Reunion of Australian and American descendants of Offaly emigrants

By Navjyoti Dalal

Recently a group of Aussies and Americans with Offaly ancestry descended upon the Midlands, docking themselves at the Sheraton Hotel, Athlone. Also in the mix was an Irish family, which was hosting and showing them around. While many of them shared the same family tree, some were meeting each other for the first time. They were here to discover more about a shared surname, Dalton, and roots. Playing catalyst in this meet-up was technology, DNA testing in particular, which brought one part of the Daltons (in the US) in touch with those in Australia, which built the base for this reunion.

The group met their Irish relatives, visited the ruins of the home where their ancestors once lived, and also their graves at Clonmacnois, discovered shared personality traits with their Irish relatives, the Kennys, among other things. The reunion, which lasted three days, was both a homecoming and time-travel experience for them.

In the late 1800s in Faddenbeg, near Belmont, Martin Dalton weds Mary Daly. The couple went on to have nine children, of which only seven make it to adulthood. The freedom struggle against the British meant scarcity of resources, bleak times, and post-famine Ireland is a hard place to be in. This is when four of the Dalton boys decide to try their luck on another continent.

While James and John look westward and take a ship to America, Patrick and Thomas go down under, to Australia. Left behind of the Dalton brothers, are Kieran, Peter and Edward. Edward passes away in his mid 20s, whereas the other two continued on to build their lives in Shinrone and Fadden Beg villages. Peter has five children, three girls and two boys, of whom one died as a baby. The current surviving members from his lineage come from his daughter Annie Kenny (née Dalton), who lived in Fadden Beg. The hosts of the aforementioned reunion are Annie Kenny's children, Padraig (who lives in Belmont), Kieran (Fadden Beg), Angela Martin née Kenny (Dublin), Joan née Kenny (Rathcabbin) and Gerry (Ballinasloe).

Interestingly, for the longest time the three branches of the same family tree, prospering in Ireland, Australia and America, had little to no idea about the other two.

Kieran Kenny, from Fadden Beg, shared that he had heard from his mother that two of her uncles lived in Australia and two other in America, but this was the first time that he was meeting his distant relatives from the two continents. In the late 1980s the connection was reestablished between some of the Kennys and Daltons (Australia), but this was the first full-fledged reunion between them.

Visiting from Australia, Kathryn Kleidon, who works as a software developer shared: “We always knew our grandfather had emigrated from Ireland to Australia. We heard more when Dad and Mum travelled to Ireland in 1986.”

She added that the Australian side of the Daltons only got to know about their American relatives a few years ago, after a DNA test revealed they share their genetic material with a family in the US. “My sister did a DNA test and this is how we found the American family,” Kathryn added.

The grand reunion felt like a full-circle moment for Kathryn, who said that she returned home to Australia with a full heart. “Our dad, Patrick, would be so proud, happy and excited that we attended the reunion and saw the dwellings of his father. I have a photo of Dad standing in the house,” shared Kathryn, who also praised her Irish hosts.

This was a second visit for Michael Ransom, from Melbourne, Australia. His grandfather Thomas Dalton came to Australia in 1912 to build a better life for himself. Michael shared that his grandfather faced his fair share of challenges to give his children the privilege of a good life. “I knew him when I was young. He died in 1962. When he first arrived in Australia he worked in a brewery in Brisbane. He married and had 10 children, my mother Irene was second in the family. Later, he bought a dairy farm about 100km from Brisbane,” he recalled.

Michael had visited Ireland in 2002 and met the Kennys in Belmont, where Gerry Kenny and his wife Noreen also met him.

He notes that Ireland has evolved since his last visit. He reflected: “Ireland has changed since we were here in 2002. There were no motorways then, we were held up in the towns with tractors and flocks of sheep, it looks to be more prosperous with many new homes. The Catholic Church does not appear to have the same influence as it did then. But the people are just as friendly. I love the Irish brogue and the sense is Craic. One of my cousins on my father’s side of the family who also lives in Ireland said: 'We like Australians; they drink and swear just like us!'”

