O'Kelley Research Library

Below is a listing of books that contain important information about O'Kelleys great and small. Each book listed on this page records part of our family story, a story shared by many more descendants than appear on this website.  If you read or in this case listen to no other book, I strongly recommend that you obtain the audible book "The Short History of Ireland" by Dr Jonathan Bardon as this book provides a stark and chilling description of the life our Irish ancestors lived giving an explanation as to what may have happened to a great many of those who remained in Ireland after our ancestor(s) came to America and giving an explanation why our ancestor may have never spoke about his former life in Ireland mostly because the memories were too painful to recall or seek to preserve.  We are lucky, few families have so much available and documented by so many authors which is an indicator as to how important the O'Kelleys of Ireland may have been.  Books are only written about important people and important families and our O'Kelley line is one of the lines of regional Kings who ruled over a selected area of about 1000 square miles in western Ireland.

	Book of Ui Maine Ireland  1394 Digital Image.  Some believe that J R R Tolkien borrowed from the Welsh and the Irish for his book the Lord of the Rings and indeed the elvish language that Tolkien created does resemble Gaelic script somewhat.  The similarities doesn't end there, if you look at the map of Middle Earth one will find the evil Mordor in the east just as England was to the east of Welsh and Ireland and both have many tales and folk lore about Elves and little people.
	Great Book of Lecan (MS) by Ádhamh Ó Cuirnín 1397 1418 (Gaelic)
	Annals of the Four Masters 1632 - 1636  Collector's Edition at Amazon This is a must have two volume collection of high quality books for those building their own library of ancient Irish books.  This book contains Irish history beginning in the 12th century and bring the reader into the 17th century when it was first translated from Gaelic into English and published by Owen Connellan.  If you own only one book of Irish history this two volume set should be it.
	Macariae Excidium by Col Charles O'Kelley1, 9th Lord of Screen, CO Roscommon Ireland, MS Written in 1692, you can read it on line in pdf format or buy the book in both paperback and hardback from Amazon.  Col Charles O'Kelley's Macariae Excidium provides the reader an eye witness description of the Jacobite Williamite War of 1690 and 1691, a war that saw the death or exile of many of our ancestors.  I have read that at the Battle of Aughrim as many as 25 Gaelic Gentry O'Kelleys died clearly setting in motion the pending immigration of our ancestor from Ireland.  Col O'Kelley served in that war under an assumed name as to protect his family and their wealth and position.  A man charged with treason lost not just his life but his family lost his property.  This story is hidden in the fictional place and event and it is an example as to how some Gentry Irish had to live, surely many came to American under assumed names thus their true names are not found in ship records.
	Linea Antiqua (MS) by Roger O'Farrell 1709  (Gaelic).  Dr John O'Donovan quoted from O'Farrell's work in his English work Tribes and Customs of Hy-Many.  This is a Gaelic Manuscript that has never been published and I am unaware of an English version.  It is reportedly stored in a library in Dublin Ireland.
	Tribes and Customs of Hy-Many: Commonly called O'Kelly's Country by Dr John O'Donovan P 1843 (English and Gaelic)  Available for reading on line.  Dr O'Donovan's Tribes and Customs of Hy-Many is the authority for every thing Irish about my family line.  The families that Dr O'Donovan describes in his book are the Irish ancestors of those listed on this website and Dr O'Donovan does the work for us by translating and quoting heavily from the Great Book of Lecan and O'Farrell's Linea Antiqua which are both Gaelic manuscripts never widely copied.
	An Index to Printed Pedigrees: Contained in Country and Local Histories by Charles Bridger 1867and page 234 provides documentation that at least three Gaelic Gentry lines use the double "e" O'Kelley spelling of our name including the Lord of Screen family.  There are only five lines in this book important to our family but I believe these five lines provide the proof of truth in our family tradition story that the double "e" Kelleys descended from the "old Irish" Gentry O'Kelleys.

Lives of Christian ministers: over two hundred memoirs by Peter Jefferson Kernolde P 1909.  Available for reading on line.  Peter Kernolde Lives of Christian Ministers provides us early documentation of the connection between our O'Kelley line and that of Rev James O'Kelly.

