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Dear IrelandXO

My 2rd Great Grandmother was Biddy Kane, Married to John McNama 1848.

Could our Biddy Kane be related to Bridget Kane? Is our Biddy Kane an Aunt of Bridget Kane?

When I saw the recent article and photograph celebrating the 1927 National Geographic photo, identifying the 3 generations of Irish Woman from Galway, I was shocked when I looked at the photograph of Bridget Kane!

I saw a striking resemblance of myself! I looked closely at the details of Bridget and saw my face, my body type and I often stand the way she is standing. I sent the photo to my Aunt, who also saw the resemblance and so we started researching the Kane family.

My Aunt is registered on Ancestry and has completed her DNA and built a Family Tree to further our search for our Irish roots. We were able to search her DNA links through the Kane family name and Biddy Kane shows as our 2nd Great Grandmother.

We are following a Catholic Parish Marriage record for John McNama and Bessy Kane, Marriage date May 17th, 1848, Kiltoghart Parish, Ardagh, County Leitrim.

My Great Grandmother is Mary McNama, baptised August 15th, 1851 in Kiltoghart Parish, Ardagh, Carrick-on-Shannon, County Leitrim, to Biddy Kane & John McNama.

We have located a Catholic register for Mary McNama ~ parents listed as Biddy Kane and John McNama of Ardagh.

We are eager to link all the Bidddy Kane records as our 2nd Great Grandmother and locate Biddy’s birth/baptism records.

We are also interested to know if there are other possible relatives on the Kane family line, who have completed their DNA and are registered on Ancestry.

Christine & Bridget

Bridget

Tuesday 19th Jan 2021, 05:29PM

Message Board Replies

  • Christine and Bridget:

    I searched on the subscription site Roots Ireland in the Co. Leitrim records and the closest Bridget Kane baptismal record was in 1830. The baptism was December 19 1830 in the Gortletteragh RC parish and the parents were Nicholas Kane and Bridget Spollin. They lived in Breanross townland which is either in Mohill or Cloone civil parish in south Co. Leitrim. There were no other Bridget/Bessy/Biddy baptismal records in that time period. Now Gortletteragh RC parish is to southeast of Kiltoghert/Carrick on Shannon parish  to I'm not convinced that this record is for the Biddy Kane who married John McNama in 1848. The Kiltoghert/Carrick on Shannon baptismal records start in August 1826  https://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0152  so possibly Biddy was born before that month and year and no record would be available.

    Roger McDonnell

    Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Tuesday 19th Jan 2021, 07:18PM

    • Hello Ireland,

      This is the post from the 1927 National Geographic of the Kane family that we are talking about. Our Bridget looks like this young girl in the picture. We are trying to see if there are people in this family that we are related to. When I put the surname Kane into my search on Ancestry.ca a whole page of Kanes or names related to the Kane family they also come up on my Thurline. Maybe our third great Grandmother is an Aunt to the woman in the picture? We don't know but are very curious. If anyone could help with info we would appreciate it. I have world wide web on Ancestry cause we are in Canada & all our ancestors are from Europe. Stay healthy & safe Ireland.

      https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/irish-girl-1927-national-geographic-photo.         

      Sincerely

      Christine & Bridget

       

      Christine Steele
      Wednesday 20th January 2021, 05:56PM

    Christine Steele

    Wednesday 20th Jan 2021, 06:19PM

  • Christine and Bridget:

    I did not locate any siblings to your great-grandmother Mary McNama on the subscription site Roots Ireland. Is that correct? I did trace the father and grandfather of the 16 year old Bridget Kane and they were both Martin Kane. The younger Martin would have been born around 1874 based on this 1911 census record so the grandfather would have been born 1854 or earlier. 

    http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Galway/Rinvyle/Letterg…

    The surname Kane is very common in Connemara.

    I know you see a very strong resmblance to the Bridget Kane in the 1927 picture but I think it is very unlikely that a family in south Leitrim would be related to a family in the Connemara region of west Galway.

    Maybe you can contact the Tom Farrell in the article and see if he has tested his DNA and if so maybe you can compare. If you have a match then you know there is a relationship.

    Let me know if you have any questions.

    Roger

     

     

    Castlemore Roscommon, IrelandXO Volunteer ☘

    Wednesday 20th Jan 2021, 10:47PM

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