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McKenna Family

HogsBellyFarm

HogsBellyFarm

proper brummie kid
I'm trying to discover more about a lady named Annie McKenna, who lived with her husband Peter at 176 Bromsgrove Street until her death in 1938. I have that year of death and the entries for the 1911 and 1921 census, but nothing else. Try as I might, I cannot trace the marriage or, what would be the holy grail for me, her maiden name.

If any of you lovely forum folk have ideas for lines of enquiry I would be most greateful.

Many thanks in anticipation.
 
hi hogsbelly farm...looking at the 1911 census for annie and peter they do not put how many years married...there is just a question mark..on the 39 eve of war register peter is down as a widow and he died in 1950..his probate leaves £4284 to a william stratford hairdresser. you most likely have all this info but back to annie...so far i cant find a marriage for her and peter...i will keep looking but it could be as was the case a lot back then they just said they were married

lyn
 
MWS said:
Is she not Annie Masters, marrying Peter in 1906/7 reg. Aston.

There is a Edward Masters (nephew) with them in 1921.
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if she married a peter mckenna then that must be her? but i still cant find the marriage on ancestry..there is one for an annie masters 1907 but not to peter mckenna

lyn
 
It's correct on freebmd.

The presence of the Masters nephew with them in 1921 almost certainly confirms the marriage.
 
Wow. You folk are red hot. Thank you. I have a feeling that Peter McKenna is the same fellow who, when living at 18 Curzon Street, was a hairdresser himself (which makes a link with his executor's profession). It looks from criminal records like Peter may have been a scallywag in his youth at that address but settled down at 176 Bromsgrove Street to a better life (although he experienced some robberies at his shop!).

I shall soldier on finding out more about Peter and Annie. At £1.50, ordering Peter's will might be informative and - fingers crossed - I'll button down that marriage cerificate in time.

Thank you all. That nephew link is fabulous.
 
Thanks PJM. I've noted Peter's migration from Curzon Street via 116 Bromsgrove St to the High Street and on to 176 Bromsgrove but these entries just add to the trail. I'm much obliged. What a naughty hairdresser he was.

Just as naughty, if not worse, is a Catherine McKenna (b. 1842, Dublin) who, on release from jail in Birmingham in 1891 after a 12m stretch for larceny, is recorded in the 1891 Habitual Criminals Register as being bound for No2 8 Court Gooch Street. On the 1891 Census, a Peter McKenna (very different occupation) is listed as living at that address with his sister and two brothers.

It's all intriguing stuff. Especially as Peter goes 'missing' between 1897 and 1904 round about the same time as a Peter McKenna (with an alias of William Nevitt from a previous conviction in Liverpool) goes to prison for five years in Birmingham. I believe his sister, Catherine, is my 3xg-grandmother. She married a John Charles Nevitt in 1886. Curious.

More curious still... Annie Masters' (Peter's wife) sister Pollie marries a John Nevitt in Birmingham in 1916.

The McKenna's are very hard to pin down. Catherine's marriage certificate tells me her father was Joseph. If the pick-pocket woman released from prison to Peter's address is their mother, then I should be able to find a census in which Joseph and Catherine are listed together. But I can't!

The family seem to be part of the Great Famine diaspora via Lancashire and into Birmingham.

If anyone is interested in pulling on any of these threads, I would be delighted for their kind help. But don't get too near the older Catherine. She'll have her hand in your bag before you can say 'Good Morning'.
 

Attachments

Astoness said:
thats great mark so job done..maiden name for annie is masters

lyn
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Invaluable! Thank you.
I went to the Annie Masters entry in 1907 for her marriage. On Ancestry it doesn't link her with Peter McKenna. But... I went into the register, noted the Volume/Page references, then paged forward to McKenna. Lo and behold, there was Peter with the same references. Fantabulous!
 
HogsBellyFarm said:
Thanks PJM. I've noted Peter's migration from Curzon Street via 116 Bromsgrove St to the High Street and on to 176 Bromsgrove but these entries just add to the trail. I'm much obliged. What a naughty hairdresser he was.

Just as naughty, if not worse, is a Catherine McKenna (b. 1842, Dublin) who, on release from jail in Birmingham in 1891 after a 12m stretch for larceny, is recorded in the 1891 Habitual Criminals Register as being bound for No2 8 Court Gooch Street. On the 1891 Census, a Peter McKenna (very different occupation) is listed as living at that address with his sister and two brothers.

It's all intriguing stuff. Especially as Peter goes 'missing' between 1897 and 1904 round about the same time as a Peter McKenna (with an alias of William Nevitt from a previous conviction in Liverpool) goes to prison for five years in Birmingham. I believe his sister, Catherine, is my 3xg-grandmother. She married a John Charles Nevitt in 1886. Curious.

More curious still... Annie Masters' (Peter's wife) sister Pollie marries a John Nevitt in Birmingham in 1916.

