Kennedy historian pens new book

Australian researcher Brian Patrick Kennedy has just published his sixth book on the intriguing Kennedy family history in Tipperary.

 

Over the course of 25 visits to Ireland, Mr Kennedy has extensively researched the Kennedy line all the way back to Cennétig Mac Lorcáin, father of Brian Ború. He has put forward credible evidence that John F Kennedy's ancestors came from Knigh.

 

In his latest book – 'The Lower Ormond Kennedys: Their Claims to Tipperary Soil' – Mr Kennedy sets out to acknowledge the Kennedys' contribution to the development and growth of the barony of Lower Ormond. Drawing on a great range of historical sources, he traces the Kennedy presence here back a thousand years to Dalcassian times and their growth over the centuries.

 

The Civil Survey of 1641 indicated that 39% of all recorded land in Lower Ormond was owned by Kennedys. In the nineteenth century, almost 2,000 Kennedy baptisms were recorded in the six Roman Catholic parishes of Lower Ormond.

 

“The circumstances surrounding the history of the Kennedys in Lower Ormond deserve to be recognised and celebrated in appropriate ways,” the author writes in introducing his new book.

 

Mr Kennedy's previous books include 'The Irish Kennedys – The Story of the Rebellious Kennedys' (printed in 1998 and again in 2005), 'John F Kennedy's Irish O'Kennedy Ancestors' (2011), 'The Mountainy Kennedys – Tipperary Stayputs' (2012), 'The Mountainy Kennedys Vol 2 – Linking Past and Present' (2014), and 'The Upper Ormond Kennedys – Their Claims to Tipperary Soil' (2015).

 

All six of his books are accessible at Nenagh Heritage Centre, where an Irish Kennedy Heritage Group display is currently on view. They can be purchased online from Amazon. Some of the books are available locally from Kennedy’s Bar & Shop, Rearcross, (062 79104); Matt Ryan (Luke), Nenagh, 087-235 5179; The Bookshop, Friar Street, Nenagh; or from Secretary of the Irish Kennedy Heritage Group, Phyllis Kennedy, Toomevara, (067 26069).

 

Brian Patrick Kennedy, whose own forebears left Rearcross for Australia in 1863 (he can trace his family line back to Ballycapple in the fifteenth century), hopes to return to Ireland again for the sixth annual Kennedy Gathering in Rearcross on July 17th. This will involve a series of events, including a tour of O'Kennedy castles taking in Tullaun, Lackeen, Ballycapple, Killowney and Cloghenane (Castle Otway). It will also feature the formal launch of 'The Lower Ormond Kennedys” book with Tom Kennedy of Tombricane, Borrisokane, as the lead speaker. The author said Tom was an enormous help in the research for this book given that he lives in the area and knows the people well, having taught there for many years.

 

More information is available from the Facebook page 'The Irish Kennedys Books', or by contacting Brian at mountainykennedys@gmail.com.