenan, then, after remarrying, was
known as Granny Hobson.] Henry and Nancy had 11
children between 1864 and 1885, but sadly only 6 reached adulthood (see
First Generation Australians and/or
the first part of their
family tree).
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- The journey to Australia aboard "The
Prince Consort" Information about the trip to Australia in 1864 by Henry John and Nancy
Jane Keenan. Includes a sketch of the ship, a copy of the entry in
the book referring to Henry John and Nancy Jane, and the address where a
fascinating book about the journey may be obtained.
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- 1949
Batlow Newspaper Article Details of the arrival in Australia of Henry John and Nancy Jane
Keenan, their adventures and the family as it existed in 1949.
Written by George Keenan of Batlow and appearing in the Tumut and
Adelong Times. Also contains some additional notes by me.
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- 1884
Newspaper Articles
About the Typhoid fever which hit Batlow and
the family of Henry John and Nancy Jane. Also the burning death of
a child and the poor condition of Henry John at that time.
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- About Batlow, New South Wales
It was in Batlow that Henry and Nancy settled and
raised a family. Many Keenan descendants still live in Batlow and
the surrounding area,
but there are also many in other parts of NSW (such as Engadine) and in Victoria.
This page includes maps, book titles and internet links concerning Batlow,
as well as many photographs, most of which were taken in 2008.
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Tragedy - 5/3/1909
Batlow Newspaper Article In 1909 two young Keenan boys (Eric and Sidney Catherall) were found
shot dead in Batlow. Here is a transcript of the first report
which appeared in the local paper, the Tumut and Adelong Times.
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Tragedy - 12/3/1909
Batlow Newspaper Article This is a detailed report from the Tumut and Adelong Times of the Coronial Inquest into the deaths of
Eric and Sidney. It finds the death was accidental. But
elderly relatives interviewed in the 1990s still had their doubts.
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Song to the Pioneers
Words to a song about the Batlow Pioneers, including the
Keenans, Mouats, Hides,
Quarmbys, Barberies and others. [This link is to a scanned copy of
the song as it appeared in a book. To get the words in text that
can be copied and pasted in to a Word document, go to my page
about Batlow.]
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- Keenan Names
The names of many of the Keenan
descendants of Henry John Keenan and Nancy Jane Gamble. From the first generation to
the fourth. More names will be added from time to time. Of course,
the current generations are spread out over the east of Australia, but
with major concentrations in Batlow and Tumut (NSW), Engadine and other parts of
Sydney (NSW), Shepparton (Vic), Geelong (Vic) and Melbourne (Vic).
Note: In October 2008 there were
approximately 560 Keenan names on the Australian electoral role for
New South Wales. Most of these are not descendants of Henry
and Nancy/Ann Keenan. But, of course, there would be
descendants or the role who don't have a Keenan surname.
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- Photographs
Photos of Keenans in Australia
and (courtesy of Jack Harkins) Keenans in Northern Ireland. Also, the
ancestral
home in Northern Ireland.
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- The
Keenans of Balgownie, New South Wales Henry
John Keenan (b.1842) had a brother, James (b.1845). James stayed in
Northern Ireland where he married Maria Hastings. One of their
children, Stewart, came to Australia, married Nellie Preston and had 8
children. Unfortunately I do not have much information about the
children of Stewart and Nellie, apart from their names. (For more information about the Northern Ireland family
of James, see
the email from Sheila Johnston on 24/9/2008.
Sheila is a descendant of James.)
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Keenan Family Reunions New South Wales
members of the Keenan family stage an afternoon get-together and
barbeque in Sydney in October every year. The person to contact is
Mrs Anita Arnold. In the past family members
from Victoria, Western Australia, Canada and the USA have attended.
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- Documents
Various Keenan family documents old
and new, plus bits of information appearing in registers.
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- Videos
These present views of places,
people and events of interest in Australia and Northern Ireland. (Section commenced March 2010)
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Barry Crocker, a legendary
Australian singer, television performer and actor, appears to
be the only
showbiz celebrity in the Keenan family. Barry (b.1935) is a grandson of
Mary Keenan, one of Henry and Nancy Keenan's 11 children.
Click
HERE for Barry's account of how Mary
Keenan came to marry John (Jock) Houston; to see a couple of photos of Barry, and to
see him perform "Stairway To Heaven" on television (YouTube).
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- Links to
relevant web sites A special page for
links to websites in Australia and overseas
concerning ancestry and news, including other selected Keenan family
websites in Australia. Note, however, that there are many more
links on other pages of this website.
