Israel Kenney, I

Israel Kenney #2 of Maugerville and Oromocto, New Brunswick, Canada

Israel #2 was born in Sutton, Worcester, MA on October 23, 1739 and was the seventh of twelve children born to Daniel, Jr. and Elizabeth (Stockwell) Kenney. Israel #2 and an Asa Kenney, are both listed in the "Officers and Men from Sutton in Colonial Service from 1755 to 1761" that served during the French and Indian War. This Israel #2 had a younger brother named Asa born October 14, 1743. But it's not certain if this is the same Asa that served in the Colonial service or if it was their 2nd cousin Asa Kenney, born March 14, 1737/38 the son of Theophilus and Jemima (Pond) Kenney. One of these two Asa's married a Mehitable Stockwell on July 24, 1763. Her birth year has been estimated by others to be about 1741.

Asa and Mehitable's youngest child was named Jesse, and Theophilus and Jemima's youngest child was also named Jesse and they also had a son named Stephen This is the first use of the name Stephen in any of the Kenney families to this date, and both Jesse and Stephen were Israel #2 and brother Asa's second cousins, once removed. But in the early settlements of these small frontier towns, they were likely to be as close as brothers.

In Robertson's book The Genealogy of Henry and Anne Kinne, the author states next to Asa's name (son of Theophilus), "no further record". And she attributes Israel #2's brother Asa as being the spouse of Mehitable. Two other siblings of Israel #2 married into the Stockwell family, as well as the fact that their mother was a Stockwell. No other members of the Theophilus Kenney family married Stockwell's.

Israel #2's brother, Asa, would have just turned seventeen at the end of the fighting in the French and Indian War in 1760. There is also an assumption that Asa was killed during the war.(3) This would have had to happen by the end of 1760 when the fighting ceased. This Asa would hardly have been old enough to have married and then run off for the last couple of months in the war. Not impossible, but I'd say this candidate really pushes the envelope of plausibility. After the end of the war, the only record found for Israel #2 in the vicinity of Upton is an intention of marriage to Sybil Leland, filed in the Uxbridge/Grafton area on October 24, 1761. If this marriage occurred, there is no record of it nor of any children born to them. There is also no record in the Sutton area of an Asa Kenney marrying an Abigail.

I've found in the marriage records for Middleton an Asa Kenny that married an Abigail Putnam on October 8, 1765. This is the only record I can find for an Asa Kenney and an Abigail anywhere, and there is no further record of them. In the Topsfield marriage records I find an entry for Israel Kinney and Susanna Hood's marriage intention and marriage on the same day of June 9, 1763. I cannot find entries for the births of their first two children, Deborah and Sarah in the Topsfield, Middleton or Sutton vital records nor can I find an entry for Asa and Abigail's son, Asa, Jr. in these same volumes.

Being that Daniel Kenney, Jr., father of Israel #2, was the son of a man that owned part of an iron mill, it's quite possible that he was also trained in blacksmithing to some degree or another. Unfortunately I've been unable to locate information on this theory, but it's doubtless that he would have had something to do with Israel's following the trade of his grandfather and uncles, leading him to an apprenticeship at the Boxford Iron Works.

In the town tax records for Middleton in 1762 and 1763, there appears to be three different Israel Kenney's. I suspect that after Israel #2 returned from his Colonial Service, it's very likely he went to the iron works in Middleton to either learn or further hone his skills as a blacksmith. And what better an area for a young man to find a bride. The population was much larger and denser in the Middleton, Topsfield and Salem areas than in the remote town of Sutton.

- Jeff Green

---------------------------------

b. abt 1740 possibly Belfast Ireland d. 24 Dec 1791 Maugerville, Sunbury, NB,

               Canada.  Removed to Maugerville, Sunbury Co., NB after April 1767 following Susannah's

sisters Sarah and Abigail and their Husbands. According to Edwin W. Bell in "Israel Kenny.
His Children and their Families" Israel was an accomplished Blacksmith. During the winter of
1791 while Susannah was in Topsfield Visiting relatives Israel fell through the ice of the
St. John's river and drowned. His last son was born shortly after his death. (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~sagadahoccome/kenney.html)

Israel was an accomplished blacksmith. During the winter of 1791, while Susannah was in Topsfield visiting relatives, Israel fell through the ice of the St. John's river and drowned. His last son was born after his death.

cousins who worked the furnaces of the Boxford Iron Works. (http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/KENNEY/2007-11/119441...)

GEDCOM Source

@R-2146013911@ Canada, Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 1,60527::0 1,60527::2785265

GEDCOM Source

@R-2146013911@ Canada, Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 1,60527::0 1,60527::2785265

GEDCOM Source

@R-2146013911@ Canada, Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. 1,60527::0 1,60527::2785265

GEDCOM Source

@R-2146013911@ Family Data Collection - Individual Records Edmund West, comp. Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2000. 1,4725::0 Birth year: 1739; Birth city: Worcester; Birth state: MA 1,4725::1442052

GEDCOM Source

@R-2146013911@ Public Member Trees Ancestry.com Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006.Original data - Family trees submitted by Ancestry members.Original data: Family trees submitted by Ancestry members. This information comes from 1 or more individual Ancestry Family Tree files. This source citation points you to a current version of those files. Note: The owners of these tree files may have removed or changed information since this source citation was http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=4762726&pid=...