Keenan (Clontibret)

Hugh Keenan was born in the Castleblayney locality, county Monaghan, circa 1800. He was the son of Thomas Keenan and his wife Betty Smith. While still a teenager he immigrated to the USA with his brother, settling in Pennsylvania. By the early 1830s he had established a successful law firm and in 1847 was appointed US Consul in Dublin, a position he held until 1850. He was also US Consul at Queenstown, Cork, from 1854-1859. His biographical details in an American publication of 1903 states that he ‘purchased an estate located near his birthplace’. This was the estate of Edmond Henry Casey for sale in the Landed Estates Court on 13 November 1860. At the time of Griffith’s Valuation he held five townlands in the parish of Clontibret, county Monaghan. In 1876, Hugh Keenan of Castleblayney owned 842 acres in the county. He married Mary Anne Duffy and they had a number of children. He died in 1882 and is buried at Castleblayney.

Associated Families

No associated families were found for this estate

No houses were found for this estate

Archival sources

Landed Estates' Court Rentals (O'Brien), Casey, 13 Nov 1860, Vol 60 (35), MRGS 39/030, (microfilm copy in NUIG); National Archives of Ireland

Contemporary printed sources

HUSSEY DE BURGH, U. H. ''The Landowners of Ireland. An alphabetical list of the owners of estates of 500 acres or £500 valuation and upwards in Ireland''. Dublin: Hodges, Foster and Figgis, 1878. [available online at www.askaboutireland.ie] : 243

Modern printed sources

WHELAN, Bernadette, ''American Government in Ireland 1790-1913: A History of the US Consular Service'', (Manchester University Press, 2013): All
''The Twentieth Century Bench and Bar of Pennsylvania'', (1903): II, 829
''The Morning News'': 5 October 1882, article entitled ‘The Decision on the Keenan estate’.