Trying to find link between NED KELLY and MARTHA AGNES O'CONNELL (nee McCoy)

[GeoffTurner]

Hi all,

Another query for you, if you would be so kind. Martha Agnes McCoy was born 18 Jan 1846 in Moonee Ponds Vic, the daughter of James McCoy (1817-1894) and Alice Grady (1820-1909). She died in Lockhart NSW on 29 Mar 1918. I am trying to establish whether she was related to Ned Kelly.

I have two reasons for thinking this, but no proof. There is a picture of her taken in 1871 in Ancestry, and the caption on that says she was related to Ned Kelly. And a descendant says her father was told the family was related to Ned Kelly. But both these "facts" might stem from the same error, of course.

Ned Kelly's mother's maiden name was Ellen Quinn, and there are Quinns in the family tree that the descendant is working on.

Any help appreciated.

Geoff

[maddys52]

Not sure if it helps - There is a detailed obituary for Martha's husband Michael O'CONNELL which states he lived for a while at Glenrowan where he married Martha. Her parents ran the Bridge Hotel near Nathalia.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/137714534

[GeoffTurner]

Nice find. Thanks.

[maddys52]

Not sure if I was looking at the same tree on Ancestry, Martha's uncle Richard McCOY is said to have married a Maria QUINN. They don't have a birth for her, but likely 1866 to parents James and Maria (nee DONOHOE). I can't see a connection to Ellen (Ned KELLY's mother) at this stage.

[GeoffTurner]

My query was passed on within the family to Agnes Murphy, who wrote:

As the writer of the McCoy Family Tree I was never able to confirm that the Maria Quinn who married Richard McCoy was related to Ned Kelly although we made an effort to research this. I am sure that further work may prove otherwise
Good luck
Agnes Murphy

I have had several responses from within the family giving examples showing that the O'Connell (or McCoy) and Kelly families were close, but none suggests they were related.

Geoff

[maddys52]

I meant to add the other day that on the wikitree page for Ned KELLY, it has  a section about DNA. I've not gone down the DNA route for my own family history, and fully understand if you don't want to either, however, it seems it would be possible to see if there is a family connection.

"Descendants who may have also inherited mitochondrial DNA from Ellen (Quinn) King may now be able to confirm their connection to this family by taking an mtDNA test. Known descendants on WIkitree who are in the mtDNA inheritance path can be found here.

Male descendants carrying the KELLY surname are encouraged to join the Kelly Y-DNA project at FTDNA. Other descendants who have taken autosomal tests are encouraged to upload their results to GEDmatch and add their descent line to Wikitree so that others may compare their results."

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Kelly-4912

[GeoffTurner]

I’m letting the Kelly-McCoy question rest for the time being because after making inquiries in the family the strong opinion is that the families were friends but not related.

I am a great supporter of DNA links, though. We found a lot of US cousins that we couldn’t explain, until we discovered that my Irish great grandmother had a sister who emigrated to New York and the US cousins were her descendants. One of them is about to turn 100 and has a good memory of meeting people who are just names to me. She also had a picture of my great grandmother’s sister, which was especially important since we don’t have a picture if my great grandmother.

We also discovered through DNA that we have an indigenous branch in the family. My great grandfather’s brother had a relationship with the daughter of an indigenous female elder which led to the birth of a daughter (neither parent was married). When the daughter married she named my great grandfather’s brother as her father.

That family includes a World War I hero known, according to the Australian War Memorial, as “The Black Prince of Gallipoli”.

It has been great to meet members from that side of the family, who we only discovered through DNA matches.

Geoff

[maddys52]

That's fascinating Geoff, a great example of the use of DNA.