---
source_file: "Family History 1.docx"
source_title: "Family history — Donald James McKenna"
author: Donald James McKenna (b. 2 Dec 1953, Walter Reed Army Hospital, Washington DC)
fetched: 2026-04-19
fetch_method: user-supplied Word document, verbatim text extraction via python-docx XML parse
subject: Paternal McKenna line from Thomas McKenna (d. 1835, Kerry) forward six generations to the author; plus Morrissey / Meister / Toenjes maternal lines; plus autobiographical chapters from 1953 onward.
note: |
  This is a family-written primary source (oral-tradition + research blend) covering the line from Thomas McKenna (1772–1835) through Foynes, Co. Limerick to the author in the USA. Key genealogical contributions:
  (a) Extends the wiki forward six generations to the present day
  (b) Confirms Jane Foulkes's death date as 7 December 1840 (already in the wiki from Geneanet — the docx's "12/7/1840" is American MM/DD/YYYY format and agrees)
  (c) Names an intermediate generation that the Geneanet "peterterren" tree does not show: Thomas McKenna (d. 16 Jan 1870, from docx "1/16/1870") m. Annie Thorton (d. 3 May 1895, from docx "5/3/1895"), sitting between Thomas (1772–1835) and the James McKenna who moved to Foynes from Thurles, Co. Tipperary. The docx uses American MM/DD/YYYY throughout (author was US-born), so all dates in this file have been parsed accordingly.
  (d) Records the family oral tradition that Thomas McKenna (1772–1835) "led an uprising against the English in 1798 in the County of Wexford" and that Jane Foulkes was "the daughter of the English Captain" — both are explicitly flagged in the source as stories passed down and hedged by the author ("True or not, makes for a good story")
  (e) Identifies the Foynes "Model Farm" at South Cappra (post-1847 famine model-farm programme) as the family's long-term Kerry/Limerick seat
  (f) Gives directions to Kilshenane Cemetery, Co. Kerry (Thomas and Jane's burial site)
  Synthesis / interpretation belongs in the wiki, not here. What follows is the verbatim content of the user-supplied document's genealogical portion.
---

# Family history — Donald James McKenna (verbatim extract)

## Author / header

Donald James McKenna
Born December 2, 1953 Walter Reed Army Hospital, Washington, D.C.
Graduated Memorial High Schooll, Tulsa< OK May 1972
Graduated Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK May 1976
Married Cheryl Lynn Schleyer, February 9, 1985
Sarah Elizabeth born at Lutheran Hospital, Wheatridge, CO January 14, 1986
Lisa Ellen born at Lutheran Hospital, Wheatridge, CO March 14, 1988

> This is my story
> This is for the 2 most important people in my life:
> Sarah Elizabeth Garthe
> And
> Lisa Ellen McKenna

## Chapter 1 — Early Family History

### McKenna

> Everything seems to lead back to the Model Farm in Foynes, County Kerry, Ireland on my father's side but we need to go back further than that. Thomas McKenna and Lady Jane Foulkes had moved to Listowel, County Kerry, Ireland whose Grave is easily found in the Kilshenane Cemetary. So let's start there.
>
> Thomas it seems led an uprising against the English in 1798 in the County of Wexford. It turns out the Boys of Wexford had a wee bit too much to drink the night before the battle and were not up to the challenge according to the song. I don't have too many details except sometime there after Thomas married Lady Jane who was the daughter of the English Captain, oh the audacity. This story has been passed down thru the generations and was told to me by Dad. True or not, makes for a good story.

(The document then inlines the Wikipedia summaries of the Wexford Rebellion and the ballad "The Boys of Wexford", with the two en.wikipedia.org URLs. Those Wikipedia paragraphs are omitted here — they are not primary-source material.)

### Directions to Kilshenane Cemetery

> South on Highway N69 from Listowel, County Kerry headed for Tralee about 8 KM.
> Look for sign for the Kilshenane Cemetery.
> Turn left. Go about a .4 KM. On your left.
> The McKenna-Hegarty Headstone is North of the Statue of Mary.
> Coordinates 52 degrees 23' 22" North      9 Degrees 31' 24" West

### Directions to the Foynes family seat

> Foynes, Ireland is about 22 miles south of Limerick on the south bank of the River Shannon. 1 or 2 miles west of Foynes on the old road is the McKenna House that was still occupied by Joan McKenna when Margo and I were there in 2008. Continue west of the house and turn south, left. Before Loghi and back track to the east to the house. This house is known as South Ballynash. The Model Farm is located just south of Ballynash South and is called South Cappra. The Model Farm was occupied and was were my Great Grandfather was born in 1862. The Model Farm was bult after the blight of 1847 to teach the farmers better farming practices to avoid another famine. Not sure when the McKenna family started living there. These Model Farms were started all over Ireland in the late 1840.

Two photograph captions follow in the document:

- "House Just off the old highway aka Ballynash Lower. Margo and I spent the night here on our travels in 2003. Joan McKenna was our host."
- "Don and Joan McKenna with the Model Farm in the background. 2003"
- "Model Farm."

