Re: Killen, Samuel, Andrew, John Ireland

Hi Andrew and Joyce:
I have noticed your correspondece of last year and am surprised that, as it seems, I have not seen it before and followed up.

I am descended from James Killen and Blanche Brice of Cave Hill/Carnmoney, through their son John Killen and his wife Martha Dool, who after they were married lived and raised their family at Ballymena/Glenwherry. Their family and descendants included a large number of quite well known Killens, including several prominent Presbyterian Ministers (it was almost the family business!) such as Revd William Dool Killen, his brother Revd James Millar Killen of Comber, and their nephew Revd Thomas Young Killen of Duncairn Congregation, Belfast.

I am (like you Andrew) part of a branch of this family which emigrated to Australia during the mid and late 19th century, including Edward Killen & his children, among whom was my great grandfather Eddie Killen. A number of others also emigrated to Australia, as well as their Young, Ekin, Moore, Magill, etc. relatives mainly from Antrim, but also from Tyrone, Down & Derry. Many others in my branch of the Killen family emigrated at around the same time to the US, Canada & New Zealand, as well as to Great Britain, and so we are spread all over th world. I have for some time been documenting the family history and its diaspora, and have made some good progress, the fruits of which you can see in my Rootsweb file:

       http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=tedmarr

As you would see in that file, James Killen and Blanche Bryce had several children in addition to John (1768-1828) from whom I descend. Over the last year or so I have for the first time started to track one of those other branches, as a result of being in touch with Anne Bennett, an Irish woman living in England who is descended from the famous Fenian James Bryce Killen. Working together, we have recently established the identity of J B Killen's parents (Samuel Killen & Mary Jane Shaw), and shown that he (and therefore Anne) are descended from Samuel Killen of Kells, Co. Antrim, a son of Thomas Killen, brother of "my" John Killen who married Martha Dool.

I know nothing much else about Thomas Killen (b c 1766 who married Martha Armstrong) or about his son Samuel Killen (b c 1796 who married Mary Jane Shaw) and nothing about whether Thomas and Martha had any other children. There seems, in fact, to have been very little contact between the families, which is strange, since in the families descended from John Killen they stayed very close over the generations, to the extent of relentless marrying back into each other over the generations. The only connexion I know of after about 1790 is that in about 1863 one John Armstrong married a Martha Killen who was probably of the Samuel Killen family. She died, and John then married Hannah Killen of Glenwherry, daughter of my great great great grandfather Edward Killen (1800-1856). The story goes that Hannah bought her own grave at Glenwherry, stipulating that she was not to be buried anywhere near her predecessor: whether this was simple spousal anxiety or a reflexion of a deeper family feud, we shall doubtless never know.

I do know however that Samuel Killen and ary Jane Shaw had at least three sons other than James Bryce Killen (Samuel Killen b c 1839, Robert Killen b 1840, and John Moore Killen b1845). Some of James Bryce Killen's children had contact with a Dr Samuel Killen in the late 19th century, and regarded him as their uncle (hence the same Samuel Killen who was born in 1839), but that's about the extent of it. The name John Moore Killen is very interesting to me, since his mother was Mary Jane Shaw: four children (born around that same time ion Ireland) of John Moore and Fanny Shaw emigrated to Australia, and were very close (including through several marriages) to my Killens. I assume that there must be some sort of connexion.

My cousin Marg Bentley (whose mother is Bernice (Birdie) Killen my father's first cousin) is descended both through her mother from my great great grandfather Edward Killen (1833-1909) and through her father from Edward's first cousin Capt George Killen (1839-1927, a son of Revd William Dool Killen); Marg is a very keen family historian and has in the past, I believe, had some contact with descendants of Samuel Killen (b 1796) who she knows to be in Australia. I cannot help but wonder, Andrew, whether this is the same family as yours (and therefore, Joyce, yours, though I don't know where you are).

In any event, I hope that this contact and background information might lead us to find a connexion and to increase what we all know about the several branches of this very interesting family.

Ted Marr