The inspiration for the site was the reunion of the Boyle Family in South Armagh in August 1999. The reunion was a celebration of the lives of my grandparents, John and Mary Boyle of Tullydonnell. In the 95 years since their marriage their descendants had grown to over 250 and most of those were at the gathering. The reunion kindled a renewed interest in our wider families, and I decided to try to draw together, in a common format, details of all of the families involved. It was not intended as a formal genealogy project and as a result lacks most of the discipline and detail of such projects. For no reason other than convenience, I decided that our four grandparents, the Boyles and Devlins of South Armagh and the Kanes and Mackrells of South Down were a good starting point. The objective was to compile a complete database of all of their descendents; the purpose to provide a single reference point for family members to visualise and understand their position in the overall family tree. As the project developed it became clear that information about earlier generations was available in some instances and continuous rework was needed. In June 2001 I extended the site to include the families of Edward and Mary McKenna, my paternal grandmother's parents. Their surviving family consisted entirely of girls so the McKenna name does not recur. However, they have added Conlon, McCoy, Fitzpatrick, Keenan, Richardson and many more to the family chronicle. The descendants of many of these families live now in North America. The Family Repository was based initially on the work of other family members in preparation for the Boyle Clan Gathering in August 1999. I am grateful to them and the many others from the wider families who have contacted me with information and who took the time and made the effort to compile the infornation about their families which is included here. It is not completely accurate and I will adjust the detail as I am made aware of additions or corrections. It is also out of date as most of the initial information refers to the position in the summer of 1999 and with such a prolific family I am sure there have been additions here and there; in our own case we have a new grandson. There have, sadly been some losses too. The format is flexible and adaptable and easily expandable. Additional features and information about particular families and/or individuals can be added. I would welcome suggestions on such issues. I hope that members of these families all over the world will find the site and contact me. The following are the main features of the site.-
If you have information about the families that you'd like to share, an idea for a page on this site, or a home page you'd like me to link to this one, please email me pdevlinz@btinternet.com I have plenty of pictures of my own family but would welcome those of other families so that they can be shared by everyone. Send a JPG or GIF file by email, or, if you trust me to return them, send the photos by post. Email me pdevlinz@btinterneet.com |