Thomas Kelly : Short Biography

I'm searching for Thomas Kelly who was born in 1817. He married Ann McDermott and had two sons; Patrick , born 28 Dec 1846 and James, born 01 Jan 1849. He and his wife and children immigrated between James' birth and his daughter Caterine who was born in Ohio on  22 May 1852. My interest in Thomas Kelly and his family is that I received a cousin match who told me that her ancestors were the above mentioned Thomas and I'm trying to find a connection to my ancestors that left Kildare for America in 1861. A family historian in Carlow sent me the details of my ancestors in Plunketstown Lower, Kildare from Michael Kelly's marriage to Mary Stines in 1790 to the year his expanded family left for America. Progenealogist's researchers discovered my family in Kildare in general and told me that the microfilm in Dublin seemed to be missing and their research couldn't go further back. I'm glad to have met the historian who greatly filled in the details of the family in Kildare but left me with a sizable "brick wall" which the DNA match to another Kelly in Monaghan may help with.

Thomas and his family dates are above. His family lived in the townland of Drumbracken, in the parish of Magheracloone in Co. Monaghan. This information is all I was given to me by my new cousin and Michael Burn. My Kildare family is Michael Kelly and Mary Stines; son Silvester b. 1793, John b. 1795, Honora b. 1798, Daniel b. 1800 and Michael b. 1803. There is a daughter who may have been born somewhere else before the family settled in PL. Her name is Helen and may have been born before 1793. Thanks in advance for any help. Kevin Kelley