Hugh KENNEDY (m. Mary FERGUSON in Dull, PER in 1751)
I’ve traced my line back to Hugh KENNEDY, who married Mary FERGUSON in Dull, PER in 1751. This was using traditional methods, but I’ve also joined the Kennedy DNA project, which uses yDNA (male) as a way of corroborating the paper evidence.
Through the DNA project I’ve recently been in touch with someone whose DNA is a very close match to mine, meaning we almost certainly have a common ancestor - the question is, who? His line goes back to a Robert Kennedy who married Christian KENNEDY in Dull in 1783, so may have been born in about 1760 or so. My Hugh and Mary had a son Robert in 1763, but there were also other Roberts baptised around that time, and the locations given in the baptism entries suggest that one of these others might possibly be a more likely candidate.
If anyone knows any more about these families I’d love to hear about it. In particular, can you shed light on the connection between Hugh and Robert, and also who Hugh’s parents were and where he came from (I haven’t found a likely baptism anywhere in Perthshire).
Lastly, if you’d like to know more about the Kennedy DNA project, I can put you in touch with the co-ordinator - the more participants the better!
November 25th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
I’ve recently been sent a link to a page about the origins of the Kennedy families in Dull - http://www.kennedydna.com/kennedy_of_foss.htm (This is on the Kennedy DNA project site.) See what you think of it!
Arthur
April 9th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
Another update: there was a marriage in Dull between Hugh Kennedy and Margaret ROBERTSON on 11 Dec 1739. One of the witnesses was also called Hugh Kennedy - his father? I haven’t found any children of the 1739 marriage, so it’s possible that this Margaret died between 1739 and 1751, leaving Hugh free to marry again in 1751.
The locations are also beginning to tie up a bit: in 1751 my Hugh was in Farleyer (my best interpretation of the register entry) and later he was in Balnabruch, whereas Robert and Christian and family (see above) were in Foss (these are all locations within the parish of Dull). The 1739 marriage entry shows Margaret Robertson living in Foss - but so far I haven’t found any evidence that Hugh himself ever lived there.
Arthur