The Ancestors of Ellen Theresa Judge Kelly

My second great grandmother, Ellen Theresa Judge Kelly, sometimes called “Nell”

100% Irish

The woman known to many people in our family as “Mom Kelly” must have used the nickname “Nell” quite a bit as well because that’s the name on her gravestone. Her birth name, though, was Ellen Theresa Judge, and the Judge family can be traced back to County Mayo in Ireland, where Ellen Judge’s great grandparents were born. Their names were Patrick Judge and Anna Galligan. In 1822, that couple had a son named William Judge, whose wife Catharine Graham was also born in Ireland two years later. It’s not known whether their wedding happened back in Ireland or in Ohio, but Catharine gave birth to their firstborn in Ohio in 1853. That child was John Judge, Ellen’s father. Seven or eight years later, the Judge family came to Perry County, Indiana.

County Mayo, Ireland

Ellen Judge Kelly’s maternal grandparents are Patrick Walsh (pronounced “Welch”) and Briget Cannavan. Both were born in County Clare, Ireland - Patrick in the parish of Kilnoe in 1816. Briget was eleven years younger than her husband, and she was most likely born in Kilnoe as well. According to the Mormon genealogy website, they were married in 1851 in Vermont and had their first child there. I personally remain unconvinced one way or the other about the part about Vermont, but the Walshes definitely spent some time in Butler County, Ohio before making their way into Perry County, Indiana.

County Clare, Ireland

Ellen Judge’s mother Margaret Walsh was born in Ohio in 1855, but a few of her younger siblings were born in Indiana. Margaret married John Judge in 1877 in Perry County, where she gave birth to five girls, Ellen being the second oldest. When Ellen was ten years old, her mother died in childbirth.

Holy Cross Catholic Church in St. Croix, Indiana

Today, both of Ellen’s parents are both buried at the Holy Cross Catholic Church Cemetery in St. Croix, Indiana, as are all four of her grandparents. I don’t know for sure where any of these four Irish immigrants got off the boat in America, but my first instinct is definitely New York. If the Walshes really did spend some time in Vermont though, maybe they arrived in Boston.

Patrick Walsh, Jr., the brother of Ellen Judge’s mother, Margaret Walsh