Brother, Sister, and a Question
A record-by-record account of how Thomas Kenny of Park Avenue and Ann Kenny Corcoran were proved brother and sister, and why my great-great-great-grandfather Richard Kenny is held as their probable brother but not a proven one: the question, how the research unfolded, what each record states, how the records were weighed, the conflicts between them, where DNA fits, and what remains open.
The Research Question
Were Richard Kenny (living in Brooklyn in October 1850, dead by June 1855), Thomas Kenny of 525 Park Avenue (c. 1813–1891) and Ann Kenny, wife of James Corcoran (c. 1815–1881), brothers and sister?
Richard is the father of John Kenny, the Brooklyn mat maker, and my great-great-great-grandfather. The research that identified John found Richard in one record only, the 1850 census, and nothing that names his parents, his brothers or his sisters. It also kept finding another Kenny family close by: Thomas, an Irish laborer of Richard’s age, and later a property owner on Park Avenue.
The question is a kinship question with no single document to answer it. It has to be approached through the people around Richard: who lived near him, who was buried with him, and who named whom as brother, sister, uncle or cousin.
How the Research Unfolded
The answer came from the edges of the family: a neighbour, a grave, a funeral notice, and a sister across the city.
The neighbour
While Richard’s widow and sons were being followed through the censuses for the Brooklyn Mat Maker case, Thomas Kenny turned up beside them again and again: on the same 1862 directory page as the widowed Eliza, a few doors from her on Park Avenue in 1880, and a page apart from her son John in the 1880 census.
The grave
A cemetery record at Holy Cross places Richard Kenny in the same grave as Thomas and his wife Rosanna, who died in May 1860.
The uncle
Thomas’s funeral notice in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle of 16 April 1891 called him an uncle of Detective John Corcoran of the Bedford Avenue station. That opened the Corcoran family.
Thomas’s household
Thomas was followed through six censuses, the 1862 directory, an 1860 property sale, his will of 1881 and its codicil, the 1891 probate file and his death certificate, and his five children through their deaths between 1878 and 1925. The children’s twentieth-century records name Thomas and Rosanna (McKeon) as their parents.
The sister
Detective John Corcoran’s mother was Ann, widow of James Corcoran. Her death notice of November 1881 invites the friends of “her brother, Thomas Kenney.” The 1850 and 1855 censuses place John with her, an Alice Kinney of 65 lives with the family in 1850, and her daughter Catherine’s 1928 death certificate gives Ann’s maiden name as Kenny.
The doctors
Reading every certificate to the signature showed the two families still close a generation on. Ann’s grandson, Dr. James F. Dougherty, signed the death certificates of Thomas’s son-in-law James Feeley in 1903 and of Thomas’s daughter Mary in 1925. A Dr. Jeremiah J. Corcoran attended Thomas’s daughter Elizabeth in 1878.
The Proof: Thomas and Ann, Brother and Sister
Two records state the relationship, one from each side, written for different deaths ten years apart. A third gives Ann’s maiden name.
Williamsburg
1850
Brooklyn Ward 9
18 June 1855
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
23 November 1881
Brooklyn
22 November 1881
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
16 April 1891
Brooklyn
1 September 1896
Queens
23 November 1928
A death notice is placed by the family within days of the death, for readers who knew them. Ann’s was placed by the Corcorans in 1881; Thomas’s was written in 1891 from his own household. Neither copied the other, and each names the same relationship from its own side. With Ann’s maiden name on her daughter’s certificate, they establish that Thomas and Ann were brother and sister.
Conclusions and their standing
Stated directly in an original record
Established by correlating independent records
Supported, not yet established
An open lead
| Conclusion | Standing |
|---|---|
| Thomas Kenny of 525 Park Avenue and Ann Kenny Corcoran were brother and sister | Proven |
| Thomas’s wife was Rosanna (McKeon), and their children were Elizabeth (Feeley), John J., Mary J., James F. and Catharine | Proven |
| Detective John C. Corcoran and Catherine L. Dougherty were Ann’s children | Proven |
| Thomas’s household and Richard’s, or Eliza’s, were close neighbours in every census from 1850 to 1880 | Confirmed |
| Richard, Thomas and Rosanna lie in the same grave at Holy Cross | Confirmed |
| Richard Kenny was a brother of Thomas and Ann | Suggestive |
| Eliza, Richard’s wife, was born a Kenny and was their sister instead | Exploring |
| Alice Kinney, 65, in Ann’s household in 1850, was Ann’s mother | Exploring |
| The James Kenny who sponsored Mary Anne Kenny in 1882 was Thomas’s son | Exploring |
Thomas’s Household, Age by Age
The same parents and children in six censuses. Read from the images, the ages hold together within the usual drift, with two exceptions discussed under the conflicts.
