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Welcome to the home page for the family history of Edmund Keyes Kilclooney, County Cork, Ireland.
Our family line goes back to Edmund Keyes from the townland, Kilclooney in the civil parish, Templemolaga, County Cork, Ireland. He married Margaret Jones around 1826 in London, and shortly afterwards purchased a 99 year lease from the Earl of Kingston in Kilclooney. Margaret, and his six children persuaded Edmund to immigrate to America in the 1840s. Edmund died a short time after arriving in America near Troy, New York. Regardless, several of his children and later his widow traveled to east central Wisconsin and built a homestead that stayed in the Keyes family until 1970. Our family is blessed in that several early family members documented discussions with the children and grandchildren of Edmund Keyes. Many aspects of these documented discussions have proven true through our research. We call the documented discussions the “family tradition.” Many aspects of the family tradition have parallel stories that were passed down to relatives of Edmund's brother, John, whose descendants live in Pennsylvania and New York. Their family stories were an independent confirmation of our family tradition. There are some aspects of the family tradition that are not provable but are fascinating, such as the lore of buried money on the family farm in Kilclooney, and a secret arsenal in an earlier homestead located in the Galtee Mountains. Aspects in the documented discussions bear witness to the hardships of that time such as the huge loss of human life due to disease and starvation. Indeed, 6 of 12 children of Edmund and Margaret died before reaching adulthood. Later, one of Edmund's and Margaret's daughters mourned for three of her children who died of disease at the same time in a small shanty in Wisconsin. Other aspects reflect the brutal fights between the Irish and English and the faction fighting that was common across Ireland. Edmund was known to be tall and well-built in stature and more than able to handle himself with skill in faction fighting. Edmund died trying to hold his family together in America, yet two of his sons fought against each other on opposite sides during the Civil War. Even with the hardships at the time, success which only Edmund could dream of in Kilclooney smiled on many of his descendents. Indeed, even one of Edmund's grandsons became a state Assemblyman for Wisconsin and contributed to the state as only few are called to do. We share our family tradition not only because it is fascinating (although we admit we are biased in our fascination), but also the stories enlighten all of us to the general story of Irish emigration to America. Tom Keyes (grandson of Maurice Keyes) Mike Keyes (great grandson of Maurice Keyes)
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