The Irish Kennedy Heritage Group

21/08/2025

IRISH KENNEDY HERITAGE GROUP

NEWSLETTER 102

JULY 2025

Including details of the 2025 Irish Kennedy Clan Gathering, a Tribute to Irish History and the Diaspora "We Are the Kennedys" by Mark Kennedy, "From Bun Ciamaltha to New South Wales".​

Download the JULY 2025 I.K.H.G. Newsletter (102) here:
https://ikhgnewsletter.weebly.com/uploads/2/7/2/8/27289281/102.pdf

Go to the complete I.K.H.G. Newsletter Archive here: https://ikhgnewsletter.weebly.com/

01/06/2025

IRISH KENNEDY HERITAGE GROUP

NEWSLETTER 101

MAY 2025

Clan Gathering 2025.

We continue to fine –tune arrangements for our Gathering on the second week of July.

Friday July 11th. (Abbey Court Hotel, Nenagh). E45 KA99

From around 6.30pm, we will gather in the Abbey Court Hotel, Nenagh for an informal meet and greet. Then at 7.30pm we will repair to a function room in the hotel, where we will have a few presentations. Prof. Mark Kennedy will give a run down on how to interpret all the information we get in DNA results, and how they can be best used to help make connections that perhaps are not available in written records. We expect to have other speakers also, yet to be confirmed.

Saturday July 12th. Nenagh Heritage Centre. Bunratty Castle & Folk Park, Bunratty Medieval Banquet.

Nenagh Heritage Centre E45 X588 ( 10.30am to 12.00 midday) which houses the Irish Kennedy Heritage Display, doesn’t normally open on Saturdays. However at our request, Ger has kindly agreed to facilitate us on the 12th July and we will have access from 10.30 am for about an hour and a half. If you haven’t seen it already, it’s I think, a must see – if you have already been there, you will most likely spot something new that you may have missed on earlier visits.

Bunratty Medieval Banquet 5.30pm.

We have decided to reserve seats for the 5.30 banquet. This is a taste of Irish Culture – food, drink, music and dance with a little drama thrown in for good measure. This has to be prebooked and pre paid. We have gone ahead and booked 40 places at the banquet – the cost is €71.50 per person for a group rate. I will need to have exact numbers attending two weeks in advance, by Friday 27th June at the latest. At present 35 members have confirmed
their intention to attend the banquet so if you haven’t already contacted me and you intend to come get in touch with me asap. If there are seats still available, we can book in more than the 40, but only while seats are still available so the sooner I know the better.
There is no need to worry about payment yet, I will be in touch with attendees nearer the time.

Bunratty Castle & Folk Park

As we will be finishing in Nenagh around 12.00 midday, and will be meeting for the banquet in Bunratty at 5.15pm, members will have ample time to work up an appetite. We recommend a visit to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park. We don’t think it’s necessary to
organise a group visit, as it is best enjoyed at one’s own leisure.
However, for people attending the banquet, there is a reduced entry fee of around €8 to the Folk Park. For an idea of what’s in store for you in Bunratty, click on the following link.
https://g.co/kgs/wm4NuEn

Looking forward to July and meeting lots of Kennedys.
Kind regards,

Tom
Contact Tom by email:
tom.irishkennedyheritagegroup@gmail.com

Download the MAY 2025 I.K.H.G. Newsletter (101) here:
https://ikhgnewsletter.weebly.com/uploads/2/7/2/8/27289281/101.pdf

Go to the complete I.K.H.G. Newsletter Archive here: https://ikhgnewsletter.weebly.com/

4.6 ★ · Castle

23/05/2025

Do you have any of Brian Patrick Kennedy's books about the Irish Kennedys? Or perhaps one of his books about the Ryans in Ireland?

This link will take you to some reviews of his book "The Irish Kennedys - The Story of the Rebellious O'Kennedys'.

https://theirishkennedys.weebly.com/reviews.html

Let us know here if you would like to comment about any of his books or post a review.

08/05/2025

BOOK LAUNCH

For the attention of our Irish members:

Fergus Kennedy who is a member of the I.K.H.G. has informed me about the upcoming launch of his book "Ballybunion to the River Kwai". Fergus has researched his family history and decided to write a book about the experiences of his father Don Kennedy, who as a prisoner of war, became a slave labourer on the infamous River Kwai Railway. His book is now published and is being officially launched in Waterford on 16 th May and Fergus extends a welcome to members of the I.K.H.G. to the launch.

Tom

22/04/2025

WHO IS GOING TO THE KENNEDY CLAN GATHERING THIS YEAR?

08/03/2025

23/02/2025

IRISH KENNEDY HERITAGE GROUP

NEWSLETTER 100

FEBRUARY 2025

In this historic 100th edition of this newsletter you can read about the trip of a lifetime by an extended Kennedy family from the U.S.A. Also, a happy outcome from the last newsletter where Carol from Oklahoma finds Kennedy cousins in Tipperary. Birthday celebrations of our Seanchaí and author Brian Patrick Kennedy, and a reminder to let Tom know if you intend travelling to our 2025 Gathering in July.

