The Descendants Of Jack & Mary McKeown

The youngest child of Jack and Mary was named Rita. In adult life she married Eddie Flynn of Forkhill. They settled in Forkhill where they had seven children. All but one of these is married now with children of their own. Most still live in or near Forkhill. Matt still lives at home with his mother in Slieve Brack Park. Next door lives Marie, the only girl of the family. A few hundred yards away lives Teddy. Jim lives a couple of miles away in Mullaghbawn. Anthony, Sean and Eugene all live within ten miles. Eddie, their father, is buried a few miles away across the border, in Kilcurry cemetery.

Anne:	left home after a disagreement, - a rift which was never healed. I believe she is married, without issue, to a man named Mulholland. She has no contact now with her mother or her siblings.
Michael:	married Sinead. They live on the Armagh Road in Newry. He drives an Ulsterbus. They have one son Michéal and one daughter Anita.
Noleen:	married Mickey Doran and bore him five children. This marriage is now ended. Noleen has since settled with another man, by whom she has borne a sixth child.

My mother is next (in ascending order of age, as I have here chosen) of the McKeown’s (i.e. Jack’s and Mary’s) children. As this is the longest though I will leave it to last.

Delia is the oldest of the McKeown girls. She was also the first to marry. Her groom was Hughie Laverty of Oram, Castleblaney, where they settled after their marriage. (Delia still lives there today, with her daughter Margaret Mary). They married in 1940. Six years ago they celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. Hughie didn’t live long thereafter.

John James Laverty	was reared in Sheetrim by his grandparents. He trained as a psychiatric nurse when he met and married his first wife, by whom he had one daughter. He is now married to Helen, by whom he has a two-year-old daughter Annie. They live in England
Harry	remains single. He used to be a busker in England. I don’t know whether or not he still is.
Margaret Mary	married a Greek Cypriot named Columbanio, by whom she had three children, one boy and two girls. They are separated. She is rearing the children with her mum at Oram.
Delia	married Liam McCooey. They have three children, two boys and a girl.
Kassy	as a teenager married a youth by the name of Magennis. They lived in Craigavon. She bore him two daughters. They were both too young for the responsibilities of marriage. It didn’t last. Now, preferring to be known as Kay, she is married to John Barry. He once worked in the psychiatry branch of medicine. Now retired from that, he works as a supermarket manager in Dungannon. My sister Bernadette knows them and meets them from time to time.
Peter McKeown	married Maisie Woods and settled to his small farm at Dungooley, County Louth. They had one son, Peader and one daughter Mary. Their mother died some twenty years ago. Both Peader and Mary waited past the first flush of youth to marry.
Peader McKeown	married Kathleen, who like him, has unshakeable devotion to Padre Pio. They named their only child after him. This Peader lives now in Newry and is my friend and fellow genealogist - more of this later!
Mary McKeown	Married Philip Cusack. After one stillbirth, she gave birth to twins, a boy Peter and a girl Mairaid, born in 1992.
James McKeown	was the first born of the marriage of Jack and Mary McKeown. He married Rosaleen Keenan of Tullinavall, Cullyhanna in 1945. They had three children.
John	married Philomena Hackin. They live now at “The Rocks”, over the brae from Rose at Sheetrim. John knocked down and rebuilt his home a decade ago. He is soon to do the same for his mother’s house. The couple had three children, two boys and a girl. Gary is training as an accountant in Newry. Cathal works in Dundalk and helps on the farm. Their daughter is called Shauna.
Rose	is a district nurse. She is married to Hugh Carragher. They have no children.
Ann	is also a district nurse. She is married to Kieran Murray. They have three children, Loretta, Killian and Blathín.