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Keenan
relatives in Northern Ireland and Scotland |
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Current time in Belfast and Edinburgh is
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- About Glenone
and Portglenone, Northern Ireland
Henry John Keenan was born and lived until
departing for Australia in the Portglenone area. The township of
Portglenone is beside the Bann River. The main part of the
township is in County Antrim, while the rest is on the other side of the
river in County Derry (or Londonderry). Henry lived on the Derry
side, in the townland of Glenone, near the township of Clady and a short
distance from Innishrush. Glenone is understood to mean "meadow of
two rivers", the rivers being River Bann and the Clady River. This
page of the website contains information, maps and photographs.
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- Cousins in Northern Ireland and
Scotland Mary (May) Keenan, (b.1924) lives in
Innishrush, near Portglenone, Northern Ireland (see
Photographs). May is apparently the
last of the "Glenone" Keenan's. For those, like me, who
are descendants of Henry John Keenan (b.1842), May Keenan's
grandfather, James Keenan, was Henry John's brother. May's niece, Sheila Johnson, and husband Richard,
live in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. May's nephew, (Sheila's
brother) Jack Harkins and his wife Mary, live in Findochty,
Morayshire, Scotland (see Photographs). I had the pleasure of meeting May, Sheila, Richard and
Jack in 2002, and still keep in touch with them by mail. See the
correspondence page for an informative
letter from Sheila on 24/9/2008. Click
HERE for old photos,
supplied by Sheila and Jack, of some of the Irish and Scottish Keenans
If you like Irish music, take a minute or less here to
PLAY A SHORT IRISH TUNE
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- "Johnstone's
Farewell" A song written
by Robert Johnstone in the 1800's on leaving Portglenone and going to
Melbourne, Australia. This song is published in a 1928 book by
R. M. Sibbett titled "On the Shining Bann - Records of an Ulster
Manor" (ISBN 1-873401-04-3 & ISBN 1-873345-05-4). As
well as providing a transcript of this song, I hope to include on the
same webpage extracts of several observations made by Mr Sibbett
in his wonderful book.
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Keenans relatives in
Western Australia |
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- The Keenans
of Western Australia Before
Henry John and Nancy Jane Keenan settled in Batlow, NSW,
Henry's brother, Stewart Keenan and his wife, Isabella Gamble (possible
a sister or cousin of Nancy Jane) migrated to Australia in 1859 and settled in
the south-west of Western Australia. This page includes information about the
children of Stewart and Isabella. Also on this page are a
photograph of Stewart and Isabella, recent photographs of "Glenbourne",
the (heritage listed) house at Margaret River built by Stewart and
Isabella, and links to more information.
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The late Edward (Ray) Keenan of
Perenjori, Western Australia, transcribed letters sent by Keenans
between America, South Africa, Western Australia and Northern Ireland from 1873 to
1955 . He published these 23 pages in 2003.
Included
are letters from David Keenan of Providence, USA, Grace Catherall
(nee Keenan) who lived for a while in South Africa, and James and
Maria Keenan of NI, Annie Jane McKay (nee Keenan) of NI, Mary Houston (nee Keenan) and many others. (Thanks to Anne Waghorn
of WA for supplying this material.)
TASK COMPLETED 25/4/2010.
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- Book about the
Keenans of WA From 19/12/2007 I will be
publishing a fascinating book written in 1994 by the late Edward (Ray) Keenan of
Western Australia. The original manuscript is 44 pages. This material contains information about all branches of the
Keenan family, but mostly the WA branch. Don't miss it! (Thanks
to Anne Waghorn of WA for supplying this material.)
MORE WAS ADDED ON 10/7/2010
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Link to Keenan
genealogy website
An excellent and easy-to-use website by Gil Hardwick of
Margaret River,
entitled "Pioneer Families of the Lower
South West of Western Australia",
with lots of information which may also by of interest to their Keenan
cousins in eastern Australia (aka "the Batlow branch"). Look
under K in Gil's index.
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Miscellaneous |
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- Correspondence
Some recent correspondence with members of the
Keenan clan in Australia, Northern Ireland and other parts of the world.
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Please
email us if you have any information or
photographs which
you think should be included on this site. Many thanks to all who
have contributed so far. |
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Quote of the day:
"After all is said and done,
a lot more will be said than done."
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THIS SITE COMMENCED ON 4 MAY 2006
AND IS
STILL BEING DEVELOPED.
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Website created and maintained by Peter Keenan
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