Ireland in the early 1860’s was not a land of opportunity for an ambitious young man with dreams. The Potato Famine of the late 1840’s had claimed the lives of many people in County Mayo, and most likely our ancestors were deeply affected by the famine. Land was still very scarce, and Kilkenny family members did not appear as landowners in Griffith’s Valuation of Ireland. They were tenant farmers in the vicinity of Aghamore, County Mayo.

 

John Kilkenny married Mary Dillon on May 15, 1824 in Aghamore. They had seven children over the next twenty years, and possibly more. Their known children were Margaret, John, Michael Henry, James, Anthony, Anne, and Bridget. John Kilkenny died in November 1865, and his widow Mary survived him. His sons John and James remained in Ireland while the other children emigrated to England, and then to the United States in many cases.

 

Our patriarch Anthony Kilkenny was born in 1841 and left Ireland in the early 1860’s to find work and opportunity in England. He worked on Liverpool’s docks for “a penny a day.” In 1865 he sailed to the United States and settled in New Jersey. He was living in Glasborrough, a farming community in Camden County, when he married Catherine (Kate) Lydon on November 11, 1865 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Gloucester. Catherine had arrived in Philadelphia with her mother Margaret Treston Lydon, and several other family members in April of 1863. The Lydons came from the same general area of Mayo, although their exact townland has not been learned.

 

Anthony and Catherine remained in New Jersey where they had extended family nearby until 1868 when they moved to California. Anthony’s younger sister Bridget and her husband Patrick Sweeney welcomed their first child, John D. Sweeney, in May 1868 in New Jersey. In 1868 Anthony, Catherine, and the Sweeney family set out for California. They traveled by ship down the East Coast to Panama, traveled overland across the Isthmus of Panama, and then up the West Coast to San Francisco.

 

Family lore mentions Anthony and Catherine initially settling in Jamestown, Calavares County. No records have been located to verify that point, but their first two sons were born in Copperopolis, John in 1870 and Tom in1872. The 1870 United States Census showed Catherine, baby John, and a James Kilkenny living in Paradise City, Stanislaus County. Anthony was enumerated with a group of farm workers living nearby, and Patrick Sweeney was enumerated working on yet another farm. Relationships were not included in the 1870 Census, but the James Kilkenny mentioned owned real estate worth $4400 (a tidy sum in those days) and no records have been located to prove he owned land in either Stanislaus, Calavares or San Joaquin Counties. He remains somewhat of a “mystery,” but he may have been Anthony’s brother who came to the US briefly, and then returned to Ireland where his wife and children remained.

 

Anthony worked at mining and again at the docks loading copper from wagons to ships for transport. He leased land and raised barley for a couple of years, grew grapes for a time and also worked on a threshing crew. He was obviously a hard worker who kept his dream of owning land very much in sight. On March 24, 1875 Anthony purchased a house and lot in Stockton, San Joaquin County for the sum of $50.00 in a gold coin. Since, Anthony and Catherine’s third son, James had been born in Stockton the previous year, it is assumed the family had been living in Stockton, and possibly in that same house prior to the transfer of the deed. Stockton appears to have been the “hub” of the family’s activities from 1870 to1875 as all three sons were baptized at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Stockton. Anthony filed his Declaration of Intention to become a United States citizen in San Joaquin County on March 2, 1875 shortly before moving to Solano County.

 

On April 20, 1875 Anthony purchased 168 acres of land near Elmira in Solano County along with a large home located on the property. This property affectionately known as the “Home Place” was most likely a dream come true for Anthony, Catherine, and their young sons. The land was flat and fertile, and would become the center of the Kilkenny family’s world for many years to come. Sons continued to arrive approximately every two years; Lucas Edward in 1875, Martin in 1877, Anthony Francis in 1879, Michael Henry (called Harry) in 1881, and twins Tobias and Herbert in 1884. As money became available additional adjacent parcels of land were purchased in 1881, 1883 and 1890.

 

Catherine’s mother Margaret came to live with the family in the early 1880’s. The boys attended the nearby Owens school. On September 20, 1882 Anthony was naturalized in Solano County Superior Court. Anthony appears to have had a clear idea of each of his sons’ individual gifts. He recognized John’s strong character and farming ability, Lucas Edward’s scholarship, and Tom’s business sense. He willingly provided a home for his mother-in-law and wanted his sons to always treat her with kindness and respect. He recognized his wife Catherine’s strength, and trusted her to keep the family together and the farm going.

 

On February 10, 1886 Anthony Kilkenny died of consumption at his home in Elmira. He was forty-five years of age, and left Catherine a widow at age forty-one. He was buried at the Silveyville Cemetery in Dixon. Catherine never remarried, as was Anthony’s wish. She, too, was keenly aware of her sons’ individual strengths. She urged Tobias to pursue a degree at the University of California and wanted Herbert to learn a trade as a young man. She must have encouraged the boys to marry educated women as all of them married girls raised in San Francisco. During her life time she experienced the sorrow of losing two sons, Harry in 1889 at age eight, and Martin in 1908 at age thirty-one. On a happier note she lived to see twenty-two grandchildren. She died July 8, 1921 at age seventy-six. Her wisdom in bequeathing Big Squaw Valley to her sons has kept the Kilkenny family close to the present day, but that’s a story in itself.

 

Anthony and Catherine Kilkenny’s descendants number several hundred now. The “Home Place” has been sold, and Interstate 80 runs through land once owned by Kilkennys. The house has been restored and is occupied by nonfamily members, but sits on Kilkenny Road. Anthony and Catherine’s dream is very much alive and we are all a part of it!