| Person | 1850 | 1855 | 1860 | 1870 | 1875 | 1880 | At death |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas | 40 | 40 | 57 | 58 | 64 | 70 | 78 (1891) |
| Rosanna | 40 | 40 | died 12 May 1860 | ||||
| Elizabeth | 11 | 14 | 18 | married | 28, Faley | 33 (1878) | |
| John | 7 | 11 | 16 | 25, clerk | 45 (1893) | ||
| Mary | 3 | 8 | 12 | 20 | 24 | 27 | 70 (1925) |
| James | 1 | 6 | 11 | 18, tin roofer | 23, roofer | 26, roofer | “58” (1914) |
| Catherine | 2 | 7 | 15 | 19 | 23 | (1917) | |
Thomas was born in Ireland between about 1810 and 1813; his death certificate’s 78 gives 1813. Richard was 40 in 1850, so the two men were of one generation. Ann, 35 in both 1850 and 1855 and 62 at her death in 1881, was born about 1815–1819.
Two Households, Side by Side
Where the census and the directories place Thomas, and where they place Richard, or after his death the widowed Eliza and her sons.
| Record | Thomas | Richard / Eliza | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1850 U.S. census | Ward 5, dwelling 997 (9 Oct.) | Ward 5, dwelling 1012 (14 Oct.) | Fifteen dwellings |
| 1855 N.Y. census | Ward 7, E.D. 1, dwelling 562 | Ward 7, E.D. 1, dwelling 576 | Fourteen dwellings; same marshal |
| 1860 U.S. census | Ward 9, p. 660 (22 Aug.) | Ward 9, p. 650 (14 Aug.) | Ten pages |
| 1862 directory | Park av. c. Spencer | Walworth n. Park av. | Same page; a corner apart |
| 1870 U.S. census | Ward 21, p. 47 (17 June) | Ward 21, p. 57 (20 June) | Ten pages; same assistant marshal |
| 1875 N.Y. census | 525 Park Av., p. 38 | 79 Walworth, p. 7 | Same district and enumerator |
| 1880 directory | 525 Park av. | 537 Park av. | A few doors |
| 1880 U.S. census | E.D. 214, p. 40, family 431 | E.D. 214, p. 41, family 436 | Five families |
Brooklyn’s ward lines were redrawn several times in these years, so the changing ward numbers do not mean the families moved. Thirty years of nearness is strong evidence that the families knew each other. On its own it is not evidence of kinship: Irish neighbours of the same name were common in Brooklyn.
How the Records Were Weighed
Every record answers a question for somebody. What it can be trusted for depends on who supplied the information, and how long after the event.
| Record | Who supplied the information | Trusted for | Used with care for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Death and funeral notices, 1881–1917 | The family, within days of the death | Relationships: who was a brother, son, uncle; the church; the residence | Ages and spans of years (“sixty-five years”); James F. Kenny’s “born in Virginia” |
| Thomas’s will and probate, 1881–1891 | Thomas himself, and the court | His children, grandchildren and property | It names no siblings, as is usual when children survive |
| Censuses, 1850–1880 | Whoever answered the enumerator | Who lived together and where; trades; property | Ages, which drift; the federal censuses of 1850 to 1870 state no relationships |
| Brooklyn death certificates, 1878–1896 | The physician, with the family | Date, place and cause of death; burial; the physician and undertaker | Age; years in the country; these forms name no parents |
| New York City death certificates, 1903–1928 | An informant, often a generation removed | Parents’ names as the family knew them | Birth years: Mary Kenny’s 1855 is later than the censuses |
| Cemetery record | The cemetery | Who lies in the grave | Why: it does not say how those buried were related |
| DNA | Living testers’ results, against documented trees | Testing a relationship the documents propose | Naming which sibling stands behind a match |
Conflicts in the Record and How They Were Weighed
When Thomas came to Brooklyn
The record saysDeath certificate, 1891: fifty-five years in the United States. Funeral notice: sixty-five years in the Park Avenue neighbourhood.
WeighedThe two point to about 1836 and about 1826. Neither can be preferred without his naturalization record, which should give a date of arrival. What matters here holds either way: Thomas was settled in Brooklyn well before 1850.
Thomas’s age in 1855 and 1860
The record says40 in 1850, 40 again in 1855, 57 in 1860, 58 in 1870.
WeighedThe 1855 and 1860 figures pull in opposite directions; the later records and his death certificate settle on a birth about 1810–1813. The household around him, the same wife and children, carries the identity.
The children’s birth years
The record saysElizabeth is 11 in 1850 but 33 at her death in 1878. Mary is 3 in 1850 but born in 1855 on her 1925 certificate.
WeighedThe censuses taken in their childhood are preferred to ages given at death, decades later, by others. Elizabeth was born about 1839–1842 and Mary about 1847–1850.
James F. Kenny, “born in Virginia”
The record saysHis 1914 obituary: born in Virginia fifty-eight years earlier, the son of Thomas and Rosanna Kenny.
WeighedEvery census gives New York or Kings County and a birth about 1849–1854. The obituary’s parents and sisters are right; its birthplace and age are an informant’s error and are not used.
