The Killion, Quinn and Hand Families of Port Macquarie and Kempsey and their Feeney Family

You may have noticed that we've changed the spelling of Jane's family name from Feeny to Feeney and welcomed descendants of Edward and Thomas Feeney in a recent post..... Genetic genealogy, commonly referred to as DNA testing, is one of the new tools being used by family historians.  Quite a few of the Killion cousins have tested and we're looking forward to Quinn and Hand cousins testing!  So it's been a busy few months on the DNA front following matches between Killion cousins and descendants of two brothers, Edward and Thomas Feeney.  We've been working hard to piece together the story.  With all the evidence that we've gathered, we're confident that Edward and Thomas were Jane's brothers!!  We also appear to have found Jane's mother, also named Jane, and two sisters, Eliza and Ann.   The search continues and the DNA matches keep coming.  However, it seems a good time to share an overview of the Feeney family.... Jane Feeney snr arr

Late last year, we took a "field trip" to Port Macquarie and Kempsey. We visited sites of significance to our Killion, Quinn and Hand family. Port  Macquarie  Historical Museum, pictured  above, is thought to be the location of the 1851 marriage of our many times great grandparents, John Killion and Jane Feeney. Making our way to the North Shore of Port Macquarie where John and Jane Killion had their home and farm on 53 acres. John purchased the land in 1859. It's to the right of the ferry. Jane lived there with her second husband, Thomas Seward, until the late 1860s. Edward, Rose, Thomas, Mary Jane and Margaret Killion and William and Annie Seward lived on the land. We're pretty sure that the family had moved back to Port Macquarie prior to the birth of Matilda and the twins, James and Richard. The land as it is today! There was a water frontage to the river when the family lived there. It hardly seems like ideal farming land to my city eyes! It's difficult to