Thomas, Ann and Richard, Record by Record
Every dated record in the case study in the order the events happened, from Thomas Kenny’s arrival in Brooklyn to the death of Ann’s daughter in 1928. Key records are marked with a diamond; each entry links to its document in the gallery.
Three Kennys in Brooklyn
Thomas, Richard and Ann arrive from Ireland; Richard and Thomas raise families a few doors apart, and Richard dies.
Thomas Kenny comes to BrooklynThomas
His 1891 funeral notice gives sixty-five years in the Park Avenue neighbourhood; his death certificate, fifty-five years in the United States.
Ann Kenny comes to BrooklynCorcoran
Twenty-three years in the city by her own count in 1855; forty years in the country by her death certificate.
Richard Kenny marries Eliz. Kenny at St. Paul’sRichard
Known only from a printed compilation of the registers; no images of the originals survive.
Thomas Kenny’s household, Ward 5Thomas
Thomas, 40, labourer; Rosanna, 40; Elizabeth, 11; John, 7; Mary, 3; James, 1. Dwelling 997.
Richard Kenney’s household, Ward 5Richard
Richard, 40, laborer; Elizabeth, 40; James, 4; John, 3. Dwelling 1012: fifteen doors on.
The Corcorans and Alice Kinney, WilliamsburgCorcoran
James and Ann Cochran [Corcoran] with Thomas, Eliza, John and Richard; and Alice Kinney, 65.
Richard Kenny diesRichard
Alive in October 1850; his wife a widow by June 1855. No death record has been found.
Thomas Kenney, rosin oil maker, Ward 7Thomas
With Roseannah and five children, in a frame house worth $2,000. Dwelling 562; the widowed Eliza at dwelling 576.
James Corcoran, ship builder, Ward 9Corcoran
With his wife Ann and their children Thomas, Eliza, John, Richard, Catharine and Ann.
Park Avenue
Thomas buys on Park Avenue and is widowed; the two households are never more than a few pages apart in the census.
Thomas buys on Park AvenueThomas
A house and a store-and-dwelling, with their lots, near Spencer Street, for $3,375.
Rosanna Kenny diesThomas
On Park Avenue. She is buried at Holy Cross, in the grave that also holds Richard Kenny.
Thomas, widower, Ward 9Thomas
Laborer, with $10,000 in real estate, and his five children. Eliza Kenny is in the same ward, enumerated eight days earlier.
Thomas and Eliza on one directory pageThomas
Kenny Thomas, foreman, Park av. c. Spencer; Kenny Eliza, wid. grocery, Walworth n. Park av.
Thomas Keeney, Ward 21Thomas
No occupation; $10,000 in real estate. John, clerk; Mary; James, tin roofer; Catherine. Eliza’s household ten pages on.
Three generations at 525 Park AvenueThomas
Thomas, widowed; Mary, James, Katie; son-in-law James Faley, hatter; Eliza Faley and their two children.
Elizabeth Feeley diesThomas
At 525 Park Avenue, of puerperal fever, aged 33. Her physician: Dr. Jeremiah J. Corcoran.
Two households, two pagesThomas
Thomas at 525 Park Avenue, page 40, family 431; John Kenny, his wife and his mother Eliza, page 41, family 436.
The Notices
Ann dies and names her brother; Thomas makes his will, and dies; the notices name the family on both sides.
Ann Corcoran diesCorcoran
At 55 North Third Street, aged 62. Her death notice invites the friends of “her brother, Thomas Kenney.”
Thomas Kenny makes his willThomas
To his sons John and James, his daughters Mary and Catharine, and his grandchildren Thomas and Mary Foley.
Mary Anne Kenny baptized at St. Patrick’sRichard
Richard’s granddaughter; sponsors James Kenny and Mary A. Dunne.
Thomas Kenny diesThomas
At 525 Park Avenue, aged 78. Buried at Holy Cross on 15 April; undertaker T. Tracy.
“An uncle of Detective John Corcoran”Thomas
His funeral notice, with services at St. Patrick’s on Kent Avenue.
The will is provedThomas
Executrices Mary J. Kenny and Catharine Kenny, of 525 Park Avenue.
John J. Kenny diesThomas
At 55 Spencer Street; “son of the late Thomas and Rosanna Kenny.”
The Next Generation
Ann’s children and grandchildren, and Thomas’s, still close; the later certificates name the parents.
Detective Sergeant John C. Corcoran diesCorcoran
At 535 Chauncey Street, aged 49.
James Feeley diesThomas
Thomas’s son-in-law, a hatter. His physician: Dr. James F. Dougherty, Ann’s grandson.
James F. Kenny diesThomas
At 110 Marion Street; “son of the late Thomas and Rosanna Kenny.”
Kathryn F. Kenny diesThomas
Youngest daughter of Thomas and Rosanna; once of St. Patrick’s, Kent and Willoughby Avenues.
Mary J. Kenny diesThomas
Father Thomas Kenny; mother Rose Hannah McKeon. Her physician: Dr. James F. Dougherty.
Catherine L. Dougherty diesCorcoran
Daughter of James Corcoran and Ann Kenny; her son the physician signs.
The timeline lists what each record states. How the records were weighed against one another, and why Richard’s place in the family is held at Suggestive, are set out in the full methodology.
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