McVay-Keenan family connection

The McVay-Keenen Family Connection

I reviewed various records found on-line to find connections between my G2 grandfather, JOSEPH MCVAY, a 19th century Irish emigrant to Pennsylvania, and other families in Artrea and Ballinderry Parishes. I may have found a fairly strong connection to the KEENAN family. The following evidence is a list of Irish records plus one US record that supports this connection.

GENEALOGICAL EVIDENCE (SO FAR):
1. A church baptism record for a JOSEPH MCVEY from Ballinderry parish, item 3708 (PRONI MIC1D/32):
Date - 18 May 1828,
Father - Daniel McVey,
Mother - Sara Keinan,
Address - Ballyeglish, Co. Armagh or Co. Antrim
Sponsors - Peter (McVey?) and Rose Hughes. 

2. A Daniel McVeigh is listed in the index to the Tithe Applotment Book, 1828, who was a landholder (probably a leaseholder) in Ballagherty Townland, Ballinderry Parish.

3. A Daniel McVey is listed in the 1831 Ireland Census in Mawillian Townland, Artrea Parish.  He is the only listed Daniel McVey in Artrea Parish.  The 1831 Ireland Census lists eight Keenans in Artrea parish with one of them (Jane Keenan) in Mawillian.

4. A Daniel McVeigh is listed in the following record of St. Trea’s Church in Moneymore on 20 December 1832:  “Joannem ex Bernardo O’Neill & Elizabetha McVeagh.  Danieli McVeagh et Maria Boylan.  Ballaghnabeg”

5. A Daniel McVey is listed in a church baptism record in Moneymore as the father of a WILLIAM MCVEY according to an online Rootsireland record:
Date - 31 Mar 1833
Father - Daniel McVey
Mother - Rose Keinan
Address - Mawillian
Sponsors - William (McVey?) and Mary Keinan.
It is curious that the mother’s first name (Rose) is different from the Joseph McVey baptism record of five years earlier (Sara). It is also from St. Trea’s Church, which I believe is closer to Mawillian than St. Patrick’s in Ballinderry. I suppose Mary Keenan is related to Rose Keenan.

6. A Daniel McVeagh is listed in a church baptism record as the father of a JANE MCVEAGH according to the Moneymore Church Baptism Records from September 2002:
Date - 16 Sep 1838
Father - Daniel McVeagh
Mother - Rose Kenan
Address - Mawillian
Sponsors - Arthur  and Ann McVey
Mawillian and Ballyeglish are townlines that, although not adjacent, are very close to each other on the Artrea parish townline map.

7. Daniel McVay has no tombstone at St. Trea’s or St. Patrick’s Churches nor in the Magherafelt old graveyard list.

8. A Peter McVay is listed in the 1831 Ireland Census in Ballydawley Townland of Artrea Parish. Three Hughes surnames are listed in Ballyeglish. All of the surnames are in the southern part of Artrea Parish and thus had the opportunity to know each other or were related.

9. Another Keenan link was found in Joseph McVey's Petition for Naturalization in the state of Pennsylvania, Westmoreland Co, May term 1855 as listed in ‘Old Westmoreland, the History and Genealogy of Westmoreland County, Penn’, Vol III, No. 3, Feb 1983, pg 31: "McVay (also McVey) Joseph, Native of County Derry, Ireland, subject of Queen Victoria. Arrived at New York about 04 Aug 1849. Filed declaration of intent 05 July 1852 in Cambria Co. Now aged 25 years and living in Washington County. Admitted as citizen 14 May 1855. Vouched for by THOMAS (X) KEENAN.” This Thomas Keenan was listed in the 1850 US census as a clerk, age 35, in Derry Township, Westmoreland County, PA. He was part of a construction work gang (Patrick Maher’s Section) building a piece of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) on 2 October 1850. According to a 1880 US census record, Thomas Keenan, age 65, was born in Ireland and lived in Greensburg, Westermoreland Co, PA.
Joseph McVay lived in Johnstown, PA which is 30 miles east of Greensburg, PA on the PRR Main Line which connected from Philadelphia through Johnstown and Greensburg to Pittsburgh, PA and the Ohio state border.  So, they apparently knew each other and Thomas Keenan may be Joseph’s uncle or cousin on his mother’s side. BTW, most of the manual labor for railroad construction gangs were Irish and were divided up as either southern Irish or Ulster-born Irish. This 1850 work gang was from Ulster and used picks, shovels and wheelbarrows to build the PRR Main Line.

