Looking for answers

Unfortunately the civil registration did not start till 1864 in Ireland so we are mainly depending on church records when trying to find someone before 1864.  The problem is that  all these records are not transcribed and maybe some will never be transcribed.

Saying that I did a quick search but no results, did notice that the name is also common in County Cork and other countries.

What information did you gather from Jefferson already?  The more information found there the better as something might give us a clue to where George was from.

Shot in the dark, but corruption of gaelic names for families arriving in NA was common. Another possible variant of Kinley or Kineally could be Conley or Congalaigh, princes of Brega.  Midland counties of Meath, Westmeath, Dublin or Offaly could all contain parish records linking to this surname, if in fact it was a possible source for yours. Slainte Laighin

Correct names often changed by arrival in the new country  not only in NA

Eventhough some surnames are more common in certain Irish counties we may never rule out that the people we are looking for came from somewhere else in Ireland, we can only use this as a small guidline.

Coming back to my former question have you been able to find any vital information about the family after arrival in their new country ?

It took months of searching to even find his name. The family history from his son down to my generation is well documented however. A lot of the records here were destroyed in a fire, and the older family members who may have known vital information are deceased. I was not surprised by the change in spelling. That has actually happened here with families who are native to this country.

Thank you so much for all the help that you have offered so far. I will contiue to look for answers, and I will probably still plan a trip at some point.

One other suggestion.  Consider a Y-DNA test with a company like FTDNA.  These tests are helpful in a number of ways, 1st you will discover there are several genetic signatures attached to a surname.  Finding which one you have will narrow the field and possibly connect you with someone in a range who has parish information. Also the more common variant spelling of your surname will emerge, which may be helpful in searching data base records. These tests range from 100-150 for a basic result.

One other suggestion.  Consider a Y-DNA test with a company like FTDNA.  These tests are helpful in a number of ways, 1st you will discover there are several genetic signatures attached to a surname.  Finding which one you have will narrow the field and possibly connect you with someone in a range who has parish information. Also the more common variant spelling of your surname will emerge, which may be helpful in searching data base records. These tests range from 100-150 for a basic result.