Download the January 2025 I.K.H.G. Newsletter (100) here:
https://ikhgnewsletter.weebly.com/uploads/2/7/2/8/27289281/100.pdf

Go to the complete I.K.H.G. Newsletter Archive here: https://ikhgnewsletter.weebly.com/

14/02/2025

14/02/2025

THE MOUNTAINY KENNEDYS -
TIPPERARY STAYPUTS

INTRODUCTION

***

The Annals of the Four Masters informs us that the traditional homelands of the O’Kennedy sept were the Baronies of Upper and Lower Ormond in County Tipperary, Ireland.
I have related the story of the O’Kennedys in “The Irish Kennedys – the story of the rebellious O’Kennedys”. They moved into Lower Ormond in the 11th century and gradually acquired considerable territory there and in Upper Ormond. As a consequence they became known as the Lords of Ormond.
The O’Kennedys held their lands following the Norman Conquest in the 12th century through a combination of courage and determination which resulted in the Normans and the O’Kennedys seeing themselves as “worthy of each other’s steel”.
It was not until the Cromwellian Conquest in the 17th century that superior force was brought to bear on the O’Kennedys to dispossess them of their ancestral lands and to force the many landholders among them to “Hell or to Connacht”.
The rebellious spirit of the O’Kennedys was alive and well and dispossessed landholders ignored the English directive and went south into the mountains where invading armies dared not follow.
This book identifies Kennedy families who have been living in the mountainous areas from the late 1700s to the present time either as tenants or owners of land. It then attempts to identify where particular Kennedy families may have come from by correlating and examining evidence available in the records and through family history discussions with their descendants.
Although constrained by the time available for researching the Mountainy Kennedys I have been able to include the history of some Kennedy families because of the contributions of their descendants and other interested people. This has been very much appreciated.
It is a natural consequence of undertaking a work of this magnitude that there will be unfortunate errors and omissions. The amount of compiling and cross-referencing of records alone requires sustained concentration. Please accept my sincere apologies if I have omitted important details or if I have reported them incorrectly. I would appreciate your advice regarding corrections.
During my many visits to Ireland researching the history of the Kennedys I have had the great pleasure of conversing with many Irish people in their farmhouse kitchens. A great deal of the information I have accumulated over the years has come from these discussions. At last count in May 2011 I have sat in 46 Irish farmhouses. To all of those people and to the many others who provided information I extend my sincere appreciation.
It is now my fervent hope that the history of the Mountainy Kennedys and their relatives will be preserved and fostered by those who will use the information provided in this book to further develop and disseminate their individual family histories.

BPK 2012

***

The Irish Kennedy Books by Brian Patrick Kennedy
https://theirishkennedys.weebly.com/

13/02/2025

The Irish Kennedys have a recorded history that goes back over 1,000 years to the time when the first Kennedy led his people from the front with sword and spear.

The Kennedys held their ancestral lands in Tipperary for hundreds of years while a succession of English conquerors tried to take it from them. Although they eventually succeeded in taking the lands, the English did not do so without fierce resistance from the family they dubbed "The Rebellious O'Kennedys."

"The Irish Kennedys – The Story of the Rebellious O’Kennedys" traces the story of the Kennedy family from their beginnings as an obscure sept on the banks of the Shannon River, through their rise to fame as the "Lords of Ormond", to their decline as the last of the Gaelic Chieftans and to their dispersal around the world.

REVIEWS

"Thank you so much for the wonderful book The Irish Kennedys. The book is well researched and I commend you on your hard work and dedication. I hope you continue on with much success in the future. You are to be applauded for your outstanding work." - Senator Edward M Kennedy

"In the first edition, as well as recounting the Kennedy story over a period of a thousand years, he was able to extend his individual family history from Australia to the homestead in Ireland from which his ancestors emigrated. In the new and expanded version of the book he has managed to link his own family tree to the ancient Kennedy genealogies. He is satisfied that every link in the chain can stand up to scrutiny. The book is likely to attract interest well beyond the Kennedy clan. The quality of his research and the bridging of the all too often impossible seventeenth-eighteenth century gap, marks this book as a template for family historians." - Tony McCarthy (Irish Roots Magazine)

"It was very kind of you to share your book with me. I hope it is a great success for you." - Jean Kennedy Smith (US Ambassador to Ireland)

08/01/2025

As the clock ticks over a new year this group has grown to 1,143 followers. Here are some interesting statistics about the group.

Gender:
33.5% Male
66.5% Female

The largest population falls in the 65+ range followed by the 55-64.

Locations represented:

Dublin, Ireland 67
Melbourne, VIC, Australia 43
Nenagh, Ireland 29
Limerick, Ireland 24
Sydney, NSW, Australia 24
Brisbane, QLD, Australia 18
Galway, Ireland 17
Canberra, ACT, Australia 16
Adelaide, SA, Australia 15
Wexford, Ireland 15

Countries represented:

Ireland 378
United States 345
Australia 211
United Kingdom 107
Canada 61
New Zealand 26
France 5
India 4
Philippines 2
Spain 2

Enjoy!