estimating. At that stage he and his wife Mary and family lived in Essex, Massachusetts. His place of birth was given as the Irish Free State! In 1930 he had 5 children. He was recorded as Martin F. Kennedy in the 1920 US Census but only had one child under a year at the time. Due to US declaring War on Germany in 1917, the government ordered every male living within the US between the ages of 18 and 45 was required to register for the draft. On Martin Kennedy’s World War 1 Draft Registration Card 1917 – 1918 it stated that he was 5ft 9inches, had brown eyes and black hair. It gives a very accurate date of birth of November 1888, and gives his place of birth as Athenry, Co. Galway. It gave his current address at the time as Essex MA, which ties in with the previous record of the 1930 Census detail. It also states that he was single at this time. Not all men who registered actually ended up in WW1. Martin is buried in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Lynn, Essex County MA. The death record states Martin Francis Kennedy was born in 1888 in Athenry, County Galway. He died on 25/03/1938, at the age of 50. Buried with him is his wife Mary Josephine Hughes Kennedy who was born on 5/4/1893 in Tuam, County Galway. She died on 26/10/1967. Also their daughter and husband are buried in the same plot. We do not know when Martin Kennedy and Mary Hughes married, but it can be assumed that it was between 1917 when he was single on the World War 1 Draft Registration Card and 1920 when he was married with a child aged 11 months. Therefore he was probably married in 1918 or 1919. His nieces Nell Kennedy and Della Kelly and nephew Pat Kennedy live in Athenry parish today. Possible Subs? As mentioned earlier, in the Connacht Tribune on May 27th 1911 Page: 8, the Derrydonnell team that played Galway City were: Derrydonnell: P. Heneghan, M. Joyce, M. Freaney, A. Keane, J. Ruane, M. Keane, M. Fahy (captain), M. Ruane, M. Costello, M. Joyce, T. Mullin, A. Freaney, M. Freaney, M. Freaney, P. Heneghan, M. Higgins, R. Higgins. From this newspaper article we see that there were a few different men here mentioned as playing for Derrydonnell. The interesting thing here is that the additional men who played during this game may well have been subs on the team for the Co. Final match later that year in November. Other additional names are A Freaney, M. Freaney and M. Freaney. The only evidence of an A Freaney in the locality is in Mountain West. This Anthony Freaney would also be related to the Freaney’s of Derrydonnell. There were a few possibilities re. M. Freaney. It is known that Myles Freaney, Mick’s brother played with the team, but the other M. Freaney 36
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