### Paternal McKenna line — as stated in the document

The document lays out the six-generation line as follows (each line captioned with the author's relationship):

| Generation from author | Couple (death dates as given) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 4× great-grandparents | **Thomas McKenna (died 5/5/1835 = 5 May 1835) married Jane Foulkes (died 12/7/1840 = 7 December 1840)** | — |
| 3× great-grandparents | **Thomas McKenna (died 1/16/1870 = 16 January 1870) married Annie Thorton (died 5/3/1895 = 3 May 1895)** | — |
| 2× great-grandparents | **James McKenna married Margaret Sheahan (died 1869)** | "moved to Foynes from Thurles, County Tipperary (about 35 miles east of Limerick) 7 children" |
| Great-grandparents | **Philip Joseph McKenna (PJM 62, born 1862) married Joanna E. Richardson** | 4th of 7 children; 11 children of their own |
| Grandparents | **Philip Joseph McKenna II (PJM 98, born 1898) married Marie Morrissey of Champaign, IL** | — |
| Parents | **Philip Joseph McKenna III married Elizabeth Ann Meister** (from Denver, CO, married in Norman, OK) | 3 children |
| Author | **Donald James McKenna married Cheryl Lynne Schleyer** (9 Feb 1985, Nature Center on Lookout Mountain, Golden, CO) | 2 daughters |
| Children | **Sarah Elizabeth Garthe**, **Lisa Ellen McKenna** | — |

### Paternal Morrissey line (as stated)

| Generation | Couple |
|---|---|
| 2× great-grandparents | James Morrissey married Mary Murphy |
| Great-grandparents | John L. Morrissey (died 1926) married Monica Henry (died 1924) |
| Grandparents | Marie Morrissey (died 1991) married Philip Joseph McKenna [II] (died 1980) |

### Maternal Meister line (as stated)

> Peter Meister born 3/31/1864 in Herbetsswil, Switzerland died 5/15/1940 in Cleveland, OH, buried in Dedar Rapids, IA. Machinest/Toolmaker.
> Married Maggie May Vermeullin born 10/17/1874 Pella, IA. Died 8/14/1904 in Cedar Rapids, IW. Her family was from Holland.
> (My Great Grandparents)
>
> Edward James Meister born 1/28/1897 in Cedar Rapids, IA. Died 4/26/1991 Denver Colorado. Buried in Fairmont Cementary Denver, CO. Married Clara Mathilda Toenjes 9/17/1921. 2 Daughters. Elizabeth Ann and Margaret May.
> (My Grandfather.)

### Maternal Mother's line

Header present in document, no further details captured.

## Chapters 2+ — Autobiographical (summary only)

The document continues with the author's personal memories (Chapter 2 "My Early Years" onward — Washington DC 1953, Onley IL 1955–1960, Worland WY 1960–1962, Casper WY 1962+). None of that material bears on the pre-1950 genealogy that is the focus of the wiki and is therefore not reproduced here.

## Notes for the wiki

- **Jane Foulkes's death date** (7 December 1840) is already in the wiki (from Geneanet); this document confirms it independently. Earlier drafts of the raw/ notes parsed the docx's "12/7/1840" as DD/MM/YYYY and read it as 12 July 1840 — that was wrong; the docx is in American MM/DD/YYYY format throughout.
- **Thomas McKenna (d. 16 Jan 1870)** sits between Thomas (1772–1835) and the James who moved to Foynes. The Geneanet "peterterren" tree (raw/geneanet-peterterren-thomas-mckenna.md) instead names **James McKenna (1810–1890)** as the only son — it is not clear whether Geneanet's James is:
  - (a) the same man as this document's "James m. Margaret Sheahan", with the Thomas (d.1870) + Annie Thorton generation missing from Geneanet, or
  - (b) an additional son alongside Thomas (d.1870), or
  - (c) a misidentification.
  The wiki should flag this discrepancy rather than silently reconcile.
- **"Led an uprising against the English in 1798 in Co. Wexford"** is explicitly family lore; the author hedges it as a story Dad told him. The 1798 Wexford Rising is historical, but Thomas's participation is unverified and should be reported as oral tradition.
- **"Daughter of the English Captain"** for Jane Foulkes is a family-lore gloss on her father Thomas Foulkes (Shrewsbury). The wiki's Foulkes pages should note this as the family tradition without asserting it as fact.
- **South Cappra / Model Farm, Foynes** is a post-1847 model-farm-programme tenancy; Philip Joseph McKenna was born there in 1862. This is the family's Limerick/Kerry seat through the 19th century.
- **Thurles → Foynes move** (James m. Margaret Sheahan) is a new piece of the movement story: after Thomas died in Kerry in 1835, the family lived in or moved through Thurles, Co. Tipperary before settling at Foynes on the south Shannon.

## Embedded images

The .docx contains four embedded images (`image1.jpeg`, `image3.jpeg`, `image4.jpeg`, `image5.jpeg`) plus one vector drawing (`image2.emf`). Presumably these correspond to the captioned photographs at Foynes / Kilshenane referenced in the Chapter 1 text. The six separately-supplied JPGs (104-0461, 104-0482, 104-0488, 104-0489, 104-0490, 104-0495) are described in the companion file `raw/kerry-gravestones-photos.md`.