He shared that the reunion would have materialised sooner but pandemic stalled the meet.

“We were going to meet up in Ireland in 2021- but Covid got in the way. It has been wonderful meeting up with our long-lost family again and a huge thanks to Noreen and Gerry for organising things in Ireland,” he said.

The American side of the Daltons were equally thrilled with the visit, where chatter about the reunion had been happening for a few years. Before the Irish gathering, the US arm of the Daltons had begun tracing their roots and learning more about the lineage. Helen Johnson, from Ventura, California shared: “I learned about my ancestral connection with Shannonbridge through Pat and Larry Rosa (who are also from the Dalton family tree). My understanding is that they did some research to fill in blanks in our genealogy.

“We all knew that their grandfather, my great grandfather, had come over from Ireland, but he died young (when his two children were seven), so most of the family history on his side was lost until Pat and Larry rediscovered it for us. Meeting the family has been amazing. There have been enough generations and marriages that the reunion represented a truly diverse set of nationalities, careers, and points of view. It was a joy to meet so many of them and learn a little bit about their lives and family histories,” said Helen who took home an Aran beanie as a remembrance of the trip.

For Noreen and Gerry Kenny, hosting this large group of relatives was a labour of love. The 20+ visitors from abroad were joined by the Kennys from all over Ireland.

The large group varied in age (10 months to 80 years), nationalities and race diversity (Scottish, Canadian, American, Australian, Brazilian, Bulgarian) and accents.

From a family tree rooted in Ireland, it is interesting, that there are no more Daltons left in the family in Ireland. Noreen shared, “Story is their great-great-great grandfather put a road through the fairy fort on the land... So.”

Noreen shared that the Irish family had been preparing for the visit since the pandemic, and especially excited to meet for the first time with the visitors from the US.

“It was so lovely to be able to connect and have the craic with them all. We knew they would want to see the home place, so we took them to Fadden Beg. No one knows how old the house is. It is just one bedroom and kitchen, a 'new room' built around 1900. Some of the cousins wanted to go to Mass in High Street.

“We also brought them to Clonmacnoise as that's where all their ancestors are buried. We decided to stay local, visited Sean's Bar, and went on a Viking tour on the Shannon. The next day was spent in Ballinasloe at the Larry Reynolds Festival. There was loads of music, dancing, singing on the streets and in the pubs,” Noreen shared.

A descendant of James Dalton who moved to the US in early 1900s, Kevin Johnson, is a sound engineer and lives in the Washington Heights neighbourhood of New York City.

“I’ve known for some time that my great grandfather James Dalton came from near Ferbane. About two years ago I received his birth certificate from the Irish government and learned that he lived in Fadden,” he said.

Kevin added that he did not know about the Kenny family until planning this trip. “It has been such a joy to meet them. I’ve felt welcomed by the Kenny family and I also feel a certain reassurance that part of our family not only remains in the area, but has been so successful,” he shared. For him, the experience is difficult to condense into neatly packaged takeaways, but he left Ireland with a sense of gratification. “I do feel glad for my great grandfather who by all accounts had a tough life. He left his home, moved to Brooklyn, and passed away very young — probably murdered at work as a result of union activity.

“His wife didn’t have an easy life and none of my other Irish ancestors had what we would call an easy go of it and yet the people I met on this reunion — their descendants — are a group of well-educated and successful people who are willing, able, and eager to honour their ancestors,” he said.

Another Aussie on the group was Bernadette, who is a solicitor from Mooloolaba, Queensland, and Kathryn Kleidon's sister.

She shared that she had always known about her father's Irish heritage 'as it was something he was very proud of'.

“The time we spent together for the reunion has given me a better understanding of why my grandfather (and many others) left Ireland and the impact it has had on their families.

I will definitely return to Ireland as I've enjoyed my time here especially reconnecting with my extended family,” who ended her first trip to Ireland with a purchase of a Lucky Irish lapel pin and a card depicting the story of St Patrick.