Robert Kelly (1696 to 1786)

I believe our oldest known ancestor in Ireland was Thomas Kelly, esq., who is buried outside the Kildare Cathedral.  He was born in 1696 and died in  1786, and early maps of Kildare show him as the owner of a number of parcels of land,including the Kildare Arms, an Inn in the center of the city.  The Prince Regent, later George IV, is reputed to have stayed there during hunting trips, and became friendly with the family He had four sons , Robert,Edward,Waldron and Thomas. I wish to verify these details as the information was researched and provided by a branch of the family who claim Thomas, the son, as their ancestor. Any information would be gratefully received.

My family live in Hamilton New Zealand so a visit to carry out research is not straight forward although with luck we will be in the UK April 2014 so who knows, we may yet get to Kildare.

Regards

Gordon Fitzroy-Kelly