Keelty Family

Marge,

I wonder if the surname was Keatley, rather than Keelty? I see a John Keatley JP, listed as a woollen draper in Magherafelt in Broad St, Magherafelt in 1918:

http://www.lennonwylie.co.uk/PT191811.htm#Magherafelt

There is also a marriage there for a John Keatley in 1921. He was a merchant, and a widower, and lived in Magherafelt. Only snag is his new wife was Presbyterian, but that’s not impossible obviously.

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1921/09216/5333974.pdf

Otherwise I am struggling to find any reference to this family.

You haven’t said when John & Adelaide married, or where their children were born. If they were born post 1917 in Northern Ireland, then the birth records won’t be on-line. You need to go to GRONI or PRONI in Belfast to look them up.

I looked for a will or probate file for John Keelty who died 1927 but did not find one in Northern Ireland.

I did find a reference to Bellevue in Magherafelt. There's no mention of the Keelty family but it does say that in the 1920s the house was rented out, so they might have been short term tenants there. http://brennen.caltech.edu/brennen/apdx8a.htm

Elwyn

Thank you for your reply. The John Keatley probably isn’t a match. I have seen Keelty also spelled Kielty. I believe John and Adelaide were married in 1916. Adelaide’s religion was listed on the census as Church of Ireland but John was definitely Catholic. John Keelty was from Roscommon. Before he became a Linen merchant he was in the RIC. 

All their children are listed as being from Maghrafelt or Castledawson. I am the daughter of Muriel Keelty & often heard my mother speak of Maghrafelt. She met my father, an American who was stationed in Northern Ireland during WWII. I haven’t been able to find any record of the family’s life when they were there. Anything anyone can send me would be much appreciated.

Marge,

The date of the marriage explains why I can’t find any birth records on-line. Those under 100 years are not on-line. They are accessible but just not on-line, to prevent data mining. You can get them from GRONI (or PRONI if you go in person) and that would give you their address at that time. But that’s possibly going to be Bellevue so that may not give you much new information,.

I am not sure what records there are to tell you about someone’s life in the 1920s and 1930s. The family might be in the local paper from time to time but I can’t think of any other comprehensive source that would mention them.

There was not census in Ireland in 1921 due to civil disorder. There was one in  1926 (in both parts of Ireland) but the portion for Northern Ireland has been lost.  Explanations as to what happened to it vary but one source in PRONI said it was destroyed by German bombing in WW2.  No-one seems to know. But they do agree it’s lost.

The only other big source is the 1939 Register which was a sort of census, drawn up at the start of the war to identify people living in NI for ration books and conscription. That sort of thing. PRONI hold the Northern Ireland portion and it’s not on-line. However you can e-mail them and ask for information from it.  Unless you can show they are dead, any person under 100 today will be redacted. But you might get some information for the older members of the family. You can’t search under names, only by address, so you would have to hope they were still living at Bellevue.

I assume you have John’s RIC records. If not, they should be on Ancestry amongst other places.

Hi Marge, I came across a reference to your family in a 1927 newspaper report of the May Procession to Our Lady, held annually in the grounds of the St. Mary's Convent School Magherafelt:      'The beautiful banner was borne by Miss Convery, Castledawson and the Misses Kielty, Bellevue, Magherafelt.' The house where your mother's family lived stands on a height across the road from the school. From the 1940's it was known as Crannagh Dhu. It is now incorporated into the Brennen Court and Marriott House complex, run by Clanmill Housing Association. I'm not sure but I think one of your Keelty/Kielty ancestors may have worked at Magherafelt Railway Station. The Keelty/Kielty family name is common in South Down and is not to be confused the Kielt/Keilt name which is local to Magherafelt and other parishes in the South Derry area.