The McKenna's are very hard to pin down. Catherine's marriage certificate tells me her father was Joseph. If the pick-pocket woman released from prison to Peter's address is their mother, then I should be able to find a census in which Joseph and Catherine are listed together. But I can't!

The family seem to be part of the Great Famine diaspora via Lancashire and into Birmingham.

If anyone is interested in pulling on any of these threads, I would be delighted for their kind help. But don't get too near the older Catherine. She'll have her hand in your bag before you can say 'Good Morning'.
Click to expand...
BTW, the witnesses on the marriage certificate certainly suggest that the Peter McKenna at Gooch Street in 1891, whose sister is Theresa, are related to this bride.
 
How can you be sure these are all the "right" Peter McKenna?
The 1911 and 1921 census records claim Peter was born in Birmingham (may not be true, I accept) - don't they? You are suggesting he came from Ireland.
 
HogsBellyFarm said:
The McKenna's are very hard to pin down. Catherine's marriage certificate tells me her father was Joseph. If the pick-pocket woman released from prison to Peter's address is their mother, then I should be able to find a census in which Joseph and Catherine are listed together. But I can't!

The family seem to be part of the Great Famine diaspora via Lancashire and into Birmingham.

If anyone is interested in pulling on any of these threads, I would be delighted for their kind help. But don't get too near the older Catherine. She'll have her hand in your bag before you can say 'Good Morning'.
Click to expand...

When Peter's other siblings Theresa and James marry their father is also listed as Joseph.

On Peter's birth reg. his mmn is listed as Gamben and there is a birth reg. in Dublin for a McKenna daughter (no name) with parents Joseph McKenna and Catherine Gamben which is likely to be Theresa's.

There is also a non-conformist birth reg. for an Emma McKenna Dec 1883 with mother listed as Catherine Gamben though father is listed as Barnet. In 1901 there is an Emma with a Catherine McKenna. Catherine b1836 a widow.

Finally there is a marriage for a Joseph McKenna and a Catherine Gambell in Dublin 1858. Not exact but close enough for a possible.
 
There is also a baptism for another brother - Joseph Patrick - 1871 Dublin parents listed as Joseph McKenna and Catherine Gourbin. Again not exact but close enough to be likely.

A Joseph of about the right age is with Peter in 1891.
 
pjmburns said:
How can you be sure these are all the "right" Peter McKenna?
The 1911 and 1921 census records claim Peter was born in Birmingham (may not be true, I accept) - don't they? You are suggesting he came from Ireland.
Click to expand...
I don't believe he was born in Ireland. Sister Catherine was born in Stockport, or so she says in her census returns. At one point (I forget where), Peter (or 'a' Peter) records his origin as Manchester. This would make sense if there were, as Carl Chinn has written, an exodus from Ireland over decades from Ireland via Liverpool/Machester to Wolverhampton/Birmingham. I need to unravel all the possibilities in order to determine what is probable. Hence my plea for help from my Brummie detective friends!
 
MWS said:
There is also a baptism for another brother - Joseph Patrick - 1871 Dublin parents listed as Joseph McKenna and Catherine Gourbin. Again not exact but close enough to be likely.

A Joseph of about the right age is with Peter in 1891.
Click to expand...
My goodness MWS - you're absolutely on fire today!
 
MWS said:
There is also a baptism for another brother - Joseph Patrick - 1871 Dublin parents listed as Joseph McKenna and Catherine Gourbin. Again not exact but close enough to be likely.

A Joseph of about the right age is with Peter in 1891.
Click to expand...
Gambin/Gourbin/Gambell - it's all so tantalising, isn't it? I wonder if, sometimes, these names were asked for, spoken in reply and then written down without recourse to: "and how might you be spelling that?". If this is what happened then we're having to work with a form of phonetic recording that would allow for such variations.

Thank you. Your input is invaluable.
 
HogsBellyFarm said:
I don't believe he was born in Ireland. Sister Catherine was born in Stockport, or so she says in her census returns. At one point (I forget where), Peter (or 'a' Peter) records his origin as Manchester. This would make sense if there were, as Carl Chinn has written, an exodus from Ireland over decades from Ireland via Liverpool/Machester to Wolverhampton/Birmingham. I need to unravel all the possibilities in order to determine what is probable. Hence my plea for help from my Brummie detective friends!
Click to expand...
I guess it's also possible that, having lived in Birmingham for so long, people simply told the emunerator that's where they were from. There's also the possibility that, at times of anti-Irish sentiment in England (and there have been many of those) people may have wanted to draw a veil over their origins.
 
If you click on each of these clippings it will give the date and newspaper.
1887
 

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  • Birmingham Daily Post - Saturday 08 January 1887.jpg
    Birmingham Daily Post - Saturday 08 January 1887.jpg
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