10. The above son of Daniel McVey, WILLIAM MCVEY, shows up in following records:
 Baptism record of St. Trea’s Church in Moneymore for 22 Sept 1862: Bridget of Patk Devlin & Mary Loughran.  Wm McVey & Sara Duffin (sponsors).
 PRONI Record (FIN/23/7/E/B/57): Dates: 15 November 1883- 4 July 1883. Description: Landlord: Salters Co London. Tenant: William McVey. Townland: Ballygillan More.
 A William John McVey is listed in the 1901 Irish Census of County Derry, living in House #2 Ardagh (Salterstown), Age 68, Occupation Farmer, Religion Roman Catholic. His age is consistent with the church baptism record above. He died 10 May 1910 in Co Derry and buried at St. Patrick’s Church, Ballinderry.  His possible brother, my G2 grandfather, was a Roman Catholic in the US. 
Further information can be found at the World Connect Project: Families with Roots in Northern Ireland. It lists the twelve children of William and Matilda (Adams) McVey.

11. All of the McVeys found so far are from southern Derry and lived in the southern part of the Artrea parish with a high concentration in and around  Ballyrogully Townline. They are also found in the County Derry portion of Ballinderry Parish (Salterstown) especially  in Ardagh Townline. The following McVeys are found in the 1796 Flaxgrowers List:
Paul McVeagh, Artrea    
John McVea, Ballinderry
Hugh McVea, Ballinderry
Francis McVea, Artrea

12. Another reason (though a bit wobbly) that I think that Daniel McVey is the father of my G2 grandfather is the use of the William forename. My paternal great grandfather, my dad and me have that forename and I see a William as Joseph’s sponsor. 

13. My McVey family is at its origin “Ulster-Scot” since I have a verified I-L126 (I2b1a1 or Isles-Scot) Y-DNA haplotype as my paternal heritage per the testing company, Family Tree DNA.  This haplotype is rare in the Irish population but among certain Irish surnames is much higher. In a FTDNA surname project, Fifteen men with I2b1 came from four project surnames: 8 out of 19 have a McAbee surname, 3 our of 3 with McBay surnames, 2 out of 5 with a McEvoy surname, and 2 out of 8 with a McVay surname (including my ancestor). The ratio of the number of participants with I2b1 to the total number of participants with these four spellings is 15/35 or 42.9% which is ten X higher than the expected proportion of 4% for the Irish population. This high proportion may indicate that many of these individuals are related to some degree based on surname variations in either the ancient Irish-Scot family group, Mac an Bheatha, or the medieval Irish family, Mac Fhiodhbhuidhe, derived from the family group U? Macc Uais.

HYPOTHESIS:

Since there is evidence that DANIEL’s children were JOSEPH (baptised at St. Patrick’s in 1828), JANE (baptised at St. Trea’s 1838), and WILLIAM (baptised at St. Trea’s 1833),

Then WILLIAM could be the WILLIAM JOHN MCVEY that is listed in the Ballymaguigan Roots GED file on My Family.com

TESTING MY HYPOTHESIS:

Either a Y-DNA test with a local (Co Derry/Tyrone) McVeigh/McVey man whose paternal direct ancestor is William John McVey or an Autosomal DNA test of a known Keenan-related woman would establish a genetic relationship. The individual must have a terminal SNP = L126 and the genetic distance should be small (< 2 steps) in a Y-DNA67 marker test.

Please let me know if your family has any connection.