Ann’s arrival and her daughter Catherine’s birth
The record saysAnn gave 23 years in the city in 1855 (about 1832); her death certificate gives 40 years in the country (about 1841). Catherine is 4 in June 1855, but her 1928 certificate gives 27 January 1854.
WeighedAnn’s own answer in 1855, with a son of 13 born in Kings County, is preferred to the figure given at her death. The 1855 census, taken in Catherine’s childhood, puts her birth about 1851; the 1928 date came from her family seventy years later. The identity holds: Catherine, daughter of James and Ann, in both.
Faley, Feeley and Foley
The record saysFaley in 1875; Feeley in 1880, on Elizabeth’s certificate and in the probate citation; Foley in the will.
WeighedOne family: the same James, a hatter, and the same children, Thomas and Mary, at the same address. Feeley is the form on their own death records.
The 1855 birthplace
The record saysThomas’s birthplace is first written “New York”, struck through, and replaced by “Ireland”.
WeighedA marshal’s slip from the line above, corrected on the page. Ireland agrees with every other record.
Was Richard the Third Sibling?
No record names Richard’s parents, or calls him brother to Thomas or Ann. Six lines of evidence point to it:
The grave. Richard lies in the grave of Thomas and Rosanna at Holy Cross.
The generation. Richard and Thomas were both born in Ireland about 1810; Ann about 1819.
The neighbourhood. Thirty years of censuses find the two households a few pages apart.
The parish. Thomas’s funeral was at St. Patrick’s, Kent Avenue, and his daughter Kathryn belonged to St. Patrick’s, Kent and Willoughby Avenues: the church where Richard’s granddaughter was baptized in 1882 with a James Kenny as sponsor. Richard’s son James had died, unmarried, in 1875; Thomas’s son James lived at 525 Park Avenue.
Ann’s sons. Ann named her sons Thomas and Richard, born about 1842 and 1848. Irish families often named children for grandparents and for the parents’ brothers and sisters. It is a pattern, not a proof: Richard may as well honour a grandfather or a godparent.
The DNA. Matches to my mother and her brother descend from Ann.
The 1843 marriage of Richard Kenny at St. Paul’s is known only from a printed compilation, which names the bride as “Eliz. Kenny.” If that was her maiden name, Thomas and Ann could be Eliza’s brother and sister, and the grave, the neighbourhood, the parish and the DNA would all fit just as well. No images of the original St. Paul’s registers survive to settle it. Until a record names Richard’s parents, or Eliza’s, Richard’s place in the family is held at Suggestive.
Living testers are identified by initials only. B.O.H. is my mother; M.O. is one of her twin brothers.
| Match | Tester | Shared | Documented descent |
|---|---|---|---|
| G.A. | B.O.H. | 25 cM, 1 segment | Ann Kenney Corcoran, through the Dougherty and Heffernan line |
| M.K. | M.O. | 23 cM, 1 segment | Ann Kenney Corcoran, through the same Heffernan family |
| B.L. | M.O. | 37 cM, 1 segment | Ann Kenney Corcoran, through her son John C. Corcoran |
G.A. and M.K. descend from the same grandfather, so they are one line of evidence, not two. Single segments of 23 to 37 cM fit a fourth-cousin relationship. They cannot show whether that sibling was Richard or Eliza, or rule out shared ancestry from another line. The DNA is consistent with the hypothesis, not proof of it.
Still Open, and What Transfers
Open questions
Eliza’s maiden name. The one fact that would decide between Richard and Eliza. Her own death record, in the Town of Flatbush register, gives no parents.
Alice Kinney. Aged 65 in Ann’s household in 1850, so born about 1785. If she was Ann’s mother, she was Thomas’s too, and her own records may name a husband or a place.
The grave. Who bought it, when Richard was buried in it, and who else lies there.
Ireland. No record yet names a county or parish for Thomas, Ann or Richard. Thomas’s naturalization papers may.
Dr. Jeremiah J. Corcoran. The physician of 413 Kent Avenue who attended Elizabeth Feeley in 1878: one of Ann’s family, or a coincidence of name?
The sponsor. The 1882 St. Patrick’s register entry may give the sponsor’s address.
DNA from Thomas’s line. A descendant of Thomas, through the Feeley grandchildren or his sons, tested against my mother’s family, would test the Richard link directly.
What transfers to other cases
Read the death notices. The friends a family invites to a funeral are a list of its kin.
Follow the neighbour. A family that keeps appearing beside yours, census after census, is worth a case of its own.
Read to the signature. The physician and the undertaker on a certificate can show which families stayed close.
Prove each link at its own level. Thomas and Ann are proven; Richard is not yet. Saying so is part of the result.
Name the alternative. A conclusion is only as strong as the explanation it has ruled out.
This methodology page accompanies the case study summary. The summary presents the findings; this page documents how each was established. Every record cited here is reproduced and transcribed in the document gallery.
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