Are You Connected to the Kenny & McKenny Line?
If your family research overlaps with The Brooklyn Mat Maker case study or the Scattered Stones series The Women Who Stayed, this page is for you.
This research follows two Irish immigrant families whose lives became one in Brooklyn: the Kennys — a textile-trades family out of County Longford, anchored by John Kenny the mat maker — and the McKennas, recorded across the records as McKenny, MacKinney, and McKinney, who came out of Ireland to Brooklyn’s Ward 7. Across five generations the families weathered repeated loss, and a series of women stepped in each time to raise the children left behind. The full story of their survival is told in the Women Who Stayed series. Research like this is better as shared work: documented trees, Brooklyn and Irish records, DNA matches, and family photographs and stories from cousin researchers can all move it forward, and contributions are acknowledged in published research according to each contributor’s preference.
Research collaboration is informal, peer-to-peer, and reciprocal. There is no fee, no client engagement, no formal arrangement — just shared work on shared ancestry. (Prospective genealogy clients are welcome to use the main contact page instead.)
Note: this is the Brooklyn Kenny family of the Mat Maker case study. If your Kenny line connects instead to the Connors family of County Wexford and Prince Edward Island, see the separate Kenny-Connors collaboration page.
The Mat Maker and the Widow Who Bought the Ground
John Kenny — The Brooklyn Mat Maker
Son of Richard Kenny (1810–1854) and Eliza Kenny (1810–1887) — the widow who ran a grocery on Walworth Street and raised her sons alone for thirty-three years, and whose maiden name is still lost to the record. A mat weaver in Brooklyn’s textile trades with County Longford roots, John married Margaret McKenny. Two daughters survived: Elizabeth (1879–1950) and Mary Agnes (1882–1924). John’s death in 1888 left them orphaned, their mother already four years gone.
County Longford & Brooklyn · the textile tradesAnn Lynch McKenna — The Widow Who Bought the Ground
Out of Ireland to Brooklyn’s Ward 7 with her husband George McKenna (1828–1870). On New Year’s Day 1871, the morning she buried George, Ann bought a family plot — not a single grave — at Holy Cross Cemetery. Her daughters were Margaret McKenny (1851–1884), who married John Kenny, and Mary F. “Aunt Maime” MacKinney (c.1860–1935), who never married.
Ireland → Brooklyn, Ward 7 · Holy Cross CemeteryThe heart of the story. When John Kenny died in 1888, his orphaned daughters were taken in by their mother’s unmarried sister, Mary F. “Aunt Maime” MacKinney, who gave forty-seven years to raising them — from poverty to prosperity. The younger daughter, Mary Agnes Kenny, later married Joseph Robertson of the Scattered Stones series, uniting two immigrant families this research traced independently; their daughter Lillian carried the line forward. Two families this site documents separately meet in this marriage.
For the full documented story, see The Brooklyn Mat Maker case study and the Women Who Stayed series. The connected Robertson family has its own collaboration page.
The Kenny & McKenny Surname Signature
Core Family Lines
Kenny (also Kenney, Kinney) of Brooklyn and County Longford · McKenny (also McKenna, MacKinney, McKinney) of Brooklyn
The Founding Couples
Richard Kenny & Eliza Kenny (County Longford → Brooklyn) · George McKenna & Ann Lynch (Ireland → Brooklyn, Ward 7)
Allied & DNA-Confirmed Lines
Lynch · Corcoran · Heffernan
Connected by Marriage
Robertson (via Mary Agnes Kenny’s marriage — see the Robertson page) · Corbett · Verhoek
Geographic path: from County Longford and elsewhere in Ireland, both families emigrated in the mid-nineteenth century to Brooklyn, Kings County, New York — the Ward 7 tenements, Walworth Street, Nostrand Avenue, Kent Avenue — and the line later reached Essex County, New Jersey (North Caldwell and Upper Montclair). The family rests across three cemeteries: Holy Cross in Brooklyn, Immaculate Conception in Upper Montclair, and Gate of Heaven in East Hanover. If your family record places Kenny or McKenna/McKenny ancestors in these communities, your research may overlap with this work.
What You Might Bring to This Research
Forms of contribution that move research like this forward:
- Documented family trees — pedigrees with source citations for the Kenny or McKenna/McKenny families, the founding couples, or the allied Lynch, Corcoran, and Heffernan lines
- Brooklyn records — city directories, vital and church records, and cemetery records from Holy Cross (Brooklyn), Immaculate Conception (Upper Montclair), or Gate of Heaven (East Hanover)
- Irish records — County Longford civil registration, parish registers, or anything that might recover Eliza Kenny’s maiden name and the families’ exact origins
- DNA test results — from Ancestry, 23andMe, MyHeritage, or FamilyTreeDNA, especially kits uploaded to GEDmatch where chromosome comparison is possible; Y-DNA from male-line Kenny testers is especially valuable
- Family photographs, oral history, and papers — this family’s research has turned repeatedly on identifying preserved portraits, so labeled or unlabeled photographs, letters, and family stories are all genuinely useful
Open Research Questions
Eliza Kenny's Lost Origins
Eliza Kenny (c.1810–1887) ran a Brooklyn grocery alone and raised her sons after being widowed in 1854 — yet her maiden name is lost and her birthplace in Ireland is unknown. Four words in an 1879 directory rebuilt her family, but her own roots remain open. Records or descendants that recover her maiden name and County Longford origins would meaningfully advance this line.
The McKenna Spelling Web
George McKenna and Ann Lynch’s family appears across Brooklyn records as McKenna, McKenny, MacKinney, and McKinney — one of the reasons Aunt Maime’s own identity was not confirmed until 2025. Descendants of the McKenna line, and records that tie the spelling variants together, would help complete this side of the family.
County Longford & the Textile Trades
The Kenny family worked Brooklyn’s textile trades across generations — from mat weaver to hatter — with roots traced toward County Longford. The allied Corcoran and Heffernan lines surface in DNA matching. Researchers with documented Longford Kenny ancestry, or with these allied lines, would help extend the family back across the Atlantic.
How to Reach Out
The form below is the most effective way to begin. The fields are designed to give us both the right starting context — what you have, what you’re looking for, and how our research might intersect.
I read every inquiry personally and respond as I am able — typically within a week, sometimes longer for inquiries that require research before a substantive reply.
Privacy and Use of Submitted Information
Information shared through this form is used only for research collaboration purposes. Names, DNA kit identifiers, family details, and other personal information are not shared with third parties, are not added to public-facing pages without explicit permission, and are anonymized (initials only) in any subsequent publication unless you indicate a preference for full attribution.
Living individuals are not named in published research. Deceased ancestors documented in primary sources are named in full as part of standard genealogical practice. If you have specific privacy preferences for your contribution, please indicate them in your inquiry and they will be respected.
If you’d prefer to reach out directly rather than through the form, email mary@storylinegenealogy.com.
Genealogy Is Better as Shared Work
This is a family whose story was nearly lost — a maiden name gone from the record, a portrait preserved ninety years without a name, an aunt’s forty-seven-year devotion almost forgotten. It was recovered piece by piece, and often by cousins comparing notes. Your family records, your DNA matches, and your family photographs may be the next piece that completes the picture. Thank you for considering the work.