The life of Rev. James O'Kelly and the early history of the Christian church in the South by Wilbur Earnest MacClenny P 1910  Available on loan from your local library from Elon University.  MacClenny in his Life of Rev James tells us the name of Rev James's father and mother.  McClenny also makes a claim that Rev James O'Kelly descends paternally from the O'Kellys of Hy-Many Ireland something my DNA testing has confirmed to be true. You may read some excerpts from the book here.

Some Descendants and Ancestral Kin of James Stamps O'Kelley and Lucy Woodruff England by J Fred O'Kelly P 1966.  Out of Print availability unknown.  J Fred O'Kelly focuses on just one small branch of the modern O'Kelley tree, my great great grandfather and grandmother, James Stamps O'Kelley and his wife Lucy England.  Because this book does not bear the required Copyright notice it is now public domain and you can read it in it's entirety here.  Be patient it will take a few minutes to load.

Four O'Kelley Sons and Some of their Descendants by Alethea Jane Macon Paperback 1969,  Hardback 1970 Out of Print availability unknown.   Alethea Jane Macon is the author of modern O'Kelley history; a difficult and time consuming task in her day but one that she accomplished with a great deal of accuracy and one that was picked up later by Harold O'Kelley and Judith Ries and will surely be continued by new generations yet to be born. Thanks to the descendants of Alethea Jane Macon I am able to provide her book as a free download so  Ms Macon, in your honor I have made your work available here for all to enjoy.  Thank you for leaving us this legacy.  Ms Macon's book may be read or downloaded in its entirety as a PDF at this link.  You may not use this PDF for commercial purposes, please respect Ms Macon's descendants who have graciously given permission to aid family research.  Alethea Jane Macon makes a claim in her book that we descended from the O'Kellys of Hy-Many Ireland something my DNA testing has proven to be true. 

A Patchwork of Memories, a Knowles/O’Kelley genealogy by Judith Ries p 1976  Out of print but an undated version is reported in the works by the author.  I will list it when it becomes available.

Our Ancestors by Jessie and Adelle Ashford 1977, descendants of Rev James O'Kelly pdf download

Four families through Georgia: a southern history of the Adcock, Blackwell, O'Kelley, Yates and related families by Harold Ernest O'Kelley P 1985.  Out of Print availability unknown.

O'Kelley Bowen Heritage Cook Book complied by Mary Emeline O'Kelley Montoya 1992

The Thomas O'Kelley Website P 1997 by Kathleen O'Kelley  A website of American O'Kelleys and Allied families.

	(Ronald B. Lansing, 2005)  Available at Amazon. From the moment I started to read, I could not put it down.  The author covers Nimrod's story from beginning to the end and provides a great deal of documentation and sources.  Being a retired criminal investigator I found the story very believable, in my mind's eye I was observing the happenings as surely as if I was there.   Nimrod was the grandson of our family's Irish immigrate ancestor and this book contains much information that is of interest to anyone researching our family line.  I highly recommend it as an addition to any O'Kelley family library as it provides a detailed account as to how our first ancestors lived and traveled during their lifetime.  Comments by Rick O'Kelley
	Ui Ceallaigh of Eirinn P 2011 by Rick O'Kelley  A genealogy website of the O'Kelley's of Hy-Many Ireland
	"The Short History of Ireland" by Dr Johnathan Bardon P 2008.  This audible book is critical in understanding the life and experiences of the Irish as to gain a better understanding how their history impacts genealogy research.    This is only available as an audio book and is not available in written form.

"The Short History of Ireland" by Dr Johnathan Bardon P 2008.  This audible book is critical in understanding the life and experiences of the Irish as to gain a better understanding how their history impacts genealogy research. 

This is certainly not a complete listing.  If you are aware of a book about the O'Kelley family that isn't listed here please contact me.

¹  Most authors lists Col Charles O'Kelly as a single "e" spelling but Charles Bridger in his 1867 book titled An Index to Printed Pedigrees: Contained in Country and Local Histories lists the O'Kelley's of Screen as double "e".  He lists three branches as double "e" and two as single "e" a clear indicator that the last name spelling wasn't an accident or a mistake.  Some families who used a translated name very early used the middle English spelling of O'Kelley which included the unneeded extra "e" and I suspect this is the source of my families story that our double "e" spelling is the way the "old Irish" spelled our name.