Thomas and Richard Kenny

Thomas Francis Kenny was my great grandfather.  Richard was his brother.

Thomas was the older child of Richard and Eliza (Lovely) Kenny and was born in Smith Falls, Ontario.

All records show Thomas F. being born in 16^th of June, 1866, including on his gravestone.   These records are incorrect.  Smith Falls parish record were written in order by dates and Thomas fell into place right on the 16th of June, 1865.  It is my belief that the Kenny's were protecting themselves because Thomas was conceived out of wedlock.  It is indeed possible that Thomas himself did not know the correct year.

A short time after Thomas and his sister, Mary Ann ( Dec. 17, 1866) was born, his parents, Richard and Eliza moved to Door County Wisconsin, in the Sturgeon Bay area, to a townland called Nasewaupee.   While in Nasewaupee, Richard was born, and the twins, Ellen and Bridget. 

After The Fire of 1871 destroyed all of their families farm, the family moved to Arcadia, Iowa sometime around 1873, then later to Omaha, around 1890. 

Thomas and his younger brother Richard were Bricklayers, ( master masons).  They worked together for many years and were know in the Midwest as some of the best bricklayers around.  Work was sometime scarce, so they traveled around the midwest for work.  Richard and Thomas eventually went their own ways, and both had their own business as bricklayers, Richard being more established in Omaha, had a larger business.  Richard did many of the sewers in the Omaha area, back in the days that they were brick instead of pre-cast concrete.

Here are my notes on Richard:

Richard built a brick home at 3010, or 3012 Olin Ave, in Omaha.  He had is own business for awhile.  Lena, his wife kept the books but after some time, they turned the books over to their attorney to help manage them and gave him power to handle expenses.  The attorney ripped Richard off of everything that he could and Richard and Lena lost their home and couldn't pay their employees.  The attorney ended up after some time, in a wheel chair and had lost all of his money.

Richard was later a superintendent for the city of Omaha.  He was doing some bricklaying in a sewer on 72nd and Farnam Street, when there was a cave-in.  He died shortly after.

Thomas, had problems at home.  He didn’t stay there a lot in his last years.  His wife Mary (Gilmore) Kenny was deaf and raised the kids for some years by herself.  Thomas drank more than he should.

Their son Lee, (my grandfather) swore to never drink, and never did.  

 While in Chicago, rumor has it that Thomas ended up in jail, where he died.  I was never able to verify this story.  His death certificated stated “heart problem”, and stated he died in Cook County, Chicago.

All records show Thomas F. being born in 1866.  These records are incorrect.  Smith Falls parish record were written in order by dates and Thomas fell into place right on the 16th of June, 1865.  It is my belief that the Kenny's were protecting themselves because Thomas was conceived out of wedlock.  It is indeed possible that Thomas himself did not know the correct year.