Mrs. Peter Kenny (Margaret)

Margaret Kenny, 32, was a second-cabin passenger traveling aboard Lusitania with her 2-year-old daughter Mary. They were both American nationals living Charlestown, Boston, Massachusetts, although Margaret had been born in Ireland in 1884. Both were lost in the Lusitania sinking.

Margaret was born in Ireland in 1884 and immigrated to Boston in 1907. In June 1911, she married Peter Kenny, a native of Ireland. Their daughter and only child, Mary Bridget Kenny, was born in July 1912. Peter Kenny died 1 May 1913. After his death, Margaret and Mary moved in with Margaret’s sister, Mary Ellen Carroll, wife of Patrick Carroll, a naturalized American citizen. Their address was 44A Park Street, Charlestown, Massachusetts.

Margaret helped her sister keep a boarding house which gave Margaret an income of about $40 per week, out of which she paid her sister about $25 per week to help support the Carroll Family, which consisted of Mary Ellen, Patrick, and their eleven children. These contributions made mainly in the nature of compensation for the home furnished Margaret and her child by her sister.

Margaret Kenny, then 32 years of age, and her daughter, Mary Bridget Kenny, then nearly 3 years of age, were lost with the Lusitania. Her mother was still living at the time of her death.

The Irish index records of wills and administrations show that on 13 October 1915, after Margaret’s death, administration of estate was granted in Dublin, Ireland, to Thomas Kenny [sic?], farmer, in the amount of £287 18s 6d.

On 25 February 1925, the Mixed Claims Commission awarded Margaret’s sister Mary Ellen $2,500 plus interest for the loss of income from the death of her sister.

Related pages

Margaret Kenny and Mary Bridget Kenny at the Mixed Claims Commission

Contributors:
Peter Kelly, Ireland
Senan Molony, Ireland

References:
Mixed Claims Commission, Docket No. 2053.

Molony, Senan. Lusitania: An Irish Tragedy, p. 42., Mercier Press, 2004.