Kenaday History, Family Crest & Coats of ArmsThe spelling and overall form of Irish names tend to vary widely over time. The original Gaelic form of the name Kenaday is O'Cinneide , which is derived from the words "ceann," which means "head," and "éidigh," which means "helmet" 1 or O'Cinnidha, which means "a nation" or "kind." 2 Early Origins of the Kenaday familyThe surname Kenaday was first found in County Tipperary (Irish: Thiobraid Árann), established in the 13th century in South-central Ireland, in the province of Munster. This distinguished Irish family were descended from Kennedy, nephew of King Brian Boru, Ireland's great Warrior King who fell in the battle of Clontarf in the year 1014. 2 The name has a long and illustrious history that begins in early times: Flan O'Kennedy, Abbot of Tim, a learned poet who died in 1110; two O'Kennedy of Ormond chiefs who were slain in 1117; Giolla-Kevin O'Kennedy who died on a pilgrimage at Killaloe in 1159; O'Kennedy, Abbot of Innisfallen who died in 1198; Donal O'Kennedy, Bishop of Killaloe who died in 1212; and many more. 2 Early History of the Kenaday familyThis web page shows only a small excerpt of our Kenaday research. Another 67 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1615 and 1685 are included under the topic Early Kenaday History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible. Kenaday Spelling VariationsOfficial documents, crafted by early scribes and church officials, primarily contained names that were spelled according to their pronunciation. This lead to the problem of one name being recorded under several different variations, creating an illusion that a single person was many people. Among the many spelling variations of the surname Kenaday that are preserved in the archival documents of the time are Kennedy, Minagh, Kennady, O'Kennedy and others. Early Notables of the Kenaday familyProminent amongst the family at this time was Mathew Kennedy, who was forced to leave Ireland for France after the Fall of Limerick; Sir Robert Kennedy, 1st Baronet, an official of the...
In the 18th and 19th centuries hundreds of thousands of Irish people immigrated to North American shores. The early settlers were enticed by the promise of their own land, but they were moderately well off in Ireland when they decided to emigrate. Therefore, they were merely carrying out a long and carefully thought out decision. The 1840s saw the emergence of a very different trend: thousands of extremely desperate people crammed into passenger boats hoping to find any type of opportunity. The Irish of this decade had seen their homeland severely stricken by crop failures which resulted in widespread disease and starvation. At whatever time the Irish immigrants came to North America, they were instrumental in the rapid development of the emerging nations of the United States and what would become known as Canada. An exhaustive search of passenger and immigration lists has revealed many persons bearing the name Kenaday, or one of its variants: Kenaday Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
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